TA 2 - October 2

Last day of biking today!  After a day off the bike it was nice to be out there again. Despite some dire radar reports the weather was actually great. A bit of drizzle/rain for the first hour or so but then it cleared up more and more. By the time we got to Wichita the sun was out and it was a lovely day.

Not much to take pictures of today. Oh - before we started out this morning we finally took a group shot. We’ve been meaning to do this since day one, but something always got in the way.

We were out shortly after 8. No hills and few photo ops to separate us, so everyone was riding fairly close together today. More agriculture and oil wells. As we got closer to Wichita there were a few more acreages and farmhouses, as well as a few small towns. Really, though, not a lot different than previous days.

The roads had good surfaces, no shoulder and little traffic. A bit of a headwind on one longish southbound stretch, but overall it was pretty effortless riding. A lot of small critters haven’t had good days or nights recently - lots of roadkill out there.

We’re staying in a nice new Hampton Inn on the western edge of town. They always put us in a nice place on the last night; probably so that we go home with a good last impression. The last day is a flurry of activities as everyone readies themselves and their bikes for travel. Cy has made several trips to the local bike shops with those folks who are having their bikes shipped home. Others, such as my roommate tonight, are disassembling their trusty steeds in the room and putting them in boxes so they can fly with them. Two of us have rented, so it is a relief to just turn them over at the end. They will travel back to storage with the van and trailer. And - a few people will be driving home, so no fuss or muss getting those bikes ready.

One last dinner together tonight before we all go our separate ways. Many will return next year for Trans Am 3. I’m undecided at this point, but will probably take a pass. There are other things I want to do and the terrain of TA 3 does not speak to me. It’s been a great trip once again, but I could have done with a lot less wind and a bit more interesting scenery in the last week to 10 days.

Stats for the day:
Hutchinson KS to Wichita KS
75 km. 47 miles.
358 feet up. 508 feet down.
Temp:  14C to 31C. Light rain and fog for the first hour or so. Gradually clearing and became a beautiful day for riding with very little wind.

Total stats for the trip:
West Yellowstone MT to Wichita KS
1879 km.  1167 miles.
40416 feet up.  41694 feet down.
25,095 calories burned.  Still 0 pounds lost; sigh..........

TA 2 - October 1

Well, I decided to try a new experience today.  I chose not to ride my bike at all and rode in the van for the 75 miles from Larned to Hutchinson.  I’m just tired of the wind, which was once again blowing strongly from the south. The forecasted rain did not materialize but hot & humid with those darned crosswinds all day. And while we were on very quiet roads with virtually no truck traffic most of the day, the surface was pretty rough and the shoulder non existent.

We passed through the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge today, saw some cotton plants and some camels in a field (the van didn't stop for a photo). Also saw cattle egrets for the first time. I was mistaken yesterday when I said there weren’t as many oil wells. Seems I just had my head down. We continued to see them today along with some of the agricultural scenery.

We’re in a tired old Super 8 motel tonight. Most of our rooms are downstairs in the dungeon. I came up to the lobby to type this, but the stink of some type of cleaner is so strong that it’s tough to breathe. Guess I’ll go out for a walk for a bit. Hutchinson is a sizeable city of about 40,000 but it looks like we’re in a rather industrial part of town.

Last day is tomorrow. Not sure at this point whether I’ll ride or not.

TA 2 - September 30

Another hot, windy Kansas day.....  Sue fixed us a lovely breakfast at the hotel and we were away from there shortly after 8. More of the same today. Agriculture, grain elevators, windmills.  It's been windmill country for a long time apparently; we saw plenty of both modern and old-style.

I didn’t notice very many oil wells today. We must be getting further east though. I saw my first possum roadkill of the trip this morning. We had a strong wind from the south again today. I think it was fairly consistent all day, and the winds in Larned as I type this are 37 kmph, gusting to 58 kmph.  At the 32 mile mark today we finally left Highway 96, which we’ve been on since we crossed the state line.

And, of course, we turned right/south; right into the wind. I was one of the last ones to get to that corner and by then the van was pretty much full.

A few of the stronger riders had tried it and turned back.  I knew it would be a long wait for the van to return so I figured I’d give it a go. Once you accept that you’re not going to set any land-speed records it wasn’t too bad. It’s actually easier on the upper body since you’re not constantly trying to counteract a side wind. Three of us gave it a shot. One was on an e-bike and made it. One called it when the shoulder deteriorated. So - that left me with my personal SAG support. Nice....  I didn’t have to share the chocolate milk supply with anyone else.  Anyway - 20 miles eventually passed and then it was an easy 12 miles in to Larned; even seemed to have a bit of a tailwind at times.

I made my first ever visit to a Sonic drive-in restaurant on the way into town for their version of a Blizzard. So good!  Wind and rain in the forecast for our last two days. I might finally crawl inside the van....

Stats for the day:
Ness City KS to Larned KS
105 km. 65 miles.
1596 feet up. 1898 feet down.
Temp:  19C to 34C. Windy!  Again!!

TA 2 - September 29

Well, I’m pooped!  The wind out there right now is 45 kmph gusting to 64 kmph from the south. I think it’s been pretty consistent all day. It’s mentally and physically draining to try to keep the bike upright and close to the shoulder. I think my arms are way more tired than my legs are.  And my brain is fried!  OK - enough whining......

Not much to say about today’s ride. We left shortly after 9 and headed east on 96 - again.....  straight and flat. Agriculture on both sides of the road. Grain elevators on a regular basis. Feedlots occasionally.  Oil wells started appearing in the second half of the ride. Gotta say, though - I didn’t lift my head up too often to look around. I even had a hard time taking my hands off the handlebars to take a drink from my water bottle.  Then there were the tumbleweeds blowing across the road and getting caught in our spokes.  Some of the women caught huge ones. I was lucky with my tiny ones. As we came into the SAG stops, Annette was commenting that everyone was covered in dirt on one side of their face and body.   Lots of blowing dirt all day, sometimes obscuring the road ahead. I finally had a tan line!!  Oh - it washed off in the shower. I do have a bit of a heat rash, though.

Our destination tonight is Ness City.  Ag and oil......   Our hotel tonight has just about the worst reviews I’ve ever read. So far it doesn’t look too bad; we’ll see. No other choices in town so we will make do.

Its claim to fame, apparently, is the Skyscraper of the Plains.  Upon its completion in 1890 it was called “the finest and most imposing structure west of Topeka”.

Just went out for a walk after dinner and it's still 84 out there!  Same weather forecast for tomorrow. Ugh!

Stats for the day:
Scott City KS to Ness City KS
91 km. 56 miles.
1145 feet up. 1852 feet down.
Temp:  20C TO 34C. Wind!  From the south probably  in excess of 30-40 kmph all day.

TA 2 - September 28

Yesterday was a rest day in Eads, CO and there really wasn’t much to do other than rest. I walked downtown in the morning and it sure didn’t take very long to see everything, although I did see this sign indicating that we are at the halfway point of the Trans Am route.

Oh - and here’s the stunning view outside our hotel window.

Our “free” days are usually days that we have to fend for ourselves for dinner but since there wasn’t much available in town Sue cooked for us. It was an early dinner and then a bunch of us walked over to the community-run theatre to see the movie Peanut Butter Falcon.  It was OK but not terribly memorable. However - the theatre is the one and only thing to appear on Trip Advisor’s list of things-to-do in Eads.

Early to bed to get ready for a big day today. Our only century ride of the trip and my first since last year’s trip. It was a straight-shot east on CO-96. Prevailing winds should be from the west, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case for us. Some say that it has to do with the hurricane activity further south and east. Oh well.....   We got an early start this morning - shortly after 7am. More of the same scenery. As they say in Saskatchewan - you can watch your dog run away for 6 days. It was a bit cooler this morning (about 9C), and then the temperature dropped a few degrees and it started to rain. Yes it was cool but the forecast was for it to clear around noon so I hung in there. A few of the riders called it a day at that point and jumped in the van. I think being Canadian is an advantage in those conditions. It was a bit of a surreal riding experience - low cloud cover, little visibility, and really nothing to see in any case. Traffic was light, my glasses were rain-splattered and it was a bit like riding in a bubble.  At about 41 miles we crossed the state line into Kansas.  Gotta say - the road surface did improve at that point.

We actually passed through some outposts of civilization today - Chivington, Brandon, Sheridan Lake, Towner, Tribune, Leoti - although only a few of them had “services”. On both sides of the highway as far as the eye can see are various forms of agriculture - mostly corn, sorghum/milo, wheat, cattle, some horses and some sunflowers. All the grain elevators in the towns seem to be operational and busy.

A very exciting milestone at mile 68. We left the mountain time zone and entered the central time zone.

Given the winds we’ve experienced the last few days, I’m not sure what prompted this sign....

Speaking of winds..... they did pick up the last 15 to 20 miles. Ugh!  Passed this memorial to a former Trans Am cyclist. Always a sobering reminder that we are very vulnerable as we cycle along. All of the drivers so far have been very good to us. Particularly the drivers of the big rigs on these quiet highways. They work hard to give us lots of room. Thank you!

Finally - past some huge feedlots and in to Scott City!  Yay!  And a Dairy Queen on the way to our hotel. A blizzard has never tasted so good!  A very long day, indeed. With the time change, 6pm dinner came up very quickly. Of course we had to have margaritas before dinner since we crossed another state line.

Not a terribly exciting day, but a feeling of accomplishment with the riding of another century.  I think I’ll sleep well tonight!  Forecast is for huge crosswinds  tomorrow :(

Stats for the day:
Eads CO to Scott City KS
167 km. 104 miles.
929 feet up. 2144 feet down.
Temp:  7C to 20C. Light rain for a few hours early in the day. Building headwinds for the last 15 to 20 miles.

TA 2 - September 26

Well, the homeless people of La Junta must have been happy to see us go!  It was a very bizarre hotel experience although I must say that I had a good night’s sleep.  It was interesting to hear all the stories this morning. Several people were moved to an alternate hotel when their rooms were found to be just not fit for us to stay in. Gotta say - you’d never know from the reviews on-line. Either it has suffered a steep and fast decline, or someone has been padding the reviews.

Anyway - on the road again.....   I no longer am concerned about total mileage in a day, or by how much elevation we have to climb, or by what the temperature is going to be. My only question these days seems to be about the wind - how strong and from what direction?  Today the forecast is for SSE winds and we’re going north, notheast and east. So - it will sometimes be our friend and sometimes not. Once the wind starts blowing out here, there’s just nothing to stand in its way.

We passed through the small town of Haswell at about 45 miles. We could see the trees and grain elevator from 10 miles away!

Same thing for coming in to Eads at the end of the day. Trees and grain elevator from 10 miles out.  I think the only change in scenery this afternoon was that the sky turned from overcast to blue at some point.

We haven’t had nearly as many grasshoppers on the road the last couple of days. Still a few giant specimens but few and far between. My wildlife sighting today was this big hairy fella - a tarantula!

Not much more I can say about the day - flat, windy, lots of agriculture, and wide open spaces. We have a rest day in Eads (population 600) tomorrow. So exciting!  I think we’ll need the rest in advance of our 104 mile ride into the wind on Saturday. Let’s hope for a reversal of the predicted wind direction!

Stats for the day:
La Junta CO to Eads CO
109 km. 67 miles.
1226 feet up. 1067 feet down.
Temp:  14C to 29C. Overcast early. Sunny later. Building winds from the SSE.