Day 18

                                                                            Day 18
                                                              Cameron, MO to Kirksville, MO
                                                               122 miles, avg speed 15.9 MPH

     As you may recall, yesterday I was crowing about how great I felt....that as the day went on I felt like I was getting even more stronger....that I was a superhuman force that could not be contained.  Well what a difference a day makes.  At some point in the night, those feelings of invincibility deserted me, and this AM I awoke with heavy legs, stiff, and cranky.  I knew this was going to be a long day.
     The first order of business was to take an informal poll as to whether the other riders were going to bring rain jackets.  Some said yes, some said no.  I asked Mike, the ride leader, and and he looked at me like I was crazy.  "Mark, it's going to rain, of course you should bring a rain jacket."  With that settled, I returned to my room where I managed with effort to stuff my compressible rain coat into the middle rear jersey pocket and then started the ride.  At mile 5 it started to rain and out came the rain jacket.  By mile 12 the SAG wagon was waiting for us and directed us to take the next exit where we were to take shelter at the gas station as strong thunderstorms were moving into the area.  (What did people do in the days before they could bring up radar on their iPhone?)   While there, someone took our picture and interviewed us for the local paper. We waited about 30 minutes and then got the OK to go.  It continued to rain for the next 30 minutes and then tapered and finally let up.  This was followed by the heat and the humidity.  As I was still wearing my raincoat it was starting to do have its own greenhouse effect on me.  I was boiling, but didn't want to stop to struggle with getting this thing into my jersey pocket again so I opened it up and kept it on until the SAG stop at mile 39.  I ditched the jacket and my pseudo water resistant cycling booties in the van and continued on.  After that we started hitting the hills.  Thus we completed the hat trick of bike riding misery....heat, humidity, and hills.  Overall, it was about 6800 elevation gain according to the Garmins that other riders had on their bikes.  The landscape was as if it was flat at one time and then someone took one end of it and rapidly shook it up and down like a tablecloth.  It was constant hills.  Some short, some long, some steep, many obnoxious.  Unrelenting.  Speeds would be gyrating between 5 MPH at the zenith to 30 MPH at the nadir.  Had the scenery been mediocre this would have been awful.  As it was, this was a beautiful part of the country to ride through dotted with horses, cows, well mannered dogs, and neat perfect farms.  Occasionally I would eek out a smile and then resume either panting with my tongue hanging out or clenching my teeth as I attempted to turn the crank.  It was a struggle but I finished by 4:00 after starting at 7.  Jim, the bike mechanic, thought that this was the hardest day of the ride.  I'm not so sure about that, but it was a tough one, as whatever mojo I had when I went to bed last night had gone AWOL today.  It was not my day to shine. 
     Tomorrow, we head to Illinois and will be crossing the Mississippi.  We will also be going over the 2000 mile mark sometime during the day.  Also of note is that earlier today in the town of Chula, I was directly south of Minneapolis, 375 miles.  This is as close as I will get during this trip to home.  From here on out, that distance will increase every day, but thanks to all of your emails and comments, I don't feel that far away. Thank you.  It's very much appreciated.

-Grinner

Very friendly horse

Scenic area through woods

Rippling Missouri landscape

Steve (from UK) with a bike I've never seen, a Wilier

Waiting out the thunderstorm