Hard fort – Day 29

Date: Saturday 4th September   

Route: Ness City, Kansas – Larned, Kansas

Distance:   63 miles

Total climb: 912 ft

Net climb: -244 ft

The plan for today was to have a light breakfast, sourced the previous night, and get underway early, with a ‘second breakfast’ incorporated into our first stop in Alexander. I snaffled a blueberry muffin and Jay appeared to ease his way through a shopping bag full of hidden treasures before we left. Ordinarily, the ‘food envy’ should have been mine. However, within the early stages of the first mile, Jay conceded that was feeling unwell and hard hit by a sugar rush.

It is fair to say that Jay did well to battle more headwinds and side winds (that is correct, we almost never get a tailwind) to our first stop in Alexander. I rolled the final mile into town with chain/derailleur damage, whilst Jay hunted down a diner for a proper meal. The good news was that I solved the derailleur issue, the bad news that there was no diner or other source of food – time to chew down on yet another chocolate brownie, trail mix and/or rice crispie square.

Despite the setback to our planned nutritional rebalancing, we rolled on further into Kansas and onto map section 8 of 12. We reached Rush Center, excited to find a diner that was open – Busis all round, particularly since it was the only thing open in town for the Labour Day weekend. After a long wait (busy place), we ate yet another burger and prepared for the afternoon. However, I quickly realised that my tire had gone flat during our break, leading to the slowest inner tube change in the history of cycling as I succumbed to the heat and tiredness accumulated over the trip.

New tire fitted, we set off into another headwind. After less than five miles and as I moved on to the front to give Jay a rest, I heard the unmistakable ‘ping’ of a breaking spoke – bad news. We stopped at the roadside and tried desperately to use the kit loaned to us by Tom from Big Sky, sadly in vain.

The decision was made for me to ride a spoke light on the rear wheel for a further 25 miles to Larned, where we would stop for the evening. This involved me staying as still as possible (not wobbling) to avoid buckling the wheel and Jay riding the front, so I did not put too much strain on the drive train in the wind. Jay therefore rode for about 15 miles over 2 hours into a strong headwind, like a legend (blogger feeling guilt for this and the above slating of his dietary habits).

We managed to reach Larned, passing its historic fort on the outskirts, and secured a room at the only open hotel. In many senses this was a success, but we were now miles from a bike shop and most places appeared to be shutting for the Labour Day weekend. We were planning a rest day sometime soon, but this was quickly becoming a forced decision.

Once checked in, we headed out into Larned, to observe its Saturday night vibrancy. This was somewhat isolated to ‘Varney’s Bar’, where we were welcomed by Mike the owner. The night can be summarised as a few games of pool, some Bud and a Dos Equis each and mostly being left alone by the 20-or-so others ‘larging it’ in Larned.

Final bullet points:

• We observed a bachelorette (hen) party taking place in Varney’s. It is fair to say that we appeared to be having a more wild night, sitting at a table discussing the merits of pop group Journey, removing cassettes from rear wheels and the rules and regulations of gridiron.
• On our wanderings in Lander, we stumbled across a Bat Cave, appropriately decorated and closed to the public. I really would like to know what is inside, but all the shutters were closed. There was no red phone in sight.
• Jay won the pool at Varney’s, being in particularly strong form despite not having his magnetic chalk belt to hand.
•  We have separate rooms for the first time this trip. Peace and quiet!

FP