Cooking in Kansas

When we started at the crack of daylight from Yolanda and Bill’s lovely home, it was so cold we had to put on gloves and toe warmers. By 3:40 pm, it had gotten up to 100 degrees. Fortunately, Sandra didn’t tell us until later. We cooked in Kansas. I thought I had finished with desert temperatures a while ago. I guess the cool Colorado mountains spoiled me. In a similar way, after traversing Cuchara Pass, I thought I had finished climbing, but the downhill toward Trinidad  from there had at least three steep (as in 9%) climbs.

Brenda and I rode 116 miles today with Sandra sagging for her first time.  For the first 100 miles, the shoulder was not wide enough for Brenda and me to ride side by side to pass the miles away with conversation.The final miles of the ride were on Route 400, a major trucking route through Kansas. However, it had very wide smooth shoulders and Brenda and I were able to talk our way to the end. It was Brenda’s first ride ever of over 100 miles. Congratulations, Brenda! Congratulations to Sandra, too, for her excellent first time ever sagging!

Today’s ride went through politically correct Gray County Wind Farm near Montezuma and a not politically correct field of metal sculptures in Mullinville KS. To be politically correct, I did not include photos of the politically incorrect metal sculptures.

Metal sculptures in Mullinville (photo by Sandra)

Closeup of a few of the metal sculptures in Mullinville

Ride details

Start location: Ulysses KS

End location: Greensburg KS

Distance: 116 miles

Cumulative distance: 1476.9 miles

Elevation gain: 872.7 feet

Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/718363431