Day 17 May 14th  La Junta – Lamar Co.

  
I promise this will be the last time I write anything about headwinds. You are probably as tired hearing about them as I am writing about them. I have found that headwinds are my “kryptonite”.  I decided to not waste a lot of extra energy today on fighting the wind, instead I would go short & recover, to make a run for Garden City Ks. or somewhere close tomo. I spent the day today managing my energy & paced my way to Lamar Co. 

I once again spent the day riding through the featureless fenced in pasture land, with no animals inside the fences. It was upon reaching the outskirts of Lamar that I solved the mystery of not seeing any cattle in the pastures. I found them all in the largest cattle feed lot I have ever seen! 61,000 cows all in one place. Amazing site. Amazing smell.

Today I also came up with a couple of tricks to battle the headwinds. I put a set of ear plugs in to dull the constant noise in my ears as the wind whistles through the openings in my helmet, & also the noise of the traffic rushing by causing more wind & road noise. I also refuse to look @ my bike computer. Going this slow is bad enough without being reminded of it by a speedometer & odometer to confirm the obvious.

So 59 miles in today. Kansas is another big state. But last week @ this time I was still in the desert of AZ. So there is progress. If the weather would co-operate I should be in Missouri by next Fri. ( headwinds willing 🙂