Data: 95 miles Riding time 5:23 (17.6 mph avg)
Just a measly 95 miles...no sweat! Ha!
The big story for today was the rain. It was raining when we started, it got stronger, then it stopped, then it came back, and eventually got real hard for the final 20 miles. I had never ridden in that kind of steady, hard rain before, for that long. But no problem.
I was dressed for it since I bought rain gear last December in anticipation of having days like this, and it all paid off. I added shoe covers, a helmet cover, the new yellow jacket, full-fingered rain gloves, a "fender" off the rear (quick release attached to the seat post), and a mud guard behind the front wheel (attached to the down tube on the frame). And my helmet visor kept the rain off my glasses and face real well.
So, it was an enjoyable ride. Well, not much scenery, however. The main sights were the HUGE cattle feed lots and all the trains passing next to us all day, who sounded their horns to say hi to us. The feed lots were similar to the one just north of Harris Ranch in Central California, if you've seen that. The smell is usually terrible, but today, the rain, and little wind, made it not so bad. I've heard that if the winds are bad, and when it's hot, it can get all over you and your water bottles, such that you can't even drink out of them.
We also had nice wild flowers growing along the highway. (I'm trying to think of good things about today's scenery, which was really just flat nothing out there.) Knock on wood, but I'm now the only one left who has not yet had a flat tire. I really hoped today, in the rain, would not be my first, and I was blessed. I love this photo, and you can see off to the left some poor souls having to fix their flats in the rain. You also can see the differing political views between Jerry and Geoff!
Tonight I have my original roommate, Bob P., from Windsor, Canada, because this motel did not have rollaway beds. It's nice to visit with him again. He's gotten a lot better during these 10 days, especially since he'd never ridden any hills before, much less long mountain climbs.
I should take this opportunity to mention more about my permanent roommates. Kasper from Holland has a 9-yr-old son, and speaks to his family every day about noon our time (8 pm Netherlands time). He even talks on his cell phone while riding! It's cool to hear him speaking Dutch. He also is fluent in Italian, French, German, and of course English. He's a favorite of everyone's here, so I'm lucky to have him as a roommate. He is funny too. The other morning he started playing "soccer" with the plastic light cover that had fallen off in the middle of the night (which was a strange occurrance, let me tell you!). When I put on my Bianchi jersey, he rattled off a whole bunch of Italian for me. He's a bike racer, as was his father.
Phil from Winona, MN is a financial advisor, and spends about 30-45 minutes each evening speaking to some of his 700 clients. He's funny too; he says he much prefers golf to riding a bike. One morning, he had set the alarm for 5:00 since it had been necessary for the previous three days. He jumped out of bed and immediately put on his riding clothes to get his usual early start, and then we mentioned that everything was set for 30 minutes later this morning. He quickly reset the alarm for 5:35, and got in bed with his cycling clothes on, turned out the lights, and went back to sleep. Tonight we had a good laugh at his expense, because 10 of us ate dinner and we had all agreed to split the bill evenly. When the bill came, he asked the waiter to please calculate what each of our portions was because the waiter could use a calculator. We had to remind Phil that there were 10 of us, so a financial advisor surely could figure that one out without using a calculator.
Here's a shot of today's lunch break, with everyone in rain gear.
Each evening, we need to rearrange the motel furniture to accommodate the rollaway bed, our three bikes, and our two pieces of luggage each (and water bottles, helmets, cycling shoes, and other junk). But so far, it's been no problem and we get along great. Phil uses ear plugs, and can fall asleep even if Kasper and I are still typing into our computers.
Tomorrow is 113 miles, but there are no hills, we drop 1200 feet of elevation, and we're supposed to have a tail wind. So, should be a good day.
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