The Man with the Hammer
Day 16 - Maize, KS to Eureka, KS (71 miles and 1,200 feel of climbing)
After 3 days and more than 300 miles of riding, I met the man with the hammer today at mile 71, with a temperature of 91 degrees, and a 17mph head/cross wind that was gusting to 22mph gusts. Cycling folklore speaks of “The Man With the Hammer”. He is a man who lurks around any corner and will unexpectedly bop you on the neck with his hammer. He will cause you to go from smoothly spinning your pedals to pedaling squares and putting your bike in “reverse”. The Man With the Hammer strikes when your mind takes more from legs than your body can provide.
The day started fine, bright blue skies with a relatively light cross wind. Shannon started the ride with me after a nice breakfast. Her neck was bothering her today, but she managed to ride a respectable 38 miles. I think she saw the man with the hammer, but did not meet him before she was relieved by Robin. The riding was ok, but there was not much to see that we had not seen before in Kansas. The highlight of our ride was seeing Bel Aire, which was a bit of a let down compared to Bel Air, CA. We are all looking forward to getting to the Missouri Ozarks even though it will be hilly.
Robin took over and rode well. The wide shoulder of the road that Shannon and I enjoyed narrowed and we needed to pay attention to our riding. Luckily, traffic was very light and everyone gave us plenty of room. Before we knew it, we were back to a better shoulder, but the winds had picked up and shifted in our direction. Normally, we ask Shannon to wait 20 or 25 miles up the road. Knowing I was hurting, we had her wait just 10 miles. We made it 33 miles and we both agreed we were having no fun at all, so we put the bikes on the car and drove to our hotel.
Tomorrow, we expect more cross winds but the route is ‘only’ 60 miles to our next hotel. Hopefully, we can recover tonight and keep the man with the hammer away tomorrow.
