The Agony of de Feet. WARNING post contains graphic content that may be offensive to some viewers.

Stage 9 is complete. 14 miles of mainly gravel roads. Our blisters have blisters. We took inventory of our aches and pains coming into town. The summary report is that my right elbow doesn't hurt. We have blisters and rashes and bruises and Clare is getting over a cold and Amy is developing one. Today in a small village outside a café where we enjoyed café con leches x3 Amy performed minor surgery on a mega blister.

Manners and discretion have been discarded just like all non-essentials in our packs. The Spanish word for blister is pupa. It's pronounced poop-ah (💩Ah). We are going Old Testament on this pilgrimage. Tomorrow's forecast calls for a 100% chance of locusts. After back-to-back 30+k days we only went 25k but it felt like 26. Most of it was on dusty gravel roads but we passed through 5 small towns and had coffees in most.

I am currently relaxing with a San Miguel on the terrace of our pensión. The decorations are hung for Halloween festivities tonight!

Lively topics of discussion along the Way included bus schedules and bicycle rentals. You all know how I'm leaning on this one. My randonneuring buddies will appreciate the "brevet" cards. They're called Credencial del Peregrinos. I'm just collecting stamps.

Tomorrow we have a major climb back up over some mountains but tonight we celebrate Halloween at our pensión in Belorado 🇪🇸!🎉

Mike Dayton's Back

I can't tell you how many miles I've spent following those broad shoulders. For nearly every challenging ride that I've done over the past 15 years there has been one constant, sucking Dayton's wheel. He's got a big motor and pushes through the wind. I tell jokes and keep us on course. We're a tandem team that forgot to fasten the couplers. In February 2016 that changed in the time of a pedal stroke. While riding a 200k permanent midday in Johnston County four NC randonneurs were plowed down by a 1992 Crown Victoria. Mike Dayton hit the windshield and sustained life changing injuries. He spent time in a coma and was ventilator dependent for a week. His recovery continues today and the reminders are all around in his house. Dots and a stick are taped to the walls and lines are on the floor for balancing and vision exercises. He now wears corrective glasses so that he doesn't see two of everything. He and Kelly have bee...

Return to the Nebraska Sandhills 1000k

A few days before the start of the Sandhills 1000k I checked my iPhone weather for Broken Bow Nebraska. The start day would be hot, near 90. The finish day would be cooler. The middle day was forecast for wind. That’s it. Just a wind symbol. If you ever ride in Nebraska and see that symbol, watch out. That's Rando! photo, Denise Giffin This was the second edition of the Nebraska Sandhills 1000k. I rode the first edition in 2016 and loved it so much that I blogged about the ride and then that was picked up for a story in American Randonneur. The publicity did not translate to oversubscription. 8 riders attended the 2016 ride and 7 toed the line for 2018. The veterans included myself, the RBA host, Spencer Klaassen and homegrown cornhusker Rodney Geisert. The always popular Rick Blacker flew in from Olympia WA. Brian Feinberg from SFR came based on a suggestion from Robert Sexton who had thoroughly enjoyed the 2016 edition. Bill Giffin took a break from his nearby ...

Nebraska Sandhills 1000k

Day 2 after dropping down from Piney Ridge and the Nebraska National Forest "Pack an extra bottle of water, and say your prayers" was the advice from our waitress as we enquired about the section that lay ahead in the Sandhills traveling north to Valentine, NE. As we finished off our burgers at Paul's Liquor and Food in Mullen NE, an interested patron pointed out that we could always drink from the stock pumps. He has all his life and he's just fine. Oasis in Mullen These windmill pumps supply thirsty cattle with a cool endless stream of water throughout the Sandhills. Just a note of caution, collect the water as it comes out of the pipe. Don't drink from the trough or pool itself. Stock Pump Nebraska is known for corn and beef cattle but it might as well be recognized for great cycling. RBA Spencer Klaassen mapped out and guided us through a 1,000k adventure that highlighted the Sandhills but included varied terrai...

Mac and Cheese 1200k 2018

Coal fired ship meet fixed gear randonneur. http://www.ssbadger.com/about/history/ If you ever find yourself in Manistique in the Upper Peninsula at Marley's Bar and Grill and the special is a walleye sandwich, get it. This was the exact situation that we found ourselves shortly before midnight on day 2 of the inaugural Mac and Cheese 1200. My riding buddies Spencer Klaassen, Mark Thomas and Ian Hands and I went all in on the walleye special, and we did not regret it. The Mac and Cheese was a massive cooperative undertaking of the Great Lakes Randonneurs and the Detroit Randonneurs, led respectively by Michele Brougher and Jeremy Gray. Their task seemed daunting but they handled the chaos with aplomb. The first interesting task was to move most of the 63 riders across 50 miles of Lake Michigan from the finish town of Manitowoc, WI to the ride start in Ludington, MI. Enter the Badger! The Badger is a coal fired ferry that was up to the fo...

My welcome to Ireland Míle Fáilte 2018 Míle Fáilte translates from Irish into a "thousand welcomes." It might as well mean a million welcomes! The Irish are the most welcoming people that I've ever encountered but we weren't there for a thousand welcomes, we were there for even more. We were there for 1,200 welcoming kilometers of Irish southwest countryside or should I say 1236 to be precise. When things were going well we were enjoying the 2018 Míle Fáilte. When we were suffering it was simply the MF1200. 2018 full course 1,236 km 11,205 m / 768miles 36,753' Every ride has its challenges. We knew about the hills from the course profile and we had heard about the rough road surfaces and the midge swarms but there was no thought given to dealing with record high temperatures. They hardly sell sunscreen in Ireland. The Irish claim to have thrown out more sunscreen than they've ever used. My arms are still peeling. This was the se...

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