Day 15

                                                                          Day 15
                                                          Great Bend, KS to Abilene, KS
                                                          128 Miles, Avg speed 16.9 MPH

     Just a few housekeeping issues to start.  In response to questions posed in comments, 1) who wrote "Take it Easy"?   Jackson Browne wrote the music and the first verse and then gave it to his neighbor, Glenn Frey to finish it and play with his new band, "The Eagles".  Both can and do claim credit.  2)  Chamois creme, any thoughts?   Yes.  Chamois creme is essential.  I've been using the Assos brand and ordered a new jar of it for this ride.  Upon opening it, I saw that it's appearance was different from my previous jar.  It was no longer white, but greenish, and more waxy and less creamy.  Regardless, it's doing an effective job.  No saddle sores at all which is not the case with many of the other riders.  (These are the types of things we discuss amongst ourselves, in particular at breakfast time.)  One strategy that others have resorted to when the discomfort is bad is to wear two sets of biking shorts.  My butt is big enough as it is, so I'm glad I haven't had to go down that road.  3) Earbuds to listen to music during the ride?   Verbotten!  What should be clear if you've followed what I've written, is that biking is dangerous.  More on this later. We need all our wits about us and need to stay focused.  Likewise, there is no drinking of alcohol during a ride.  You can't just stop in a bar and then continue on your ride.  A few days back when we were on our way to Cottonwood, AZ, there was a well known restaurant in the town of Jerome, called the "Haunted Burger".  Anyway, a few of the riders stopped there to eat, before descending the final 10 miles to the hotel.  Mike, the ride leader, stopped there too and took a picture of them as they sat eating.  When Mike was editing his pictures later that night, he noticed something that had escaped his attention at the time.  Beer.  There was beer on the table and it wasn't for decoration.  The riders were scolded the following morning for this and as far as I know that have stayed straight and flown right since then.  I'm just glad I wasn't in the doghouse with them. 
     I was just commenting yesterday, that I felt I was at the point in the ride, barring something unforeseen, that I was certain I could finish it.  Well what a difference a day makes.  If every day were like today, I wouldn't be so sure.  Today, was a hard day!  I am beat. 
     Our route today involved 75 miles heading due east, then 35 miles heading north, then another 18 miles heading east again.  The winds were strong from the Southeast all day and only increased in intensity as the day progressed.  By the end of the day they were in the 20-25 MPH range.  In addition, the temps rose steadily from 60 to 90 throughout the day and this was no longer the arid climate of the southeast.  It was humid.  Essentially, all of the ride except for 35 miles was spent battling the winds.  This is like going uphill all day.  As a group, we attempted a large paceline (11 of us) for the 30 miles until the first SAG stop.  This helped somewhat, but as the winds were coming angled towards us, you couldn't be entirely protected anywhere on the line.  Still it was the best we could do under the circumstances.  Again, Manny took charge, and got us whipped into shape.  As we closed in on the SAG stop, from the rear of the line there was the sudden unmistakable sound of bike hitting pavement.  A rider, Ed from California, had lost focus and two wheels touched causing Ed's bike to go down.  (Practically always, in this setting, if two wheels touch, the rider behind is the one to go down.).  Ed was OK.  He had a few scrapes and a bruised ego.  Nothing broken and his bike was fine.  Regardless, this put a damper on pacelining for the rest of the day.  I was afraid something like this might happen when riders are riding with people that they are unfamiliar with.  Personally, if I do participate in a paceline later in this trip, if Ed is there, I won't be.  He now carries a black (and blue) mark. His jersey might just as well say, "Ride near me at your own peril".  I know this sounds severe and mean, but I have every intention of staying upright for the remainder of this ride, at all costs.  Thus the title of this blog, "Rubber Side Down" which was given to me by my friend Bearcat, who coincidentally is another rider whose jersey should read, "Ride near me at your own peril".
     So after the accident, we all fended for ourselves.  Some rode with others, but there was no organization.  I rode solo for much of the rest of the day happy to stay out of harms way, but unhappy battling the wind.  I always look forward to SAG stops, but I don't recall being quite as happy as when I got to the lunch SAG at the 70 mile mark.  That previous 40 miles had been hard and I was happy to stop.  Also, after just another 5 miles east at the town of Canton, I would now be able to turn north and finally get the benefit of a tailwind.  At Canton, I took a picture of what may be the only HOT and COLD water towers in the USA.  It's nice to know that the people of Canton have a sense of humor.  The highway heading straight north was a welcome respite for my tired legs. With the wind behind me, I was able to easily hit speeds in the upper 20's.  The highway, the farmland, the cows, even the machines pumping oil the dot the Kansas farmland where all beautiful.  In fact everything tends to look better after you go from 14 MPH to 28 MPH with half the effort.  There was one new obstacle that we encountered.  Along this route, a bridge was out so we needed to dismount and walk down an embankment, across the stream on an I-beam, then up the other side.  This was the cyclocross portion of our trip.  Although we were able to get past this obstacle, the SAG wagon had to go on a long detour to get to the next SAG stop.  I beat the SAG wagon there and as I had half a water bottle left, I needed to wait.  Others arrived and waited with me.  Some got impatient and took off hoping to find water somewhere up ahead.  There was a hand pump there and someone got it going and filled their water bottles.  I wasn't sure about the quality of this water, but filled one of my water bottles with it anyway.  Just as I was about to leave, the SAG wagon showed up and after dumping out the suspect water, I filled both water bottles with pure SAG wagon water, the good stuff.   Apparently the impatient group that left with out refilling there water bottles, quickly ran out of water and discovered that there were no stores en route to buy more.  They resorted to going up to someone's house and asking for water.  The homeowners were apparently very gracious and not only refilled their bottles, but posed for pictures with them.  This is truly a story from the heartland. 
     I knew quite well that the Northland express was going to end soon, and I would need to make a big right turn and for the final 18 miles face the same winds I had dealt with all morning.   I started to click down the miles.  It took forever for the bike computer to gain even one tenth of a mile, let alone a mile.  My feet were hurting, my butt was sore, and I was tired and cranky.  I wanted today's ride to be over.  Then out of the blue, a rider with what seemed like an absurd amount of energy caught up to me.  It was Lee.  Lee is a great guy from Virginia, albeit a Republican.  Nevertheless, politics aside, I gratefully accepted his offer to pull.  And that is what Lee did for the next 8 miles.  In spite of my feeble, half-hearted offer to share some of the work, Lee pulled my sorry ass the entire way to our hotel.  Next door, there was a McDonald's where I treated my companion (and myself) to a well earned shake.  That was undoubtedly the best part of the day.  All told, I survived the day and am well under way to recovering.  Still, this day took its toll on me and I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow.  Good new is that the ride tomorrow to Topeka is 20 miles shorter than today and the winds although still not favorable, will be lighter.  Bad news is that they're expecting a record high of 95 degrees tomorrow.  I will be drinking plenty tomorrow and none of it alcoholic, at least during the ride.

-Grinner

County Rd 304, the most beautiful road in Kansas

When the bridge is out, this is how you get across

Hot and Cold water towers in Canton, KS

Kansas cows

Pumping oil in Kansas

Without question, the best part of my day