May 7 -- Abilene KS to Topeka KS

Well, it's morning again. It's not raining now, according to the doppler, but there is dense green all around, i.e. rain. There is a possibility of strong thunderstorms so the day could be a repeat of tomorrow.

The only good news that I take away from weather.com is that the winds are a) lighter and b) from the WSW. Since we are heading ENE those winds could be beneficial.

The mileage is slightly shorter -- 108 vs 129; but there is more climbing -- 3000 vs 1000. I expect that this is rolling hills so may or may not be a factor.

Dave Duboc had another accident yesterday. A few days ago, coming down from the mesa, he was stopping to take a picture and basically fell over onto his face as he was stopping. He was a sight with stiches in his face and bandages -- nothing serious though. Yesterday he ran into a dog and went over the handlebars. I hear that his neck is in a brace, but have not seen that firsthand. We'll probably see him at breakfast and get the scoop.

I'll complete this blog later, so stay tuned.

........

We got in around 2:10, having left at 7:20, so we had slightly less than an 8 hour elapsed-time day. Rolling time was a little over 6 hours. Mileage was 108. I don't know the exact figures because four of us checked in then went straight over to a bike store and DQ afterwards.

The terrain was rolling today -- we easily did the advertised 3000 feet of climbing -- in fact we went over that according to Geoff's wrist-mounted meter. The weather cooperated, in fact by the time we got to the hotel the sun was out and it was quite humid.

A bit anti-climactic after yesterday ? .... I'll say so !! Yesterday will be hard to forget.

A number of people were hurting today, including Geoff and Jerry. Jerry blames it on the fact that he had the salad bar with his dinner last night instead of an extra order of pasta ... who knows. And of course it was me who had the salad bar, so it was my fault - just kidding of course. I don't know why but I was feeling really good today, just motoring up the hills, so I did a lot of pulling on the hills, while Jerry and Geoff tended to do the pulling on the downhill / flat. They always pass me on the downhill -- it must be my weight to cross-section ratio -- too low.

It's time for RAP and then dinner. I'll add an update later or save it for tomorrow (rest day).