Day 18 – Fri/Jul 4 – 32 Miles East of O’Neil NE to Blair NE

Today we started at 7:19 AM, hoping to get as many miles in as possible before the winds picked up. The forecast was for head/cross winds at 10-20 mph. The last 17 miles of the day were directly into a 20 mph head wind. Our ride covered a total of 131.2 miles, on a flat route again – actually had a net drop of 700 feet in elevation today. We traveled on Hwy 275, Hwy 32 and Hwy 75. Hwy 275 and 75 had a wide shoulder, which were fairly smooth and clear. Hwy 32 started out very rough with no shoulder for the first mile and then the road turned smoother with a three foot shoulder. Traffic for the 4th was relatively light and vehicles gave us plenty of room to ride.

Once again, even though we had a flat route today, we had total climb of 2,082 feet. There were two stretches of road with a series of hills that tested our legs, or maybe I should say, tested my legs. Matt had a strong day today, good thing since the back-to-back 130+ days had taken a toll on my legs. Hopefully, we will have less wind tomorrow or maybe a tail wind. We will leave Nebraska and start our trek across Iowa.

The temperature today was relatively cool again – started at 62 degrees and ended at 84 degrees. Despite a couple of days of head winds, we really can’t complain about the weather. Relatively cool and dry for the most part. I hope this trend will continue. Everything considered, we have been very lucky.

We are now 1,885 miles into a 3,500 mile ride. Before we take a rest day Monday, we will have logged just short of 2,100 miles. Just a note – the flat tire count is now – Matt – 2 tubes/1 tire, Gary 7 tubes/3 tires. I had another flat two days ago (a very tough day) and could not locate the cause of the flat so I changed out the tire.

Day 17 – Thu/Jul 3 – 5 Miles East of Valentine NE to 32 Miles East of O’Neil NE

We woke up this morning still feeling the effects of yesterday’s grueling 82 mile ride and a bit apprehensive about what today would bring. As bad as yesterday was, today was as good. God smiled on us today – sunny skies, light and variable winds (primarily head and cross) and cool temperatures (54 – 73 degrees). This along with the smooth roads and a flat route (change in elevation of about 900 feet with only 951 feet of climb) allowed us to ride 138.1 miles today, averaging 18.7 mph. This is the 7th consecutive day of net descent since crossing the continental divide. Maybe the climb was worth it after all.

Yesterday at 1:30 PM, we had ridden a grand total of 27 miles. Today, we had 87 miles in by 1:30. What a difference 24 hours makes. We “banked” an additional 32 miles today (riding past our hotel into tomorrow’s ride) which means we will only have to ride 131 miles tomorrow to get to our hotel. Tomorrow’s ride was scheduled to be 163 miles by an over-aggressive planner (yet to be identified). The temperatures are forecast to be relatively cool tomorrow, but unfortunately is looks like we will have a stiff head wind. Hopefully the forecast is wrong and we will get another day like today.

We rode past a billboard today the stated “Now entering ‘the middle of nowhere’”. My guess is that the past few days have been the beginning of nowhere and the next few days the end of nowhere. We are now starting to ride through small towns every 10 miles or so. This makes it easier riding.

Day 16 – Wed/Jul 2 – 30 Miles East of Rushville NE to 5 Miles East of Valentine NE

Today we got up early and were ready to hit the cranks by 6:10 AM. Showers and lightning kept us waiting until 8:35 when we finally decided to take off even though there was still some light rain – but the lightning was gone. The first five miles were tough due to a strong head wind – 20 to 30 mph. Things just went down hill after that as we hit a section of road (it turned out to be 9.5 miles long) that had been prepared to be resurfaced with asphalt. The old surface had been ground off, leaving the road as rough as a washboard. It took us over two hours to cover the first 14.5 miles of the ride today.

The head wind did not subside until just before we stopped shortly after 5 PM (we are now in the central time zone). This may have been the worst 5 ½ hours I spent on a bike. Despite the constant head wind, we were lucky that the temperatures never left the 60s and the elevation dropped about 1,300 feet. We wound up averaging 15.3 mph, but it never felt like we were going that fast. We started the day with 30 miles in the bank and by the time we finished we had 5 miles left.

The terrain was pretty much the same as yesterday, but to tell you the truth, I did not even notice it. A dear friend of mine had a saying that summed up the way I felt we put our bikes up for the day…

“I feel like I have been shot at and missed, and shit at and hit!”