Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Day 54-How Hot is It?

It’s so hot that my fruit snacks melted and congealed into one big sticky blob in the package in my handlebar bag. Okay, it’s not really that hot (I mean, my fruit snacks did melt and all that), but it was definitely upper 90s. 

We left Ordway at 7:00. The guys wanted this group photo. 

Me, Doug, Ron, Quan, and Jeff (Vic, who I met this morning, took the photo)

The winds were light, and the temp was 70. We made quick work of the 5 miles to Sugar City, and just rode right through. 

Good morning to more nothingness. We actually made a couple of curves to get out of Sugar City, but then it was a mostly straight ride on Hwy 96. The pavement was really smooth for a long time!

At Arlington (a no services blip on the map), there was a sign saying chip sealing was starting today. Oh…yay! I hoped they hadn’t really started, but they had. The flagger motioned us through, and told us to ride on the shoulder…the left shoulder. 

Reminded me of riding the Nullarbor in Australia. 

They had laid gravel down on the other lane. Actually, it worked out pretty good riding on the other side of the road. Well, it was a little nerve wracking when the traffic started coming from the other direction, but they moved over. 

We pulled into our planned destination of Eads after 61.5 miles. It wasn’t even noon yet. We went to the little market and got something to drink. We took it back to the city park (where we would camp). 

It was a nice park. The restrooms, however, were on the other side of the train tracks at the rest area (notice how green the grass is. That means one thing…sprinklers!

We kind of ate lunch (mostly rehydrated), and I looked at the map. It was just another 27ish miles to Sheridan Lake where cyclists were allowed to stay in the church. I broached the idea of going on to Sheridan Lake to Doug. I don’t think he was all that enthusiastic. He was just sure the wind was going to turn and become a headwind (we’d had tailwinds). In the end, he agreed, so we tanked up on water, and headed out for Part 2. 

Just out of Eads, there was more road construction. 

Lots of space to ride! The white pavement was a bit glaring though. 

My goal was head down, and pedal, to hammer out these 27 miles before the wind changed. At most, it ended up being a following crosswind. It was quite toasty too, so I was less inclined to stop (the breeze while riding helps to keep cooler). It was when I stopped to change to the next map panel that I discovered my fruit snacks were melted. I managed to get one gooey handful in my mouth, then pushed on. 

I got to Sheridan Lake, and the turn into town (interesting aside…usually when we go through a town, the highway just goes through…often becoming “Main St”. With these towns we’ve been going to, the town is off the highway with Main St being perpendicular to the highway. You have to watch to see where to turn off the highway). I waited for Doug. Fortunately, he was just 5 or so minutes behind, because it was hot standing out in the sun! 

We rode to the church. There was a sign on the door for “Bikers”. The door was unlocked, and we made ourselves at home. Pastor Ernie came over from his office when he heard our voices. Asked if we had any questions, and told us to help ourselves to any of the food. 

There’s no shower here, but I was able to do a pretty good job in the restroom sink. 

See my bed over in the corner? Home Sweet Home for tonight. 

We ended up setting a new distance record of 89 miles. And we finished at 3:30! Of course, that just says how flat it is out here. Tomorrow, we should cross into Kansas. 

 




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