RecumBum

Now that the 2008 edition of Biking Across Kansas (BAK) is in the books, here’s a quick summation of the trip. I’d rate this as a “good” tour. Not great, certainly not bad. The distance (a total of 503 miles, including the ride to the Colorado border) was just fine. The daily distances were quite manageable [...]

Saturday, June 14, 2008 – 36.04 miles, 02:37:26, 13.74 MPH average After a breakfast of pancakes and sausage, provided courtesy of BAK, we were off on the final short jog to Atchison. There was a bit of wind coming from the southwest, but with just a bit over 30 miles to go, it wasn’t a [...]

Friday, June 13, 2008 – 51.30 miles, 03:56:13, 13.03 MPH average There was a bit of rain again just before morning, and tents were packed up wet. Anticipating a short day, we were nearly the last riders to leave camp, rolling out around 8:00am and taking breakfast in the cafe downtown, where I encountered my [...]

Thursday, June 12, 2008 – 73.27 miles, 05:09:52, 14.19 MPH average Last night was a bit rough, but we got through it. At the nightly meeting, we learned that there was a tornado warning for the area, and BAK officials were recommending that tenters pack up their gear and come inside. By this time it was already [...]

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 – 85.63 miles, 05:59:01, 14.31 MPH average Wow, what a great day! It was windy as the dickens (at least 25 MPH sustained, with 35-40 MPH gusts) and hot at times, but there was an awesome route and wonderful scenery. This is my favorite day of the trip so far. Not the easiest [...]

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 – 58.03 miles, 04:19:17, 13.43 MPH average It was another calm night, but with the weather forecast calling for stiff winds from the south — the direction we were heading — we got an early start in an attempt to get in some miles before the wind got cranked up, since they’re [...]

Monday, June 9, 2008 – 62.67 miles, 04:02:15, 15.52 MPH average After a few sprinkles of rain just after we turned in, the wind died down and it turned cool, and for the first time on the trip, it was easy to get a good night’s sleep. With a somewhat short day ahead of us, and [...]

Sunday, June 8, 2008 – 63.65 miles, 04:29:11, 14.19 MPH average During the night, the strong and gusty wind never let up, flapping the tent fly and making it difficult to sleep. But eventually I managed, and work up around 6am. After packing up and getting some breakfast, we hit the road about 7:00am, [...]

Saturday, June 7, 2008 – 43.67 miles, 03:07:25, 13.98 MPH average Knowing it was going to be a short day, we deliberately dilly-dallied around and got a late start, leaving Saint Francis at around 8:30am. There was a mild north-easterly wind, greeting us with a moderate headwind for a few miles. The terrain here [...]

Friday, June 6, 2008 – 29.26 miles, 2:09:27, 13.56 MPH average Biking Across Kansas started, as it did for many participants, with a long bus ride across Kansas. My wife dropped us (myself and a friend, Reed) off in Lenexa at 6:00am on Friday morning. The night had been stormy, but by morning the skies had [...]