Day 11: Lamar, Colorado to Garden City, Kansas. 103 miles. Flat as a Pancake

Okay, it's official.  My butt is now chopped meat.  There, I said it.  Won't mention it again.

Compared to the gigantic "Welcome to Colorado" sign across the street, this one's a yawner.

Another first:  two back-to-back centuries.  Taxing but not debilitating.

I think for much of this day's ride, it was a case of what pictures I didn't take instead of those I took.  Early in the morning, we all took pictures of the countryside, the farmlands, and the "now entering Kansas" signs.  But by 11 a.m., getting off our bikes to stand and take a picture almost became a matter of taking our lives into our own hands.  The bugs, especially the horseflies, were everywhere and ravenous.  It only took four or five bites to realize that further photography was out of the question.

Last shot of Colorado.  It still amazes me how quickly the landscape changed from lush forest mountain greenery to desolate, flat, brown wasteland.

So…shots I didn't take…

1.  "Now entering the Central Time Zone."  By the way, what genius decided that the Central Time Zone wouldn't start at the Kansas/Colorado border, but rather 25 miles farther down the road?
2.  Combines driving down Route 50.
3.  Horse farms, more cattle feed lots, sheep farms, goats and chickens (I swear after all those animals I started singing "Surrey with the Fringe on the Top" to myself.  Fortunately, I was also using my mp4 player and Eddie Vedder bailed me out with the Pearl Jam's "Animal")
4.  Tractors driving down Route 50 towing huge farm implements, some of which looked more like weapons of mass destruction.
5.  A turtle crossing the highway (he/she made it!)

And yet, once we hit Kansas, the brown had turned to a different kind of green.  Nothing but farmland.

Best "riding down the highway" songs heard today while riding by myself for most of the 103 miles:

1.  Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
2.  Sweet Hitchhiker (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
3.  Panama (Van Halen)
4.  London Bridge/Short Skirt, Long Jacket (Fergie/Cake/Lou Reed mashup)
5.  Another Nail From the Heart (Squeeze)
6.  Bleed It Out (Linkin Park)
7.  Running Down a Dream (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
8.  Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)

With lots of irrigation.  I stopped to watch this system in operation.  The ever so slight creeping along of the sprayers was fascinating to observe.

Other than the 100+ miles, there wasn't much special about today's ride.  More or less flat through the first half with rollers much of the rest of the way into Garden City.  Again, my speed was good in the first half, but slacked off afterwards.  Still, I was pleasantly surprised that, after yesterday's monster ride, I had more energy than I expected and rode this century about one mile per hour faster than yesterday.  I chalk that up to three factors:  less distance, lower temperatures and a headwind that wasn't quite as strong as yesterday's blower.

The only other interesting part of today's ride was crossing paths with another cross-country bike tour heading in the opposite direction.  This was one of the "Ride to Build" tours where young men and women (I'm guessing mid-20's) build homes or other establishments (kids' playgrounds, etc.) as they bike across the country.  These folks started 42 days ago in Virginia and will eventually get to San Diego four weeks from now.  Their next stop is Colorado Springs.  They were just as fascinated about our ride as we were of theirs.  Maybe more so given the age discrepancy (there had to be collectively a median age difference of 35 years).

It seemed as though every town we rode through had it's own grain elevator operation.  From miles down the road, you could see on the horizon these very tall buildings.  Apart from seeing the "water" mirages on the highway miles down the road, these also could fool you into thinking you were coming up on a town with tall buildings.

The ride took us mainly through farmland and through more very small towns (Granada, Holly, Coolidge, Syracuse -- Go Orange -- and Larkin).  Except for the Tyson's Chicken plant and a bunch of grain elevators, you wouldn't know it was any different from the small towns in Colorado we passed through yesterday.

Tomorrow, an easy day into Dodge City.  We've all be practicing our best "Get out of Dodge!" lines for Wednesday morning.