permalinkTour du Rouge Day 2: Beaumont to Sulpher
May 07, 2018

Our second day started with another police escort out of Beaumont. With the escort, a tailwind, and some fast riders, we absolutely smashed it down to the gulf coast. Unfortunately, right after we split and I settled in with the second group, I got a flat tire. After fixing it and joining a later group, I got a second flat. There are two mechanics from the BikeBarn, a local bike store, on tour, driving their trucks back and forth to make sure everything is running fine, and Jason took an expert look at my tire and found the tiniest wire sticking through and causing the slow leak. After pulling it out, I was on my way with no problems for the rest of the day, hanging with a slightly slower group, so I've got plenty of energy to go 100 miles tomorrow (about 300 fewer calories then yesterday, even with the longer ride).

I'm burning a bit over 3000 Calories every day on the bike, so it's important to keep up with that all day. We start with a breakfast buffet at the hotel, where I start with eating what would be enough to take me to dinner on a normal day. On the ride, there are at least 4 rest/refueling stops every day where I'll eat a couple bananas, and drink a couple bottles of Gatorade. There will be a lunch stop with Sandwiches, chips, pasta salad, cookies and a Coke. When we get to the hotel there's a tent set up in the parking lot where I grab some snacks, a protein drink, and some beer. For dinner, they've got a catering truck following us around, where they'll whip up a big buffet dinner every night (last night was a great Gumbo). Lots of food!

---