Windy, Windy, Windy

This is the second of two posts today.  It was windy, windy, windy.  Pictures are in Janie's post below.

Jody's take on the route from Lamar CO to Garden City KS, on Monday, October 1:

What a difference a day - and forty five extra miles and wind, wind, wind - make.

Yesterday's ride from La Junta, CO to Lamar, CO was only fifty five miles, all downhill and mostly with a tailwind. It was a stroll in the park compared to today. Leaving La Junta, I was all go from the start. I averaged nearly twenty miles per hour to Las Animas, CO, passing Janie part way through the route. I felt like Casey Jones, steaming and a-rolling. At Las Animas, Janie and I rode together for an enjoyable several miles through the beautiful little town, complete with rodeo, and into the great high pains countryside, all cattle and horse grazing rangeland.

Today started out okay, much earlier due to the longer route of 103 miles. The sunrise was glorious but the cloudy skies threatened rain, which never materialized. But oh the wind. It wasn't a direct headwind, but the sizeways shears were a challenge for half the route. The first 34 miles in Colorado were fine, and I caught Janie before the Kansas border.  It was pleasant until after Syracuse, a little town in western Kansas with a nice donut shop, which unfortunately was sold out of donuts when we arrived at 10:15. We chatted with the proprietress, three male customers at one table, and two older women at another able. The busy US highway was reduced to one way traffic due to construction. Rod expertly drove alongside me and I drafted for a few miles. The Little Darkness shielded me from the wind and I was able to maintain speeds of 18 - 22 mph. Then traffic and construction forced Rod to speed away. I was left to deal with the wind. My speed dropped in half. The road crew was laying new asphalt on half the roadway. I followed as best I could, but got stuck behind the asphalt machine with the pilot car heading in my direction from the opposite side of the road. I chose to cross the fresh asphalt rather than wait for the pilot car to approach. Thankfully, Jean Luc's tires didn't melt, but they got loaded with tar/rock mix. The fresh roadway sports a distinctive bike tire route indented in the new surface.

The wind continued unabated. My progress was slow but steady. I thought the route would never end. Eight hours after I started, I arrived at our destination.

For example, the wind has its reasons. We just don't notice as we go about our lives. But then, at some point, we are made to notice. The wind envelops you with a certain purpose in mind, and it rocks you. The wind knows everything that's inside you. And not just the wind. Everything, including a stone. They all know us very well. From top to bottom. It only occurs to us at certain times. And all we can do is go with those things. As we take them in, we survive, and deepen.
     ~Haruki Murakami, Japanese translator and writer, Hear the Wind Sing