TransAm 2012 - Cycle across America

Monday 25th June 2012
Day 37 - Eureka to Newton

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Very hot and early start to beat the sun, lots of birds flying with me.

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Start time: 05.13
Start location: Eureka
Start State: Kansas
Start weather: Dark and hot
Total millage so far: 1866.71

Finish time: 21.01
Finish location: Newton
Finish State: Kansas
Finish weather: Hot
Miles today: 79.77
Total millage so far: 1946.48
Today's top speed: 28.2
Today's average speed: 14.2
Punctures - 1 (slow back wheel)

Music played:
Pet Shop Boys - Discography - The Complete Singles Collection
Power Ballads - The greatest driving anthems in the world
prof_griff-pawns_in_the_game
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

Blog for the day Tuesday (26 June 2012):
Damn its hot out, just seen a sign saying 109!!!! and its 19.l1 in the evening!! I wonder what tomorrow will bring, 43 which feels like 47 apparently. So America! I have figured out your problems. You don't have clotted cream, which we have discussed at lengths before, and when asking for caster sugar, I get pretty much the same blank look on peoples faces! The reason? No one cooks, well, they do, but they don't. Cooking here is buying a box off the shelf and adding something called water, an ingredient, to it, and placing in the "oven". That's the big thing which looks like a washing machine, not the one which looks like your TV, that's a microwave, also used for "cooking". Learn to cook, and I'm sure your problems will be solved!

Now that has been resolved, tomorrow will bring on the 2000 mile! Woop Woop, and probably sun & heat stroke. So if I start rambling incoherently, that's what it is. Today I was up at just gone 4am to try and beat the sun. It still took over an hour to get up and ready, but still got out before sunrise. The road out of town was ok and the trucks gave me lots of room, the cars, well, some were not so helpful. There were some pretty strong headwinds into Rosalia, while I had some good tailwinds on the way out of town. I came across a cyclist coming the other way, lucky sod I thought, also they looked familiar. When I got closer I saw it was Nicole, felt like I was seeing things already! The road here was amazing, it was like it was laid just for us a few hours before, very nice to ride on.

I hunted down the Alaskans as if I were a coy boy in a posse hunting down some criminals, slowly getting closer and closer. I caught them up and we rode into another small town, capital of the prairie chicken and into a petrol station for food and water. A bunch of cowboys were sitting in there, boots and hats etc. Wanted to grab a photo, but they looked mean! Outside we met a guy from South Korea who was also doing a version of the TransAm. The roads out of there for 10 or so miles sucked big time! very bumpy with headwinds.

Yet again, in the early light, the scenery was spectacular, still waiting to see smoke signals and maybe a few arrows whizzing past my wheels as a tribe hunt down the cavalry. I saw signs for Wichita and still lucked out on seeing a lineman for the county. There were some guys doing roadworks though if that counts. Met a couple of guys coming in the other direction just before the roadworks. Chatted to them for a bit. They were taking 3weeks a year to do stages of the route. They had nice road bikes too, but were pulling BOBs. We talked about stuff and other riders they had seen, especially the chap with the battery powered bike.

Newton is a large town with a nice old railway station, if its fake old I'm not sure. I got to the church and the tornado siren goes off! Excellent, I look around hoping to see a twister and the wicked witch, but no, it was just a test, darn it. We had our showers and after dinner we popped to Walmart, i wanted to try and find the caster sugar! oh well. Anyway, sign on the bank said 109degrees and that was at 19.11 at night! HOT! How is it back home? hahahahaha haa. As usual a lot of fun, silly things happen which I try and remember, but fail to. Oh, I got a slow puncture! First of the ride. I was thinking that I could get through this without getting one, oh well.