Distance: 65.8 mi, Climbed: 1,777 ft
Completed: 1,956.9 mi, 100,145 ft
What a difference a day can make. Yesterday was an easy twenty miles. Today, was an adventure.
Stuart took a rest day yesterday and stayed back in Toronto. This morning, he rode to meet Rich and me for breakfast at the Copper Kettle in Eureka. What a nice way for us to start our day.
After breakfast, we all headed west and not long into the ride, we encountered our first significant climb of the day. It wasn’t particularly steep at a 3% grade, but after recent days of mostly flat riding, it certainly got our attention. Then came a sound I have grown to dread. Hissssss. My rear tire was losing air right at the spot of the bacon-strip repair from Kentucky. UGH.
Stuart had already ridden up the hill and was planning to meet us at the top before continuing on his 100-mile century-ride for the day. When Rich texted him about my flat, Stuart turned around and rode back down to help us. Thank goodness he did. Rich had recently purchased a new bacon-strip insertion tool, but it wasn’t cooperating. Stuart’s bacon tool worked much better. Stuart had never repaired a tubeless tire before, so helping with mine turned into valuable practice for him since he rides tubeless tires as well.
While we were working on the tire, a pickup truck pulled over beside us. Chris hopped out to see if we needed any help. Although he wasn’t familiar with tubeless tires, he stayed and chatted for a while. Chris owns eighty acres of nearby prairie, where he grazes his cattle and leases pastureland to others. Encounters like this continue to remind us how willing people are to stop and help strangers.
The repaired tire seemed good to go. Or so we thought. Within seconds of turning the bicycle upright, the bacon strip shot out of the tire and left me with another flat. At that point, I was ready to call it and install a tube. Stuart asked if he could try one more time. Since properly repositioning the bacon strip would take only a few minutes compared to the much longer process of installing a tube, we agreed. This time, Stuart pushed the bacon strip deeper into the puncture. Success! The repair held.
We felt badly about delaying Stuart’s ride, but he was happy to help. Later that evening, we were glad to hear that he had safely reached his campsite and taken shelter in a laundry room when storms moved through the area.
We enjoyed some great riding through the cattle country of Kansas.
We have seen many turtles trying to cross busy roads. Sadly, some have not survived the journey. Rich helped one turtle today to make it safely across.
Later, we saw a second turtle who did not need our help and made it across all by itself.
Each day brings two questions – how far to ride and where to stay for the evening. The sensible choice was to take it easy and ride 35 miles to Cassoday and camp in the town park. The only other option was to ride 75 miles to Newton and stay at a hotel. That would be by far the longest ride of our trip so far. Rich voted for camping. My vote was for the hot shower! We made great time to Cassoday despite the flat, so Rich agreed to go for it. Newton, here we come.
Rich and I encountered another delay a few hours later. A bridge along our route was closed, forcing us onto a two-mile detour along an unpaved road.
The loose gravel and rocks made me nervous given this morning’s tire drama. Every bump had me wondering whether the repair would hold. Thankfully, it did.
Being out on the road, there is so much that we pass that is very different than what we typically see back home in metro New York. We have seen oil wells, massive farm machinery, and so much hay!
As the afternoon progressed, another problem was developing. The sky began turning a deep blue on the northern horizon. The forecast had not called for storms until later that evening, but the sky was telling a different story. The wind strengthened noticeably, and before long, we were watching lightning strike repeatedly in the distance. We still had ten miles to go.
I happened to be riding ahead of Rich when he texted asking whether we should seek shelter. My answer was immediate – YES! As I did not want to get separated, Rich quickly rode up to meet me. The wind was now howling. The rain had not started yet, but the storm was clearly heading straight toward us.
Far off in the distance, we could see a farmhouse. There was no time to get there. I said to Rich that hopefully a pickup truck heading into town would stop and we could throw our bikes in the back. As it turned out, that is almost exactly what happened.
A minute later, a truck pulled over. Our guardian angels had arrived. Melissa smiled, knew we needed help, and told us to get into her husband Stacy’s car, which had pulled up right behind her. Melissa’s parents were moving to Newton, and the back of her truck was packed with their belongings.
The wind had become so intense that it felt like something out of The Wizard of Oz. We could barely stand. There was no room in the truck, so we locked the bicycles to a stop sign before jumping into Stacy’s car to head towards our hotel in Newton.
Within minutes, the sky opened, and rain came down in sheets. The wind drove it sideways across the road. The lightning was intense. While it never became the tornado that many parts of Kansas experienced that day, it was more than enough to convince us we had made the right decision.
Melissa and Stacy dropped us off beneath the hotel overhang. Not a single drop of rain had landed on us. They headed to Applebee’s with Melissa’s parents while we waited for the storm to pass. Rich and I tried every option we could think of to retrieve our bicycles. No Uber XL was available. Lyft wasn’t an option. The local cab company couldn’t help either. Meanwhile, heavy rain and powerful winds continued outside for nearly an hour.
After dinner, Melissa and Stacy helped move Melissa’s parents’ belongings into their new home. Once everything had been unloaded, their truck had enough room for both bicycles. And then, so kindly, they came back to the hotel to get Rich. Who does that? The answer is Melissa and Stacy!
The bicycles were exactly where we had left them. Rich unlocked his without any problem. Mine was another story. No matter what was tried, my lock refused to open.
It was now pitch black. Melissa’s parents were waiting in the truck, and Rich was running out of options. Without hesitation, Stacy drove fifteen minutes back to his house, retrieved a pair of bolt cutters, and returned to start clamping down on my lock. After a few strong cuts, the lock finally surrendered. Rich loaded the bikes into the truck, and Melissa and Stacy drove Rich back to the hotel a little after 11:00 PM. We are so thankful for Melissa, her parents, and her husband Stacy. What amazing people to help keep us safe and to continue helping us throughout the long evening. A thousand thank-yous don’t seem to be enough for all of their awesomeness!
That night, Rich and I played the “what if” game. What if I hadn’t gotten the flat tire? What if we hadn’t stopped to move the turtle? What if the bridge hadn’t been closed? Under slightly different circumstances, we probably would have reached town safely and spent the evening talking about how fortunate we were to miss the storm.
Instead, we found ourselves in a completely different situation—one involving flat tires, a bridge closure, lightning, a bike lock unwilling to budge, and some extraordinarily kind people. What a day! All this, and we crossed over 100,000 feet of climbing! Woo hoo!
