After a quick breakfast I was once again on the road at about 10. Last night’s rain was long gone, leaving behind only some cloud cover to give some respite from the sun. It was another hot day, hovering around 90 degrees, but I am getting accustomed to this heat. Perhaps it is because I am in better shape but I am not sweating as much as I used to, especially in these temperatures.
I had a nice 10 foot shoulder for about 20 miles before it returned to the 3 feet I’m used to. I am taking route 24 across the entire state and traffic is pretty light so between the minimally adequate shoulder and light traffic volume it’s not too bad of a ride.
One phenomenon I’ve been trying to figure out is regarding the wind from passing vehicles. Sometimes a truck comes from the opposite direction and after passing me, I get a light headwind. Other times, however, I am struck by a wall of wind that can instantly slow me down or knock me one way or the other. I had been trying to come up with a theory to explain these discrepancies of trucks of the same size traveling at the same speed causing different results and I think I have an answer.
When a truck passes and I get a light breeze from it, that’s like a ship’s wake – waves caused by the displacement of water. When this wake of air encounters a cross wind, it can push and compress the wake in my direction. For the past couple days I’ve had on and off cross winds from the south and since I’m going west, that means the waves of air are being blown right into me, causing the forceful wind with each passing truck. Now I know when I need to be prepared to steady my bike from the wind and when I can ignore it. The more you know.
Towns seem to be about 30 or 35 miles apart here so I had the choice of going 65 or 95 miles, and I opted for the shorter day. If I can do one 90-100 mile day, the rest can be 60 mile days and I can be in Denver on Sunday. Maybe I’ll try and knock that out tomorrow.
Today’s mileage: 70 miles.
Total: 2022 miles.
Galen, you’ve gone a long way since Cleveland. Denver by Sunday – that seemed so far away when you were here. Now it is just around the corner. Wait a minute; do they have corners in Kansas? Maybe I should say; “just down the road”.
You are probably right about the wake winds caused by the passing trucks. You’re the one experiencing the phenomenon, so you must be right. Those big trucks do displace a lot of air. Many years ago a good friend of mine worked for a large freight carrier. This was when they just began using wind deflectors over the cab. I can’t remember the exact figures but my friend told me how much fuel could be saved on a cross country haul by using the deflector. It was significant. Proves just how much air these big rigs have to push around.
Just put the compass in the mail. Hope it beats you to Denver.
Dan
Your map shows Colby Kansas. We stayed there on our cross-country trip in 2005 on the way out to see you and your family between time in the Smokies and visiting Steve’s relatives in Jersey and Brooklyn. We chose Colby because a best friend here has that name and we liked the town and enjoyed a cute local museum inside a hay silo structure before heading further East. Thanks for the ball of twine feature photo. 🙂