Ride Report: 58 Miles, 2,816 Total Miles, 14.8 Avg. mph, 4,380 Ft. Climbing, 5,261 Calories. Check out those climbing numbers. We haven’t seen +4k feet of climbing since Colorado. It also serves to explain the correspondingly low average speed for the day. The weather still isn’t cooperating either - humidity again. Over 90% for the first two thirds of the ride. I don’t know how to explain what a big deal this is. So let me try this...
When I crawled into The Rig for my second break of the morning, I noticed that wherever I stood I was leaving puddles. Then I noticed that my feet felt squishy. Next I realized that so much sweat had run down my legs that it had soaked my socks, and my shoes were actually making squishing sounds as I walked. The sweat was being forced out the cooling vents in the shoes - thus the puddles. I asked Susan to get me a new pair of socks and squeezed out the sweaty ones. (Outside The Rig - I'm not a Neanderthal.) The puddle was the size of a dinner plate. Amazing. Of course, the trick in these conditions is to drink enough to stay adequately hydrated. No small “feat”, if the reader will forgive the pun.
We're beginning to think that this may be the way of things for the foreseeable future. If such is the case, we'll slog thru it. But that doesn't keep us from hoping we get at least a bit of a break in the humidity. BTW - Heat Warnings again tomorrow.
Right after leaving Ash Grove, Delta and I ran across this sign...
I was a little puzzled, but thought I knew. Yup - the youngest son of Daniel Boone. Apparently he built a cabin just off the road here in (I think) the 1830s. So, let me get this straight. If you're the son of a famous guy, the State will come along some 150ish years later and turn your house into a State Historic Site? By that measure, the State of Missouri will at some point be erecting a Keith Schoen State Historical Site on Gladstone Boulevard in KCMO. Readers should not hold their collective breath.
I like this shot. It gives the reader some idea how steep a 14% grade is. The problem is that once a rider stops on something like this, all momentum is gone - not that I had that much anyway. It also affirms that when it gets warm around here, the pavement will actually slide down the hill. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ya had to be here.
This pic (of the hill) also presents the opportunity to let the reader know that I had a chance at two more turtle saves today. But alas, I saved neither turtle today, and my total for the ride remains at two. Lest the reader think that some big pickup (there are a boatload of those around here) flattened said turtles just before I arrived to save them, such was not the case. No, no, no. It so happened that both of these turtles were crossing the road as I was climbing up particularly steep hills. I saw them about 25 yards ahead. When I got there, they both waved me off, saying they had seen the speed with which I ascended the hill and it would be quicker to do it themselves. Oh sure, they seem all friendly and grateful when ya don't run over 'em, but when they show their true colors - not so much. Stupid turtles.
OK - first, this was what the entire day was like. Hill after hill after hill, ad nauseam. But that's not the larger point. That point being - there is a bit of an informal bragging rights competition when T/A riders cross Missouri. The person who can take a pic showing the most hills wins. I've kept my eye out since entering the state and thus far, this is what I've got to offer: five. (Ya count the one you're standing on - its in the official rule book) The best I've ever seen in a blog post was seven. I'll stay vigilant.
Susan continues to take pride in her ability to keep me in dry riding gear. On this occasion she's drying my KSU jersey. The sarcastic reader will make not of the billowing form of the jersey and assert that it's shaped just like me. Well belay that thought, because...
As the reader can clearly see from this pic, I'm more like the streamlined eagle logo used by the US Postal Service. Not that I'd brag them up as a business model (they're shedding money like cats shed fur), but their logo is pretty slick. Plus it looks speedy, fierce and focused. So, streamlined, slick, speedy, fierce, focused - yup - me in a nutshell. And for the reader who insists, open the pic and look closely. There's plenty of unfilled space in that jersey. This was me pulling in to a rest stop. (The previous two pics use by permission of Susan Schoen photography, LLC)
And speaking of rest stops, when I told Susan today that I don't think I pedaled a single flat section of route today, she initially agreed. However upon further reflection she thought the parking lot of the Post Office in the above pic and the Wal-Mart in Marshfield were "pretty flat". Have I mentioned this: hill after hill after hill after hill...
Ya don't see many of these signs around. And why for just 4 miles? Delta had a fit over this. According to him, if I think he's gonna pull me around in one of those contraptions, "You got another think coming."
OK - this was crazy. Just as we were leaving Marshfield, there was this. To make sure the reader can appreciate the work that went into this "art", check out the pic below.
The VW is the one that caught my eye. Its clearly been bobbed (shortened) and those yellow headers attached to the rear (used as what - wings, spoilers?) are to die for. Unexplained is how (or why) the other car is sitting on those giant concrete Legos.
And these two as well. According to the sign just out of the pic to the left, there are, "races every Saturday night". I don't think there is any way the track was more than maybe 100 X 200 yards? And it was flat - no banked corners. How do ya race on that if your name ain't Ricky Bobby? This had to be the most unusual thing I saw all day. Well, except for the snarky turtles. Stupid turtles.
There ya have it readers. Another day living the dream in Missouri, USA.
Till next time
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