Distance: 107.3 miles
Total time: 9 hours 1 minute
Riding time: 7 hours 25 minutes
Today was the hardest ride we've had since the start. It had all the elements. It was our fifth "century" or 100 mile-plus ride; it was very hilly, and our total climbing elevation rivaled some of the days in the Rockies; but more than anything, it was brutally hot. We rode through a small town early in the ride, a little before 7:00 a.m., and the bank's thermometer registered 86 degrees. By midday it was probably about 100. We all suffered, and had to stop frequently to refill empty water bottles.
Because we knew it would be hot we were up very early and off before 6:30 a.m. Here we are in the dim early morning light, getting ready to roll out of Abilene. Left to right that's Andy, Sean and Chris from the UK, and Michael from Ohio and me.
While our previous days in Kansas have been pancake flat, the geography changed dramatically today. The terrain was rolling from the start, and rolled up and down for 107 miles. Sometimes the change in topography is welcome, because it can be boring to cycle on the flat for a long distance. But the heat made the climbs extra tough. The road stretched out in front of us in an unbroken chain of hills all day long.
Here Michael and I stop for water as we contemplate the next hill. Some of the downhills were steep and we rode as hard as we could to get the cooling breeze in our faces. I hit 34 miles an hour on one downhill.
The Run in the Sun continues. 26 days of cycling and a total of 20 minutes of rain. But we found ourselves wishing for rain, or at least some cloud cover, or at least some shade from roadside trees. But there was no relief today. Here we are filling water bottles in an unlikely spot.
For some reason this part of Kansas was full of roadside folk art. There were hex signs on barns, just like you see in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I saw a couple of quilts for sale, draped on fences. And then there were a lot of wood carvings, like this.
And this.
This farmer obviously has some time on his hands in the long winter months. Ok, so Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man are obvious. I guess that's Dorothy in the ruby slippers but he might want to take another crack at that one.
And this, which was my personal favorite.
The game today was to keep your head down and keep moving. Here I am cycling through one of the tiny towns that characterize this part of Kansas. These prairie towns don't appear nearly as prosperous as the towns we cycled through in Colorado.
At about 60 miles we entered the so-called Flint Hills. For us, it just meant the rolling hills got taller. But the landscape also got greener. No more wheat and corn fields - it was grassland until we reached Topeka. It looked like this.
At the 70 mile mark, which coincided with our second SAG stop of the day, we passed the 2,000 mile mark. Yes, we have about 1800 miles to go but it feels good to have that many miles completed. Tomorrow we reach another milestone - we'll finally leave the great state of Kansas behind and cross the Missouri River into the Show Me State, Missouri.
Here are the Three Amigos commemorating the 2,000 mile benchmark.
We were on the road for just over nine hours today, though our riding time was under seven and a half. We took more water stops than usual, spent more time resting at the SAG stops, and I got two punctures which cost us some time. Magic Mark the Mechanic fixed one, which happened just as I rolled into the second SAG, and Jamie was kind enough to fix the other. Thanks guys. I'd still be out there otherwise. This picture gives you an idea of how long the day was - the lengthening shadow tells all.
Tomorrow promises more of the same. Mercifully it's "only" 89 miles, but the course is even hillier than today's and the heat promises no respite. Since we head northwest towards St. Joseph, Missouri, we may get a tailwind for much of the day, which will help. Tomorrow is the last ride in this third segment of the trip. On Monday we have our third rest day in St. Joe.
No comments:
Post a Comment