John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:
Today we cycled from Dodge City Kansas to Great Bend, the city named for the bend in the Arkansas River as it turns from a northeast flow to the southeast. We have followed the Arkansas since Salida Colorado, and our route will leave its path now. Our ride continued along US 50 for the first thirty six miles, then onto US 56 for the next fifty. The latter is more rural and pleasant, although it also has significant truck traffic. Other than a few small towns we passed through, the landscape consisted of farms stretching to the horizon. And in these flat plains of Kansas, the horizon is a long way off in every direction. There were places where the scent of wheat filled the air, and one stretch where I enjoyed the smell of fresh cut grass – something not experienced in the desert climate we were in for nearly three weeks. We are seeing more trees too, including large oaks, and it’s nice to see so much green. No trees line the roadway yet to provide any shade.

For many miles, maybe twenty, there were windmills on both sides of US 50. Like the wheat and corn, they stretched far to the horizon. I was surprised at the immensity of the power project.

We had our first rest stop in Kinsley where there was a museum of local artifacts and a sod house like those built and occupied by the early settlers. One could have spent a couple hours there, but we took a quick look and then got back to our cycling. It was only 9:30 AM and the temperature was already in the nineties, and we wanted to keep moving to reduce our time out in the heat. With fifty miles left to go, we still had several hours left.

We passed through the town of Garfield, which was named in honor of the 20th president of the USA. If you blink driving through Garfield, you will miss it. The town of Larned was larger and had a nicely restored railroad station. Pawnee Rock was another tiny town with a main street that was still a dirt road with a few buildings that looked like they hadn’t changed in one hundred years.

For the last two hours of my ride, the temperature was over 100 according to my bike computer. I was less aware of the landscape, although it doesn’t change much anyway, and more focused on drinking and keeping my pace up to finish as quickly as possible. It was an exhausting finish, but another accomplished challenge.

This evening, after dinner, we celebrated Tom Evan’s birthday with cake.

Day 25

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/26/2013, 4:48:3

Duration: 06:52:13

Ascent/Descent: 1168 ft 1842 ft

Distance: 85.39 M

Today’s Highlights:
Outside the hotel this morning, it was a comfortable 70 degrees, the higher humidity felt nice after being in the desert climate for days, and the sweet aroma of cow manure hung thick in the air. Ahhh, Kansas. Our ride was a short fifty miles today, so we started one hour after sunrise. After riding a few miles through the business district on US 50, we were surrounded by farmland all the way to Dodge City. There were a lot more large fields of green or gold, more farm houses, more livestock, more activity, etc. Simply, there was a lot more life than we had seen in the previous two hundred miles. That was refreshing.

The terrain is still very flat, but with occasional rolling hills to break it up. We had an easy ride today with the wind in our favor for most of it. Thin clouds early in the morning shielded us from the sun and created a colorful sky even ninety minutes after sunrise. The road was in good condition, but I am looking forward to getting off the highways and onto country roads a few days from now.

The highlight of the day came halfway through our ride when we stopped in the town of Cimarron for a special treat at the Clark Drug Ice Creme Parlor. It is a charming old pharmacy where you can sit on stools at the counter and have an ice creme soda or other treats. Every rider stopped there. The ice cream was awesome, and the people serving us were very gracious and interested in our adventure.

I crossed into Dodge City at 11:00 am, and arrive at the hotel about fifteen minutes later. The Dodge House Hotel is decorated with western memorabilia, some nice, some corny. It’s fun to have a change from the chain hotels once in a while. It is supposed to reach 104 degrees today, so it was nice to end early. We will deal with the heat on tomorrow’s longer ride.

Day 24

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/25/2013, 5:29:3

Duration: 03:49:12

Ascent/Descent: 325 ft 683 ft

Distance: 49.91 M

Today’s Highlights:
We completed our second back-to-back century of our cross-country tour today. The first one was back in Utah entering Salt Lake City. After yesterday’s 120 miles, we cycled 103 today. We also left the great state of Colorado and entered Kansas. And, we are now on Central Standard Time.

The morning started with a big challenge. We had a strong headwind, and the stretch of US 50 that we were on had very rough pavement. Cycling against a headwind requires constant pressure on the pedals and usually a stronger grip on the bars. The rough pavement sends a lot of vibration to your feet and hands and seat! That was the situation for over thirty miles and almost three hours. It was quite tiring and a bit painful on some body parts.

We had our first rest stop at mile 32. A half mile later, we reached the Kansas border and Central time zone. At that point our luck changed. As if we were being welcomed to Kansas with a gift, the wind shifted just enough to tap us on the back of our right shoulder (from the SW as we traveled east). Dave and I cruised for fifteen miles into Syracuse KS at 20 mph, up from our 13 mph average during the first third of the ride. And, the road surface was also smoother. What a relief! The wind continued in our favor until we turned south one mile before the hotel.

The final phase of our eastern Colorado route was sightly prettier than yesterday, but still somewhat desolate. We are still following the Arkansas River, and some farms near its banks looked productive. Most, however, seemed barren or abandoned. In Kansas, the land looks more productive and there are many more active farms per mile than there were from Pueblo to the state border. We crossed the Arkansas River a few times today, and it is surprising how little water flows in it. It should be getting bigger as it approaches the Mississippi, but apparently irrigation efforts use up most of the water along the way. The terrain has been extremely flat since Pueblo. About sixty miles into our ride today (30 miles into Kansas), we hit some nice rolling hills. With the tailwind, they were nice to cycle on, but most of all it was pleasing to see some variation in the landscape.

Another bit of luck we had today was an overcast sky. Although that made landscape photography less appealing, it gave us some welcome relief from the sun and heat. Our route has not had shade since we left the canyons about 250 miles ago. Still, it reached the mid-nineties by the end of our ride, and my bike computer again registered over 100 on the road. It was very hot for the last several hours of the ride.

When we reached the Comfort Inn in Garden City, the staff was especially friendly and accommodating. They had for us bottles of water on ice, fresh oranges cut up, cold wet face clothes, and fresh made popcorn. All were greatly appreciated.

My total elapsed time for the 103 miles today was only seven hours, and in that time I only had 45 minutes off the bike. Most of that stationary time was spent at the two rest stops. I made very few stops to take pictures today. Seven hours is not bad for a century. However, it felt much longer than that to me. Perhaps that was because of the lack a variation in the scenery and being more focused on the road ahead rather than the world around me. Hopefully, that will improve as we continue through the Midwest.

Day 23

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/24/2013, 5:32:5

Duration: 06:56:18

Ascent/Descent: 739 ft 1491 ft

Distance: 103.14 M

Today’s Highlights:
I woke up this morning feeling very tired and a little ill. I guess that’s what a rest day can do to you. My enthusiasm to start today’s 120-mile ride (our longest of the tour) was not as high as most mornings. I had a light breakfast, then hopped on my bike at 6:00 am. After a few pedal strokes, I adjusted into my normal state again. Everything felt good. Life was good. I started the ride with Ken, our fastest rider. I wasn’t expecting to be with him long, because I usually stop for a picture and loose him, or my legs just don’t keep up with his. However, today was different and I stuck to his wheel for nineteen miles. Photo opportunities were rare, and I only shot a few from the bike while cruising along. We made good time on the flat roads with a very slight tailwind, averaging about 19 mph for the first hour. The winds were forecast to swing around into our faces later in the day, so we were very happy to be covering the miles quickly before that happened.

Today’s journey was much more about the ride than the scenery, for me. Covering 120 miles in a reasonable time requires careful pacing, constant hydration, and consuming enough calories along the way. There were three SAG stops to provide us with the water and food. There were also several small towns along the way, although very little else in between. This is farming country, or at least it used to be. Most of the land that I saw could barely sustain grass or weeds. Even the yucca plants were withering. Irrigation was sparse. Many old farm houses were abandon and in disrepair. It must be quite a struggle to have a successful farm here. The Arkansas River was still close to our route, and we sometimes saw a ribbon of green (mostly Cottonwood trees) indicating where the river was. Trees were rare elsewhere.

Cycling alone after the first nineteen mile, I continued to made good time. Surprisingly, I was averaging 20 mph at the 50-mile mark. I think that’s the fastest average I ever had for that distance. It was 9:00 and the wind was still mostly in my favor, but starting to change to a cross wind. It wasn’t until about 9:30 when the cross wind started to slow my pace a little. By the time I reach the 100 mile mark, my average had dropped to 17.8, but it was still my fastest century that I can remember with only 6-1/2 hours elapsed time (about two hours faster than my normal century time at home).

I finished the 120 miles at 2:30 pm, very happy with my ride and still feeling able to do more. I guess the rest day in Pueblo really did help.

Today’s accomplishment also got me 120 miles closer to home. That feels really good too.

Day 22

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/23/2013, 5:04:0

Duration: 08:23:59

Ascent/Descent: 825 ft 2037 ft

Distance: 120.83 M