Monday 9 May 2011

Lazy Sunday Afternoon...Day 15...Great Bend to Abilene...Sunday 08/05/11

We headed out of Great Bend as per this morning and faced another 3/4 headwind which meant a lot of us hanging back together trying to find a bit of shelter and conserve energy for the 129 miles to our next home in Abilene.
Eventually Drill Sergeant Manny had us organised into a paceline as best he could, but there were just too many of us to make it work effectively despite Manny's best efforts/barking out orders!


At the first stop of the day at 31 miles in the town of Lyon with a local and vocal mog. Not impressed by my suggested dietary enhancement...


Probably means something else...


I was having a so-so morning with no real drive in the engine room, and frankly could've climbed-off after 45 miles or so...the thought of another 80 wasn't filling me with delight.
It's a bit rubbish when you are giving it your best, concerted effort and yet you are down to barely 10mph: all of us will go through these bad patches, and yet I rallied  before lunch at 70 miles. I know pretty much everyone thought that that was a tough sector.


We had another 6 miles of struggle after the food-stop before a left turn meant that we were sailing along with the wind. More like it.
Somebody in Canton has a sense of humour...


We eventually ran out of road...


...which meant a little bit of cyclo-cross...

               (courtesy Mike Munk)


The rest of the stage was a slog-fest in ever increasing temperatures: my Garmin read a maximum of 101F.
Rarely have I been so glad to see a water-tower!


Tomorrow? A mere 109 miles to Topeka. Winds- please do one!

Here we go with the numbers...Hot stats!