Simon's TransAmerica cycle ride - 2012: Day 41

Start time: 05.37
Start location: Larned
Start State: Kansas
Start weather: Dark, warm
Total millage so far: 2068.39

Finish time: 11.01
Finish location: Ness City
Finish State: Kansas
Finish weather: Hot
Miles today: 64.92
Total millage so far: 2133.31
Today's top speed: 45.7!! in Kansas!
Today's average speed: 14.9
Punctures - 1 (slow back wheel)

Music played:
Royksopp - The Understanding
Soul II Soul - Club Classics Vol One
Soul II Soul - Vol. II (1990 - A New Decade)
Soul II Soul - Volume IV - The Classic Singles 88-93
Soundtrack - Colors
Soundtrack - Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

Blog for this day:

Ok, today I'm eating blueberry pie with ice cream in Ness City. Had my shower at the pool and now relaxing. The temperature here is just crazy still. So lets check the notes to see what happened! I left real early again as i wanted to miss as much of the high temperatures as possible. The sunrise yet again was amazing with lots of cloud today. The colour given off by it was gorgeous, the golden colours given off by the fields and the green of the grass. Amazing. Because of the cloud, I was praying that this would cause a tornado, no joy though :( It was great having the cloud cover, it kept most of the day cool. So my daily moan and groan. WHAT IS UP WITH THESE FRIGGIN' DRIVERS in Kansas?!!!!?!! There seems to be two types, the first who give you loads of room, driving right over to the other side of the road, slowing down etc. They are great, then you get the effing idiots who give you barely an inch as they whizz past at 60mph. I'm not sure I will be allowed to sleep in the church tonight after all the cussing I've shouted out today. Ublad then myself had one overtake straight towards us, even though if he left it 30seconds longer, he could have had the road to himself for another 30mile. There were hardly anyone on the road at that time of the morning. Nutters. Got them all on the GoPro, so if anyone wants to do anything about them... On the flip side of the coin, there were the two grumpy and rude self contained guys who were oblivious to the cars trying to overtake, merrily weaving all over the road causing one car to swerve wide to overtake. I, and apparently everyone else today, waved and said good-morning but they just kept on cycling.! Good luck on your ride guys! *what did I do with my Indian guide to performing a rain dance*

The first part of the morning we had cross winds, which very happily turned into the best kinda tailwinds!!! Very happy. I hit 45.7 in Kansas!!! Kansas being pretty god dam flat as a pancake. Goes to show how much the wind can slow you or increase your speed. Later in the day we hit diagonal headwinds again which really slowed us down. It turns a nice ride into a nightmare as your using so much more power to go nowhere fast. Our nice cloud cover went about 10am too, leaving the sun to boil out waterbottles dry.

We are halfway through this adventure and one of the worst parts of the trip is going through so many towns real quick. Even if you have a layover day, you rush around and miss a lot of what is going on, or not in some cases. I'm worried that when the trip is over, it will all just blend into one huge TransAm mess lol. Sitting here, outside now as the cafe has closed, I am on a crossroads with combine harvester driving up the road, pick up trucks with people wearing cowboy hats drive by. A huge grain silo is on my right and a mural depicting the railway coming through town has been painted above yet another closed down shop. A water tower with "Ness City" written upon it, sits in the distance while the red stop sign blinks, warning a heavy truck from Nebraska that its a 4way. The nice lady from the cafe I ate in tells me there is wifi at the library a few blocks up. Yes I will have photo's and video, but soon I will be back on that BA flight to London and work the following day. It's odd that in London, if I get up early for the gym, around 7am, that I am tired for the rest of the day. Here, I am up at 4am, cycling 60odd miles in unsafe temperatures, and I'm not as tired. The sad thing is that we all settle right back into our safe routines so quickly. It has been great to muddle life up like this, throw a "good" spanner in the works as life can become so mundane and predictable. I do hope that I will have changed for the better after this and I don't let myself slip back into "working 9-5". Give me a slap and a wake up call if I do.