Saturday, May 31, 2008

May 31 Dodge City to Great Bend, KS: 87 miles

The day started out overcast with a strong headwind (25 MPH). The clouds went away but the wind never changed. We faced a headwind all the livelong day. I was smarter this time though--I got in a pace line from the beginning. Iowa Bob, Randy from California and I pulled each other along for the first 15 miles.  Then we stopped so the guys could water the flowers on the roadside and I could eat something, and Meredith, Ken, and Bill went by.
 
We soon caught up to them and the 6 of us formed a pace line. For those of you who are not cyclists, a pace line is when a group of cyclists follow one another very closely to conserve energy. The person in the lead gets the full force of the wind, while the people behind get a little reprive from it. We pulled for 1/2 mile at a time, then moved to the back of the line.  We stayed together until mile 64 when we stopped for lunch.
 
After lunch, Meredith and Bill sagged in, Bob and Randy set a more leisurely pace, and Ken and I caught up with Jim, Darryl, and Rich. The 5 of us finished the ride together, getting in at about 3:30, pretty early for 87 miles against the wind!
 
The photo was taken at the midway point between NY and SF. Our own halfway point is coming up later this week. Hard to believe we are almost halfway there!!!!

1 comment:

The Husband said...

10 days and counting. Fish and cats well fed. Husband misses wife