Lakes to Mountains Tour

Times That Try Bikers' Souls

Sat May 10: Grand Island to Overton NE: 64 miles; rain and wind, 50 at 12:30; 9:15-3:30.
I set a new record today! Taken as a whole, today was the worst day for cycling I've seen in any of my numerous tours. 54 degrees with a steady rain at the start, it dropped to 50 degrees by noon. The hardest rain was in the first hour, but it mostly kept up.
The rain grew more intermitten after lunch, but conditions grew worse. Between Grand Island and Kearney, a slight tail wind allowed me to again average over 16 mph. After lunch, though, the wind shifted slightly into my face and grew in strength (the Weather Channel mentioned a Wind Advisory beginning at 2:00). My speed dropped to 12 mph during the 14 miles into Elm Creek, then I had trouble keeping it above 10 as I faced the last 2o miles into Lexington.
I finally reminded myself of the philosophy that guides these trips. It doesn't involve proving anything to myself or to the world. The goals are to:
1) see the country and meet the people while traveling by bicycle
2) have fun. (After all, this IS my vacation we're talking about!)
Since I had already wrung every bit of fun I could out of biking today, it was time to meet some people. En route to Elm Creek, I started hitchbiking again: cycling along, and sticking my thumb out whenever I heard traffic approaching (unless I was gripping my handlebars trying to regain control after another gust). It took 14 miles until Chris and Deb drove by, saw my signal, and stopped just as another downpour looked imminent.
An invitation to stay the night soon followed. They took me home to their menagerie, showing me the roll call of animals they rescued or owned: purebred Siamese cats (including three kittens), a black cat, several small dogs, over two dozen cockatiels and button quail, a handful of ferrets, and three iguanas. Now I'm enjoying a quiet evening. Since nearly everything in my packs got at least slightly wet, I laundered everything. I also seized the chance to get caught up on blogging, then showed Deb, Chris, and the grandkids my Litterwalk DVD.
As we talked late, Chris name-dropped a name that got my attention. When I was in junior high, my folks often took us into Denver to see All-Star Wrestling matches. I remember such stars as Crusher and Bruiser, Man Mountain Mike, the Flying Redheads, Cowboy Bill Watts, and the Vachon brothers Mad Dog and Butcher. It turns out that Chris's cousin is married to Mad Dog Vachon!

posted by Glen @ 8:06 PM