Distance: 83 miles
Climbing: 300 feet
Average Speed: 13 mph
Winds: Strong headwinds, 20-30 mph all day
Stick ‘em up!! Draw! No, you draw! That’s right, kids. I rolled into Dodge City with a six-shooter on my hip. Mind, a light-weight carbon six-shooter, but a six-shooter none the less. We lunched in Meade where the Dalton Gang hid out after the silliness at the OK Corral. The main drag in Dodge City is called Wyatt Earp Boulevard.
I wish I had better words to explain the feeling you get when you roll into a new town after one of these days. No matter how beat you are, you get a little bounce to the pedal stroke when the city limit sign goes by. There’s more traffic to play with. You know that the shower and a meal are near to hand. Today, they were both hot. It’s not that you don’t love what you’re doing, but it is extreme, and you need the stacking up of accomplishments to keep you motivated. For me, that’s the feeling I get rolling into Dodge, literally today.
Chilly and cloudy today. Maybe five days a year the winds here blow out of the northeast. Today was one of them and they blew like a mother. It turned what was supposed to be an easy day into another slog. Truly, a dead headwind is much easier than a quartering headwind. With a wind coming from dead ahead, only the guy up front has to fight it and only briefly. With a quartering headwind everybody has to fight it. Today we had both but more quartering. That said, I rode it smarter than yesterday, sitting in a rotating pace line with four other guys, swapping off 1 to 2 mile pulls. I was never out of my middle chain ring. I am feeling a cumulative fatigue kind of dragging at me, and I’m hoping to use a couple of days in Kansas to recover a bit. I don’t know if I did that today with the winds, but I don’t feel like I added to any deficit.
Now, because those Kardian kids demand it, age appropriate video.
Also, I’ve caught up with most of the comments, so check those out.
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Hey Andy, this is kick-ass fun you are having. Both biking and writing. The description of the granaries coming up every fifteen miles, that was priceless.
ReplyDeleteHey, with your daily routine being a little more strenuous than a drive into Tysons Corner, you must be having one of those legendary 6000 calorie breakfasts. The sort that only Michael Phelps and some of the NFL thugs have. What does a typical working day breakfast look like?
Hey Andy I liked the video, I just finished reading a Cormack McCarthy novel and it continued the mood. The sound was familiar and SB( if I may call her SB ) seems to be running well. Be carefull and continue to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAh I remember pedaling through Kansas. The lovely brown landscape...uncounted thousands of cows with their characteristic olafactory emissions, rain, headwinds, and one day with a phenomenal tailwind.......
ReplyDeleteTo Krish:
ReplyDeleteHeya, Krish. The eating thing is interesting. Breakfasts are large but not ridiculous. The trick is eating constantly because the effort is constant. I'm eating something, maybe 250 calories every 45 minutes on the bike plus three fairly large meals. It's the only way to stay ahead of the power curve without dedicating too much energy to digestion when you need it. Hope all is well with your family.
To Rick:
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's about right except Kansas is green right now. The Texas and Oklahoma panhandles are never green, though, and Kansas feels endless.
Andy- Thanks for the video - we are catching up on your travels. I have to say that the Kardan kids are used to the quality of Formula One or You tube Chicken dance videos - next time could you spice them up a little bit with some tunes.
ReplyDeleteVirginia wanted to know why you are taking so many trips - do you have a 2 min elevator speech for that one?
Harry wants you to know that he really likes Speedracer (mom says the movie is not appropriate but we still talk about it).
Virginia's advice for the day is "eat chicken strips, no I mean business" per the chick fla sign from last week.
Glad you are out of Kansas and lookng forward to your big ride tomorrow. 145 miles is impressive. Take care and stay safe - Love the kardians
PS- jack has no words of wisdom as he is still napping