77.74 miles
15.3 mph average
23.4 mph max
5:04:17 total time
Today began the same as yesterday: rustling in the gym at about 5:30a, and the feeling I could have slept longer. Laid there for ten more minutes, then got up, brushed my teeth, and packed up my apartment. Breakfast was just outside the gym, and consisted of breakfast burritos, bananas, milk and coffee. The burritos were clearly not of the homemade variety, but calories are calories (or so I keep telling myself).
*the ark river somewhere between jetmore and st. john* Got done eating at about 6:30a, and noticed I had not yet heard from my companion. Went ahead and got the bike ready, and went to see what the holdup was this time. They had not even woken up their daughter yet, much less gotten packed or fed. My companion's wife commented about how I must be one of those weird people who have to get going right away. I replied that most of the bikes were already gone, thank you very much, so I was not the weird one, they were just slow.
I waited until 7:00a outside, and after learning that they had not packed or eaten yet, I took off for the longest ride of my cycling experience: 77 miles. It started out nice: pretty sunrise, light breeze. Within 20 minutes, a blanket of clouds covered the sky, the wind picked up, and it got cold, around 50 degrees. It stayed that way for 43 miles, straight headwind, 50-55 degrees, until Larned. Plus my right knee was flaring up. Time to stop.
I went to a craft shop/cafe called Scraps and had a hot mocha and a breakfast panini to warm up and get some food. I think Scraps is a bad name for a place that serves food. The food did taste good, though, so after resting for about 30 minutes I headed out again. I took a few minutes to stretch, which didn't help much, and took off.
On the second half of the leg my knee kept hurting, but I saw a high school classmate at one of the rest stops, and riding with her the last 20 miles kept my mind off the discomfort. She actually graduated with my brother, two years before me, but it was a small school.
Got into St. John and promptly iced my knee, then had my massage. My companion made it in and we went to one if the several dinners offered to the BAK'ers. The hospitality there was truly first-rate. Great dinner, sat out in the town square while a local band played, and chatted with my new friends made this week. Went back to the school, was very tired. Listened to the weather report (headwinds and 50% chance of thunderstorms) and went to bed dreading the thought of 78 soggy and windy miles.
*the st. john courthouse (he's a lawyer what did you expect)*
*dinner time for fellow BAK'ers in st. john*
*made it to st. john and spotted this 4-person tandem, how the heck?!* 
4 comments:
CONGRATS!! That is amazing. I really cannot handle waiting for people, my first thought when I started to read was "Go on without them.." Funny. Scraps is a bad name for a food place, I ran past a place called The Crime Lab, not sure which is worse. They could be combined for a truly horrible names The Crime Lab Scrabs...YUCK!!
Best of luck with the rest of your AMAZING Journey..
I cannot type. I meant The Crime Lab Scraps... Chalk it up to being tired..
You are doing great. 77 miles is awesome. I like getting things done and not dragging in the morning, I would have left too.
4 person tandem is awesome.
Your journey sounds amazing...thanks for sharing :)
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