Distance: 63.78 miles
Elevation gain: 565 feet
Avg speed: 17.3 mph
Max speed: 24.6 mph
Moving time: 3:41:30
What a difference a day makes! I felt SO much better this morning, and even now I feel pretty good. One more ride and I will make it to the third rest day. I have a number of things I want to do that day (in addition to doing something touristy to report on here), but getting some much-needed rest is definitely on the list.
Despite having a nice long nap last night, and having that big plate of pasta for dinner (not to mention the ice cream I had afterwards), I did not get to bed as early as I should have. I also got quite aggravated about something (which I will address in its own blog post and video commentary, probably on Tuesday after it is resolved), and as a result I did not sleep well, and ended up oversleeping by about 15 minutes. As a result, after breakfast I had a mad scramble to get changed for the ride, pack everything, and get to the front of the hotel. By the time I got there, our morning briefing was already underway. As a result, I had to wait until after the briefing to check my tires, record the intro for my video, and hit the road. I ended up leaving about 10 minutes behind the rest of the early group.
Anyway, I was feeling good. In addition, the wind was much calmer than the previous two days, plus there was somewhat of a tailwind component. Add to that the fact that the ride was predominantly slightly downhill, and the shorter mileage than the previous two days, and it made for quite an enjoyable day!
Despite all of this, I did not take many pictures today, and the few that I DID take just didn’t really do anything for me. Even the pictures that were posted in our photo-sharing group didn’t really excite me. What I DID find interesting though was the changing landscape as we went along today. The terrain began extremely flat but eventually gave way to some very gentle rolling hills. The scenery progressed from yellowish-brown to a greener landscape, and we saw a lot more clouds than we’ve seen in some of the drier areas. It’s really quite striking though when you think about the variety of scenery we’ve gone through already on this trip, and I’m sure there is much more yet to come. Of course, I DID make a video of today’s ride, as has become part of my daily routine:
Tomorrow we ride on to Emporia. It looks to be a slightly hillier ride than today was, but still nothing TOO challenging. Certainly nothing I can’t handle at this point, especially with that rest day in front of me as a reward! As an added bonus, the forecast is showing that we SHOULD have another day of no rain, moderate winds, and a quartering tailwind. It’s a little bit longer of a ride (about 80 miles), but it shouldn’t be too bad.
Well, that will do it for tonight. Tomorrow is also Memorial Day, so I have a special intro planned for tomorrow’s video. You will just have to wait to see what it is, however. See you then!
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