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L I know its been a couple of days but here goes! KANSAS! Yep - Kansas. Just as I remembered from riding across it last time. Actually it was fine the first afternoon - but then I thought here comes the Kansass I know! Got up next morning and there was quite a bit of a headwind that first day and I was feeling so tired still. Those last few mountains had really taken it out of me - as I said before my legs seemed to seize up on the downs. Then the headwind really got into my head - completely - not what I had wanted and I struggled like crazy!! Then when I ran into the back of that storm I was really annoyed with myself Especially when the woman in the store told me it was 5 miles ahead running due east. If I had left just a little earlier I would have been in front of it and being pushed along this road. Instead I was behind it nearly being pushed off my bike.
So that was all a real pain and I really didn't get anywhere that day.
Next morning I woke determined to go better - put my he'd down and really go for it. It was a great morning for it - cool, calm, misty, eerie - so nice ..........
By afternoon the sun was out and a breeze had picked up. Felt like I had ridden really well but when I looked at the numbers I just couldn't understand why it had taken me 5 hours to do 50 miles - 10 mph - so slow.
I felt like I was riding well and pushing but just not getting anywhere. So that was a long day.
Yesterday I woke to a wind coming from the SW so when I was going east it was fine but there were lots of turns to the south which wasn't so good - right into my face and really strong. Weird day. Would ride east for a while and get pushed along and hen turn and ride a mile south and it would be a battle seemingly taking forever!!
Newton Bike Shop - what a saviour - but also pretty amazing and a complete surprise. I really should have read some of the race blogs. Riding into town I saw a guy who seemed to be waiting for someone - I said hello,as I passed. Then I realized he was riding up to me and explained he was from the bike shop. Awesome because I needed some CO2 canisters. So I followed him to the bike shop. Once there they took the bike from me to service it and I was then treated so wonderfully. Lots of encouragement from everyone there, cooked me food, took care of my bike, and there were even bunk beds in the back room so I could take a nap. Oh yes even let me have a shower and cleaned my bike kit. Amazing. And really really nice people genuinely interested. Trouble is Imhad already overslept and really shouldn't have hung out so long with them. But I did and so by the time I was done and back on the bike it turned out to be a long day again. I rode 170 miles where I had wanted to go a lot further. At first I thought that the extra nap would see me through the night but I soon felt yuk again. Rolled into Eureka and the first sign I saw still said OPEN. It was a bar and the girl was just clearing up to close but she kindly offered to make me a ham and cheese sandwich. Then she told me she had rooms out back at $35. Done deal! I was exhausted. One of those nights when you get into bed and then what seems like 5 seconds later the alarm goes off. I woke up , turned my phone off and went back to sleep. So ended up not setting off till 10 am
Rode well that morning - not breaking any records. Caught up with a guy who was touring across the country so not in too much of a hurry but moving along. So we rode together for 40 miles - chatting about anything and everything. Slower than I had wanted to go but it was nice because while my stomach has been hurting before, that more relaxed slower pace made me feel a whole lot better. By the time we had travelled 40 miles together and we turned and rode south he told me not to worry about dropping him as he had such a heavy load on his bike with all his stuff. So we parted ways and I rode into town and got some food, hoping he would ride by somI could at least say Hi and Bye again. But I didn't see him again - he was planning to camp in the Municipal Park. But that was a nice little interlude.
Riding during the day is so hot. Constantly looking for at least a tree to have a rest and maybe drink some water. So last night was wonderful - made such a difference riding in the cooler conditions. I rode about 30 miles expecting to get some food, nothing there, another 30, still nothing. Then I found a soda machine at 3 in the morning. I was rationing my food at this stage. Another 20 miles and I found a garage for breakfast and then continued to Marshfield. The bad news was that at about 3 am when I was moving along wonderfully, having a great time, my pedal suddenly fell off my bike. Just pulled my foot to find the pedal still clipped to my shoe but not on my bike anymore. Tried to work out how to fix it but in the end had to just shove it back on and keep riding. Every now and then it would of course slide off again and my foot was moving all over the place. A nightmare.
Seemed just a few seconds after this happened my chain also fell off and managed to catch on the chainrotector and ripped that off, which was then rubbing on the chain ring. Pitch black in the middle of the night of course!!
The countryside had changed finally yesterday afternoon - not so flat and straight. Then late last night it got really hilly with some really fast descents. Lowest gear going up and then 40 mph for a short while going down!
So that was the last couple of days - I was so happy to get out of Kansas. Felt I had pushed and was riding a lot better. Struggling in the constant wind to keep my cadence up - I was allowing the wind to wind me down to the point where it was "1 pedal, 2 pedal, 1 pedal, 2 pedal ..." Plodding along just trying to get through it.
But last night I definitely got riding properly again. So now I am sitting in the hotel. I checked in and went for a nap. The bike shop opened at 11 am so I called through to buy some new pedals - they are in a taxi on their way to me here. Ordered a pizza and am just sitting in an ice bath. Plan to grab another couple of hours sleep when I have sorted my pedals. Then I will ride through the night again on my new schedule. This way I avoid the crazy heat in the middle of the day and ride when it's cooler. I just have to be careful in making sure I have enough food with me.
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