Kuotient

Hey C&V!

Just wanted to share with y'all that I'm currently on a supported cross-country tour across the southern US! I'm riding with a couple non-profit groups (Venture Expeditions & Blood:Water Mission) that have partnered up to put together the Ride:Well Tour, which benefits communities in Marsabit, Kenya by providing clean water facilities and HIV/AIDS education/clinics. Our tour takes us from San Diego, CA to Myrtle Beach, SC at the end of July.

I'm proud and happy to keep steel real by riding my 1987 Centurion Ironman Expert (upgraded with mostly Shimano 600/Ultegra Tricolor, with STI) on tour! It's not a perfect bike...has stress marks by the lugs on the TT and DT at the front, probably from a crash by previous owners, but the fork is straight! I also have a dime-sized dent on the top tube...but hey, if a bike isn't showing signs of wear, it's not being ridden enough, right? I bought a Brooks B17 Imperial recently and slapped it on there as well. Still breaking in definitely, but not bad. I like that it doesn't get warm and sticky or anything like that. The cut out is slightly off centered...kinda bugs me at times. I may have to find a new seat post at a shop to replace my original, because the contact point on the clamp to saddle rails is very small and I find my saddle sliding backwards slightly over long periods due to riding and vibrations =/

We just finished our 3rd day of riding yesterday from El Centro, CA through the hot desert and sand dunes to Yuma, AZ! Our planned 83mi day detoured to 98 miles...unpleasant but we did it and made the most of it! Today is a rest day, and tomorrow we ride 120 miles to Gila Bend, AZ! I'm excited and not excited about that at the same time if you know what I mean.

You can follow my blog and our progress at https://allenrideswell.wordpress.com. I'm also logging my rides from my Garmin Edge 200 at https://ridewithgps.com/users/29811/activities.

We also have team blogs at www.ridewelltour.org! And then our itinerary is at the bottom of this page: https://www.ridewelltour.org/page/rwt-southern-tour-1

Me standing in the Pacific Ocean at Mission Beach by San Diego.


Our team of 9 riding across the country. We're just normal people like you (although maybe a bit younger, ha!).


And extra special thanks to fellow C&V-er DStrong, whom I met at the 2011 NAHBS in Austin when he organized our C&V meet-up and ride! He lent me his Trico Iron Case to ship my bike to the start, and I'll be using it to take back home in August. So thankful for that because I had a less than pleasant experience with cardboard and the airport in the past!

-Allen

ColonelJLloyd 

Very cool. Happy riding, man!

RFC

Now that is what I call an Ironman!

old_dreams

Well done young man! Ride well.

-holiday76

i prefer to carry all my own stuff, but it still looks like fine. Have a blast!

WNG

Excellent adventure! Best of luck and much success. I'm sure the Ironman will prove worthy to all.

AZORCH

More power to ya, brotha!

RobbieTunes

I can't think of a cooler or nicer guy to be riding an Ironman across the country. If I can get to Myrtle Beach to welcome you, I'll surely try.

Maybe I can start organizing folks for the last couple of days. Heck, we can probably string together Centurions or something.

Normal people don't sacrifice for others. You're good people, and there should be more like you. You are Ironman!

Italuminium

Keep on riding! All the well wishes for you and your ride.

cehowardGS

Now, the whole world knows about the Centurion Ironman Expert/Masters are nothing but JEWELS on two wheels..

The OP got taste big time. Now, that is living. Just kicking 25 miles a day on my Ironmans is a thrill.

All I got to say to the OP, is "you doing it man, you doing it big time"...

Johnonaschwinn

Be safe and keep us updated

buldogge

Very cool Allen...props to you for getting out there and doing it!

RobE30

Very cool! Happy trails!

cehowardGS

It is possible that I might be in Mrytle Beach near the end of August. What is the OP's ETA???

anixi

It looks like you've got a great bunch of people to ride with Allen. Very honorable effort indeed, Africa needs help just like this. BTW, even though it's too late now, I hope you can keep the B17 dry on the inevitable rainy days, even if it means riding with a plastic bag mounted over the saddle.

KvltBryce

What a ride, such dedication!

Ride safe, and I will be subscribed, hope to see updates at some point.
Love how C&V is getting repped, when most people would probably be running a new touring bike or carbon.

Kuotient

Thanks for all the encouragement! It is duly appreciated.

-Robbie, would love to see you again!
-cehoward, we ride into Myrtle Beach on Friday, July 27th. Not quite August!
-anixi, I bought a waterproof rain cover for the saddle! I think my saddle bag should be enough to protect the underside from water.

I just updated a link about tracking the rides. Strava requires a user account, whereas you can view my rides on RideWithGPS without an account. https://ridewithgps.com/users/29811/activities

Gila Bend was looooooong and hot. Rode into Mesa (just east of Phoenix) today. Rest day tomorrow, then riding into Payson and Show Low the following days (LOTS of climbing). Hopefully I have the energy and mental capacity to recap my riding days very soon...

Ciufalon

Good on ya brother! That is a great thing to be doing. Love to see people taking initiative, doing something they love, and helping others at the same time! My hat is off to you and your fellow riders. Looks like a great group to be riding with. The Ironman is such a nice bike to ride, it is good to see someone putting to such a test. I am sure it will do you well. Will also be following your progress. You are putting in some miles! All the best. Happy and safe travels for all of you.

RobbieTunes

Click, Add (link) to favorites. Wind at your back, Allen.

cehowardGS

Ditto on adding link to favorites..

I was just looking at that mileage!! Damn!!

Swift Riding to you Allen..

Any pics of this Super Bad Centurion Ironman??

EDIT: The old man went and found the pic..Awesome!!

Kuotient

Just wanted to give a quick update!

The team and I are currently in a nice, hip coffee shop in Abilene, TX. We're staying 30 miles north in Anson, TX. The pastor hosting us has the most legit Texas accent I've heard, which makes sense because he grew up a cowboy.

With over 92 hours on the saddle under my butt, we've traveled 1358 miles and climbed almost 47,000 ft in 16 days of riding. It's been hot, and we've finally hit some humidity. The toughest weeks are behind us. Sand dunes and dust devils are awesome! National forests are beautiful, but at the cost of climbing. Arizona has BIG cacti. The desert gets really old, really fast. The terrain is a lot flatter now, but the head and cross winds have picked up. West Texas is all oil fields and farms, sometimes both combined. My tan lines look like Blue Bell Ice Cream's "The Great Divide". I do NOT recommend Continental GP4000S tires for touring. I'm definitely going back to Gatorskins after I'm done with them. Those things have been bombproof for me, NEVER had any sort of puncture flat on them, only valve failures.

I can't believe we're almost half way done. We have a short 3 days of riding into Dallas for a long and festive weekend, which basically marks the half way point before we head towards Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, then South Carolina!

Here are some picture highlights from California and Arizona:


10 mile, 3000' descent! Heavy winds in every direction with every hairpin turn.


Awesome sand dunes, just like in Aladdin.


You know you're in the middle of nowhere when you see this...


Our longest ride was 119 miles from Yuma to Gila Bend. Our directions said something like "Turn onto ___ highway for 116 miles"


Me looking up to a giant cactus


Saw plenty of dust devils


Those are some highlight pictures from Arizona. I'll show stuff from New Mexico soon!

Again, more details and posts on my blog at https://allenrideswell.wordpress.com and ride maps at https://ridewithgps.com/users/29811/activities

-Allen

Kuotient

Hey!

Just wanted to post a quick and long overdue update here. The team and I are currently in Augusta, GA! We'll be riding into Myrtle Beach (actually, we'll be riding to Pawley's Island, south of Myrtle Beach) this Friday!

I guess since my last post...we've ridden through New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and now Georgia. I love Texas and all (since I'm a Texan), but geez I wish TxDOT would use something other than chip seal for all the state and US highways...ugh. After crossing into Arkansas, the roads were wonderful and scenery was luscious! The humidity was a huge contrast to the dry desert heat though. Luckily the week riding through Tennessee had heavy cloud coverage, but we got poured on a lot (a very welcome change). The most annoying part of the rain was the dirt and the fact that I had just degreased and re-lubed my chain!

Riding through Memphis was pretty scary. Little did I know that it is the nation's 2nd most dangerous city! We stumbled upon a Hershey candy factory downtown and got some free samples! We had to distribute them out and stuff them all in our jersey pockets, haha. Nashville was a joy and I could definitely see it as an alternative to living in Austin.

Coming south of Chattanooga, we rode through and checked out an old Civil War battle site (Chickamauga) which was really cool, especially since everywhere we ride, there are like historic monuments/locations from the 1800s and such. That morning, we had a rest stop in a grocery store parking lot. There, we ran into this lady!

She's 83 years old, and the sign on the front says "80+ and still riding!" She was definitely our inspiration for the day. I forgot what she had, but it was definitely an old Schwinn she had bought about 30 years ago.

Georgia (and Alabama) has the country's longest paved bike path, spanning 94 miles! The Georgia portion of it is called the Silver Comet Trail. We rode 50 miles of it from Cedartown into Atlanta.


The Ironman has been holding up well and the steel has been a good ride, although I really have no experience with other materials to compare it to!

The only problem I've been having is that it seems my RD (Shimano 600 tricolor) seems to be giving me some resistance. Lubing the jockey wheels helps a lot, but it seems to wear away quickly. I don't know how much it affects my riding, but that's just something some of the shops we've stopped by have noticed. Also, I will never recommend GP4000S tires for touring purposes on a road bike! Gatorskins at the least, from my experience. I helped buy one of my teammates Schwalbe Durano+ tires because he had gotten 20 flats, almost as much as the rest of the team, and they've been holding up really well.

Tomorrow we cross into our 8th and final state. It's surreal that I've ridden across the country by bicycle! Now that my feet have been dipped into the touring world, I definitely want to do more and definitely want to get a true, steel touring bike.

It's going to take a while before the accomplishment actually hits me. Hopefully I will never forget the stories, people I've met, and lessons I've learned.

I have a TON of photos I've uploaded to Facebook. I'll need to figure out a place to upload them somewhere else that's more public after the tour is over.

I need to hit the sack now. I have to wake up around 5:30am tomorrow for another 90 mile day! We've done 102 and 91 these past 2 days. Got another 95 miler on Thursday...but an easy 30 to the coast!

illwafer

nice job in a horribly hot summer!