Monday June 24:  Lamar, Colorado to Garden City, Kansas
Distance:  103 miles
Total time:  6 hours 51 minutes
Riding time:  Unknown

Last night I wrote that I never expected to have another day on a bicycle like yesterday.  Well, today came pretty close.  The same Guardian Angel that provided the Tailwind of Providential Propulsion yesterday provided the Wind That Did No Harm and Often Assisted today.  The weather was good, though warmer as we descended, the shoulder was wide, the terrain was net downhill, and we averaged over 15 miles an hour, including stops, for 103 miles.  We know we'll eventually be meteorologically punished, but that's for another day.  Today we were again great cyclists!

A little over 30 miles into the ride we left the enormous state of Colorado behind and entered the enormous state of Kansas.  Here are the three amigos posing proudly at the state line.

Note the enormous wheat field to the right.

Here's Jamie riding through Kansas.  Note the enormous wheat field to the left.

You get the picture.

Today's ride was mostly dead flat.  If yesterday's landscape was flatter than a pancake that you'd sat on for an hour, today's was flatter than that pancake after you'd slept on it.  Except, there was an eight mile stretch beginning at about sixty miles that was rolling hills, some so steep that I set my new personal land speed record, 35.6 miles per hour, on one of the downhills.  But how flat is the earth generally in this part of Kansas?  Well, flatter than a Tea Party Congressman thinks.  Okay, if you have a better flat earth joke, let's hear it in the comments section.

I saw this sign as I rode through Syracuse, Kansas.  A nice thing to note and makes you consider how the west contributed to our democracy.

Fifty miles into the ride we left Mountain Time behind and got on Central Time.  We lose an hour but that's fine because we'll start a little later tomorrow, a short day.

If eastern Colorado was characterized by huge cattle ranches, where the cattle grazed on natural grass, Kansas is dotted with feed lots, like this one that we passed coming into Garden City.  The cows are cheek to jowl, or horn to udder.  I know which cow I'd rather invite to dinner.

The cattle industry absolutely dominates this part of Kansas, but we saw evidence of other industries as well.  Clearly there is a high-tech sector here:

And the auto sector seems to be important as well:

According to my Garmin device, I burned over 6500 calories on yesterday's ride and another 6000 today.  Getting enough calories to keep going is a concern for all of us.  We had two SAG (service and gear) stops today, and these offer an opportunity to replenish your water bottles and gobble some calories.  Here are Jamie, Dave from Walnut Creek, and Michael taking on supplies while our Fearless Leader Jim slices fruit.  Dave, seated, looks like he's had enough and is ready to throw in the towel, but in fact he got to the hotel ahead of us as he does most days.

While the SAGs are crucial to keeping us fed and watered, sometimes you crave something besides cookies, trail mix and bananas.  Seventy-five miles into today's ride across what they once called the Great American Desert, we spotted this oasis and stopped for refreshment.  No Saharan water hole was ever a more welcome sight.

For many miles we rode parallel to the old Santa Fe Trail, and there are places where you can still see the ruts from the wagon wheels.

So, we put down 224 miles in the last two days, and 318 over our last three days of cycling.  We're due for an off day, and tomorrow's ride to Dodge City is just a little over 50 miles.  With continued cooperation on the weather front we should be there early enough to see some sights, like the Boot Hill Museum.   Then it's back to more normal distances as we plod through Kansas and end the week in Missouri.  The halfway mark of the journey, both in days and miles, is fast approaching and it will be nice to be over those humps.