Day 20...Quincy to Springfield, IL in 101 miles. Illinois is a very beautiful state and today's weather was beautifully sunny if not a little cool. Illinois has a very different feel than Missouri, which does seem surprising since they're contiguous. Illinois is flatter and more wooded at the same time. Many of the fields look like they were cleared of trees at one time, and there are a lot of remaining trees too. Some of the roads we rode early were tree lined...so you rode under the canopy and couldn't just see to the horizon like much of the riding to this point. (That means that there are deer around here as well...and we saw a few.) The fields tend to be corn rather than wheat...and I can't tell you why that's so. It just goes to show that there's always more than meets the eye and it would be interesting to know what makes a corn field versus wheat. One thing that seems true is that Illinois farmers care a lot about their lawns. Their yards are beautiful and even the drainage ditches on the side of the road are cut grass. Saturday must be lawn cutting day all around, because everyone was out with some serious grass cutting equipment. Well, whatever floats your boat, as they say.

Several of us got a nasty intestinal flu last night, so it was a 5 immodium day for me and it's hard to ride when you can't eat much. A few sodas would stay down nicely along with a few pringles and 2 pieces of bread. One rider had to hit the sag wagon, but I think I'm over the worst. Zach and Jari dragged me most of the way here as a favor. Thanks guys. Ray looked great today, though there was a headwind. He drafted an electric cart just a shortways from the lunch, so he made a hillarious splash coming into the sag stop. He's great.

Springfield is the state capital and the capital building is very pretty. I've put a photo up.

Time to try to find some chicken soup and get ready for tomorrow. We go to Champain, I think and the weather is supposed to be nice again. It should be great.

Here's a photo of a tree lined road, a herd of horses in a pretty field, new corn plants to give you a feel for how small they are right now (I'm just about on the ground), Zach and Jari, and the state capital building.


- posted by Tom @ 2:28 PM

 
Day 19...Kirksville to Quincy, IL in 97 miles. Well, Missouri is one hilly place. Today was cloudy and cold again, but at least it didn't rain, so I could take more photos of the countryside. It is very beautiful and very rural. The fields are big again, and much/most is pastureland as yesterday. The hills kept on coming again as well. For those bikers in the group, they are between 9% and 14% grades which is pretty stiff. Most of us were laboring up these darn things until we hit the Illinois border at about mile 70. The road continues to be a ribbon that you can see at each hilltop as it winds off up and down and around. It was pretty comical to see how complicated these things were getting to be to climb. I'm sure my legs will recover but it seems like they're pretty heavy right about now. Two very interesting things as we worked our way to the river...first, there is a sizeable amish population out here and every now and then you'd see an amish farm with the buggies out front. The second is that as we approach the river, things really pick-up with commerce and things like that. Not surprising, but fun to live it on a bike. As we hit the center of the Mississippi on a ferry, the sun came out...so we officially did not see the sun in MO. Naturally we did laps of the ferry on our bikes to get all the miles in. I was surprised to see that the Mississippi has a series of locks and dams. I'd not thought about it, but I guess that's for flood control. Once we were on the IL side, we were on the river delta...very flat. Now who knows why there's no delta on both sides, but there isn't. The houses along the delta are either on 10-15 foot stilts or they're built on top of a garage structure so that the living area weathers the floods. I guess the dams and locks can only do so much, no? When we arrived in Quincy, you can see the power of the river still. There are huge, beautiful mansions in this town from old money. Most of the big homes are brick or stone, too..which is also something we started seeing in Missouri. Anyway, it's very nice and seems pretty big.

Everyone had an easy riding day, really and finished pretty much in a pack. Ray looked great and none the worse for wear. He's really a hill climbing champion at this point and his "34" has been getting a lot of work. I was too tired to ice my achilles yesterday so I paid the price today a bit. You can only do so much.

Tomorrow's weather is looking up as we head across Illinois. It should be great.

Here are a few photos of Missouri, one of these tiny "unviable" town centers in MO, Ray and I crossing the Mississippi, and the Mississippi delta in IL.

- posted by Tom @ 2:21 PM

 
Day 18...St. Joseph to Kirksville, MO in 153 miles and a zillion feet of climbing (7500). Yes, this was the signature ride as they called it. There were three realities going on for this event. There was the environment which was simply spectacular, the weather which was awful, and the biking which was very difficult.

First the environment. The ride went through some extremely rural parts of Missouri. As I was thinking about yesterday and how there seemed to be a shift towards "rural between towns" rather than "tiny, unviable towns set in rural areas," it's clear that it's not simply working east and having it become more populated. Once we got away from the river, things really became very rural quickly. This is very hilly country...they call them rolling hills, but they're bigger than what bikers think of as rolling hills. Much of the land is grazing land and there were plenty of cows (black angus, I think) on the farms. We've come to understand that these cows will stampede if you call out in some quasi-cowboy way and/or whistle...actually, you only have to get one going and the rest join in. What better way to break up the agony of another climb but to have these things running along side. They can really smoke along too. The road is honestly like a ribbon that you can see for miles bending up and down and around. The farms seem quite prosperous...well kept and maintained. I remember thinking that Vermont farms are pretty dilapidated but not here. Some barns had simple sloping roofs...must have been kind of old. Others had the barn roof we've come to think of as standard, but I sure don't know the name for it. We went through a park aptly named Thousand Hills Park. Actually, they missed some when they named it, from what I can see.

The second reality was the weather. Gratefully, we've ridden in enough bad weather that Ray and I knew how to dress. It rained almost all day and sometimes hard, but mostly steady. The wind picked up about mile 80 and was a cross wind and as we neared the end, it was more in our faces...until the last mile when it was whipping from dead ahead. Ah, the challenge.

The third reality was the biking. Actually you could shift your thinking between any of the three quickly and easily as in "Boy that's beautiful. Man the weather stinks and geeze look at that hill, it's really steep." The biking was honestly a challenge, which made it all the sweeter to get in. I finished up early about 4:30, Ray about 6, and some people were still out at 7. The hills were never ending from mile 80 on. For you HPG'ers, imagine hills like Lincoln hill one right after the other for 80 miles. Many steeper, some longer...some more like Glen St. but hit the top, lose all the climb you just pushed up and go like crazy to hope to get part way up the other side. There were hundreds of them.

Ray was in heaven when he got in. He looked great. Big smile on his face "You've got to tell everyone how many hills there were." Most dragged in, but Ray was feeling good, though tired. We met the challenge was the feeling of the day.

Finally, I realize that there are a fair number of people reading this blog and perhaps even enjoying getting dragged across the US with us. I'd like to ask a favor. My mother just had a pacemaker implanted yesterday and is doing well, though needing some recovery. It was a welcome operation and we're hoping she feels great with her new computer. If any of you would just drop her a postcard or a get well card wishing her well, she'd be thrilled and surprised. Mrs. Robert Day, The Strand, PO Box 430, Oxford, MD, 21654. And thank-you.

Who knows where we go tomorrow...but it should be great.

Here's some of the scenery but you can't see the road ribbon off to the distance, a city hall in a very small town, and Ray at the start.

- posted by Tom @ 6:08 PM

 
Day 17...Topeka, KS to St. Joseph, MO in 89 miles. An easy day today, for sure planned around tomorrow's epic 153 miler with 7500 feet of climbing of some 233 hills. Yikes! Anyway, for today we had an easy wind...mostly at our backs, though it was wet for quite a bit of the ride. Now it's interesting how things are changing as we go along. A few days ago, there were huge rural areas which in 10 miles could hardly support a town center at all...very small towns that are not doing well. Gas, convenience, grain coop, farm equipment repairs if that at any one place... Now as we get further east, things are more like rural spaces between town centers rather than a small dots of a town amid large rural areas. It also took almost 25 miles to escape Topeka. I'm sure the trend will continue. The fields are not entirely or even mostly grain at this point. Not sure what they are, but they're plowed to the contours of the rolling hills since the crops are in rows. And, the big news is that we saw our first industrial plant that wasn't directly related to agriculture. It appeared to be making steel frames for trucks or some such thing. Now that was right on the Missouri River and not that far from Kansas City, so that's not so surprising, but it was a first. And as soon as we crossed the Missouri River, things became more rural than on the KS side. Not sure why that would be, but it was very much the case. This is beautiful, rolling hills country even if not quite so rural.

Saw Ray at the lunch SAG stop and he was doing great. He stopped in at a RR museum and bought t-shirts for his grandchildren...one of the towns was Atchison, so you can see why he stopped. I had a chance to go to a psychiatric museum right down the street. It was an exhibit of psychiatric treatment through the ages, and at the St. Joseph psychiatric hospital here in town. My favorite therapy was the gerbil wheel...a patient was put in a human sized wooden "gerbil" wheel (it was completely dark inside) and the choice to "settle down" or move was entirely the patient's. Eventually most settled down rather than run endlessly. I think Ray might keep running.

Tomorrow is the signature ride, so I'd better get ready and sleep some extra tonight. Weather is supposed to be nasty too, so the challenge will be there for sure. It should be great.

Here are some photos of the fields and crossing the MO line. Sorry I didn't get a photo of Ray...I'll get one tomorrow or the next day.


- posted by Tom @ 5:33 PM

 
We just had a great dinner in Topeka and were waiting for a cab to get home. Yep, a cab is a rare thing in Topeka and I think it may still be working it's way to the restaurant. A school bus pulled up to pick-up a high school girl's softball team when Ray asked the driver if he could give us stranded bikers a ride back to the hotel. Below are photos of our bikers with the Northern Heights Varsity Ladycats of Allen, KS after the Silver Lake game. They were all very friendly. The photos aren't the best, so my apologies to any of them who don't like their photo...it's the best I could do when bouncing around the bus. Anyway, it was indicative of the hospitality you can find out here in Kansas. Thanks from all of us.




- posted by Tom @ 7:14 PM

 
Hi...it's a rest day in Topeka. After sleeping in 'till 7, Ray and I have been doing our laundry and getting ready to hit the bike shop for incidentals like a replacement chain, tires, lube, and things like that.

We want to thank John's sister Suzi for the great cookies...Ray put them out at mechanic's hour and they were inhaled by the lucky folks there. Everyone was grateful and impressed, though I'm not sure it's a hard crowd to impress right now. I think they would have passed any taste test, though. Also, thanks for the card...cowboy up, as they say.

I added an mpeg of the wind to the bottom of Saturday's post.
Here's a link to it from here too: Wind on the wheat
- posted by Tom @ 6:14 AM

 
Day 16...Abilene to Topeka, KS in 108 miles. Now this was another tough day. My vivid recollection of Kansas will be the wind. At your back and it's your friend. In your face and it makes for a long day of riding! We woke up to a huge thunderstorm again and in the land of a big sky, it's remarkable to see the lightning bolt across the clouds. That delayed the start, but we didn't escape the rain or the wind. It wasn't as strong as yesterday, but still around 20 mph or so.

Now this part of Kansas continues to be rolling hills and pasturelands. We didn't see the huge field like further west. Again, it's more like Ohio, and Pennsylvania...and I'm told like Missouri as well. The pasturelands have a bunch of cows, occasionally horses, and even one flock/herd/gaggle (whatever) of goats and sheep. As we ride along, birds jump out of the grass by the side of the road and fly off. There are also really slick swallows with very long tails that split into a fork when they're maneuvering. The cows lumber along with us, and the horses too. The road really ribbons through the countryside. This is very beautiful country and quite laid back. The towns, again, look like they are struggling. Most of the buildings are shuttered and an occasional restaurant. If you're not selling farm hardware, auto repairs and tires, and an occasional restaurant...you're not going to make it. And speaking of restaurants, we had a snack at Paula's pies out in the middle of nowhere and it was great. Mile mark 92.5...strawberry/rhubarb with whipped cream. What a treat.

Ray had three flat tires...we're going to get him some new ones tomorrow. I think he has the record or close to it though he would claim to only have had 4 flats so far. That and all the mechanicals, makes Ray here the same as Ray back there. I don't know why I expected anything else...it's amazing. Outside of that, he still made it by 5:20, so he had a strong day. Many finished later. The large group I was with finished about 4:30...so not much spread between us. Ray, the gladiator lives!

Rest day tomorrow, so vodka tonight...at last without penalty. We'll go to the bike shop and replace chains and get new tires and yaddah yaddah yaddah. Should be great. We're rented a car to get around.

Some photos of the scenery and an example of a small town.






- posted by Tom @ 8:11 PM

 
Day 15 Great Bend to Abeline KS in 128 *l o n g* miles. We got held up by a thunderstorm early which had hail at it's core. Didn't start until about 8:30, though it didn't hail. The lightning was huge across the huge sky though not very close, but it was worth waiting anyway. We had rain and wind for about the first 30 miles and after that simply the wind. The winds at a gusty 30 were in our face or quartering head wind (right front to left rear) for the first 70 miles. At times we seemed to be crawling along and pace lines were diagonal...kind of dangerous, so we split into groups of three to keep the diagonals short. We then turned north and had them at our back for the better part of 35 miles and then headed east again. Some of the riders were out there 11 hours. Good thing we were rested from the past few days...though a little spoiled too.

I didn't bring my camera since I was worried about ruining it in the rain. That said, it was simply beautiful out there. I'm amazed what a difference each 100 miles can make. Todays landscape had smaller fields with more rolling hills. The field were tree lined...kind of reminded me of Ohio or Pennsylvania. The fences, instead of being all the perfect steel posts and wire were more likely grayed branches...older and more quaint. The wheat was taller and almost waist high already. Seems like the soil is very rich and there's more water still.

It all looks so Idyllic, but you know there's an economic struggle going on. This morning in the Sunday Biz section, there was an article on a local coop grain facility. They lost $700K this past year since harvest were down by 50% versus three years ago. Insurance was canceled, so farmers had to move their grain at whatever price they could by the end of April. The article talked about getting $160K of pledges from the members to keep it open. The town of Gypsum was just about completely abandoned...we saw a car and two boys. It was if the America by Bike Sag stop was their spring festival. I think two of the stores were still operating in some fashion, but can't confirm since none was open on Sunday afternoon. So, beneath the natural beauty is an way of life that's being challenged.

Tomorrow we head off to Topeka...108 miles and the prospect of more Kansas wind. It's really something. PS, for you HPG'ers, the group that I'm with rotates behind me...seems that I don't block much of the Kansas wind. I think the only answer is to never have me out front, but they're perfectly willing to rotate and have me suffer out front with the rest.....hahahaha. Anyway, tomorrow is a new day and it should be great.

Sorry there aren't any photos.
- posted by Tom @ 7:01 PM