It was a good people day today, and a good but hard riding day. The first 20 miles were relatively easy. There were hills, but they were all a reasonable grade. I was really lucky, because 5 miles north of Fair Grove there was a sign that said: "Shoulder work next 15 miles - Fresh Oil". Timing is everything, and they had started on the northbound side of the road so I still had nice dry clean pavement to ride on. If they had already oiled the shoulder I probably would have ridden in the road. The image of my trying to get that oil off of the bike and trailer without good cleaning stuff isn't a happy one, so I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it.
Thunder rumbled for about an hour this afternoon, but I was lucky and only had to ride through some light sprinkles.
Once I hit Fair Grove I turned onto the Transamerica trail. And then came county road CC. That one was really hard with rollers up and down that unfortunately were steep enough and long enough that you couldn't just coast up the other side. I'd call it a very bitchy 5 miles. I should have known how hilly it was going to be when I saw the first of many signs saying "Impassable during High Water". The road swooped down to the creek-bed, then climbed straight up again. It actually reminded me of some of the riding I did in Washington back in 1999. I was just hoping that the rest of the day wouldn't be as hilly. Luckily the hills moderated after CC crossed route 13. The hills didn't go away, but the riding was much more reasonable for a while. Then some pretty big hills reappeared, with grades at the top of the climbs ranging up to 20% (according to my bike computer, which could be a bit off). Ouch! I've been told that the hills will continue for the first 15 miles of tomorrow's ride, then they should moderate to be true rolling hills - not rolling steeps like I had today! And these aren't even considered to be mountains, just hills.
I had a conversation with some cows early this morning. They were pretty funny in that they came toward me as I was standing there talking to them. Usually they run the other way, but this bunch seemed to be curious about the two-legged creature riding a bicycle. I actually felt like they were watching me as I rode off.
I started talking with people at breakfast this morning. I met a couple from Joplin with their infant daughter. He is a Frito-Lay route specialist who is in the Buffalo area for a week, so his wife and daughter came with him. She said that her mom and grandmother raise money for and ride in the MS rides. I suspect that her mother is my age or younger...
I was about 10 miles out of Buffalo when I met Hiroshi. He's from Japan, and he is cycling from Los Angeles to Chicago. He wanted to ride old route 66 the entire way, but the road conditions were getting to him so he switched to 65. He said that I was the first touring cyclist that he met on his entire trip - and he's only the 3rd that I've met on my trip. (I expect to meet more cyclists now that I'm on the Transam.) Hiroshi & I must have stood by the side of the road and talked for at least a half of an hour! He is headed to St. Louis, and then to Chicago where he'll be meeting a friend. Then back to Japan. He said his parents are worried about him traveling alone by bike in a foreign country. Sound familiar? Only in my case, it's not my parents who are worried. Well, hopefully my sister has finally accepted my mode of travel by now. He was planning on stopping in Buffalo today, so I told him that I stayed at the Comfort Inn, and that I thought it was a good place to stay (a bit nicer but also more expensive than the 2 mom & pop motels in Buffalo). He said he had been staying away from that level of motel because he didn't think they'd allow him to take his bike into the room. I told him that I haven't had a problem bringing my bike into my room - even in the "nicer" places. The only place that it was questioned was on the edge of Indiana where the desk clerk thought I was going to bring a motorcycle into the room!
When I made my first recycling / refueling stop, I met a woman who asked me if I was done with school. Funny, I don't think I look that young! But I guess I should take that as a compliment.
I stopped for lunch in Fair Grove, and met a cyclist from Springfield there. He's a math teacher who teaches in high school during the normal school year and in two colleges all year round. He said that the colleges know that his summer teaching must be done in the evening so he has time to bike. I like his attitude!
When I was in the middle of hilly road CC, I stopped at the top of a hill to talk to a man who was mowing his lawn. He asked how far I was going today, and I told him I hoped to reach Ash Grove, and that I hoped the hills would be moderating a bit since I still had 22 or 23 miles to go. He told me it should get better after I crossed route 13, and he also told me that I was welcome to camp in his yard. It was only 1:00, and really too early in the day to stop, so I thanked him and moved on. He also told me that there was a nice clear stream at the bottom of the hill and recommended that I cool off in it. A good recommendation...
John drove up as I was standing and resting at the top of one of the many uphills. He offered me a ride to Springfield, but since that wasn't on my route today I turned down the ride. We talked for a while, and I told him about the Transamerica trail. He has seen many cyclists go through here, but he didn't know his house was on a mapped cycling trail. He said he'd be happy to let cyclists camp in his yard - he thought his seven year old son would get a kick out of it. I gave him Adventure Cycling's web site address and phone number and suggested that he call them and volunteer his yard as a camping spot. I'm sure they'd be happy to add another lodging spot to the maps. John also told me that the thought the hills would moderate once I passed route 13, but he warned me that there were some more big hills around Ash Grove. He was right.
I stopped for more Gatorade and some ice cream, and was sitting outside the store on the pavement enjoying my ice cream sandwich. A man come out of the store and asked me where and when I'd started riding. Then he said "boy, you're really kicking ass". His girlfriend looked at me and said "I bet you don't feel like it though". Then at my next refueling stop, I got the same question from 4 guys in a car. When I told them I started riding in Massachusetts on June 10th, one of them suggested that I might want to see a psychiatrist. Good thing I don't take these things to heart - and by the way, I don't think I'm the crazy one here!
The five miles on CC were the slowest miles of the day. I made much better progress once the road became more reasonable. I'm actually pretty surprised that my average speed for the day was 9.1 miles per hour. That's pretty slow, but I would have guessed that my average would have been even slower...
I ended the day in Ash Grove where I'm camping in the city park. They don't charge cyclists anything to camp here, and they make both the pool and the showers available. The only negative is that the showers are cold, but a cold shower is better than no shower! It's just getting dark out, and I can see fireflies all over. I feel like a little kid - it seems that long ago that I remember watching (and trying to catch) fireflies!
No new wildlife sightings today, but I did have a run-in with a very nasty bee (or some kind of stinging thing that has the capability of stinging more than once). It flew down my shirt and managed to sting me several times before I managed to grab it and kill it. Then I got off of the bike and tried to figure out how to cool down the sting. I have to send thanks to my mom for the Caladryl Gel that she gave me when I was in Utica. I opened the trailer on the side of the road - which I don't normally do - to grab the gel and apply it. That helped. Hopefully that is the first and last encounter with a bee that I'll have on this trip.
And thanks to MarkG for his advice not to wait until I ran out of sunscreen to look for some more. He told me that they were forced to buy some sunscreen at one point last summer that smelled like bubble gum. Yuck! I was getting low, so I started to look for it in the larger cities I passed through. And larger means a population in the 1500 to 3000 range, which really isn't too big! I was lucky to find a reasonable replacement for my PreSun. I have to order that over the Internet, so I wasn't too hopeful of finding it on the road. But while I was in Buffalo I found Coppertone Sport Gel, which has the same active ingredient as the PreSun and is also a gel. I bought 2 bottles. That should at least get me across Kansas.
The truck hauling these statues passed me early this morning. When I saw it parked at a gas station down the road I had to stop for a picture. I wonder where these things will find a home...
