Day 23 Lamar, CO to Garden City, KS

This 104 mile day came on the heels of the longest ride of the trip (120 miles) and was expected to be equally painful. Fortunately, the road was flat as a pancake and smooth as butter. The 33 miles leaving Colorado were a bit rough, but upon entering Kansas, we encountered wide, ultracomfortable shoulders that were actually better than many of the highways I've ridden on. And after that 120 mile ride, there were many tailbones that were happy with the "kinder, gentler" ride of Kansas.

With only light/no wind, the remaining 90 miles were really uneventful. Other than an occasional nose hair burn from the "local color" of Kansas, the trip was very pleasant. There were many times that I could see almost 10 miles of power lines climbing on their way to heaven . . . yes, sportsfans, the roads are that straight and long out here in the Plains.

I arrived at the hotel and was greeted by a kind man who was gracious enough to offer me a cold glass of orange juice. After a second century ride in as many days, that juice never tasted so good.

After my traditional Burger King milk shake, I cooled off in a very, very cold swimming pool and then had some laughs with my friends as we relaxed and traded some stories. For dinner we drowned our sorrows in mass quantities of food at the Golden Corral.

Onward and upward we go!