A big, warm day positioning me to cross into Colorado this Saturday. Leaving at 5:30 this morning and arriving in Dighton at 4:45PM for a 95 mile day.
I left in the dark before the dawn, riding west under a 3/4 moon. Very nice.
Lots of long views today, especially nice in the early morning light.
Food needs devided my ride into roughly 30 mile segments, the first being in Rush Center for a breakfast of egg & sausage hoagie and the apple fritters I’d been hearing about from other riders at the convenience store at mile 31. It did the trick!
Shortly after breakfast I had my first chain drop off of since I started riding in Missouri. Three minutes and I was back on the road.
I had a 3 to 5 mile stretch along this wind farm and I could see them allowing the wind turbines to start up one at a time. The wind was out of the south or south west but still pretty mild, barely enough to rotate the turbines.
I need Christ to peddle too!
My second cross country rider but the first to stop to chat was Mike from Oakridge, TN, a retired Fire Chief. He started riding the Pacific Coast route north but didn’t like the narrow roads and cars so he quit after a week or so in Ft. Bragg and rented a truck to Pueblo where he is riding the Trans-Am back home. He said he’s lost 22 lbs. so far and he rides an Appaloosa Rivendale bike. He’s already broken a previous Sam Hilborne at the headstock. Hope the Appaloosa proves to be stout enough. This is for you John Croft’s!
My 2nd 30 mile segment ended at mile 65 at 11:30 in Ness City with a long lunch at the Cactus Club. I ate, drank and rested for 90 minutes before starting the final and the hardest segment, the last 31 miles into Dighton in the growing heat and sun.
Meet Dan from Lawrence, KS who started his ride in San Francisco, and is headed for the Atlantic Ocean, maybe in Georgia??
Dan was quite a character as evidenced by the shirt he had made up and the pool noodle to keep cars and trucks at bay.
At mile 80, I stopped at probably the only shade spot along any road for 50 square miles. It was a historical marker for George Washington Carver, the famous black agricultural inventer. He apparently homesteaded a few miles south of here in his early twenties before he went to college. While I was soaking up the shade Dan #2 drove up in his pickup truck, catching my attention with his biker garb. He wasnt just a poser biker but rather taking his turn in one of the SAG vehicles supporting a dozen bikers riding from San Diego to Washington, DC to raise money for vets. About 8 of the riders were vets and you can see them breezing by in kind of a ragged pace line. He said they take turns in the SAG vehicles and are getting about 150 miles per day.
The momentary shade and the sight of the fast boy vets heading east gave me the gumption I needed to push onward to Dighton.
I had a $42/nt room at The Shays Inn on hold for me by “Hoss” from a phone call I made at lunch, but before I checked in I stopped at the Kwicky Mart to pick up a well earned beer to begin my recuperation. A shower followed by dinner at the bowling alley and I was off to sleep to dream about my next day on the road tomorrow.
💤
Song of the Day: Everybody Knows This is Nowhere by Neil Young.
OPTIONAL FEATURE: “Grain Elevators I admired today”
I’ve seen many areas where the grain stored is so great it is stored on the ground under ventilated tarps.
More over flowing grain storage. I wonder if the farmers are getting tired of winning too much yet?? I’m sure the $16B farm subsidies they received the last two years for the impacts from Trumps tarrifs helps. Maybe a little bit of socialism isn’t so bad after all??
Great post all around! Other cyclists, Rivendell bikes, and western Kansas agricultural views and commentary. I wish I was with you, but it would ruin the advantages of a solo ride for you. I hope Mike from Oakridge got satisfaction from Rivendell, I presume they let him trade up to a more rugged model?
ReplyDeleteDid Dan from Lawrence say how drivers responded to his shirt and pool noodle? I would be afraid that it would increase the possibility of a bad confrontation?
I appreciate your thoughts about a solo ride. It was something I needed to do and I’m glad I did. It wasn’t clear to me that Rivendale helped out Mike to a heartier bike but I hope so. The only thing I can say about Dan and his bright gear and pool noodle was he said he was helping his wife’s attorney with the strongest case if he was hit from behind. I’ve got some more info on rider incidents I’ll probably put in today’s post. Sobering.
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