Today was a short day's ride, comparatively -- 89 miles. I was a bit stiff this a.m. from the day off but it felt good to be on the move again. Topeka ... (pardon me Topekans) ... is not my idea of a vacation spot.
We went to a Japanese hibachi steakhouse last night. We had another dunce of a waiter -- not the chef, he knew what he was doing. It sounds like the same waiter that Bill Reenstra's group had the night before who tried to open a bottle of bubbly with a corkscrew until Bill intervened. We should have known when Ken ordered a sushi sampler as an appetizer and the guy brought Ken the sushi list to choose that he was already "out to lunch" at dinnertime. The confusion that I added was trying to explain to the guy that we were hungry bikers and wanted extra rice ... even if we had to pay for it. That sounds simple, doesn't it ? Not So !! Anyway, then I made the mistake of asking Geoff, just out of curiousity, how he managed his peanut allergy in a place like this where everything is cooked together. Geoff had never had a problem in a Japanese restaurant before, but he then asked the waiter whether the oils were vegetable or peanut-based -- and that caused confusion for many minutes.
Tonight we're going to the restaurant next door to the hotel for barbecue -- what can I do here ? I'll have to think about that one.
Back to the riding -- we got in around 12:45, elapsed time 5:45 and rolling time a little over 5 hours. I lost track of rolling time because as soon as we got to the hotel and checked in and helped unload the luggage we rode off to a Baskin Robbins. Unfortunately there is no DQ nearby -- shakes made with hard ice-cream are not as good as soft ice-cream, but we survived that hardship unscathed !! What troopers !! Ha.
The countryside is beautiful -- very, very green. The weather cooperated -- high 50's leaving and mid 70's arriving. Light winds, albeit in our face. There were some beautiful, huge homes that we passed on our route -- which was basicaly K4 to Atchison and onto 59, then roads in MO -- Can you believe how they name their State Roads here ? -- we were on HH for a while, then on JJ, then on V -- I kid you not. We got to St. Joseph about 10 miles before our destination -- which is actually unusual for this ride. Usually we stay on the west side of these towns, today we are on the east side, as near as I can figure.
Back to the scenery -- some of these homes sitting on the hilltops remind me of Linda Wilder's home in VA -- although these hills are not as high so the views would not be as dramatic. The homes are also built like stately mansions that belong in town, multi-story, pillars, three car garages -- you get the idea -- they do not blend into the geography like Linda's does. We were riding along looking down at one large place in a valley, thinking that it was a golf course and accompanying clubhouse ... not -- it was a ranch. That gives you an idea of the scale.
This is probably one of the best hotels that we have stayed in -- some of the Best Western's were "ok" -- but this Drury Inn is nicely done. Granite countertop in the bathroom, all newly done. Don't read this as a complaint about the motels -- I know for sure that you could pay more and stay in better places -- but that would put the cost of this ride out of reasonable reach. It's already expensive and adding another $30 per night for better rooms would add $1000 to a single room accomodation.
The itinerary takes it easy on us today for two reasons -- one is that it is just after the rest day -- so we must warm up again. Two is that tomorrow is a "signature" day -- 153 miles and 7000+ feet of climbing. That is both the longest ride in miles and probably the hardest climbing. The earlier day with 11,000 feet of climbing was tough, but those were long switchback-type climbs with long descents as a reward. Tomorrow's ride will be all short hills so you are constantly climbing -- think of it as a ride with 75 miles of uphill and 75 miles of descent ... hmmm. I have not checked the weather yet in detail -- the hour by hour gives a better indication of both the timing of any storm/rain activity as well as the expected wind velocity and direction.
I took a couple of pictures today -- one of the group of us after we entered Missouri -- this sign is well after the bridge across the river --- which, by the way, crested yesterday from the flooding and was still carrying mucho debris as it went under the bridge.
I'm not as short as the picture makes out -- there was quite a slope to the shoulder -- today I rode with Geoff and Jerry and Ken. Jerry and Ken are about the same height as me -- Geoff is quite a bit taller, and being at the top of the slope really makes him look tall.
The second picture looks out over the road ahead -- it will show up better when I have a chance to edit and put on my website -- looking off to the distance you can see the tops of the rolling hills. I'll try and get some more shots tomorrow that convey the landscape, but the point-and-shoot camera does not do it justice.
That's it for now ...
No comments:
Post a Comment