La Junta, CO to Ulysses, KS - 162 miles

Today was the longest official day of the whole tour at 162 miles. We had a brisk North wind to contend with from the start. All flags were stiff as boards pointing straight across our path. We would have to contend with this nasty crosswind for most of the day.

In order to deal with it, we started out with a large group and rode a rotating pace line. Riders rode through on the right side, and then eased off when they pulled over to the left. This became very efficient, and the first 86 miles up to lunch melted away. Our core group was Nigel, Brian, Keith, yellow Spinergy Bob, Dave, Les, Steven, and I. After lunch, we had the wind at our backs for 35 miles. Keith blasted part of this section out and did not drop under 27mph. We regrouped at a rest stop, then continued to blast out the rest at similar speeds with a double pace line. We then turned into the wind again and started another rotating pace line, and did it riding echelon as well. Steve sprinted for the Kansas state line, but there was no welcome sign! We stopped at the last stop and refueled again. Excellent white macadamia chocolate chip cookies were available and eaten in quantity.

The last twenty miles were on a pretty busy road so we all rode in at our own pace. The on bike average for the day was 19.6mph. It was great to ride with such a strong experienced group of riders. Our teamwork made the day much more bearable than imagined.

Kansas is flat and there are lots of cornfields. We some cattle, and at one point, we saw a collection of llamas! Lots of farm machinery in the fields. There are still lots of small undulations in the roads as we dip down to creeks and gulleys. We are going to have to be very creative about sightseeing.
We had dinner at a museum sponsored by the town. The local residents were very nice and the food was excellent, plus the museum was pretty fancy. Dairy Queen topped the night off.

More of Kansas for the next couple of days. Another big day tomorrow with 150 miles.