Day 43 – Does the Wind Ever Stop in Kansas?

By Mark Heggestad
Wind once again consumed my day.  It blew from the south between 20 and 30 mph all day.  We biked 42 miles with a crosswind and seventeen miles straight into it.  The seventeen miles of headwind slowed me down considerably, going six to eight miles per hour.

In addition to the wind being fatiguing, it is loud.  At one point, I stopped to put earphones in and listen to tunes.  Anything to help push through the wind.  I turned up the tunes, the wind seemed to get louder, I turned up the tunes more, the wind seemed to get even louder.  It was like Metallica, AC/DC, and Aerosmith, were doing battle with the wind in my ears.  But it must have adrenalized me.  I ended the seventeen miles feeling like I just guzzled a gallon of Mountain Dew.  Which I would have also considered had it been available.  It also helped that Jill showed up with ice-cold water and candy bars twice during that seventeen-mile challenge.  Everything helps.

When the day was over, we had biked 59.2 miles to Neal, KS.  The Kansas terrain is gradually changing.  There are less flat wheat fields, and more rolling hills, pastures, trees, and an occasional pond.

Less wheat fields, more pasture.
The road we biked is to the left.

Starting to see water on occassion.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 70 – Reflections

By Mark Heggestad
Image
The well-aged guy spotted my bike and glanced at me.   I know, most consider me old, but this guy was older.   I could tell by his quick smile and the way it spread across the lines of his face and through his eyes that he was an old soul making the most of life.   “What will you gain from this journey?” he asked.   He used the word journey, not me.   I had been asked a lot of questions since this bike trip started, but not this one.   “That’s a good question.” I responded, and then I stumbled through an answer I don’t remember.   But I do remember the question.   In fact, I thought about the question often the rest of the journey. This journey taught me a lot about myself.   I learned I have the fortitude to complete a 4,064-mile bike trip.   It reinforced the value of perseverance.   I learned I have very little control over a lot of things that impact me; and I learned to expect, and embrace, whatever surprises the day may bring.   It taught me the importance of taking things o
Read more

Day 63 – One Last Dog Story

By Mark Heggestad
Image
Today’s bike ride was 80.3 miles from Wytheville, VA to Catawba, VA.   It was another great day.   Scenery was beautiful, but cannot compare to the Appalachian’s of the past couple days.   Weather was good.   Road conditions and traffic were good.   I biked through a couple small cities (Radford and Christiansburg), so that slows me down a little.   There were hills, but a gentler kind: shorter and not as steep as previous days.   With that said, I did climb enough hills today to accumulate 5,213 feet of ascent.   That marks the eighth day in a row I have climbed more than 5,000 feet, or a mile straight up. It was just a really nice peaceful ride today.   I love the gentle (gentler, ok, not quite as hard) hills, and the scenery.   It was about as stress-free as it gets. It has been bothering me that I spent so much time in my previous blog posts complaining about the dogs of eastern Kentucky.   I love dogs; in fact I have been missing our black lab (Tess) while on this long jo
Read more

Day 68 – Blessed Beyond Measure – No Doubt About It

By Mark Heggestad
Image
I awoke this morning excited to bike the last thirty miles of this journey.   I took my time with everything: a little longer than usual getting ready, a little longer than usual eating breakfast, a little longer than usual prepping my bike.   In retrospect I suppose I was just savoring the moment.   The first seven miles of today’s ride were on a beautiful designated bike trail.   I took it slow and easy.   All was perfect. Then my perfect world turned imperfect.   The majority of the last thirteen miles of the ride is on Colonial Parkway.   Sounds like a peaceful road, doesn’t it?   It was one of the bumpier roads of the trip and it was the busiest two-lane no-shoulder road I have been on in weeks.   Cars were zooming by fast and constant.   All focus went from savoring the moment to dealing with traffic.   And then it started raining – not a hard rain but enough to get me wet.   I increased my speed in hopes of beating any potential hard rain.    I started bumming about the sit
Read more