Windy (Dodge) City

If Nigel Tufnell were here, he would say

It's like, how much more windy could this be? And the answer is none. None more windy.

The forecast today was for 18 to 20 mile an hour sustained winds with gusts nearing 40.In Kansas meteorology they have an interesting definition of the word gust. It means what the wind is doing 95% of the time.

Making it more fun the wind was coming at us not straight on but at a 45° angle. So drafting doesn’t really help and the wind is blowing you sideways on the road. Except for when a truck passes and blocks the wind. Then you are sucked toward the truck, a huge tailwind boost as a truck rolls by and then a giant sideways gust as the truck clears you. So you were bouncing all over the place.

It was also just incredibly loud. The wind. The trucks. The trains. An assault on my ears all day long. 

I only ran off the road twice.  Thankfully, nowhere near any steep drop offs. Not sure about others because they are all skinny little F’ers and they were struggling more than I was to keep their wheels straight. Some days it’s good to be the fat kid.

I rode  today with the Georgia boys, who I usually can never keep up with. Today we were working our asses off to do something like 12 miles an hour all day.  The easiest part of the whole day was the last 22 miles heading straight into a strong headwind because a paceline could actually work.

I didn’t take any roadside pictures today.  I never felt like I could let go of the death grip on the handlebars long enough to snap a quick pic.

We stopped and saw the Dalton gang hideout. I think I was too tired to appreciate it.  But this get away tunnel was cool  

Dalton Gang Getaway Tunnel

One of the fun aspects of this trip is that just about everyone we meet is kind and intrigued by what we’re doing. They ask a lot of questions about where we’re heading and when they hear we’re going across the country you almost always get a. Wow! Teenagers in particular are fascinated by it.  (I know I would have been, and inspired to try it myself decades later…)

And sometimes you run across people who resent our existence. Like a guy at breakfast this morning, who was already anticipating us getting in his way on his afternoon drive to Dodge city. The fact that we would slow him down and cause him to take a different route. He had one of those grins that doesn’t touch the eyes. And the whole time he was talking I think he was imagining getting home to kick his dog.  

But they are a few and far between and I have yet to encounter that many motorists who do something overtly dangerous… Which happens probably every other ride at home.   

I’m beat.  Hoping for friendlier winds to carry us through Kansas the next three days.