Find Your Way
June 13, 2002
Hutchinson to Great Bend

Today's Miles = 65.5
Average Speed = 12.2 mph
Maximum Speed = 23.0 mph
Total Miles = 2030.7

Bob and I left Hutchinson with towns ahead that left us the choice between making a 65-mile day or a 135-mile day. I'm still trying to get some padding in my schedule to make my flight to Reno, so I really wanted to make the longer ride. But at the end of the day, that was not to be.

As when I rode with Ed, I found it was pleasant to have some company on the road. Bob and I are both fairly quiet and are used to riding solo, but we found plenty of time to ride alongside each other and chat about the different things we had experienced in life and on this trip. It seems that when I'm with another rider, even when we aren't conversing, it is harder for me to become as "lost in thought" as I do when I'm alone. I think the awareness of another person being right there stops some of the introspection I otherwise drift into.

As the day went on the weather gave us a little bit of everything. We had some rain and some sun, some headwinds and some tailwinds. Early in the afternoon we found ourselves in the town of Great Bend, and both decided that this was as far as we wanted to go for the day. Being off the main route, Great Bend doesn't see many cyclists, and the parks department seemed unsure of letting us camp for the night. But they did end up offering us a nice shady spot on the grass next to the park offices, where we pitched our tents for the night.

After we were settled in I spent a lot of time thinking about what sort of ride I wanted to have tomorrow. I decided that I would attempt to put in as many miles as I possibly could, and hoped the weather would cooperate with me.

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