Day 42 - Ness City to Leoti

Start time: 05.21
Start location: Ness City
Start State: Kansas
Start weather: Cool/Warm
Total millage so far: 2133.31


Finish time: 10.27
Finish location: Leoti
Finish State: Kansas
Finish weather: Hot
Miles today: 81.93
Total millage so far: 2215.24
Today's top speed:29.3
Today's average speed:  17.9
Today’s ride time: 4,28,43
Punctures - 1 (slow back wheel)

Music played:
Soundtrack - Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack
Soundtrack - The Best Of Bond ... James Bond
Soundtrack - The Lost Boys
Soundtrack - The Warriors
Soundtrack - Top Gun
Spandau Ballet - Gold -The Best Of

Blog:

OK so what to write today then!  A bit like Kansas, it seems to be the same.  Get up at 4am and leave around 5am if I can. We are riding route96 which goes on straight for some 400 odd miles!!  Great!  I've got to say hi again to Nicole's mum again who read the blogs.  I hope you like the video, pics and don't mind the swearing too much.  There is a lot of jest and jokes in the updates.  So last night I finished my book I bought at Heathrow, "I left my tent in San Francisco".  The ending was pretty sad, expected and funny too.  There were some quotes I wanted to use in here, but i cant seem to find them now.  I guess they read better during the book.  I guess I will miss everyone.  Yesterday I forgot to add about this terrible service station I needed to stop at.  I was totally shattered and needed to find food and drink.  Instead I found a hell hole.  It might as well have been shut down.  There were some vending machines, one of which ate the crisps I punched the buttons for.  Dejected I chomped on some stale honey bun and headed out.  


So today's rant, I kinda have a couple, but I guess this one is the best place to start.  Back bacon.  Where is my back bacon??? Why don't the yanks eat back bacon, where does it go???  Answers on a postcard please!


Today was going to be a long day, a long hot hard day.  I got up early and headed out onto the road in the pitch black.  I got to say, its actually much much better cycling at night.  Why I hear you all shout, well its simple.  Kansas is hell lol, the part we are in now is flat, boring and plain, I guess that's why it gets its name.  So, at night it's harder to get bored with the scenery, your too busy looking out for last nights road kill, or actual live animals jumping out at you.  Plus praying that the cars and lorries see you and don't make you into roadkill.  As the light approaches, big dark, silent moving, smelly monsters appear out from the gloom as silhouettes.  The oil is constantly sucked or pumped out from the ground.  The cows in the fields could be bison too in the early dawn.  

The  roads were good quality all day long, but the first part was near enough all up a gentle hill.  Not sure you could call it a hill, but a incline, a bit draining.  Train tracks kept us company on the left hand side.  With my imagination in full flow so early in the morning, (I was probably still asleep), there were slight hills less than quarter of a mile to my left with smoke signals coming from behind.  On my right was a drop off. Definitely a good ambush point.  Then they came, riding fast on horseback from over the hill, just a few of them yelling and waving axes above their heads.  I guessed this would be a distraction from the real attack from the right.  Then they came, from the right.  I had to ride hard and fast to have any chance of beating them.  Dust being kicked up by the hooves of the horses being riden bareback, the young braves holding onto their stallions mains.  Oh hang on, just woken up.  So there were some long constant climbs which got pretty cold up top near Beeler. 


What I saw today, a pheasant, tawny owl and a baby antelope.  I also had a bird which flew along with me for a while, got some nice footage of it, very nice.  A headwind started up at 8.20 but it was short lived and only lasted about 20mins. The computers average speed seems low even though I wsa pumping out a good 20mph+ for many miles.  There was good cloud cover again, better then yesterday and seemed to last for ages, but then panic sets in when you start to see your shadow appear.  It means that the sun is burning through the cloud. The sun was directly behind as the shadow lay straight in front of me.   I'm also sure I saw Christmas trees growing!

I followed the white line for miles and miles.  Got into town and we are staying at another church.  Got to the pool for our showers and a good cool down swim.  Back at the church and there is a douche in the bathroom!  I tried to find something to eat in town, but no joy.  End of a long day, wrist is hurting bad.

 "The road is long...."

 Another early start, out before sun rise again

 Farm machinery graveyard

 Dorothy's home?

 How awful.  Must visit!

 Getting to the clues early today

 Keeping the canon ready

 Chomp