Ooops...its been awhile

Well, I've been told that I have been dragging on the blog, and yes, that probably is true. For the most part, my Kansas days have looked like this.


We did make a fantastic lunch stop in the town of Great Bend, Kansas. They had a zoo, an old locomotive, and a car show. We spent some time checking out the lions and bears.



However, by the time we started cruising into eastern Kansas, things started getting more enjoyable. The winds died down, the rain stopped (for a day anyway), and the flat fields turned to green rolling hills.

Topeka was an fun town. We went to a Thai restaurant that we were told was the best between Topeka and Washington DC. It was good. I ate two bowls of rice and mucho curry. I haven't tried all of the Thai between Kansas and DC, but this may have been near the best.

After Topeka, we rolled into KC. This is a pretty cool city. Half is in Kansas, half is in Missouri. Pretty rad. We had dinner set up for us at Jared Allen's which is a sports bar named after a Chiefs player. Too bad he got traded to the Vikings recently. Anyway, his food was still good, and there was a music trivia game going on that we won. Sweeeeet.

Before bed, I had to investigate if there happened to be a chipotle or starbucks near by. As I was checking the sites for both establishments, the stars aligned. I discovered one of the most magical places on earth. A starbucks and a chipotle next to each other. I think I could live between these two buildings forever.


After having my fill of coffee and burritos, we had the fortune of getting tickets to the KC Royals game. I don't think the Royals are very good, and they lost 4-1 to the Orioles while only managing 3 hits. We still had a great time, and Chris did some heckling of Kevin Millar with phrases such as, "3 years ago you would have put that in play," and "Kevin, the Red Sox didn't want you because you are washed up." I think it got to him.



So after 108 miles, we are now in Sedalia, Missouri. We have a presentation in Jefferson City tomorrow so not much happening here on Friday night. I'll try to keep things updated more. A week from tomorrow we will be back in Columbus.

A Change in Weather

Yesterday, we left Denver early to continue our cross-country route from Pueblo. While we had been higher in the mountains the past few days, we had been riding under sunny skies and light winds. During our drive to Pueblo, the snow began to fall.



We stopped in Crowley, Colorado to give a presentation to high school students. Van, Bobby, and Anuj give a great talk, and the crowd was receptive. After, as we started to ride the wind began to pick up. We rode through 40 mph cross winds for 40 miles. Then as we headed into Eads, CO the wind turned into a tailwind, and we cruised into town at nearly 30 mph.

Today I was on support as the team headed from Eads, past the Kansas border, and into Leoti. The winds continued to give the riders difficulty, and by lunch, we decided it was no longer safe to ride with semi trucks and such passing so we loaded the bikes and finished the route by van. Since I was on support, I had the opportunity to stand on top of the vans to rack the bikes.



With our extra time, we decided to check out the local attractions in Leoti, KS. Let me say, there aren't very many attractions. We spent some time at the Great Plains Museum which had a surprisingly large collection despite this being such a small town. In the basement they had an retro town set up. I even got my picture taken with this motorcycle which would probably be easier to ride across the country than a bike.

We finished our day by eating at Charlie's Mexican Restaurant which happens to be one of the eight wonders of Wichita county. I'm not sure what all of the others are, but I'm sure they are just as phenomenal, but not as tasty.

Back to riding tomorrow as we set out for Ness City. The wind is still blowing pretty hard so let's hope things settle down a bit before morning.

Our Day in Denver

After cruising into Salida, we had a 109 mile into Pueblo the next day. This picture is from the tripod we made with our bikes, and if you look closely, in the background are the last snow capped peaks we will be seeing on the trip.

From there we loaded the bikes and drove up to Denver for our Global Health event on Wednesday. We were all pretty tired when we arrived at the assisted living center where we were staying for two nights. Fortunately, they had prepared chicken parmesan, salad and breadsticks for us. After three helpings, I decided to lay down for awhile before a night out in Denver.

We went to the Funky Buddha because it was close by and had some outdoor seating. It was Tuesday so there weren't too many people out, but we turned it into our bar and had a relaxing evening.

The next day we had a combined event with University of Colorado medical students at the Health Sciences Center. We did a ceremonial ride in and were treated to a Chipotle lunch. I realized at that time how much I had missed my chicken burritos with black beans. I had been eating the 'pote at least 2 times per week and had gone into some serious withdrawal after 4 weeks and nearly 1500 miles of riding sans burrito. I added some guac and salsa, and focused on nothing else except the deliciousness of the burrito for the next 2 minutes. Hopefully, we will be able to find some more chipotle before the ride ends, otherwise I may not make it.

The event went well overall. The last speaker was the most inspiring as she talked and showed a film about here obstetrical work in rural Peru.

Afterward, we went to the Handlebar Grill. This place was probably one of the coolest bars I have been to. It was decorated in cycling memorabilia included bike parts, jerseys, and signed pictures and posters. I heard Lance had been there just the night before. I was fortunate enough to meet up with Adam Loveland from my Swim and Racquet yard dog and Miami days. We were able to catch up over a few microbrews and enjoy the Handlebar. It sounds like he's living the life in Denver. Play on player.