Day 39: Larned to Ness City

June 18, 2006

Matt, another solo rider, and I had decided to leave Larned pretty early and attempt a 100 mile day. He's already done some long days and rides MUCH faster than I do, so we knew we'd split up after we left town, and the wind and heat were going to determine whether I could do a long day like that anyway. But we didn't leave as early as expected. As we headed toward a convenience store for liquids, I just felt like I was dragging.

Patrick deep in conversation with the goose he adopted from the noisy bunch in the Larned park. Rumor has it he still has it hiding it in one of his panniers.

Matt pulled away from me soon after we left town and I rode mostly alone to Rush Center, where everything was closed for Sunday and a truck driver having paperwork checked by the state police hollered at me to ask about the bikers he kept seeing on the road. Rush Center is where our route turned straight west on 96, a highway we'll follow for almost the next week. The only thing we need maps for is to check on services along the route.

I know Heidi D. would see this as providential breakfast. I saw it as someone's garbage and left it for someone more desperate!

Welcome to Highway 96...home sweet home for the next few days

I caught up with some of the Adventure Cycling group right outside Alexander, where a much needed rest area gave us shade and cool water. I didn't want to keep riding and really just wanted a nap. I pretty much knew 100 miles was out of the question, but I still debated about heading on. I just didn't want to be tagging along with the Adventure Cycling group, but there aren't many camping options out here with services sometimes 40 miles apart, so it's been hard to pull away from them. That, and they're getting to Pueblo the day I have reservations to pick up the car to go meet my mom, so we're basically on the same schedule for a few days anyway. They've all been really gracious about me riding and camping with them, though, and it HAS been nice to have company through the monotony of Kansas (monotonous, but blessedly flat!)

Anyway, I gave up on the 100 mile day at Alexander and took my first nap of the trip in the breezy shade of a picnic shelter. I left there with two of the group and faced hot, windy miles into Ness City. I thought I'd been drinking enough, but I could feel myself getting dehydrated a few miles out of town, especially when Patrick and I started talking about how good a cold gatorade would taste right about then. Then Ness City tortured us with a gas-station-looking structure on the edge of town which ended up being an implement dealership (no gatorade) (no pepsi either).

Alvin makes sure Patrick still has one head in the "Head Count Area"

But we were saved when a gas station appeared soon after. I was so happy to see the Pepsi sign. Alvin had pulled away from me and Patrick just before town (we're slow pokes and were proudly seeing how long we could coast without falling over) and I thought he'd gone on to camp to check on his group, but there he was, cold Pepsi in hand for me. WooHoo!

I told him how much I loved him, drank most of the Pepsi and went in to get gatorade and some other drinks. I knew I HAD to drink to get fluids back up. After a cold and rushed shower, I stopped moving and started drinking. As I was sitting on the ground and later on a nearby merry-go-round commissioned as a community clothesline, Alvin said I was looking funny and he got me some more water to get me cooled down. I'd had a headache much of the day anyway (another reason not to ride a hundred miles), but once I stopped, it got worse. I had no appetite but just kept on drinking. After about a half a gallon of stuff, I felt better, set up my tent, answered a bunch of questions (and I mean a bunch...) from a recreational rider about the trip and equipment and such while the group was having the longest map meeting in the world, went to the store for more drinks, and went to bed, hoping to sleep better than I had the night before.

I guess it had been 99 or 100 degrees--the bank in Ness City still said 90 at 8:40 p.m. And 90 felt cool.

Ness City's city park resident. Our neighbor for the night.

Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 2,030 miles (3,267 km)

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