Time: 4h40m48s
Distance: 126.37km
Avg Spd: 27.0km/hr
Climbing: 470m
The prairie winds are going to kill me. Maybe not actually, but they are sucking my enthusiasm for riding. Today's ride looked like it was going to be an easy-ish 126km of downhill heading east out of the mountains. But we faced a constant cross-wind from the south blowing at 30-40km/hr. It is super tough to find any shelter in the draft from wind in conditions like this and the kilometers drag on and on..
At least it wasn't raining again...
The State Troopers didn't have much to tell us this morning, just warning us to stay as far right in the bike lane as possible, and be careful when crossing the on/off ramps. They did throw up some warning messages on the portable sign boards to warn the drivers - and it actually worked - most drivers and semis were quite considerate.
North-east Colorado is flat. Not quite barren - there is plenty of farming going on around here (mostly corn, it seems) - but it's boring scenery.
To add to my misery today, I suffered two flats. The first was found after we spent a good 15 minutes at a gas station/cafe stocking up on chocolate bars. A wire from a blown car tire was found to be the culprit, and I had to borrow tools from the mechanic's shop next door to pull the tiny shard out of my tire. While I was fixing the flat, the local reporter came by and took a group photo of everyone who had stopped at the same spot. But I missed being in the Flagler paper as I was in the shop making repairs. Oh well, perhaps my 15 minutes of fame will come later.
The flat was repaired with a tube I had patched last week. And an hour later the patch let loose and I went flat again. Talk about a drag! This time we had grass on the side of a not-too-busy road to do the repairs. I borrowed a tube from Brandon, and we were on the road again within ten minutes.
Camp tonight is at a great little park in Burlington, Co. There's a swimming pool (with a waterslide!) right next to it and we were given use of their showers to clean up. The park itself is quite new, and right off the I-70, but there's grass and shade and a great new playground with a space theme. I forgot to take pictures before we walked over to McDonalds (where I sit, yet again using their Wi-Fi).
I collapsed into my tent to sleep for an hour after I showered, exhausted from a long day. Tomorrow will be more of the same, I'm sure, and I can only hope that Kansas takes as good care of their roads as Colorado does - wide, clean shoulders make at least partial drafting possible, and the days just a little bit easier.
Prayer requests for today:
* Positive attitudes in camp as spirits are being worn down by the wind
* My wrist is still a bit sore from the fall in Desert Center
* Two members of our riding crew have broken limbs in crashes (since the beginning of the tour) and have had to withdraw from the ride - please pray for recovery and positive attitudes despite the set-backs
* Rest & recovery of sore muscle and other body parts for all riders
Hang in there...Do enjoy reading your blog sitting here in Florida each morning.Each day seems to be different except for the great company you are keeping. Admire your efforts.
ReplyDeleteAs queen of flats for the 2008 tour I sympathize with you. Flats can seem like such inconveniences, but I think God can use even them to teach us something. Looking back I can see how I became quite adept in fixing flats, and how I could open myself up to the blessing of being in community and learn what it's like to do life together through the inconvenient bits.
ReplyDeleteAs for attitude, we all have our days and struggle from time to time. Good for hanging in there. I can agree with the frustration of dealing with wind being a killer. As much as I am not a climber I prefer mountains to wind anyday! Wind is relentless.
Fight to stay thankful in the midst of things, you are on a awesome trip! God's got it :)