Day 33: Sterling, KS to La Crosse, KS

Total Distance: 89.2
Moving Avg: 13.0 mph
Moving Time: 6:51
Climbing: 1600 ft
Elev: 420 ft

Route Summary:
ACA marked county roads to
KS 156 W to
US 183 N

Well, today was a much longer day than anticipated, not becuase of
lack of motels (the ACA maps have towns with motels marked, so I can
see in advance where I can stop) but because of TAILWINDS! Glorious
tailwinds. It was SO NICE to not be fighting the wind for once. Even
though I got my usual late start, I got to my planned destination at
3:30. I decided I had to press on, I could not bear to see such
favorable conditions go to waste.

I finally have found the flat part of the US. I did have a sizable
elevation gain today, but it was a continious slow grade. The best
sort. I think the "Climbing Elevation" feature of the mapping software
I'm using sucks, because it never seems to show less than 1000 feet of
climbing. I suspect this is due to not low-passing the data before
summing (ie, counting +/-1 foot reading on flat streches as
'climbing'). If I have the time and energy, I may at some point throw
all the data into GRASS or ArcGIS or something and get better numbers
for how much climbing was actually involved.

Today was also the longest stretch without services I've had yet: 53
miles. I broke out the Dromidary water bag (10 liter capicity) and
carried about 9 liters of water total. I had way more than
enough. This is a good sign for later, when the streches without
services become much longer.

Today was cooler than yesterday, only in the high 80's and low 90's
rather than the 100's. Surprisingly, the heat really isn't that big a
deal. I just drink more water and sweat more. Even when it was over
100, it just didn't seem that bad. This is also a good sign for
later, when it will be really hot. 

I ran into another couple transam cyclists this morning. They were on
a tandem and towing a Burley trailer. They were following the ACA
Western Express route from SF to Virginia. Unfortunatly, they wern't
very talkative and we parted ways before I had a chance to grill them
on the western express route. I've been thinking I would cut north
after crossing the Rockies through SLC (following ABBike rather than
ACA), but even though I don't really agree with all of their routing
decisions, the convience of having a map with motels and such marked
is amazing. This is making me seriously consider following the ACA
route through southern UT, etc. The route is longer and more hilly (I
think). I still have a while to decide. 

The motel owner here in La Crosse (not Indian, a talkative former
Marine) also knows about the ACA route, he even has an ad in the
magazine. I got the last room in the motel (or so he claims) as there
is a rodeo in the neighboring town. Oh joy.

I had my first major gear hack tonight. The rubber strap holding one
of the BOB retaining clips finally gave out. Both of the straps had
already broken at the very end (the first one broke before I even hit
the road, as I was loading into Antonio's truck), but I fixed them by
simply tieing the clip in place with a knot. Today, however, the strap
simply broke in half. The straps aren't weight bearing or anything,
but if the clip does come out it keeps it from getting lost (as it
almost did on the Minuteman). Anyway, I reattached the clip with a bit
of spare brake cable. It is not pretty, but it should hold. If you've
never used a BOB trailer, you likely have no idea what I'm talking
about. Sorry. It's really hard to explain in words how it all fits
together.