Mileage: 70.03 miles
Today seemed like a relatively short day. We had about 70 miles to ride, which seems short after having done over 100 miles. My riding group for the day was with Emily Lipsitz, Katie, and Helen. The farther out west we go, the simpler the route becomes. We basically stay on the same road for the whole day, which makes things a lot simpler. We are notorious for getting lost, so it's nice to only have 9 turns over the course of the day.
The downside to staying on the same route for miles on end is that it gets a bit boring. Nebraska has some "hills", by which I mean ever so slightly uphill, followed by a flat stretch. There were also some pretty strong headwinds, since we were heading southwest. It was pretty tough, and at one point we were crawling at 8 mph. Not very fun.
Even though our team was slowly plodding along, we didn't have any flats or other mechanical issues and were making good time. We passed the time by playing some games and listening to music from Katie's speakers. I wish I had some speakers for my bike (hint hint, next mail drops are in Arapahoe and Boulder).
At around 3pm, we made it to our host, a Lutheran church, in Fairbury, NE. I had time to shower, hand wash some clothes, and blog. A few people from the congregation came to serve us dinner and eat with us. They made us a lot of delicious casseroles, salads, pasta and meatballs, and a variety of desserts. There is never a lack of dessert on this trip!
After dinner, a group of us decided to make the 15ish minute drive to the Kansas border, just for fun. We took a bunch of photos with the state signs.
Van duty tomorrow, so I will be asking for food donations all day with Chelsea. I am a bit bummed that I won't be riding since we are doing another century (100 miles). Oh well, there will be more.
Today seemed like a relatively short day. We had about 70 miles to ride, which seems short after having done over 100 miles. My riding group for the day was with Emily Lipsitz, Katie, and Helen. The farther out west we go, the simpler the route becomes. We basically stay on the same road for the whole day, which makes things a lot simpler. We are notorious for getting lost, so it's nice to only have 9 turns over the course of the day.
The downside to staying on the same route for miles on end is that it gets a bit boring. Nebraska has some "hills", by which I mean ever so slightly uphill, followed by a flat stretch. There were also some pretty strong headwinds, since we were heading southwest. It was pretty tough, and at one point we were crawling at 8 mph. Not very fun.
Even though our team was slowly plodding along, we didn't have any flats or other mechanical issues and were making good time. We passed the time by playing some games and listening to music from Katie's speakers. I wish I had some speakers for my bike (hint hint, next mail drops are in Arapahoe and Boulder).
At around 3pm, we made it to our host, a Lutheran church, in Fairbury, NE. I had time to shower, hand wash some clothes, and blog. A few people from the congregation came to serve us dinner and eat with us. They made us a lot of delicious casseroles, salads, pasta and meatballs, and a variety of desserts. There is never a lack of dessert on this trip!
After dinner, a group of us decided to make the 15ish minute drive to the Kansas border, just for fun. We took a bunch of photos with the state signs.
Van duty tomorrow, so I will be asking for food donations all day with Chelsea. I am a bit bummed that I won't be riding since we are doing another century (100 miles). Oh well, there will be more.
