Why Are These People Smiling?

August In Arkansas? You've Got To Be Kidding!!

Is it really this nice or have my friends Chris and Angie spun loose a nut?

We all know the drill for late summer riding in Arkansas. Freeze the Polar bottles in the hope of having cold water for a couple of hours. Throw a third bottle in your jersey pocket along with a handful of electrolyte caps. Drop your cell phone in a Ziploc to save it from the streams of perspiration and head out at the first hint of daylight in an effort to knock out your miles before the pavement melts. You're drenched before you get out of sight of home, you leave puddles at stop lights as you stand frying on the asphalt griddle, climbs are misery as your self-made breeze disappears and your body tries to ration its limited vascular resources between the demand for power and the need to cool the machine. It's August. We're locals. We can take it. We've grown accustomed to it, we accept it and we adapt, but that doesn't mean we won't accept the gift of remarkable weather that we've enjoyed over the last several days.

As I rolled off of Park Hill at 6:40 Saturday morning in a sleeveless jersey, I experienced something I haven't felt for a couple months this side of the Rockies; I was cool. It was 62 degrees and if it had been March, I might have had my knee warmers on. I met Sam Ledbetter at the BDB and headed up River Mountain Road, a sure cure for common cold, as we rode to our meeting place with Chris Irons, Chris Shaw and their friend, Angie. From that point at Rahling and Chenal,we had a leisurely ride out west of Little Rock to Pinnacle Park and back via Garrison and Barrett Roads.

The day warmed up pleasantly and we enjoyed spectacular conditions of blue skies, low humidity and temperatures that barely leaned on eighty. August days like that are rare blessings and must be spent outside to be fully appreciated.

Relatively speaking....
Irons and his bride, Rebecca, have been training for an Iron Man, which takes place next weekend in Louisville. Their training rides have ranged up to 120 miles and I've joined a couple of them along with Chris Shaw. We weren't in for the full distance and have found ourselves feeling like slackers for riding "only" 65-70 miles at a whack. How did that happen? Just a few weeks ago, 70 miles felt like a pretty manly ride!

Heber Springs Route Revisited
I had a chance to drive my route to Heber Springs (8/3 Post)in reverse today. I wanted to reassess my impressions and check out the viability of riding from Heber and arriving back in North Little Rock after noon on Sunday. My conclusions were that:
(1) The route actually looked much hillier from the car than I'd perceived it on the bike. The North to South ride should be appreciably easier than South to North as you gradually give up elevation and..
(2) the traffic at that time of day and the road conditions on Highway 107 from the air base gate to North Hills Blvd. would make for a dangerous trek.