Tour de Pumpkin Russellville Arkansas

[Tuckervill]

OOOH! I was so frikkin impressed that you rode up it, too! Yes, I had to put my Beetle in low gear to drive up Mt. Nebo. It's a beautiful place.

The other two mountains in Tri-Peaks are Mt. Magazine and Petite Jean Mountain. Both also beautiful and both full of history. Mt. Magazine is the highest peak, I think. I spent many a day and night on Petite Jean when I was in high school.

I tried to check out the Tri-Peaks Challenge website and it's no longer there, so I wonder if it is still on the schedule. Anyway.

Karen

[PscyclePath]

I went up and did the Pumpkin ride for the first time Saturday... nice scenery, and the rolling terrain was just about right... not that hilly, but not real flat, either. I got something stuck through the back tire about halfway across that first bridge, stopped and put in a new tube, then took off again, way off the back of the pack. I started catching folks a couple of miles down the road, and was back somewhere in the middle once we got to the first rest stop. Patched my tube there, and just as I started to leave out, the back tire was flat... again. Put in my other spare tube, and since I was just about DFL again, decided to suck it up and take the short option. I got about three miles down the road, and POP!... flat again. The hole in the tire tread was apparently small enough to fool me, but big enough to let the tube pop after a couple miles on the road. So I booted the tire, slapped in my patched tube, and time-trialed it on back into town. I did catch up and pass three or four more riders so I didn't come in exactly DFL on the short course. All the chasing paid off a bit, since I had a 17 mph average for the time I was actually on the wheels and not fixing flats ;-) Time for a new tire before Saturday's last century ride of the season...

Nice community up there, pretty good company and a good turnout from the Arkansas Bicycle Club crowd... Rather cool (45) at the start line, and the guy who won the costume award did the route in a Richard Simmons get-up -- light cotton tank t-shirt, and high & tight red running shorts, and riding an Xtracycle, at that...

A cool ride, and one to definitely put back on the schedule next year. I'll bring the Surly with the bullet-proof tires next time, though...

Tom

[Andrea]

OOOH! I was so frikkin impressed that you rode up it, too! Yes, I had to put my Beetle in low gear to drive up Mt. Nebo. It's a beautiful place.

The other two mountains in Tri-Peaks are Mt. Magazine and Petite Jean Mountain. Both also beautiful and both full of history. Mt. Magazine is the highest peak, I think. I spent many a day and night on Petite Jean when I was in high school.

I tried to check out the Tri-Peaks Challenge website and it's no longer there, so I wonder if it is still on the schedule. Anyway.

Karen

Tri peaks turned in to Tour of Arkansas last year. The men's race stayed essentially the same, and a lot of pro men stayed around for it after the Joe Martin stage race (like they had for tri-peaks), but the women's race got demoted to a 2-day omnium (with pretty lousy prize money), so my team (Kenda Tire) and Metro Volkswagen were the only ones that stuck around for it. It was nice, but I heard it was canceled for 2009.

[Tuckervill]

Oh, thanks for the info. It is vaguely familiar, about the Tour of Arkansas.

My club put on the Arkansas State Road Race this year (near Fayetteville). It was a lot of fun. Maybe you can work that into your schedule next year, Andrea (first part of August).

Karen

[Tuckervill]

Tom, where are you riding on Saturday? (I'm busy, though.)

Karen

[PscyclePath]

Tom, where are you riding on Saturday? (I'm busy, though.)

Planning to go over to Helena, for the Tour da Delta. The metric century sounds pretty good right now, but we'll see how I feel when I get to the turnoff for the hundred...