Oxford to Clarksdale

The past two days have been really intense conditions for riding. Some of the worst the more experienced cyclists have seen. However, we tried to keep in mind Rule #9 of cycling:

Rule #9

If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.

Fair-weather riding is a luxury reserved for Sunday afternoons and wide boulevards. Those who ride in foul weather – be it cold, wet, or inordinately hot – are members of a special club of riders who, on the morning of a big ride, pull back the curtain to check the weather and, upon seeing rain falling from the skies, allow a wry smile to spread across their face. This is a rider who loves the work.

Wednesday was the worst for me. We left Oxford for Clarksdale, and the Mississippi back roads were pleasantly hilly, until the roads turned into gravel. Four inches deep of gravel. Well, Calliope and I don't have experience with this kind of terrain, and I just wasn't sure what to do about riding at 5 mph. So for the first time on this trip, I got off my bike and walked. I just wasn't sure how to safely ride through an ever-changing combination of gravel, sand, and Mississippi mud without feeling like I'm about to fall over at any second.

Riders passed me while I walked, so I was soon by myself. I stopped at the top of a hill for a snack, which was very peaceful and quiet. It was one of the best parts of the whole day, but then I realized I was lost. I called the choppers, the sweeps, and the van to figure out a reroute. The 75 mile day became an 84 mile day for me. My reroute was on a road no one else had been on, and I so I faced a handful of dog chases on my own.

After the first lunch, it heated up, the headwinds began, and I was in urban sprawl, which is just a congested and dangerous setting for a rider. The urban sprawl soon gave way to the Mississippi Delta. The road was flat and straight, the crops fields on both sides were on flat terrain, there were no trees, billboards, or intersections. The road just continued on, and on, and on, for like 40 miles. This environment had 20+ mph headwinds, which slowed the speed down even though we were all pushing our hardest. It's discouraging when you're tiring out going 12mph when you know that if only the wind wasn't there you'd be cruising at 18mph. Mike and I had to stop every 5 miles because it was so exhausting. But also, this road was stressful, as there was speedy traffic and little shoulder.

The most difficult piece for me was the mental drain. Staring straight ahead and not seeing a vantage point, not being distracted by a billboard or home, not having a shady tree or a hill to anticipate, made me so bored. I felt like I had just passed that same corn field - hm, I don't remember looping back around. Some riders said they saw mirages in the distance. I found myself counting the hundreths of miles slowly tick by on my computer. It wasn't easy, but I finally got to the host site, where the host said it was the hottest day of the year there.