Running with the Pack

I’m writing this in a Library in Sterling KS, and I have to say, its really nice having a keyboard.

Two days ago, after my last post, I headed out with the group I met in Eureka. I feel I should do more justice describing the crew. There is:

• Jim, from Tenessee who is in semi-retired and has a mechanical engineering background and used to be a competitive cyclyst.
• Cheryl, from England, who has done other tours in Europe, Britain, and Iceland, and who is on unpaid leave and in America for her first time.
• Tom and Jane, from New Zealand, who are riding a tandem bike and are grandparents. Not only is that impressive, but Jane has limited sight (“legally” blind), so they are quite amazing.

We had a ~69 mile day heading toward Harvey County East Park. The heat in the afternoon was pretty noticable during the last few miles, but we all got there ok. Tom and Jane were not enjoying the heat however, so they mentioned maybe making the next day a shorter one and letting us continue on. It was unfortunate, but the group agreed we’d likely meet up again before Pueblo.

The next day Jim, Cheryl, and I were headed towards Nickerson, where there was a city park to stay at. I got going a bit later than them, but managed to catch up and find them at a coffee shop about 2/3rds into the days trip. That was a nice surprise, since at that point I did not have either of their numbers so I was wondering where they had gone. After “second breakfast” there, we started out for the last 18 miles, but Jim noticed he had a flat. A peice of tire retread wire had worked its way into his tire. I waited for him to fix it and we headed off to catch up with Cheryl. When we caught her we were just a few miles from the destination, but she had a problem of her own, needing to get a bolt which had come loose and fallen out of the chain ring.

We determined that a detour to Hutchinson would get us access to a bike shop to take care of that and let us potentially stay in a church for the night, so we headed south. Getting there wasn’t too bad, and the owner of the bike shop was very nice, and gave us the key to the church’s bike hostel. Awesome, Zion Lutheren church in Hutchenson is amazing for opening their doors like that!

Inside we found a shower, communal fridge, beds, and a kitchen. We got some food at a nearby bar, ate a bit more at the church, and fell asleep.

Today, we planned on a 75 mile day. After about 20, however, the wind coming at an angle from the Southwest proved a bit too strong. Gusts were scheduled to get upwards of 30 miles later in the day, and with a gap in services of over 50 miles coming up, we decided to call it a rest day and take a pit stop in Sterling KS. So, im in the sterling public library now beating the heat, charging my phone, and basking in the air conditioning. Oh, and Tom and Jane made it here just a few hours ago, so now we’re all back together again. Tomorrow we’ll set off towards Larned KS, and we’re scheduled to have a tailwind.

Until next time!