Day11:the night Prior stuffing myself with beans noodles vegetables and fruits everything i could carry from the market across the street.
I woke at 9:00 am. After allowing my body to rest and recover from the 5 hour sleep nights and centuries every day.
I walked into the Motel bathroom washed my face and brushed my teeth.
Slipped into my cycling uniform and headed out the door.
10:30 am i started to feel a pain in my right leg right behind my knee.
After 1000 miles i suppose some pain should be present so I brushed it off.
Us hwy 96 west, roads so flat and straight you can see a trucks rear; miles in front of you as if the road was infinite.
The roads begin to glaze over and appear as water is covering the roads surface the reflection of the sky clouds refracts on the earth’s pavement.
12:30pm I stopped into Rushcenter, Kansas for my break, during my meal the pain in my leg made itself known again I finished up eating hopped on my bike and continued to pedal west putting my mind elsewhere
You have to experience pain to see growth
I turned the page on my garmin gps to a different one to eliminate the distractions of my gps telling me how many miles ive completed or how fast im moving.
After doing so i was able to hear feel and see clearly all that was happening around me.
As I continued along birds in a flock of +100 were flying over me, the grasshoppers flutter their wings clearing a path on the highway, the cows stop grazing grass and the baby calves get up from lying down; they all focus my direction as if they were saluting my commitment.
Day 12: 6:30 am still drowsy from the tylenol i took before i slept and no more than 5 hours later after waking i took a few more pills for the numbness and pain I was feeling in my body.
I hit the roads and could hardly pedal, I was not very aware of the miles that passed as i was in a lucid state in my aerobars. the trucks flying past me at 65mph, the wind forcing me to sway; the occasional rude horns from truckers is what kept me awake for 50 miles.
Every time a semi passed you can distinguish very easily which truck carried livestock, the sad look in the eyes of the cow once the truck stops at a construction zone. I empatheticly felt these animals sadness as they are sent off to the slaughter house.
10 miles later, I entered Colorado I crossed the state line and immediately was welcomed by swarms of flies. The welcome to Colorado sign was covered in flies every inch. I couldn’t stay long as they would land on your skin and bite.
Im very happy i made the wise dececion last night to not keep going passed the state line as hotels gas stations and convenience stores are spread further apart in distance than kansas.
The time went backwards two hours once my wheels crossed colorado state line giving me more sunlight to keep rolling.
The temperature reached 104, every precious breath; the moisture in my mouth evaporated and my lips dried.
I believe the reference “hot as hell” is acceptable in this instance but this is just the beginning stage of heat as I haven’t felt anything yet.
Three canteens and a few plastic bottles of water. I sipped these bottles rationing my fluid intake according to the time and how dry my mouth was not knowing when the next town will be.
Soon as i entered a small town population +500 I unnoticably Rolled over a few goat head thorns puncturing my tires in many locations. im 104 miles in and was prepared to do another 30 to make it to a larger city. My tires suddenly went flat.