Liberal, Kansas to Dodge City, Kansas

Another great ride today!

Not only that, but another blog post beginning with a sentence fragment!

The weather seems to be getting progressively hotter and hotter. Lately however, it seems that both the heat and the winds mercifully don't really pick up until after 1 to 2 PM. That gives us an obvious goal. We like to push the ride pace, at least a little bit, in order to try to arrive at the destination by 1 PM or so. So far, that has been working out.

We did 83 miles today. We left Liberal, Kansas, at the usual time of 7:15 AM this morning. We went northeast, on US 54, initially. The start of the ride today was great, as it was pleasantly cool, but not cold. I wondered what the temperature was, and I knew that Doug has a high-tech bike computer. Taking a chance that it might show the ambient temp, I asked him as we were riding. He happily told me that he did have the temp, and it was 19 degrees!

Gotta love those British!

The pace was fast, but comfortable. I felt really pretty good. We had our only SAG at 38.6 miles out, that in a town called Meade. The Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum is there. That actually was the SAG location. I am learning to get in and out of the SAGs quickly. I just pull up, drink and eat a bit extra, refill my bottles, and don't linger to talk a lot with the other riders. I try not to rush, exactly, but I try not to waste any time on these longer days, especially with the heat and the winds approaching.

At about 50 miles out, I had yet another flat tire! The culprit was easily identified, and it was the same thing that seems to be still happening to many of us. It was a tiny wire, embedded in the tire, puncturing the tube. These are small and malleable wires, probably one-half to one centimeter long, of a diameter probably similar to a 25 gauge needle. These wires really aren't all that terribly sharp, but they surely do like to embed in our tires. I am told that these are wire pieces that are shed from the steel-belted radial tires of the larger trucks. Whatever. It is annoying. Oh well. I am getting well practiced at tire changing.

With the tire fixed, I was soon back on the road. At roughly 60 miles out, the route changed to US 283 north. The winds were directly from the south all day. Turning from a northeast to a north direction then resulted in an absolutely perfect result. The resultant "favorable headwind" enabled me to do the last 20 miles at 20 to 24 mph easily. I made it to Dodge City at 12:35 PM. That felt good.

The best thing about "favorable headwinds" is not so much their facilitation of speed, but their remarkable silence. It is so pleasant to have a nice wind at your back and get the result of a wonderfully quiet ride, not just a fast one.

Dodge City surely seems to celebrate its Wild West heritage. There is a huge and impressive, larger than life, statue of Wyatt Earp in the center of the historic downtown area. There is also a Boot Hill cemetery and museum.

Michel and I walked around in that historic downtown area a bit. We were impressed with how seemingly deserted the area seemed. For an early to mid Friday afternoon, we were impressed at how few people were out and about.

Regardless, we had fun.

Tomorrow we have another longish day. We go to Great Bend, Kansas, tomorrow, that at a distance of 86 miles. Hopefully the winds and the roads will be kind.

It occurred to me that today is exactly three weeks since the day that Lauren graduated at U of Minnesota. That was such an incredible thrill for me. I had such a great time. Somehow however, that time seems to have been almost a million years, and a million miles, in the past. Difficult to grasp.

Anyway, more tomorrow!

Guymon, Oklahoma to Liberal, Kansas

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas! Three states in three days! How about that for progress?

(I will, of course, not dwell upon the fact that we only clipped off tiny segments of both Texas and Oklahoma, in order to make that progress!)

Today was a short ride, almost embarrassingly so. We rode for only 40 miles today. With the mildly favorable headwind, we were generally at, or just below, 20 mph. (Keep in mind the strict definition of the term "favorable headwind", that covered on a previous posting in this blog.) Even with the late start today, as scheduled, at 9:15 AM, most of us still made it to the destination of Liberal, Kansas, slightly before noon. That means that today almost feels like a rest day. I will not feel bad about that, as this is the middle of a 9-straight-day run until the next true full rest day. The next four days, in particular, may be quite long, and hot, so I will not feel bad about taking it a bit easy today.

Liberal, Kansas, really seems like a nice little town. It may be that we never really get a good concept of the towns in which we stay, since we generally arrive by the main highway and generally stay probably on the town's outskirts. Still, Liberal seems much nicer than Dalhart, Texas, and Guymon, Oklahoma. From what I have witnessed, from the seat of my bike, this is a very clean and pretty town. Nice people.

When we arrived here today, just before noon, the temperature was then tolerable. Now however, mid-afternoon, it is over 90 degrees! This does not bode well for us; on our next two days (if not the next four) our longer mileages will probably have us still out on the road when it is getting this hot. We will see.

Today is Marsha's birthday. Hopefully she already got the (neatly wrapped) present that I left earlier with Nickie. I am certain that she did. I tried to call, minutes ago, but my cheapo cell phone has no coverage anywhere in this entire quadrant of the state of Kansas. I hate to call collect, just to say happy birthday, but I probably will do so later anyway.

Soon after arriving in town, we learned of the Mid America Air Museum. That is located at the airport, here in Liberal. Michel and I rode our bikes there, finding Ty, Doug, and Bill already there. This was really worth the trip. There are lots of planes on display, most military but some civilian. It was really cool to see all of these. (Bill used to fly A4 jets in the Navy, while then stationed on an aircraft carrier.) I saw a number of early Cessnas also. Some looked like the taildragger equivalents of the model 172 with which Marsha and I are familiar. The state of Kansas has had a lot to do with aircraft manufacturing, civilian and military, and with military flight training.

I am grateful for Lynette's comment of earlier this date. After roughly three weeks of absence so far, I had, of course, assumed that I have been long forgotten at Gundersen-Lutheran. I am certain that the whole place is functioning so smoothly, in my extended absence, that the term "Dan who?" is used occasionally. It makes me feel good to know that my progress on this trip, such progress as it is, is being tracked. Thanks for the note, Lynette! I will see you in early July, and I may even wash up a bit before that time!

Tomorrow we go to Dodge City, Kansas. That is an 83 mile ride. Hopefully we will arrive there before the heat.

Photos from yesterday - Texas to Oklahoma

I seem to be having trouble uploading photos recently. Here are at least two from yesterday's ride, that from Dalhart, Texas, to Guymon, Oklahoma.

More later today!!!

Dalhart, Texas to Guymon, Oklahoma

Interesting and great ride today, once again, although there is no question that the last 20 to 25 miles of today's ride was a real struggle for me. The first 50 miles today were fun, and easy. In the last part of today's ride however, we endured the sudden development of impressive headwinds. (It may have been that a front was going through.) With 20 to 25 miles left in our 72 mile ride today, I went from really feeling well, to suddenly facing a constant 10 to 15 mph headwind, that straight on. It may be that I wasn't eating quite enough today also, during the ride. Regardless, I was really relieved to make our final destination today.

All seems to be relative. In the past, I would have normally seen a 72 mile ride as a moderately impressive endeavor. Now however, after two consecutive century rides, most of us were seeing today as a light ("recovery") ride. Whatever!

Dalhart, Texas, is probably not the showcase city of the state of Texas. It was an opportune stop on highway 54 certainly, but it is nothing to really celebrate as a special destination. There really is nothing to see, or do, in Dalhart. We ate at the Sands restaurant in Dalhart, last evening. It was, so far, the worst meal of the trip, that almost embarrassingly so. We waited for an hour just to get food. The food, finally arriving, was so bad that most of us later walked over to the nearby Dairy Queen.

Regardless, it is fun to be on the road. By now, everyone in our group knows each other really rather well. We are becoming a really neat family. I am especially enjoying the company of Michel. He is a great guy. I enjoy biking, throughout the day, with absolutely everyone in the group.

We entered Texas yesterday and we only went 41.7 miles from the state line to Dalhart. Today we left Dalhart and we hit the Oklahoma state line in 50 miles. All of that was on highway 54. Crossing the entire state of Texas in 91.7 miles leaves me with the clear understanding that Texas must be a very small state indeed! It is obviously much smaller than New Mexico, as it took us lots of time to cross that state. I haven't yet looked at a map, but I am guessing that Texas is probably the size of Rhode Island. I am not sure.

Tomorrow we enter into the great state of Kansas! We will go to Liberal, Kansas, tomorrow. That promises to be a very short ride. That will be merciful, as I see it, as I really am a bit tired now. I haven't been in Kansas since 2007, then when Bill and I did the "Border Raiders" bike trip. That trip had started, and finished, in Lawrence, Kansas. It was a great trip.

I am in Guymon, Oklahoma, now. I have showered, cleaned my bike, lightly lubricated the chain, and even washed my clothes. I am ready for Kansas!

I have some photos from today's trip, but I cannot seem to get them to upload. Oh well! Maybe tomorrow.

Tucumcari, New Mexico to Dalhart, Texas

Wow! A new state and a new time zone today! Pretty cool. This is not the first time that I have been in the state of Texas, but this is the first time on a bike. Now I can add New Mexico to my personal list of states crossed fully, west-to-east, on a bike.

Today's trip was as fun as yesterday's was stressful, that all because of the wind status. Yesterday we endured brutally punishing crosswinds. Today, the worst wind would have to be classified as a gentle breeze only. What a great ride.

The terrain and scenery today were not nearly as impressive or interesting as yesterday. The ride was fast and strong. Rolling hills, but no really significant climbs at all. I checked, at 101 miles total, at 1:30 PM. That's respectable for an old guy, I feel.

The ride yesterday was a century ride (that's more than 100 miles, for non-biker readers of this blog). Today was a 96 mile ride, at least as planned, all on route 54, from Tucumcari, New Mexico, to Dalhart, Texas. That would mean that today's planned ride would come close to two consecutive century rides. Close, but not quite there. We had two consecutive century rides earlier in this trip, then back in the Mojave Desert. It seemed to me that two consecutive century rides again now would be a nice accomplishment.

We did go by a huge cattle feeder facility ("XIT Feeders") today. This was on the right side of the road, probably just 10 miles before getting into Dalhart. I have never seen, nor smelled, so many bovines in my life. There were literally acres upon acres of nothing but cows eating food. Based upon my olfactory abilities, I will state my opinion herein that the cows do more with their food than just eat it; they appear to also process it. This feeder facility probably went along the road for a full mile distance, extending back from the road for as far as the eye could see.

I have heard it said that you learn a lot about yourself when you go on trips like this. That is so true. Today I did learn something about myself. As I was biking by the XIT Feeders today, I learned that I really can pedal a bicyle for a mile without inhaling even once!

When we were getting near our destination at Dalhart today, I happened to look down at the odometer on my bike computer. It was perfectly on track with the cue sheet for today's ride. I could see that I would hit 96 miles, exactly as planned and expected, at the destination. Again, 96 miles is technically not a "century" ride, but it is still a more than reasonable accomplishment.

When I got to the destination however (Days Inn - Dalhart) something weird happened to my bike! My bike had been functioning perfectly all through this past 1,000+ miles so far, so I cannot fathom what happened now. As I was turning to the left, to enter the Days Inn parking lot, the headset on my bike suddenly completely froze! I could not turn the handle bars at all! It was so strange. The bike would not turn to the left and enter the Days Inn parking lot! I thought about stopping and seeing if I could fix the problem, but it occurred to me that I might be able to fix the frozen headset better if I worked on it while still riding.

I kept on riding then, while simultaneously struggling to fix the frozen headset. I pushed as hard as I could, both left and right, while still riding on down the road in a relentlessly straight line. I was perplexed, almost frightened. The bike headset remained frozen.

Then, coincidentally at an odometer reading of 98.5 miles, the headset suddenly became fully mobile! It became totally normally functional, as inexplicably as it had suddenly malfunctioned only 2.5 miles earlier! How do you figure that one? Relieved then, I was able to turn the bike arround and ride safely back. When I finally did arrive at the destination, the odometer reading was 101 miles! It should have only been a 96 mile ride, but it ended up at 101 miles! How could that have been expected?

Imagine that! Today's ride was a century ride after all! Now that was unexpected! Two consecutive century rides after all!

OK, OK, I will admit that my extra 5 mile ride was just a bit juvenile on my part. Maybe more than a bit. Still, it felt good to do it!

Tomorrow we go to Oklahoma. I have never previously been in that state at all.

More tomorrow.

Las Vegas, New Mexico to Tucumcari, New Mexico

What a day today was!

This was a super hard day. The problem was not so much the mileage, but it was the relentless, brutal, and remarkably strong winds. In particular, the crosswinds were horrific. We had strong and randomly gusty crosswinds, almost always from the right side. At times it was really unnerving. At the proverbial end of the day, my fatigue was probably as much due to the tension associated with the winds, as anything else. I had times when I was finding myself in the left lane of the road, due to these nasty crosswinds. We did 108 miles today, and this was unequivocally the most difficult, and the most stressful, day of the trip so far.

What made this especially hard for me was my stupid acrophobia. There were times that we had steep downhill runs, on winding mountain roads and a whole lot of nothing to the right side of the guardrail. I spent a lot of time riding my brakes, clicking out of the pedals, and trying to think happy thoughts.

Enough complaining!

One highlight of the trip today was passing our official 1,000 mile mark! That was neat. This happened at mile 27 into today's ride.

Today's ride was truly scenic. I marvel at the endless beauty of this part of our country. If I have any regret, it is that of my profound ignorance in the field of geology. It really would be nice to better understand, and thereby appreciate more deeply, all of these truly remarkable rock formations.

Tomorrow we cross into a new state, and a new time zone also! We do 96 miles tomorrow, to end up in a place called Dalhart, Texas. At that point we will enter into the Central Time Zone.

Texas tomorrow, and Oklahoma on Wednesday!

Hopefully the winds tomorrow will be more merciful.

Santa Fe, New Mexico to Las Vegas, New Mexico

Yesterday (Saturday) was a full day of rest in Santa Fe. Michel, Doug Squires, and I took the bus into town, just for a visit. Santa Fe is a very nice place. We found it remarkably quiet, considering that it was a Saturday morning with great weather. We spent time at the central plaza area, which is a rather typical touristy type of place. There were lots of shops, and lots of open air tables set up, all with an abundance of native American-themed items for purchase.

We never found the restaurant that Tom Collins and the others opened up, but we had fun looking around just the same. Michel and I did find a spot where there where cow skulls for sale (see photo). We both were initially enthusiastic about buying them. Then the reality set in that it would be a bit awkward with getting it back home. I think that we would have looked a bit funny with one tied to the back of a bike. Oh well. At least it was fun to look around.

We visited two bike shops also. I wanted to find a lightweight rain jacket. I found none in my size, so I bought some electrolyte supplement pills instead.

We were in bed and asleep by 8:30 PM last night. It is amazing how tired out you get on a bike trip of this nature, even on the rest days.

Today we did a 72 mile ride to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Beautiful ride, once again. The mountains now seem to have more vegetation. Today's ride was a very hilly 72 miles, quite arduous. At least the winds didn't pick up too much until mid-afternoon, well after we arrived in Las Vegas.

It has been over a week now that we have been consistently at high elevation. I might be getting a bit adjusted. Still, this is a thin-air environment. I find that I am tachypneic, at least mildly, even with just brisk walking.

Las Vegas, New Mexico, is a tiny little town. Not much here but wind. Still, I guess that this is where the Great Plains meet the Rockies!

I started out the day this morning feeling like my legs were composed of jello. Warm jello. For the first 5 or 10 miles, I had huge trouble with the hills. I was riding with the rest of the group, leaving Santa Fe this morning, having great trouble keeping up. I contemplated the obvious diagnosis of AOMG. I may not be a Neurologist, of course, but I felt that my symptoms fit perfectly with a fulminant case of adult onset myesthenia gravis. Indeed, my physical limitations and symptoms were so classic that I seriously doubted that any responsible Neurologist would even need to do much in the way of confirmatory diagnostics.

After about 10 miles of slogging however, my legs seemed to wake up and remember what was expected of them. I ended up having a strong ride. I finished the 72 miles, arriving in Las Vegas at 12:30 PM, near the front of the group, with an average speed on my computer at 15.4 mph. I ended up feeling good about that, especially for a hilly ride. That aside, I am a bit worried about tomorrow's ride. That will be a 108 mile ride, hilly terrain, to a place called Tucumcari, New Mexico. (Who would name a town "Tucumcari"?)

We went through Pecos, New Mexico today, that being near the Pecos National Monument. It really is a neat area. I understand that we went over Glorieta Pass today also, but that was not marked, so I didn't recognize it at the time.

Today is a Sunday, so I suspect that Kevin is back at work today in Gary, Indiana. I miss him. More importantly, I do hope that he is remembering, and praying for, all of us here on the road.

I hope that all is well at home. I do think of Ward frequently, but my guilt pangs seem a bit less painful lately. I do hope that he is surviving. I know that Deb and Jill both have daughters with graduation parties. If memory serves, they are this week. I wish that I could attend, but it is a bit far. I extend my best wishes from this distance nonetheless. I hope that Julie is not too uncomfortable. I hope that all is well with my Madeline and Chocolat also.

While I was on the road today, I briefly diverted blood flow to my brain, just enough to enable pre-frontal cortical limited function. With that, I was able to do some simple arithmetic in my head. Today is May 23, 2010, and I was able to calculate that it has been 29 years and 286 days since I made the best decision of my life. It was 29 years ago today that I was finally able to act upon that decision.

Happy Anniversary, Marsha!