I was up and ready to go at 9 which is pretty decent for me, but found that I was almost out of my chamois cream so I would have to hit up a bike shop for more. As it turns out, there won’t be another bike shop until Denver and the ones in Manhattan didn’t open until 10 so I had an hour to kill.
For the past couple days my bike had been pretty loud, all the dust and mud from the Katy trail was in the drivetrain. So I took it upon myself to clean and lubricate the chain and gears. The last time I had done this personally, I didn’t do a very good job, but this time the drivetrain was silent and felt butter smooth so I guess I did it right.
I stopped in an outdoors store / bike shop in town, The Pathfinder, and bought my cream. The owner of the shop was really nice and gave me a map of recommended cycling routes through Kansas as well as a souvenir t-shirt from the shop.
On the road, the first 40 miles went by very easily. Stopped for a quick lunch and was back to pedaling. It would be 52 miles to the next town, and rain storms were closing in.
The hills are flattening out now and I don’t have to shift down much when going uphill, and my average speed is hovering about 13 miles per hour which is decent. I press onwards to the town of Beloit as I keep a wary eye on the storms to the north. Passing by three separate rain storms, they all stay just barely north of me and so I make it to my destination without getting wet.
I fall asleep at 9 but am soon awoken by a violent thunderstorm with lightning flashes every few seconds. The motel’s power is knocked out for maybe half an hour but gets restored and I finally get to sleep after the storm subsides.
Today’s mileage: 92 miles.
Total: 1952 miles.
Looks like you finally hit the real great plains. I bet the miles fly by on the long and straight of Kansas.
For the first time, as far as I know, your map marker is woefully off. It shows Stockton about 125 miles SW of where it actually is. Maybe it was blown south by those wind turbines.