Tornado Alley, or how to have fun on a bike in the Midwest

This post is from Will Muller (Kevin's Cousin and high end bike builder).

Tornado Alley: What? Where?
It’s 110 miles of heat, hills, and wind - Schifferdecker Park in Joplin, MO on 07/12/08. Tour four states in one day - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri. There are also two shorter routes — a 30-mile tour and one that is 77 miles.
1 day, 3 routes:
F5 - 110(ish) miles of rolling Ozark hills touching the four states of MO, OK, AR, KS!
F3 - 77(ish) miles - like the 110 but with 3 states - MO, OK, & KS and with fewer miles!
F1 - 30(ish) miles - like the 77 but with 2 states - MO & KS and without all those pesky miles! Who could ask for more?

Lisa (Wills wife) did the 30-mile ride. She did awesome with only being on the bike for a month of training....
I just like to ride bikes - a lot.
I did the 110(ish)
My stats for the ride: 106.4miles (according to my Garmin 305 )
5 Hours 43 min - ride time.
Climbed 7,168 feet
Calories burned 6143.
total ride time just over 6 hours
16 to 20 mph headwind for the first 54 miles of the ride. Obscenely long distances in one day. The next logical goal would be to do a multi-day ride or harder century rides (e.g., more hills, tougher riding conditions). WHY? 'cause I'm really a glutton for punishment.
I started off riding with the Mercy race team out of AK. They were 6 riders plus me. I rode with them for the first 35miles then 2 splinted off with another group. We were now the first group in the lead that had also done the hill loop (2.5 miles big freakin' hill at the end) There were bigger hills throughout the course - if you did the hill loop you got a prize, a 'pin' -' you did it' - Yoohoo!
My first stop was at the 49 mile rest stop for lunch - grabbed a couple of turkey sandwiches, filled bottles and hit the road with 3 of the group of seven that had ridden with for the last almost 50 miles. All 3 of us stuck together for another 35 miles - but by this point, I was well over my longest ride for the year. Having only one 64 miler under my belt for '08. My legs were feeling it. The flats on occasion felt good. The 7000 ft climbing got me - the 'goats' from Arkansas could climb. I popped off at approx 84 miles and soloed in on my own for the last 26 plus miles. Highlight of the ride: the group of guys that went down with me had decided on the 77mile loop - I caught them on the last 5-6 miles and passed them and 'boy' did that feel freakin' good!
No pictures - sorry. I'll think of that next time 'maybe'.