Sunday, August 4, 2013

August 4- Centerville to Farmington, Mo.

Sandy says we should say "Centerville to the Promised Land" since we have been nursing our ailing bike to Farmington for the last four days.

The first 15 miles of today's 45-mile ride were reminiscent of yesterday's steep hills, though there were not as many of them. After failing on hills twice yesterday, we were feeling more humble, even vulnerable. But we got over the top on all of today's challenges, including one triple hill of 14%,15%,16%. And then, just about the time we decided today would be all hard riding, it was over. The hills were much gentler all the way to Farmington. Who knows what lies ahead? The elevation profile on our map shows it generally downhill all the way to the Mississippi River, but there may be some short, steep stingers in the meantime.

Near the end of our ride we met a west-bound cyclist, the first in several days. Xiao An, AKA Paul, is a jolly young man from near Hong Kong, riding alone from New York to San Francisco. He assured us the road ahead was pretty flat. We opened our mouths to tell him what lies ahead in his direction, but toned it down so as not to discourage him.

Tomorrow we take our bike to the shop for repair, however long that takes.

1 comment:

  1. You guys should take a day off at some point, otherwise you'll hit the Atlantic too soon.

    ReplyDelete