I had a bad start to the morning; I woke up at my alarm at 7, but then managed to fall asleep again until 9. Woops! I got ready quickly and set out roughly half an hour later. I then got lost a few times trying to find the start of the 'Cowboy trail' which was fantastic .... for the first 200 metres, where it rounded a corner and became a loose pink gravel that was mushy from the rain the night before. Perfect for cowboys, not great for road bikes!
I stuck with it until it rejoined and ran parallel to the 275 highway, where I switched to the tarmaced road which allowed me to gain some speed. The shoulders of the highway were just as wide as the trail and I only had to divert back to the trail a couple of times to shortcut through some small towns.
Most of the small towns I passed through today had a population smaller than that of my secondary school, except for one. O'Neil was a bizarre little town dubbed 'Nebraska's Irish capital'! Everything had four leafed clovers on, even one intersection had a giant four leaf clover painted onto the road! What an odd place!
I arrived at Atkinson just before 5 after one of the most boring rides of the trip so far. The route was almost completely flat; I only climbed 782ft in the entire 98.5 miles! My brief stint on the gravel trail had filled my rear derailleur with gunk which I had to clean out in the motel room. Don't think I'll be riding on that trail again if I can help it.
I went for dinner at 'Michelle's Restaurant and Lounge' who had run out of their daily steak special, despite there only being 4 other people in the restaurant. I settled for Burger as everything else was quite expensive ($7 for a single trip to the tiny salad bar!). The burger was tastey and filling at least.
Today's ride puts me exactly halfway through my epic ride across the states! It'll be fun to see what this next half has in store for me!
Miles today: 98.5
Total miles: 1607.2
I stuck with it until it rejoined and ran parallel to the 275 highway, where I switched to the tarmaced road which allowed me to gain some speed. The shoulders of the highway were just as wide as the trail and I only had to divert back to the trail a couple of times to shortcut through some small towns.
Most of the small towns I passed through today had a population smaller than that of my secondary school, except for one. O'Neil was a bizarre little town dubbed 'Nebraska's Irish capital'! Everything had four leafed clovers on, even one intersection had a giant four leaf clover painted onto the road! What an odd place!
I arrived at Atkinson just before 5 after one of the most boring rides of the trip so far. The route was almost completely flat; I only climbed 782ft in the entire 98.5 miles! My brief stint on the gravel trail had filled my rear derailleur with gunk which I had to clean out in the motel room. Don't think I'll be riding on that trail again if I can help it.
I went for dinner at 'Michelle's Restaurant and Lounge' who had run out of their daily steak special, despite there only being 4 other people in the restaurant. I settled for Burger as everything else was quite expensive ($7 for a single trip to the tiny salad bar!). The burger was tastey and filling at least.
Today's ride puts me exactly halfway through my epic ride across the states! It'll be fun to see what this next half has in store for me!
Miles today: 98.5
Total miles: 1607.2
They spelt 'Sam' wrong
Oh, Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. Hang in there. Flat and boring eventually give way and things get better, especially the food!!!
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