May 30, 2019
Pacelining to the Moon
Newton to Hutchinson
Today we left the Warmshowers house and headed into Newton to partake of a breakfast buffet. Our hosts met us there and I ate lots of fruit on top of pancakes and other goodies.
We (Corey, Mark, and me) bid farewell to our hosts and headed west into an unexpectedly strong headwind. After 5 miles we turned north and had little relief.
After waving at the town of Hesston we headed due west for 23 miles to Medora. Corey stopped to photograph all the things, Mark jetted out into the distance, I held the middle.
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When Corey didn’t catch up to me, I texted him to make sure he was okay. (He was.)
When he was done with his artistic pursuits, he rode his ass off to catch up to me. Exhausted, he caught my wheel and I pulled him along for a few miles.
We then traded leads until we caught up to Mark who was standing on the side of the road admiring his awesomeness.
Actually he was still suffering from SBS and was determined to get to Hutchinson to buy a new saddle and new shorts.
Our original destination was Nickerson, Kansas, but the entire town is literally under water.
The three of us pacelined into the wind going much faster than we would have individually.
We pulled into the town of Buhler where Danke Schoen was blaring from loudspeakers. (I made that up.)
We had lunch at a cafe. It was a relief to get out of the wind. There I met Sweet T, a TransAm rider who works at an REI in Virginia.
Another 10 miles of windy pacelining brought us to Hutchinson. We went to Harley’s Bike Shop where I, also suffering from SBS, bought new bike shorts. We picked up the key to a free bike hostel in a nearby church. Then Mark and I returned to the bike shop. Mark bought a new saddle (his third saddle of the trip) and new bike shorts. I bought a pair of socks because the Warmshowers laundry ate one of my socks last night.
Later Corey, Mark, and I went to the Cosmosphere, a local museum about the space age. We checked out an Atlas (Gemini) and a Redstone (Mercury) rockets and a Saturn 5 (Apollo) thruster outside. Inside we toured the fascinating exhibit about the Nazi’s V1 and V2 rockets. (This was made doubly interesting for me having visited the Churchill War Rooms in London in January). There was also a full size replica of the Space Shuttle Endeavor and an SR-71 Blackbird (a super fast, high flying spy plane).
Then we all watched the movie Apollo 11 on a screen on the inside of a dome. It’s an excellent recap of the mission for all you kiddies who weren’t alive when it happened.
After going to the moon we went out for beer and pizza at Salt City Brewery. We ended the night at the grocery store for more snacks and provisions for tomorrow’s ride.
Tomorrow we will be improvising a route because sections of the TransAm are under water. We are headed to Larned, about 60 miles to the west.
Earlier today I searched the weather for Nevada. My concern has been for sweltering heat. It’s actually cold there.
Another concern is that getting across the Rockies may be undoable because of unusually high spring snowfalls.
Time will tell.
Miles today: 46.5
Total miles: 949.5
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 955 miles (1,537 km)
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