From Tribune, KS to Eads, CO - 59.7 miles
Story [in numbers]:
Time on bike: 6:25:27
Average speed: 9.3 mph
Max speed: 18.6 mph
Story [in words]:
being in a new time zone this morning meant that the sun came up much earlier in the day. we had planned to get up nice and early, mainly in an attempt to beat some of the wind. however, something got messed up with our alarm during the night and we ended up getting up about 45 minutes late. nonetheless, we were loaded up and ready to ride by about 7:15. unfortunately, by that point in time, the winds were already blowing much stronger than we would have liked.
we headed straight west with the wind blowing a solid 15 mph straight from the south. it wasn't a head wind...but a cross wind really isn't much better. we only had 16 miles left to ride before we crossed the state line into colorado, and it was almost as if kansas knew that, and just didn't want to give us up yet. it was some tough...and slow cycling. but finally, about mid-morning, we did indeed cross into our 6th state of the tour. pretty hard to believe to say the least.
we made it into a little town called sheridan lake a little before noon where we were able to order a pizza at a little gas station type of a thing. we basically tried to linger there as long as we possibly could...including a nap at the table that we were sitting at...mainly because we didn't want to go back out in the wind. just before we were going to leave, an eastbound cyclist who has been touring around different parts of the country since last september, came in and we shared a little bit of conversation with him. then a younger guy dressed in john deere clothes came in and we had a little conversation with him...he was pretty cocky to say the least...seemed to be awfully proud of the fact that he went to john deere university...interesting dude to say the least. (colli...that was partially in there for you)
we finally got back on the road a little after 2, to make the push to eads. the afternoon did seem to be a little bit easier cycling...but not much. maybe it was the fact that the road seemed to take a couple of turns to the north for a bit and we were able to get a little bit of wind to our backs.
as i was cycling along, i couldn't help but be jealous of my friend pervis. i have been kind of reading along with his blog from two years ago to see where he stayed and things. turns out when he was in this area, he had some really favorable winds, and when he came through this area he cycled 175 miles in one day. we are barely going to make 175 miles with yesterday, today, and tomorrow combined. oh well, that is the way that it goes. and unfortunately, the weather seems to say that it is going to be windy again tomorrow as well.
we arrived here in eads and found a family restaurant type joint on the main drag that looked like a good location for dinner. we parked our bikes, headed in, and found a table next to 5 older ladies. we had some great conversation with them about our trip. they seemed to be quite familiar with the route and with the cyclists who come through. this area is a really busy area for cyclists because there are a number of routes that converge in pueblo which is just a little over 100 miles west of here.
we will see what tomorrow brings...to be honest, i am a little bit dreading getting up. it feels a little bit scary to me...but at the same time, i think that we have really lucked out when it comes to this area and the potential winds that can happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment