Day 32: Happy 4th of July!

Day 32

Girard to Chanute 44miles

So despite the rather scary weather, I actually slept pretty well. My alarm went off at 5am, which I decided was a bit too early, so went back to bed for 30mins!!

Packed up the tent and my kit, whilst trying to avoid sinking in the mud surrounding the little shelter! Got on the road around 6.30. And what lovely flat roads they were. Kansas isnt quite as flat I actually imagined – I was thinking it would be completely devoid of any elevation changes at all. In reality there are small ups and down, but many of them are so gradual you barely notice. And often dont even really need to change gear. Today, according to my garmin, the difference between the very lowest and highest elevations in the entire day was only around 150ft. The good thing about this was that I was able to set a nice pace, with an average approaching 15mph for the day.

After about 30miles I met another eastbound rider. There seems to be a pretty steady stream of people coming the other way now. Reckon it will be that way until Colorado, by which time most people will probably have passed me. As ever we discussed places to stay, riding conditions etc. By this point I had kind of decided to do a short day today. As I get further out into the middle of nowhere, the lodging options dry up a bit (although there is always the stealth camping option). SO today was either a short 45ish miles to Chanute, or push on to Eureka which would be 110miles. I was feeling quite tired after last night, so decided to split the trip up into two days and have today as a kind of rest day.

I arrived in Chanute by 10.30, and found a motel to get into early. Wanted to do a few things on the bike (including fix the inner tube from yesterday's flat) and also to plan out my next few days of riding. Changed to the next map segment yesterday so hadnt yet had a chance to look at the new one properly.

And because today is 4^th of July I also wanted to get somewhere which might have some fireworks. As luck would have it, there is apparently a show in the park right across the road which I will go watch later.

So I effectively had a rest day in which I covered almost 45miles! In planning my stays for the next week or so, I had hoped to get to Pueblo by 40days. However, with the weather as it I dont think its going to happen, so will probably arrive a day later. Although thats still not bad, and puts me in a good position.

In my spare time today I calculated my cumulative daily mileage and how it stacks up against my required distances. 4,262miles over 88 days equates to 48.3miles a day. According to the maps, Yorktown, VA to Girard (where I started today) is 1,570.5 miles. According to my daily mileage logs, I covered 1,572miles. So pretty accurate. I have taken a few shortcuts, but then also generally have to do extra miles in towns to get to accommodation.

As of today, I am 66miles ahead of schedule. As illustrated by the 'worm' below. The red line is what I need to do, the blue line is what I have done. If I stick to my planned number of days to Peublo, Ill be over 200miles ahead. There is a chance a couple of times I could string two days riding together and do a century day. I'll see how the conditions pan out on the day. I wanted to do a 100mile day whilst out here, and having done so already I'm not in any real need to do it again!!

Right, hopefully the fireworks will start soon. Then I'm getting a good nights sleep and