Day 16 Abilene to Topeka (109 miles)

After the good day yesterday, it was back to earth with a bump today and a reminder that cycling 109 miles is not to be taken lightly. This was meant to be one of our easier days, a slightly shorter than average distance, nice weather and relatively flat, but I struggled. The problem was the 'rolling' terrain. Short downhill sections of 20 - 30 seconds followed by 30 - 40 seconds uphill. The choice was to either power down the hill, hoping to get enough speed to carry you over the next up, or to change down and take it more slowly. It was impossible to get any sort of rythme, constantly changing gear and getting in and out of the saddle. It was also impossible to ride as a group because some were quicker on the downs and some on the ups, so we were constantly over taking each other.

I felt tired and my legs heavy. For the first time in several days I was dropped from the group I usually ride with and arrived at lunch about 10 minutes behind them.

The Buffalo in the photo were the only ones I saw, I wouldn't say they're typical of the wildlife out here. Apparently this area looks like England, but I'm not so sure, maybe a bit Somerset, maybe a bit Yorkshire or Cornwall, anyway it's mainly farmland with some kind of lowland moor in places. Again very sparsely populated.

109 miles was plenty today and I was very glad to see the hotel at 3pm. A guy who lives in Topeka had ridden this ride a few years ago. He rode in with us from the final SAG and then invited us all out to his house (well mansion) for a meal this evening. At a rough guess I'd say their pool had the same plan area as our house. They were great hosts and it was good not to eat in a restaurant for an evening. A lot of the talk was of swine flu, everyone here thinks this current wave will pass, but there could be something worse just around the corner.

We said goodbye to another rider today. Paul, a professor from Austin TX had only signed up for half the ride. He'd been suffering from saddle sores most of the way. We'll miss his quick wits and dry humour for the rest of the trip.