| Emails from Jerry... Page 1 |
| Date: 6/11/02 Bike tour 2002 Hi. Just a short note to let you know that we are doing fine. We picked up 68 adults and one 6 1/2 year old in Las Vegas last week. This tour through the Nat Parks has 21,ooo feet of climbing and we have now finished Bryce Cyn and just arrived in Zion this AM. So far 3 ladies have crashed and gotten hurt but not so badly that they can't continue. We will stay here for one day and then go on to Grand Cyn. So far the weather has been great, no rain and about 90 degree days. A lot of fires around but not affecting us, we just get a lot of glowning entertainment in the evenings. The sky is alive here at night as it is so dark. Will be in touch again soon. Have a good day... Jerry. |
| 6/19/02 Jerry's Bike Ride Hi Well, the first week of the tour is over and we all had a great time and everything ran very smoothly. We only had 5 people who fell and got scraped up a bit but nothing more serious than a sprained ankle. Our first park was Bryce Cyn. and it was very beautiful and after cycling we went on a hike down into the cyn. The following day we ventured over to another small town where we camped for the night then we rode on to Zion where we spent an extra day and we hiked all over the place. We did a tough one up to Angels Point. If you've clmbed it you know what I mean by tough. All these crazy cyclists try to out do everyone else all the time, not just on the bike but in everything they do. Angels Point is about a 2500' elevation gain and does it in less than 3 miles, most of it goes almost straight up and of course the normal time to do it is about 3 1/2 hours round trip so everyone said let's see if we can do it in 1 1/2 hours. They about tore my legs off but I wasn't about to let them get away. We did the trip in an hour and fifty min. I STILL HURT! After we left Zion we started the last 82 mile run to the Grand Canyon and all but about 5 miles of it was up and up and up, and against a very stiff breeze. Everyday was cloudless and very hot, 85 to 95 deg. and several of the riders failed to make it all of the 82 miles. Over the course of the week and taking in all the extra rides, we all went on, we did a total of 21,000' of climbing. The first day of the tour found us climbing a 8+% grade for the first 15 miles right out of camp and we had 30+ mph headwinds and that make it very hard. By the time we reached Panguitch we had worked ourselves around to where the wind was behind us and we raced into town going down the last grade at 53.8 mph into a 25mph speed zone, glad the local cops wern't out doing their thing, for some reason they get a big kick out of giving cyclists speeding tickets. All week there were big fires all over the place but some how we all avoided them. The last 2 days have found us back in the vans and trailers again and we are now in Sheridan, WY., this is where we start the Pedal the Peaks tour. This ride really tests the endurance of the riders. We go over 1 or more peaks everyday, altitudes up to 12,000'+ and screaming down hills. The fist days ride is over a 100 miles. This tour is the hardest one of all of them and with the largest amount of riders, approx 375 have registered so far. I can't figure out why the majority of cyclists like to suffer so much. This weeks tour has approx 35,000' of climbing if you ride all the course and all the options. The rest of the staff and I went on a ride this AM and we found a big mountian to climb and we then raced back down it and for the first time we broke 55. One other fellow and I did a whopping 56.1 mph and the tears were streaming out of our eyes so bad we couldn't see where we were going. It's a little cool and cloudy today with a temp right now in the mid 60's. Feels good for a change. That's about it for now, I'm about out of time on this puter so I better get off. Ya all take care of yourselves and I will report in again at the end of PEDAL THE PEAKS. Hugs to all........Jerry |
| Pedal the Peaks bike tour 2002 Date: 6/25/02 Hi I was just reading my email and I see you have found another of our lost ones, good going! Right now we are in a High School in Red Lodge, MT and we have the run of the computer room so I thought I would get a fast not off to all of the classmates. We left Sheridan, WY for the first leg of the weeks ride which was 102 miles over some very tough mountains to Lovell. Some of us cut off the regular route and took the 130 mile run so we could descend down through the big canyon area that drops into the Big Horn Valley and comes out in the town of Graybull. It was a screaming 25+mile downhill run and the scenery made the extra miles worth it, we were going so fast we were actually passing some of the cars that passed us on the way to the top of the pass. We departed Lovell the next AM and headed for Red Lodge, MT and finally did some really serious climbing. The last few miles into town were 10/12% grade and we were starting to strain a bit and were getting tired by the time we dropped into town. We spent all day today (an extra day in Red Lodge) here and today we all climbed Bear Tooth Pass which went to 10,947'. I'm not fully adjusted to these high altitudes as yet (last year it would have been no problem) and the lungs were starting to burn a little around the 9,000' mark. Good thing we don't have hair on the inside of our lungs or a lot of us would have been exhailing smoke. The view from the top was very spectular as we could see the whole Yellowstone range and the valley in between. It won't be long we will be running a tour through here again right where I ran into this tour company last year. The ride is going good so far only one crash yesterday which one fellow required a few stiches and the other fellow involved got his left arm scraped up pretty bad, they locked wheels on a short downhill and went down. Another fellow, who didn't heed our advise to stay well hydrated, ended up in the hospital last night getting fluids pumped into his veins. Tomorrow AM we depart for Worland and then on Thursday on to Cody, where we will also spend an extra day doing other rides. On Saturday be go on to Buffalo, where this tour will end. Then we get a week off for travel and rest time before we start the next one. That's about all for now, will see if I can get on a puter again sometime next week for a final update on this weeks run. We do 90% of our camping on High School grounds and If the computer rooms are open they usually will let us use them. Pretty nice of them eh? Love to all, get on your bikes and get in shape, these rides are really a lot of fun and a great way to spend a summer. By the way, just in case your might be interested, so far about 40% of the riders on these tours have been over 55 years of age and about 35% of the riders are women. We have riders all the way to 70 on this ride and they do it so NEVER SAY YOU CAN'T DO IT OR YOUR TO OLD. I'M OLDER THAN MOST OF YOU GUYS AND GALS AND IF I CAN DO IT SO CAN MOST OF YOU!!!! Stay healthy and live long........Love you all......Jerry |
|