Flats Leaving Denver and Entering Nebraska

Since we left Denver we've had a pretty tough stretch. The riding conditions have been consistently hilly, humid, and into a headwind (and occasionally sunny and hot or overcast and spitting rain).

The day out of Denver to Ft. Morgan, Colorado we were scheduled for 97 miles. However I had terrible luck with four flats. The back tube had a nail and two thorns, the front just blew and I couldn't figure out why. The last blowout was at mile 87 and I had to rack because neither I nor anyone else I was riding with had any tubes left. The Elks Club in Ft. Morgan hosted us and was really nice. Especially since they offered us free popcorn at their lodge; I ate three bowls after dinner, which was delicious.

The following day we rode 87 miles to Wray, Colorado. I managed to make it the whole way without any flats, but the winds were pretty tiring. Plus we rode past some huge cattle feed lots and lots of livestock semis, which smelled terrible. And for a good ten mile stretch the road was covered in grasshoppers and it was kind of disgusting; at one point one got stuck in my derailleur and flew out when I switched gears.

Yesterday we entered Nebraska and the Central Time Zone. Also since we were so close to the border we detoured slightly to Kansas, just to say we rode there. We had all kinds of stops yesterday, which just destroyed our pace. There were four flats in our group (two of which were mine), one guy had his chain and derailleur break, and we had to stop another time because another of our riders was cramping really badly. Plus we were sweeping (last riders on the team each day who make sure everyone else gets in safely), so we had to stop for two other guys who had flats. So all told there were six unexpected stops. Also on my second flat at mile 90, I had to rack again because neither I nor anyone had any tubes again (the whole team has had bad luck with flats and we haven't seen a bike shop since Denver). Later that night we went out to the bar and had a great time hanging out with the townies in McCook, Nebraska.

Today was perhaps the hardest day of the trip. We rode 95 miles to Minden, Nebraska in relentless headwinds. The wind was stiff in our face the entire way and there were some pretty decent size hills over the first 50 miles. Fortunately I had two great guys I was riding with who really helped me through the day - both named Adam actually. We tried to do an all Adam paceline, but the fourth Adam on the team had to rack about ten miles in because of tire trouble. Anyway now I'm tired and sore all over and looking forward to only 50 miles tomorrow then a day off in Grand Island. So it's about bedtime for me.