Lamar, Co. to Garden City, Ks.

The temperature was low 60’s with blue skies at time of departure. The temperature gradually warmed until it became uncomfortable a little after Noon. Although not as hot as yesterday, the combination of heat and wind made progress over the last 25 miles difficult. My bike computer said 104 degrees so air temp was maybe low to mid 90’s.

Today we entered our fifth state. We are in Kansas now. We have ridden a little over 1,600 miles on bicycles! That’s also nearly half of the 3,800 for the total trip. We rode 104 miles today. That’s on top of the 121 we did yesterday. We are all very thankful for the 51 mile route planned for tomorrow.

We continue to travel on RT. 50. The terrain is mostly flat, but we were surprised with some rolling hills. We entered Kansas about 33 miles into our route. Again the scenery was similar to yesterday with planted crops irrigated by different methods. Some had a network of moving sprinkle systems spraying water and in other cases it appeared that the rows of planted crops were flooded with water from the network of irrigation trenches. Also now we are seeing large grain storage complexes, and as we neared Garden City more cattle lots and a Tyson plant.

As we entered Kansas we passed through the small town of Coolige and then Syracuse. The destination we looked forward to today was the town of Lakin at 78 miles. The attraction was the Dairy Queen next to the SAG stop.

I had more tire issues today. I had replaced my rear tire two days ago because it had developed a bulge in the sidewall. I installed that tire before I left home and had put a couple hundred miles on it, so with the trip it had maybe 1,800 miles and still had considerable tread wear left. The new tire that I installed failed today with a bulge in the tread line. The ABB staff installed a spare tire from their supply at the first SAG stop. I now need to buy some new tires. I will save this tire and maybe Jay, the Manager at my LBS will give me a refund when I return.

Mark, thanks for your suggestion of tire to provide more dependability. The next bike shop we have, I plan to get a set of Continental Gator skins. Several others have purchased those tires recently and installed them. The Kevlar belts should help.

As we were struggling against the wind at 99 miles all I could think about was that I just had 5 more miles. I was very tired, sun baked, and ready for the ride to be done for the day. Auto and truck traffic was heavy as we neared Garden City and there was an increasing amount of debris on the shoulder to contend with. Suddenly I noticed that my bike felt mushy rather than its usual sure footedness. I looked down, and to my distress the tire was going flat. I was so upset. I stopped and removed my rear wheel and sat in the grass dejectedly scanning the tire for the offending piece of debris. At this point I was just too tired to stand. I quickly found a very small piece of glass that had gone through the tire and punctured the tube. By this time my friend and riding partner Rick noticed hat I had stopped and returned to help with the repair. I felt a sense of relief as he took the wheel from me and quickly removed the tire in preparation for the new tube. Re-energized I stood up helped install the new tube, inflated it and installed it on my bike.

I carry one spare tube and have a patch kit incase I had already used my spare tube. I can always call the Support van if I’ve used all my supplies and still have a flat. I nearly always ride with Rick and he carries three spare tubes in his bag.

With the tire repaired we resumed our journey arriving at the hotel at 3:30 PM. There was Ice water and cookies offered by the hotel staff as we entered the lobby to check in. This was a welcome treat for very tired riders.

I have just completed my second century ride in two days barely a day after being racked by the intestinal bug. The first day I felt pretty strong for the first ¾ of the ride then faded some on the last stretch. Today I felt really strong for the first ¾ and then again faded some on the last stretch. In spite of our struggle with the wind and heat late today, we had a moving averaged of 17.6 for the 104 miles. Not bad! To quote my riding partner Rick, he said, “This was because of our astonishing level of fitness”. We averaged over 20 mph for the first 35 miles.

In closing today our thoughts are for Bob who had an accident yesterday and is the hospital as a result. Please join us riders in praying for his full recovery.