Day 27: Chillicothe, MO to St. Joseph, MO

Total Distance: 74.8 mi
Moving Avg: 8.7 mph
Moving Time: 8:35
Climbing: 4400 ft
Elev: 150 ft

Route Summary: 
US 36 W

Hills and headwinds. Hills and headwinds. Not cool.

Well, actaully, not that bad. I woke up this morning feeling like
shit. Since I was in a really cheap motel, and was planning on taking a
rest day soon, I almost declared today a rest day. I knew today was
going to be a long hard day, and I wasn't sure I was up to it. But I
dragged myself out of bed (really late, of course, so I got a late
start) and went for it. And I made it. So there!

I knew today would be a hard day for several reasons. First off, I
looked at the elevation profile. Lots of climbing. Second, it is a full
day for ABBike. They are traveling unloaded, with sag wagons, and are
probably stronger bikers than me. I'm pretty pleased with myself for
making it all the way today. 

In the morning, I started out really slow. Partly the winds, partly the
hills, but mostly just me not putting in much effort. I was averaging
7.2 mph at lunch time. Then, in the afternoon (well, late afternoon) I
managed to pick up the pace. I'm not sure what exactly it was, but
somehow I just flew through the last 30 miles. I brought my average
speed up a bunch (I think I must have averaged about 10 or 11 mph, which
is pretty fast for hilly ground). The headwinds had died down some,
which definitly helped. Also, I was consuming GU at the recommended
rate, 1 shot every 30 min or so. I think the GU (like liquid powerbar,
basically) actually contributed a lot. I felt very energetic. Oh yeah,
and I had eaten some ibuprofin. That probably helped too. My right knee
is starting to hurt a little as I write this, likely because I pushed
myself so hard today. Hrm.

So yeah, a rest day. I should take one. I'm not sure if I will take one
here in St. Joe tomorrow, or try and get to Topeka and take a break
there. Topeka has the advantage of being bigger and maybe having a
Holiday Inn I can get bandwidth at (the hotel I'm in now used to be a
Holiday Inn, but was disenfranchised recently, so no bandwidth). Also,
it has a cool bike shop according to the Heroines
(www.intrepidheroines.net, Cee and Molly's website). I don't need bike
stuff, but I wouldn't mind stocking up on GU and related items. Also,
the day after tomorrow they predict rain (well, a chance of
rain). Really, Topeka would be a much better place for a rest day. There
is only one problem: it is 75 miles away and I'm just not sure if I'm up
to another full ABBike day. I think I will just wait and see how I feel
when I wake up (which means I'm almost certainly going to stay here,
since I never feel good when I wake up).