Day 23: Lamar to Garden City -- Flying along in the flatlands

Pictures are here
Miles Today: 105
Total Miles: 1724
Avg Speed: 19.7
Max Speed: 31.5
Total Time: 5:20
Flats Today: 0; Total flats so far: 8
Weather: Cool and little wind in the morning, adding heat and southwesterly 10-15 mph (tailwind) as the day wore on. Altitude change: 800' drop to 2800' Garden City. Body condition: Feeling the ride for sure, but overall still good to go.

Second of our back to back centuries today and official entry into Kansas and central time zone. Ever eastward we go! Colorado and Kansas were FLAT today until we got toward the end of the ride when we did get a few gradual biggie sized rollers to change things up a bit. There was a bit of competitive racing type drama on today's ride -- these flats will bring some of that out, especially among our Floridian friends who feel right at home in this terrain and weather.

Three of our foursome started out together, though Chuck was missing. His bike was out front but no CHuck so we pushed off without himj thinking he would come along. Gerard and Judy alos pulled out about the same time so Bob, Leigh and I rode with them for some time in the early morning cool on very smooth roads with very little wind. We moseyed along at about 17-18 mph for the first 33 miles to the SAG stop.

Not long before we reached the SAG stop we saw a flash of blue and white roar by at what seemed twice the speed we were moving. Chuck was a man with a mission! He was down on his aerobars and cranking smoothly and efficiently. By the time we got to the SAG stop, Chuck was well on his way out already, having stayed only long enough to sign in and rest fluid levels.

We took our time at the SAG. I was approached by a couple in a car who asked me about our ride -- usual stuff. At the end the 30's something guy gave me a round of applause. The rest of the group questioned me pretty closely about my little exchange, wondering what I had told him that would elicit that kind of response. I told them I had paid him a buck for the standing ovation. -- but it was worth it.

Eventually the Gerard, Leigh, Bob and I motored out of the SAG stop back up to the highway. As we ere leaving I got to thinking. This is a rare century that was flat with a nicley growing tail wind of 10 mph on very smooth pavement with little traffic and no turns. Should I try for a sub 5 hour century on this day? After weighing the possibilities I decided I would go for it and so I took off form the group at a good clip hoveing between 23 & 25 mph down Rt 50. Mostly I stayed on the road surface, though I would have to dive over the rumblers and onto the wide berm to get out of the way of the occasional semis that roared up and by using all of the road.

I had good energy and the miles clicked by. I knew I would have to really crank to overcome the those first 33 slow miles so that is what I did. After about 15 miles of this, I saw Rose, one of our two new adds to the trip at the side of the road with a flat. I stopped to help her out. My pump is a sought after item for roadside flats and this one was no exception. Gerard rolled up in the middle of all this and took over the fix while Leigh and Bob motored on. We eventually got the thing put together and Rose was on her way and Gerard and I took off as well to catch up to Leigh and Bob. Gerard began to hammer and I tried to stay with him. Fortunately we soon came to a town with a traffic light where I could regain his rear wheel. Pretty soon Gerard had it up to 28-30 mph and I was hanging on for dear life. I think he kept thinking I was going to drop because I told him to go on earlier. When I was still there after about 2 miles he looked around and gave me the elbow flap signaling : "It's your turn to pull for a while, buddy" I looked at him with a "You've got to be kidding me" look. He pulled over and I pulled out into the air stream and cranked it up as best I could to 26-27, which was all I could muster. After Gerard had had a chance to recover a bit he again he pulled in front and raised the level a mile or two. We soon caught Leigh and Bob.

Once back the pace slowed down to about 20, but since I had to make up time if I was going to get that 5 hour century I began to crank it again and pulled away. Our next stop was SAG 2 in front of the heavily advertised DQ at 78 miles. Visions of a rootbeer float kept the legs churning, made the bathwater warm liquid in my bottle drinkable and kept me churning at 20 plus miles to raise the average to that magic 20mph mark. By mile 68 I was really feeling it, had no water and was questioning my sanity for trying this. The midday temperature had risen to well over 90 degrees.

Just about the time I was passing Dan, who was on the road ahead of me, Michelle and the white SAG drove by. Hand to helmet signaling STOP! Dan and I were out of water and Michelle rescued us. We drank and filled and chatted a bit. Then the bad news from Michelle. The DQ was shut down. Out of business. Closed! What to do? Dan adn I gamely pushed on. THe next 10 miles were tough ones, with the advertised late ride rollers starting to appear. I kept it over 20 as much as I coudl but was still below that magic 20mh average I needed to have.

When we got to SAG 2 we got several interesting pieces of news. There was a Subway in town even if the DQ had closed. Lunch in air conditioning never sounded so good. And, Chuck had come through right after Tom. Chuck's mission was to leave last and still be first to the motel! He was on target to do just that. Go Chuck!

Dan and I and ALex, Michelle's son ate our sbuways and several refills of softt drinks together. Soon Gerard, Bob and Leigh rolled in and joined us. We left together wondering how Chuck, our teammate was faring on his mission. As we rolled out I invited the others to join me in trying to get the next 22 miles in at over 20mph, but they all declined. Too hot and too much work. So I struck out on my own, again trying to stay over 20mph. I soon reached the magic point where my average was right at 20, so now I had to keep it there for the last 20 miles.

I played all sorts of games, breaking up the remaining distance into pieces, figuring time left if I could keep this pace, seeing how many minutes each mile took etc. The temperature kept rising -- 95 per weatherman, 105 measured on several Garmins. Hot by any measure. My ice filled water bottles from Subway were soon bathwater again. The remaining miles clicked by ever so slowly but that magic 100.00 finally arrived not far outside of Garden City. I stopped the bike and clicked the Cateye over to time. Four hours and 57 minutes. I had completed my first sub 5 hour century. Having done that, I crawled in the last 5 miles to the motel. Thankfully the Gerard, Leigh and Bob threesome showed up at the very end to keep me from a wrong turn off the highway that would have sent me off in the wrong direction just when I least needed it.

When we arrived at the motel, Tom, Sean and Chuck had already checked in. But who had checked in first? Turned out it was Chuck. He had completed his century in 4:37 at 22+mph and had overtaken Sean and Tom both in the process coming from dead last in the process. GREAT JOB, Chuck!

Others straggled in over the course of the afternoon, which was timezone change shortened to begin with. And it was an especially long and arduous day for both the Jacks and Steve who missed the rides only real turn right out of the gate and put in 20 additional miles. Two back to back double metric centuries for them.

Dinner was at the Golden Corral which was an excellent choice for this crew. Should be an easy day tomorrow with what we hope will be a quick 51 to Dodge City with plans for a bicycle rodeo and a visit to Miss Kitty's wild west show. Not to mention the excitement of laundry.