Tuesday,
July 10. Hays, KS to Grainfield, KS. 76 miles of riding in 5:48 hrs.
Hung out in
Hays just a bit longer than usual so we could get the complementary breakfast
buffet in, which started at 6:30 AM. Got everything read to roll other than me
putting my kit and helmet on and eating fully prepped to ride. Should have done
that and I’d have gained another 10 min. But anyway, got the buffet in and on
the road at 6:45. Rode out of town on asphalt for a few miles, and then I was
back on track with the dirt. The first stretch was on that interesting lime
stuff. It’s a fine lime dust plus lime gravel, and it kind of forms this
concrete when it’s packed and rained on ad infinitum. BUT, has all these cracks
and joints in it – actually worse than the worst asphalt road you could ride
on. It’s just rough as hell – constant jolting on the hands, arms, shoulders.
Like right now, sitting here at the computer, my shoulders feel shot, I mean
sore as hell. And the other thing about that stuff is the fact that when the
sun shines, this stuff reflects light like snow. So I had to put my sunglasses
on at 7 AM because the road was so bright. But hey, there’s trade-offs
everywhere, and with this trip, I’ll take those minor irritants instead of
pavement with cars and trucks whizzing by all day long.
The
“lime-crete” ended and then the road turned to sand after a bit, with some
gradual rollers along the way. But gradually the terrain really began to have
more and more flatter sections for longer stretches as I rode west. My gravel,
lime, sand roads ended just a tad outside of Ellis, so I road a short paved
section into town to meet Judy. Fueled up with just Powerade and I was off
again. Now I had intended to do this road called Feedlot Rd. But the locals
were telling Judy that it was on the other side of I-70, contrary to what my
gazetteer displayed. I decided to go with the gazetteer and not the locals –
and I was right on. So I continued on these sand and dirt roads for another
section. This stuff was generally all flat, actually it’s more like the longest
false flat you’d ever do, but it’s so subtle. Because in actuality riding
through KS, you’re slowly gaining elevation all the way through the state and
into CO all the way up to Denver where you get to 5280 ft in elevation. And I
can definitely feel that sensation of always working even on the flats. You’re
kind of gaining a couple of feet for every mile you’re riding.
So
flats are actually false flats in a sense, at least here in KS. Met Judy at the
second support stop and I downed my 2 bologna sandwiches, a coke and ice water,
then off again. This was about a 15-20 mile section on nearly one road, N road.
And it was fine for a bit until it veered to the north from a westerly trend,
and then came a sign that read: “No Outlet”. Now I’d already gone over this
route 2x, and never saw that this was not a through road, so I decided to just
“investigate” the situation. Rode it for a bit and it kind of turned into what
looked like a farmer’s access road – just like so many other roads I’d ridden
here in KS that are public. But this one kind of turned into some dbl track
that was filled with weeds and it ended at rolling gates that led right into a
farm. So now the big decision: unchain the dbl gates and ride through the farmyard,
or go all the way back and figure out something different. Well, I’d opened
gates before, and there were no No Trespassing signs, so I went through, walked
the bike past the farm house and the barns, and went right out on another
gravel road. Done.
Got
to my next turn and it was onto just this earthen dirt road, where the dirt was
really thick and loamy in places, so much so that I could really feeling my
back wheel kind of washing all the hell over the place. It was the strangest
feeling with that back end just sliding around and feeling all flat and cushy.
Uh Oh...something went off in my head telling me to stop and check the rear
wheel. That just felt way too soft and washy. So I dismounted and felt the rear
wheel. It was loosing air. So I kind of spun the wheel around and low and
behold there were what looked to be a hundred of these little thumbtack sized
thorns in the tire. Now I don’t know what the hell these things are, but they
were prolific on my tire. I must have ridden right through them on that last
stretch before the farmhouse. I mean I could pull one out and hear air leaking
out of the tire. Then I could pull another, and another, and another, over and
over again. The tire was a disaster and the tube was definitely trashed. Felt
the front wheel and it seemed ok.
Decided
to ride the damned thing as far as I could and then hope that I had cell
service to call Judy for support, cuz I was in deep doo-doo. I needed to
replace the tire and tube. Rode the pup for another mile before I was down to
the rim. Got the cell out and thankfully I got Judy who was about 5 miles away
at our designated meeting spot. Pulled over out in the middle of nowhere on
this little one-lane earthen road and took off the rear wheel. I mean it was
just coated with these tack sized thorns. Then I checked the front, and be
damned of it wasn’t too. I pulled out about 8-10 thorns from the front and then
I started to hear the air coming out. Now I needed to replace both tires and
junk both tubes. Jude arrived in about 15 min, and I had the rear ready for new
tread and tube. Did both wheels while Jude used tweezers to pick thorns out of
my rear wheel. Her eventual count was over 100. Ditto for the front wheel. Got
rolling again on new skins and decided to put the hammer down to make up for
all the time I’d just lost.
With
a nice northeasterly tailwind, the big ring and a pretty flat series of dirt
roads I was able to slam through the next 15 miles to our 4th
support stop. Did 2 more bologna sandwiches, a Powerade and ice water and we
planned out one more section for the day, a 15-miler on pretty much just one
road. Again, hammer time and I kept it at a pretty steady 14-17 mph on a sand
gravel road. It times, and this was usually in the swales, the sand was a good
2-5 inches thick. So you’d sail down through this stuff and just let the wheels
track themselves and then shift up and do these mellow climbs. All in all it
was some great riding. Made our final meeting spot in under an hr, as the temp
had climbed to about 89-91 degrees. Felt a bit hot, but really great compared
to the previous couple wks. I wasn’t just coated in salt rings soaking wet.
Felt good actually. So today I think I did about 73 miles of dirt out of the 76
total miles.
Our
abode tonight is this cheapie motel. It was that or camp at this cheesy little
RV place with no trees, no showers, no facilities, and out in the middle of the
sun. Ahh, I think I’ll pay 20 more bucks for AC and all the rest! Tomorrow
should be the last full day in KS, and then we make CO on Thurs. Got to get the
gazetteer and the maps out to begin to work on that one. Late……..Pete
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