Day 37: Tyresome

63.97 miles (Total: 1971.98) Avg Speed: 12.8mph Max Speed: 32mph

Neither of us were in any hurry this morning and after raiding the motel breakfast we went back to the room and watched some World Cup before finally leaving around 11am and going to Wendy’s for a second breakfast. Its incredible how much junk I’m able to eat on this trip yet still lose weight.

Few double stacks for breakfast.

The riding has been flat in Kansas so far but today it went to another level, you could practically see the curvature of the earth on the horizon the roads were that flat. We have managed to coincide our crossing of Kansas with the wheat harvest which means there are lots of combines being transported from field to field, they take up the entire road. We got to an oddly named town called Rush Center for lunch and stopped in a bar for a few hours to let the heat ease up.

After Rush Center things got interesting in the afternoon like they always seem to. Joe asked me if I could see anything wrong with his back tyre. “Yeh, its pulsating!” I tell him. So we pull over at a rest stop to see it has a huge bulge, the tyre is past its use by date. He had been planning on getting them replace in Pueblo but it had buckled too soon and thread was starting to come out. He applied some strong gorilla duct tape to the area and we rolled on into the evening. Only a few more miles later we stopped at a service station to check it. The tape had worn through already, so he decided to switch the tyre to the front so it had less weight and reapplied an extra dose of tape to get us to Ness City.

As we were about to leave a chubby young hispanic guy comes out to talk. He works there changed truck and tractor tyres and offers us some help. He takes an industrial tractor tube patch, lathers a rubber cement on the bike tyre then slaps his patch over the top. The thing looks indestructible, Joe would just have to live with the bobble he got from the front everytime his tyre went round.

We hobble our way into Ness City and grab a shake and burger before booking in at the Derrick Inn Motel (Derelict Inn more like). Whilst were sat in the room Joe’s bike also manages to fall over and bends a tooth on his top front crank, he will just have to use his other gears until Pueblo which seems like a lifetime away at 260 miles.


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2 responses to “Day 37: Tyresome”

  1. Nate Dogg Avatar
    Nate Dogg

    Dammit, I want Wendy’s for breakfast 🙁

  2. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    Hi Ryan, Sorry haven’t left any posts for a while the laptop has well and truly died (something for you to fix when you get home) – can’t believe how many kind and generous people you have met on your trip (wouldn’t happen over in the UK). We’re all missing you back home, sick of World Cup Football, say no more… We were all at Megan’s 21st yesterday, she’s off to Malaysia (must be something in the Anderson blood).

    Take care and stay lucky – love also from Bradley and Will xx

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