Getting up was not an easy task. I forced my sore legs to breakfast. Thank god there was a guy that kept burping to make the "defrost your own pancakes and sausage" so much easier to get down. Getting on my bike was some what painful, and it took me a bit to warm up, but once I did, I felt the rush of excitement to be back on my bike. (For some reason this made me think of a morning when Lindsay and I got on our bikes for the first time that morning at a gas station, after enjoying an ice cream sandwich, and as we were weaving through people and cars to get out of the parking lot, all we could say was "Oh!" "Owww" "Ugh" "Holy crap" "Ouch", and people just stopped and starred, with blank faces, in wonderment.)
The wind was a lovely crosswind, nothing like the day before. It was almost like a nice breeze. The sun shared the sky with the clouds, and I appreciated not having it beating on my shoulders. The morning was just absolutely brilliant. Not to mention that I went through a National Wildlife Reserve, which meant fields that were green, decorated with bright yellow flowers and trees that were lush. Birds danced, crickets sang, and the dragonflies and butterflies joined me periodically. There was a feeling of life in the air and I loved it, and joined right in. I am not sure if I was still riding on the exhilaration of knowing that I had pushed through the wind yesterday, or if it was just brought out from by the fact that I was no longer looking at feeding farms or brown land. I even started singing out loud to songs I was listening to, which is easily as hard as cursing, crying, or laughing on a bike, but it is fairly amusing, even when you are alone (but, then again I am pretty easily amused). I also hit mile 2000 at noon, which I was thrilled about, as it seems hard to believe that we could have accomplished 2000 miles in 27 riding days. My thoughts easily slipped back to hitting the 1000 mile mark in Utah with Lindsay, and yelling our excitement in the canyon, and hearing it echo. (attacked is a picture of Lindsay, overwhelmed with excitement (she is not on the phone even though it may look.like that)) I remember thinking then that it was going to be a long way to 2000, and it was fun to think of where we would be and how exciting it was when we got there. But it really wasn't a long way. It just flew by. Now, at 2000 miles, I am thinking, man, this is awesome, but I'm still a long way home, (well, from Rochester first, at least).
I had one of the best sandwiches I have had in a while at a local pizza place in Nickerson, about 60 miles into my day,.at a local pizza place recommended to me by one of the locals (food is definitely something you do trust the locals on). It was perfectly toasted, with salami and fresh tomatoes. (sorry, Subway) After lunch, the sun took over with a vengeance, heating the air to about 96 degrees. I was flying along at 17 mph at some points--it was lovely, and a far cry from the day before--but I was sweating profusely, and the water I had from the pizza place was quickly warming up. I went a mile off track and got some ice water in Buhler, which really got me through the last 32 miles. By mile 90, the typical aches and pains of being on a bike all day were creeping up to me. The wind started to pick up just as I was supposed to head into another headwind for 5 miles. Compared to yesterday, this was nothing. It was more mental than anything. If I stopped, my body was sore and slow to get back to a even cadence when I got going again. Nine miles outside of Newton, the only choice I had was to keep going, but everything hurt: my toes, my feet, my hands, my arms, my abs, my butts, my legs, so I constantly had to readjust my body position while fighting the wind. It is not bad when you know it is merely temporary.
I was done when I got to Newton. You could see it on my face, I'm sure. I went West instead of East, and had to turn around. I couldn't find anything, so when I finally got to the hotel, I almost fell trying to get off and stood at the counter chomping on Boston Baked Beans while I was trying to see what the lady could do for me. I was completely suckered in by the breakfast, and by the fact that there was a steakhouse right next door and I would receive a 10% coupon. (Yes, food is really at the heart of a lot of my decision making this days... funny how things work). And after I put my few prized possessions in my room I didn't shower, but walked right over to the steakhouse, with salt all over my face, my arms. My clothes were filthy. My legs were covered in dirt and bike grease. My shoulders had melted sunscreen running down them with plenty of little black clusterflies that drowned in my sweat along the way (wouldn't you want to serve me, too?). Ending at 112 miles for the day, my third century in five days, I just didn't care that much. I just needed (wanted) food, and then a shower.
Later on, I was using the lobby computer and noticed that the weather was going to consist of rain and thunderstorms (which are very much needed here) with 19 mph headwinds. I had to make the tough decision of riding hours upon hours in the rain with rain getting pelted in my face by the wind, or taking a day to recover after my 450 miles in five days. I was leaning towards recovery. I ended up chatting with a lovely couple that are staying here until their house closes on October 8th in Northern Kansas. They are in the restaurant business, and have an adorable four and a half year old, and have moved four times in the last five years. They know a lot of people in the Ohio and Indiana region that may be able to help, and we exchanged contact information. I stayed up until 11:30 chatting with them, and it was just so wonderful. They are really nice people. This morning at breakfast, the husband kept offering me the keys to one of his cars in case I needed to get things done during the day after telling him i was staying. I also got to play with his son a bit, which was so much fun. They were going up to check on their home outside of town and look at schools for their son, but we briefly set up tentative plans for dinner (which I don't think we will make).
So, this morning I took a lovely recovery day. It was a beautiful rainy day. I did much needed laundry, checked out their gym, went into the sauna, took a nap, ate, laid in bed, ate. I did go outside at one point and was immediately glad that I stayed indoors today. It was so cold and bitter.
I have also spent a lot of the day blogging on the guest computer. I started talking with a man who looked like he wanted to use it, but as I gathered my things, the conversation just kept on going. He was an extremely intelligent, extremely nice guy who had just come from an interview for a lead engineering position . He was telling me about his previous jobs, and his positive attitude was most definitely contagious. He said he could have sued his last employer, a multi-billion dollar company, and his friends were all urging him to do so. "I just don't see the point in fighting that fight. I might win a million dollars in 10 years, but I will be 10 years older. I would rather be spending that time trying raising the bar and achieving goals in my life, getting further that way, making it count. I had an awful divorce, and I had to make that fight....But this is something that I can choose not to fight and I would rather be looking at from my rear view mirror. Life isn't about fighting or money, it is about happiness, love, children, and family."
I told him that I would have hired him, and that he should email me when he hears about the job. He smiled, got up, gave me a huge hug, and said joyfully "Wow, this is great: a new friend." And as I walked away, I realized that this new chapter of my journey is not solely solitude, (and introspection) but rather the people I will meet. There are wonderful people, everywhere. And when you are solo, in a foreign place, if you open yourself up to those people, they can make all of the difference, and you can learn many interesting things. More importantly, there is no such thing as too many friends.
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