We headed towards Kahola lake and had unusually cool weather for a Kansas August last Sunday. We didn’t have any racers with us, so it was a pretty chilled ride, just what I needed. With the move, we’ve been trying to get situated in our new house and my cycling miles have gone down considerably. My mood has taken a dive too, so I need to get back on the bike for sure.

Shawn rode his singlespeed. I rode the Fargo.

Shawn wrote a few articles in Issue One and is an avid cyclist. He is the reason I bought my first real bike back in 1990. He is very busy as the co-owner of IM Design and the father of two boys, but still finds time to ride on a weekly basis. If you are in or near Emporia, the Thursday Night Ride meets at his house at 6:30 at 15th and Sherwood. Anyway, good for Shawn for finding the time to ride with life going on all around him. That’s not always easy. I know if I don’t ride, I get very cranky and feel miserable mentally. It is very much like medication for me.

Here’s a few pictures of the birthday boy balancing in my shot. He looks pretty good for an old man, wouldn’t you say?

Good thing John brought that spare tire in case one of us has a flat or something. I have been riding with Shawn and John for years. There’s nothing like riding with old friends, or new friends for that matter. I am itching for a multi-day bike tour. I need to get some ultralight gear. I hope I can do something like that, maybe even this year if all the stars and planets align just right…

We hit plenty of hills on this ride. It was nice being able to motor up the hills ahead of everyone but Shawn on his singlespeed. Shawn has always had the endurance of a madman. I am always last when I ride with the racers, so this was a nice change. I am definitely not fast, but have gotten a lot stronger on the bike in the past year or so.

Who can guess what’s happening here? Check out Rick wearing the OLD SCHOOL bikeworks tee.

Yeah, there’s something wrong with this bike. It doesn’t have any gears.

I am going to have to borrow a singlespeed to ride on an entire bike ride to see what I think. I don’t know if I am tough enough to muscle it up all the hills or not. I gotta find out though. This was a great ride. Happy Birthday Shawn! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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There were so many reasons why a guy like me not only shouldn’t have entered that race but also should never have finished.

But I did.

How?

• I made the decision to do something incredible. The simple act of making and committing to a decision may be the most important step in greatness.
• I researched and asked questions on how to prepare for such an event
• I worked very hard to train, no matter what. There is no substitute for hard work. There are no shortcuts to real success in this life. Nothing worth doing is easy. Get it? Great accomplishments take great effort.
• I did my best to believe in myself, stay positive, not listen to the naysayers and I asked for much divine help and guidance.
• When the going got tough and then painful on race day, I kept pedaling. One pedal stroke at a time finally led to 205 miles.

 As I finished that race, I left the negative reasons why I can’t do something in the dust of the Flint Hills. There’s no reason why I can’t accomplish great things anymore. If a short, goofy, not very athletic guy like me can do it, there’s hope for you. Just get off the couch and do something!

With the DK200 behind me, I figured I should also complete the Flint Hills Death Ride, mainly to say that I did it. I entered well before things got crazy at home.

Packing my belongings in many boxes, trying to help Jen make decisions about all kinds of things and just the stress of moving all took their toll on any training I may have done for the Death Ride. I got in about one ride a week for quite a few weeks before the Death Ride. It should be OK, right?

I have found that lack of sleep, stress and bad diet make for a terrible combination on the bike. That about sets the stage for my Death Ride experience.

Robert and Kevin crashed at my house the night before the ride. We all looked south that evening towards Madison, Kansas, the location of the Death Ride. The dark clouds looked very ominous. Madison was getting pounded with rain. I don’t have very good luck riding in the mud, and we were thinking they would cancel the ride. We decided to show up and see what happens. Maybe we would just pick up our t-shirt and go home. I read on their website that they ride rain or shine, but I didn’t want to pay for a new derailleur again, so I was skeptical about completing this one. I gotta say, I hate riding in mud unless I have a gasoline powered motor to get through it.

Here we are before leaving to tackle the Flint Hills Death Ride. Not sure about the placement of that spout in front of me there. And yes, Kevin is oddly tall and hairless.

Madison, Kansas It was pretty dark and the sensor on my point and shoot didn’t like it (noisey!)

At the starting line. I was thinking I would be able to get this 80 mile ride done pretty quick. I had some packing to do.

Kevin was trying to psyche himself up. I think I had him pretty nervous. The guy only rides like 800 miles a week or something.

Robert, bringing some culture and straight up coolness to the small town of Madison, Kansas

No, I’m not sure what Kevin is doing behind me there. I am ready to roll out into the steamy Flint Hills. The air was so thick I could chew it.

Kevin and I rode together for a short while and soon made it up to the front of the pack. I was feeling good and decided to ride hard. That lasted for a while.

Dirty Kanza riders may recall this tower now poking into the low clouds and mist. It didn’t take long for my glasses to become unusable. I had to slide them down my nose to see, a nice look I’m sure. At this point, I was still treating this ride as a race and I was doing quite well. I wasn’t feeling that great, but not bad overall. The roads were sticky, but not unbearable. Kevin is no longer in my sights. I think he was going for the gold medal. Oh wait, everyone gets one on this ride.

I felt strong. Then I hit this hill after a long stretch of muddy, sticky roads. They weren’t unridable, but it took a lot more effort. I had only stopped at one SAG stop for a water refill and was doing quite well on time. My attitude was, “let’s get this thing over with.” Not the best attitude to have. It’s called the Flint HIlls Death Ride, not Race after all. Things have been a bit stressful and what I really needed was a nice leisure ride with my Fargo to help me relax.

Pedaling hard to make it up this hill, I cramped up and had to get off the bike and push. I didn’t feel too bad because others were doing the same. I was a little worried about another day full of cramping though.

I had no excuse this time. I was good on electrolytes and water and food, but after that hill, I pedaled hard again and a cramp started in my thigh. Ouch. I tried to stretch quick and start pedaling again, but every time I relaxed my leg on the up stroke, my thigh cramped up to a painful ball of thick muscle.

Then I finally looked around me. I mean really looked around me. That’s when I was reminded of the gift of seeing that I have. I was ignoring this gift trying to be like Matt Gersib or something. Jeez, I don’t know if I could even keep up with Jason Mahokey let alone Gersib or even Wintle for that matter. I don’t think racing and competition are bad, it’s quite fun actualy, and I do hope I get over these cramps and become a decent cyclist, but even in my description of myself (thanks Gnat), I am a photographer that fell in love with cycling. I want to inspire people to get outside and experience the grandeur of God’s creation – the earth and our amazing bodies. I took out the camera and shot a few pictures. “This is what I should be doing,” I thought. “Don’t forget that.”

At this point I decided to ride up to the point before I would cramp. That meant just a little slower on the climbs. I did notice something on this ride even at this point of my day. I was crushing people up the hills. That’s good. Not that I could crush a seasoned racer, but among us normal people, I was doing pretty good. I am getting better. 

After the cramps, I noticed something else. I was tired. No, I was exhausted. A lot has been going on these past few weeks and it all caught up to me at around 40 miles into this ride. Then I hit this downhill full of big chunky rocks, sharp flint rocks, a washed out ravine on the side followed by a steep ditch followed by an ambulance ride home. I laid on the rear brake and after it dried off a bit it almost was able to stop me. I finally had to pull my foot out of the pedal before the ravine and I became intimate with each other. I decided I should take a shot of where I almost died on the Death Ride.

The one great thing about this ride, is that it is in beautiful country. If you want to see it, let me know, I’ll lead you through it for free. Oh wait don’t forget about the first Adventure Monkey Flint Hills photo-cycling tour on the weekend of September 10 through the 12. It will happen for sure, details to be announced soon so clear your calenders. Any ability of cyclist and photographer is welcome, but not every tire will survive. Fun will be had by all. Now back to the Death Ride.

The course for this ride was pretty nice, I must say. There was more challenge than the past couple of years I heard and it was pretty challenging for me too. Not that I am a stud (I am), but I do most of my cycling in the Flint Hills. The vast prairie was green and beautiful and the clouds were a perfect touch, not to mention they kept it a bit cooler. The humidity was hard to take as usual.

Somewhere after this point I was all alone pedaling in the thick Kansas humidity. I looked a the speedometer. It didn’t seem to be moving. It seemed like hitting 50 miles would never happen. Then I heard the worst sound ever, maybe even worse than Mikey’s whining voice as he screams at Melissa. It was my chain. The mud had dried it out and coated it with gunk. It was not only squeaking, I could hear it grinding. I was cranking hard up hills listening to the chain making nasty squealing and grinding noises that I could also feel in my pedals. All of this was playing havoc on my mental state. I still haven’t hit 50 miles. All then sudden, I no longer wanted to be on my bike. I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I had pushed hard for 40 miles and zapped my energy. But there’s no way I was going to finish the Dirty Kanza and NOT finish this ride, no way. I kept pedaling and thinking.

I thoughts turned to my day job and how I like the actual type of work that I do, but I hate the job. The ride had become just like that. I love to ride my bike, but now all I wanted to do was get off the bike and lay down in some air conditioning. I stopped to stretch, looking behind me I saw no one. I was lonely and not having fun anymore.

There were only three ways I could solve my problem.

• keep pedaling and finish this damn thing, it would be over soon enough
• get rescued by a support vehicle
• die

No support vehicles came to resue me. I have a feeling no one will magically “discover” me and rescue me from my job either. I did not die and I probably won’t escape my job that easily either. Once again, bicycle riding parallels life. Keep pedaling and this trial too will end soon enough. I feel my job is the same. I am learning and honing my skills. Keep at it and it will be over soon enough. There are no shortcuts to greatness. Keep pedaling and soon enough a new adventure will begin where this one ends.

Something great did happen though. I made it to the next SAG stop. Seriously, thank God. I was in a dark lonely place on the road. I asked for chain lube to quiet that demon that wouldn’t stop screaming at me for the past number of hours. After some work, they found some lube. That killed the demon of the groaning chain. Then to my surprise, my friend Sam Tovar showed up as I was getting more water and cooling down. A friend to ride with. Normally I am a lone cyclist, but I was really happy to have someone to ride with now. We started off after a little more cooling down and we rode off towards more hills. My body was exhausted, but the cramping only tried to come back on one other hill. We rode in strong and had a good, but tough time.

We hit another sag stop. I ate some pickles and a banana and made a little small talk with the volunteers. We were only 13 miles from the finish. Let’s do this!

This hill was steep. My legs were no longer able. I tried, but ended up walking up the hill.

There’s me, walking up my second hill of the day.

We made pretty good time and then came to a green marker. That means to turn left. We did. It felt wrong. It was. I wasn’t too happy, but at least I shared the experience with a friend so it was much easier to take. Here is a shot of Sam and a random cyclist trying to figure out why that marker said left. It was just a wrong marker. Great, we added what seemed like 10 miles on the ride but I think it was only three. When you are that tired, extra miles are not really what you want to deal with, especially because of a marker that was wrong. We should have went with our gut and looked a little closer at the map. The guy in yellow seemed a little madder than me, which I actually found kind of funny, so things weren’t too bad, we were almost there anyway, nothing to worry about right?

Then we hit another left. We checked the map. No questions asked, it was a left here for sure. When we started the race, the promoter said they’d reroute if it was too muddy to ride. Cool.

Then pedaling was no longer an option. I was trapped in a mile long stretch of mud so deep it enveloped my shoes.

It was so bad, I could no longer push the bike and the weeds were too thick to walk through on the side of the road. Happiness was now far from me. I was very unhappy. My light cross bike with muddy tires was getting pretty damn heavy. I had to set the bike down a few times to make it through the longest mile I have ever experienced. Man, I am really earning this t-shirt. There I am in the mud. Nice picture from Sam’s phone huh?

Yes, I finished and now I must thoroughly clean my bike, but I am moving too, and we have a bit of remodeling to do in the new house. Magazine number three has to get started too, Oh, and the online store…

If you are on facebook, it looks like there are plenty of goofy pictures of me, the new spokesperson for butt butter. The only picture needed to end this day was at Sam’s house with a cold one (or two).

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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Posts are far and few between these days as we are packing and getting ready to move all of our belongings to another house. Why do we have all this stuff? Moving is tiring and stressful. This is a great move for us as we are downsizing. This will allow us to live much more simply and adventurously for sure. What’s the use of having a nice house if you can’t do anything?

The Storm

Mikey and I had to make a trip to Wal-Mart (yuck) to get some more packing tape. That’s when I saw the front moving in towards Emporia. I tuned the radio to the local station and they were talking about the storm. Mikey is a momma’s boy, big time and hasn’t spent much time doing “adventures” with Dad. The one thing I remember from the radio announcer was,

“Folks this is not a Kodak moment. Do not go outside…”

As Mikey was repeating things the radio DJ was saying to me in his over the top loud, shrill, four year old voice, we hurried home and I ran inside to grab my camera. I knew this could be a good one. Jen was busy, so Mikey was coming with me. He was a little scared since Momma doesn’t like storms.

I was “ye hawing” trying to get Mikey excited about the storm. He was scared. He wanted to go home and get in the basement. This may sound like child abuse, but I have lived in Kansas and haved watched storms since I was in second grade. My family was in a tornado when I was three or four. I have been chasing them since college. This storm just looked like rain, nothing too crazy. I can’t explain my fascination, but I love a good storm.

The lightning was amazing as we drove just outside of town. I found a spot and we watched the cold front roll in from the confines of the Corolla. It went from the mid 90s to the mid 70s (mid 30s to 20′s for my Canadian friends) in a matter of minutes. I had my window down and the camera pointed out the window. It was only around 7 p.m. and it was getting dark. I had to move the ISO up to 400, but I didn’t want to go too high because of the noise that it would produce in the shadows of the clouds. I hand held the camera at the ready and waited for lighting. My shutter speed was set pretty slow (around a 15th or 30th of a sec) so I could capture the lightning and let the sensor soak in as much light as possible for the ground and clouds. My f-stop was wide open to soak in as much light as I could too. I focused where I thought the lightning would strike in the distance. I had to stay as steady as possible and wait. I tried to get the lightning streaking through the sky many times and kept missing. Mikey was getting into it screaming excitedly at the lightning like at fourth of July fireworks and then he’d ask me if I got that one. Nope, missed it again!

Finally I got one. Not as spectacular as some of the lightning we were seeing, but I will take what I can get! I got one more shot with lightning before the rain really started coming down and we had to head home.

My wife asked how I got the purple color in the lightning. I didn’t. That is the actual color. I used Adobe LR and PS to enhance the contrast and color balance, but that’s it.

That was a nice break. Time to get back to packing…

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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You know how people are right? When we get bad customer service we tell everyone. Sometimes we spread the news about good customer service but only when it’s very, very good. Let me spread some news. I have had a great experience with Magcloud.com. I received my stack of magazines YESTERDAY (Monday) and I was worried about getting them by Friday! Their customer service reps let me know what was going on the entire time. I contacted them about my crazy deadline up front and they came through with no problems. On top of that, the magazines (besides the typo) look incredible. I hope it’s not just me.

Topping off this experience, I sent the cover to get printed and mounted for the release party at my photography lab in Kansas City. The person running the printer (Dee Dee) noticed the typo and I was contacted! What? Yes that’s right. She had every right to go ahead and print that image as is, but saw the typo and saved me a huge amount of grief and money. The embarassment didn’t go away, but I need humbling every so often. If you are a professional photographer and want great looking prints and great customer service check out portraitcity.net. Tell them Eric Benjamin sent you. I am looking for some brownie points.

Party is still on people, and we have RSVPs from some out of towners too! I am pumped and very unprepared. Good thing Jennifer has me covered. You will meet her at the party, she’s my lovely wife. If you need more details or directions to the party please contact me. You don’t want to miss it. Ladies, I am buying Bobby, the cover model new pens to sign autographs and I have my fingers crossed for an appearance of the man that only needs one name, Seagato. I believe Matt and Stephanie will take a break from the new bike shop to join us too. This Saturday at 7:00 p.m. HERE’s more details. And there will be some sort of Flint Hills ride on Sunday morning. We will pace ourselves with whoever shows up. Don’t worry about being too slow or anything like that. It will be anywhere from 30 to 70 miles depending on who shows up. It won’t be a race. If Seagato and others show up, they will race, but I will hang back to make sure no one gets lost and eaten by coyotes or stampeded by cattle. Just kidding, I can’t stop cattle, but seriously.

Ok, as usual, I have talked (typed) too much. Let’s see some pictures. Last Sunday I may have had the best ride of the year so far. I was by myself and decided to ride at a comfortable but challenging pace with no destination in mind. I ended up taking a lot of pictures and getting a great workout, but more importantly I got that feeling again. There’s a feeling I reach, a high if you will, when I ride just to ride and begin to enjoy the bike, the road, the surroundings and even start talking to the animals. I got there and it was great. There’s a great story, but I will just let you see some of the pictures and say, my Adventure Monkey was fed - well.

Feed Your Monkey!
-Eric

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Adventure Monkey Magazine Release Party

When: March 20, 2010
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Where: upstairs at Natasha’s Bar and Grill in Emporia; 7th Street and Commercial in Emporia (Google maps put me in front of the carpet store which is down the street from Natasha’s, close but wrong)
What: A big shiny poster size cover of Adventure Monkey – the magazine will be revealed for all to see. Magazines and stickers will be available and maybe Bobby will sign your copy since his beautiful mug is on the amazing front cover. I will say a few words and the bar will be open too. Oh yeah, FREE FOOD! After 9:00 we will see where the wind blows us.
Who: All readers, fans and contributors of the Adventure Monkey will come from near and far, so YOU are invited.

So there is your invite. I hope you weren’t expecting anything more formal than that. Please come and show your support and enthusiasm for the new Adventure Monkey magazine being launched in a small town in Kansas called Emporia. I hope to ride into the Flint Hills the morning after depending on the weather. So feel free to come along. If you want to come from out of town and need a place to crash, I have plenty of floor space at my house, just bring your indoor camping gear. If you have a camera and like to take pictures, please come with your camera. I will be busy, but I want pictures of the evening. I wish I could hire the Parsons  for a totally rock n roll party, but remember the shoestring budget? Any pictures you get to me may make it into the blog and maybe even the next issue of Adventure Monkey – the magazine! It will be fun, you don’t want to miss out on this one!

After the party, the magazine will be available to purchase from magcloud.com and available as a free download from this site. It is a magnificent feast for your eyes. Counting the front and back covers, it is a 44 page magazine, not too bad for a thrown together piece! The subject of issue one is, of course, Kansas Cycling. I can’t thank the contributors enough. They really came through for me on this one with stories and pictures. Now it’s time to think about issue number two. If you have ideas, please let me know. I am pretty good at making ideas come to life in photo and print. That’s what I do.

Speaking of Kansas Weather…

The Dirty Kanza in on June 5th this year. Here are a few images I took after a small storm came through the Coffey County area last June. A mile wide swath of poles was destroyed. I am hoping for good weather for the Dirty Kanza this year, and hopefully I won’t into winds this high while I pedal into the middle of the middle of nowhere, but if it happens I am more than sure that the Fargo will make it through far better than those fancy lightweight cyclocross bikes that always seem to win. I will throw you a packet of energy gel as I ride past you on my intact Fargo.

Come to the party!
Feed Your Monkey!
-Eric

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I was talking to Matt, Bobby and Garret about the hill I wanted to shoot the picture on. It was the hill that I take to get into the Flint Hills. They knew this hill and let me know it is the first big Dirty Kanza hill and even these members of the insane cycling posse knew of its power. I didn’t feel so bad because this is the hill that sometimes slows me down to 5mph and I feel on top of the world (and close to a coronary) If I can keep a 10mph pace up that hill. That usually doesn’t happen. Even better. Dirty Kanza hill here we come.

Bobby seemed pretty excited so I didn’t remind him that this shoot wasn’t for a “real” magazine and that only 41 people would read it. I wanted to keep him enthused.

We had some great conversation on the way to the hill. Another plus for biking. If we were jogging I would have been out of breath and the conversation would have been limited to about four minutes. A bike ride is perfect for making friends and telling stories. We discussed biking, shaving, God, mud, marriage, careers and other things on this short ride.

We turned off the pavement and hit gravel. The road was packed down enough to where we could ride fine, but the mud started flinging up and onto everything. It was funny, at first. This is what got me into trouble as a kid. In the moment of doing something stupid, it feels fun and reckless and I don’t think of the consequences. It is an Adventure Monkey kind of high. I knew I was getting a bit muddy but I didn’t realize just how muddy. The thing was, we were shooting the cover shot for Kansas Bicycling and this was the perfect Kansas Winter day just like I described HERE.

We got to the Dirty Kanza hill and rode to the top. I felt the burn. I set my bike against a fence post, got my camera gear out of my trunk bag and instantly realized it was freezing outside. I was wet, muddy and cold. I rigged up my flash to use outside, picked the spot to sink it into the muddy ground and told Bobby to ride up the hill. This could be the steepest hill in this area. I was using my little Nikon strobe at full power and therefore could only get one good shot per hill climb for Bobby. This was definitely a low budget, high talent production. We had no assistants to help us out. In fact, I was so muddy, that my muddy gloves coated my nice camera with mud and it was difficult to even check out my images on the LCD of the camera. The image was obscured and I hoped my knowledge would get me a good shot. Good thing I was using a weather sealed Nikon camera. I will talk serious details about how I shot this later.

Flash clamped to the fence was too far away so I jammed the clamp into the mud on the side of the road with the flash head sticking out.

Just starting and still in good spirits

Checking the flash output while striking a pose

Getting ready for the first climb

Can't really have too many pictures of Bobby right?

Climb one of twelve - this one didn't make the cut

Hey Bobby can you hold the flash in your cold dead fingers so I can shoot the Fargo?

Pure Fargotastic

After counting the pictures, I made Bobby ride up that hill 12 times to get the shot. I would have made him do it more, but I was freezing and he started to cry. Just kidding Bobby rode that hill like a champion. Unlike the team that shoots the covers of Bicycling Magazine somewhere warm, we still had to ride back home in the cold mud. I had on my nice warm gear including shoe covers, while Bobby didn’t. I think I heard him say something like, “My feet have never been this cold in my life.” I laughed. More on the inside than I showed him I hope. I got home and looked at my bike. Yuck, it will probably never be the same.

It was worth it. The final image is sick. You’ll have to wait to see it. I have something cooking… tell you about it tomorrow.

Back at High Gear

The Fargo in the rack at High Gear

To shave or not to shave? I call this piece "mud coating on hairy leg"

What was I thinking?

I hope I didn't screw up the bike...

I bet Lance doesn't have to clean his bike(s)

I call this piece, "mud splattered backside"

Thanks for reading.

Feed Your Monkey!

-Eric

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Leaving town today, I felt a connection other cyclists out there riding today. I had read some comments left on my blog, and other cycling blogs where cyclists were gearing up for the DK 200 too. It was a cool feeling to be united with other cyclists out there.

Almost three miles in, the place where the muscles attach to my sit bones was pretty sore in a muscle soreness kind of a way. This could end up being a long ride. I was feeling a bit forced, but sometimes it takes ten miles or so to start feeling good.

Finally made it to Strong City. I had to fight strong winds and some muscle soreness the whole way. My right knee was feeling a bit sore when I was really cranking up the hills. I wasn’t feeling very strong so far, but as I fought against the Kansas wind I thought I would use visualization to help me out. Every breath in I saw stoking the fire inside me. Like in the last post, I visualized the light inside me starting deep in my bones and radiating to the surface and out. This light rids my body of negativity and awakens it too. It’s all a visual. Every time I breathed in deep I saw the light become brilliant within me, just like stoking a fire. It seemed to work and I rode pretty hard. I stopped in Strong City to use the bathroom and eat a health bar (Snickers).

Strong City Stats: 18.4 miles, 13.2 mph avg, pedaling 1hour and 23 minutes
Man, I felt slow. I understood why once I got on highway 177 and headed north to Council Grove. The northwest wind was blowing hard from the west. I had been fighting a tougher headwind than I thought.

While pedaling through the high gusting winds that wanted to throw me off the road on 177,  I thought about that delicious Snickers bar I ate at Strong City. They should use me as their poster child to show the results from eating their product. I’d be like Jared from Subway. It gives you energy and creates a slim waistline. The small print would say something along the lines of “these results are not ordinary and have to be combined with riding 75 miles through the Flint Hills on a windy day for one candy bar to see results.” I’m pretty sure it would be good for them.

I love it when people wave back at me, just a simple connection but it sure feels good. I decided to wave at everyone that I passed, if they waved or not.

On my way to Council Grove

Clouds were moving in

Riding to Council Grove was in one word hard. The wind was blowing from the northwest and was strong enough from the west that it blew me all over. I continued to visualize the light inside me. It became a solid glowing light and I saw myself as a streak of light flying through the Kansas countryside. This streak may have slowed to 11 miles an hour going down a hill while I pedaled against the gusting wind, but I was a streak of lightning nonetheless. I did well even with the wind, for me. I didn’t give up on any hills until the final big hill before Council Grove where I slowed to seven miles an hour. Seeing the hill down towards the town of Council Grove was sweet victory. I had made it.

The downhill to Council Grove

I refueled in Council Grove. I consumed 420 calories of Cool Ranch Doritos and a 280 calorie Baby Ruth Bar. I poured a bottle of Poweraid into my Camelbak. I sat inside to eat and warm up and then went outside to mount up. Man it had gotten cold outside. I was sweaty and the cold air felt even colder. I needed to get going and warm up. The beautiful sunshine had disappeared behind thick clouds. It looked like some kind of weather was blowing in.

Council Grove Stats: 40.7 miles, 12.7 mph average, pedaling 3 hours 11 minutes total
I fought hard, but the wind slowed me down and lowered my average speed.

I left Council Grove, hit the Hills of Bobby (inside joke) and realized it was a pretty hilly ride out of Council Grove. My plan was to have the wind at my back for the trip home. It was and it was glorious. I was able to pedal hard heading east towards Americus Road. Hills are still hills and I continued to pedal hard. Riding with the wind at my back is fast and so much fun.

The Flint Hills are best experienced on a bicycle

Dead ends although interesting lead nowhere - on the bike and in life

I did something different leaving Council Grove. I had Poweraid and another sport drink made by Reliv and no water. I am not sure what I was thinking. Basically I was drinking my electrolytes and a lot of sugar. I like water and by the time I made it to Americus, I was craving plain old water. The thing is, I was riding hard. Usually when I stand on my pedals to ride hard up hills, I give in after a few pedal strokes simply because my legs begin to burn like the sun and I give up. Not this time, I was standing on the pedals on just about every hill, cranking hard to the top. Maybe it was the constant influx of sugar into my system, not sure. Yeah, so I also had the wind at my back, but I was pushing it pretty hard (for me, the insane bike posse would have smoked me for sure).

Americus Stats: 65.1 miles, 14.4 mph average, pedaling 4 hours 31 minutes total

My average was coming back up.

Leaving Americus, I thought it was just me, but it really was getting colder. My fingers were freezing. I had to stop and put on my thick gloves. I never took off my warm wind stopping jacket and I thought about leaving it at home. That would have been disaster.

Stats at home: 73.5 miles, 14.7 mph average, pedaled for 4 hours 58 minutes
I brought my average up even more! Sweet.

Feed Your Monkey!
–Eric

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I have never wanted to ride in this type of wind OR when it’s cold. But this is the year of the Adventure Monkey. Cycling before this year had been for fun and exercise. This year, it has become a part of my life. It feeds my Adventure Monkey and makes me feel good, more than physically. Normally these types of winds keep me inside watching TV, messing around on the computer, cleaning up the house or all of the above. Today would be much different.

After taking the kids to school, I ate my usual oatmeal with some granola, filled up the Camelbak, the water bottle and packed the trunk bag. I retreated to the couch and listened to the wind try to blow my house away. I had no motivation. I felt tired. Today would be a great day to pick up Mikey and hang out around the house. I ordered some cool weather cycling clothes online last week and they still weren’t here. Instead I found an Emporia State University windbreaker that I could wear on top of my jersey. That should be enough. But I just sat there on the couch.

I checked the weather on my computer. Thirty mph sustained winds with 45 mph gusts today. A wind advisory was in effect for the area. I knew I would have to shorten any big plans. The wind and temperature mixed with my lack of motivation was a terrible combination. My logical monkey was whispering things I needed to do around the house. It was crazy to go ride today, probably impossible to ride anyway. But my thoughts ran to how I would feel at the end of the day, if I gave up and didn’t complete a Friday ride. I thought about my dreams for the future of Adventure Monkey. Was I for real or was this just another idea that would fade away? I wanted this to be for real. Today would test the fortitude of my Adventure Monkey.

I got off the couch, dressed, and gathered my supplies to take into the garage. The wind was screaming through the garage door, pushing it in and finding a way inside. I opened the garage door and felt a rush of cold air. I have ridden in the wind before, it is Kansas after all, but today was a little extreme. As I was packing my bike the big city trash can was lifted and thrown to the side of the house. This was truly a test of the Adventure Monkey. I felt it.

My mind had made the switch at some point from “this is a fun hobby” to “this is what I want to do.” My wife was even on board. We were formulating plans for the Adventure Monkey to turn it into a real business for bike advocacy and photography education. Now its very existence was being put to the test. Maybe it was just a windy day, but in my mind it was so much more than that. Our dreams have to be tested to see how much we really want and believe in them. Today was Adventure Monkey’s first real test. It was going to very physical and more psychological than I would have imagined from a bike ride.

I closed the garage door and was off. The wind was blowing from the west and was supposed to turn west-northwest in the afternoon. I had to ride south to get out of my neighborhood. It seemed doable. Then I turned straight west and into the wind. There is a hill I have to climb to head into the countryside and out of my neighborhood. The wind was strong. I climbed the first hill. As I neared the top, the wind grew stronger and stronger. I crested the hill and was showered by projectiles being shot into my face from the gusting wind. I immediately closed my eyes and turned my head to keep it out of my eyes. The hill had concentrated the wind at the top and I was stopped in my tracks. I had to shift down and crank on the pedals to start going down the hill. This was insane. I was less than a mile from my house and I was already having serious trouble. That is when I gave up. I pulled off the road and realized this was just not possible today. Nothing against the Adventure Monkey, it was just too windy, a long trip was not possible. I had to face facts.

I let a car go by and turned around to go home. I blew up the hill. I screamed at the wind. My Adventure Monkey squeezed my brain and said, “Really?” “You’re giving up that easily?” “What about Tim and Cindie Travis and the other adventure cyclists you’ve read about?” “How are you going to ride across the country if you can’t handle a little wind?” “C’MON SUCK IT UP! FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! DON’T GIVE UP NOW!”

That’s it. It was like when Rocky felt Adrian walk into the arena. In my burst of energy and confidence, I  turned around right there without looking to see the car behind me. Luckily I didn’t get run over. I fought the wind and made it down the hill. That was it. I was all in. If I can’t do this, I can’t do the Adventure Monkey. It was on.

I had to ride south about four miles. The wind was slightly south and it wasn’t too bad except for the crazy side winds that kept blowing me into the road. A couple of times, it swirled in behind me. It reminded me of being a kid and being pushed really fast by the bigger kids on the merry-go-round. I knew the ride back home was going to be incredible. But I needed to get off this paved road before I got run over.

I arrived at my turn to head straight west and directly into the wind. As soon as I made the turn, the wind began to pummel me. It was so windy it was almost humorous, except that I was riding against it, heading to Cottonwood Falls, around twenty miles against the wind.

I had been on this road plenty of times before. It is long and inviting. I have shown long roads in pictures on prior posts. Most people say I am crazy, but I see those long roads ahead as inviting and adventurous. Today was different. The road was not inviting today. It was a confronting bully and the wind was taunting me, tormenting me the whole way. To add to the mayhem, there were a lot of big farm trucks and semi-trailers on the gravel road today. They were buzzing by me and coming towards me. It must be harvest time. With the wind, the dust and bits of gravel thrown by the trucks became projectiles hitting my face and body.

I have always seen my rides as a metaphor for life and this day was full of them.

This ride west into the wind to Cottonwood Falls was a test of the Adventure Monkey, of my Adventure Monkey. I knew I was passionate about the Adventure Monkey, the blog, and the idea of a turning it into something real, but how far would I go to make it happen? Did I possess the courage, the fortitude, the resolve, the tenacity to bring Adventure Monkey to life though all the adversity and hardships that may come my way? This long windy road had become the future of Adventure Monkey to me. The trucks blowing by me, I could see as photographers that had passed me by and had become successful, as people telling me to just stay at my current stable job, as people that thought this whole idea was crazy, especially in this economic climate, as seasoned cyclists that scoffed at me, my crappy bike, and my lack of athleticism, as everyone and everything that thought this ride was a bad idea. Fighting the wind was like telling all the false beliefs that had accumulated in my psyche since birth, to blow away in the wind and leave me alone. All those feelings of failure or lack of confidence, instead of holding me back, kept me going forward. I was mad, determined and committed to make it.

Reality, I must say, can be a bitch. I have ridden against the Kansas wind before, but not like this. The wind became worse once I got into the Flint Hills. It was as if the hills magnified the wind. Sometimes the hills would block the wind for a bit, but at some point, especially when cresting each hill, the wind torpedoed me to a stop, like I had suddenly hit a spot of gooey mud. Each crest brought with it extreme wind and wind blown projectiles. At points I was pedaling hard to go four mph. I was averaging about eight mph which is pretty slow when you are working this hard. Usually the miles melted away on my rides, but today I fought for every mile.

A few times, I would hit a wind block and be able to pedal at almost a normal speed. It like getting a helping hand to make it through this tough challenging road. Sometimes we get that in our life challenges – a helping hand, a boost. Getting a post on Gnat’s blog was much like that. It got this site out to people I would never have touched on my own. It boosted things forward a bit. The helping hands, the wind blocks were nice for a break, but I still had to make it to my destination.

I stopped here to show the wind speed with this flag. This is also the place where the beauty and the expanse of the hills becomes evident. I saw the road ahead and had to keep my mind on the goal. The road seems to go on forever, especially today. This dog came to check me out too.

Umm, yeah, that's some high winds. I stopped just to shoot this flag.

The long road ahead took on a different feel in the wind

Even he was wondering why I was riding today

Many times I wanted to give up and turn around and let the wind blow me towards home. It wasn’t easy to keep pedaling into the wind. But I was doing more today than just riding my bike. I was proving something to myself if nothing else.

At 16.5 miles in, I took this picture and took a break to drink some V-8 fusion and eat a Cliff bar. I still had a ways to go, but at this point I knew I could do it. I just had to keep pedaling, one stroke at a time. It wasn’t easy.

A look back from where I came

A bag blowing in the wind

Even my bike was tired

I made it to Cottonwood Falls and the oldest functioning courthouse in Kansas. Awesome! What a feeling! I had to ride a couple of miles south to get to the highway leading me back home. The sidewind was strong. I had to keep a firm grip to stay on the road. It was a fairly busy road, so I tried to ride it as fast as I could.

Cottonwood Falls

This got my attention and I had to stop in Strong city to take a few shots. At one time, this was a bustling auditorium for the people of Strong City.

Old Strong City Auditorium

Strong City Auditorium

The forgotten stairs of the Strong Cit Auditorium

I made it to highway 50 and headed east towards home. I was rocketed up the hill and out of Strong City by the Kansas wind. On the slow gradual hill lowering me out of Strong City, I stood on my pedals to catch more wind, but quit pedaling. I started going faster, and faster, and faster – without pedaling, just letting the wind carry me. I topped out at 40 mph without pedaling! I kept above 20 mph all the way home on HWY 50. I had to keep pedaling to keep my speed up. It was an enjoyable, invigorating ride home. This was my payoff. All that hard work, led to this satisfying trip back home. I made it, I had conquered the hard ride to my goal and made it to this powerful, yet pleasant ride home. I can only hope the Adventure Monkey would work out this well. When I hit struggles, bumps in the road, I will always remember this ride and overcoming a great opponent to reach my goal.

It’s your turn. Feed your Monkey!

–EB

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To cut to the chase, my GPS failed me (a piece of paper with directions written on it). One of the roads led to a dead end and that was the fault of the map I used from mapmyride.com. I had to backtrack and find a way around. Then my GPS said left instead of right and I became a little confused and had to call Jen to see where I was headed. I was headed towards Topeka which was not in the plan for today. I have no sense of direction which is terrible for adventure cycling. After being lost for about 15 miles, I finally figured out what I did wrong and found my way back onto my route. I don’t enjoy riding lost especially when far from home.

At least the weather was perfect.

After about 50 miles, I was pretty sore. My rear was in some pain and I was pretty tired. So I started thinking about life. I see a lot of analogies between life and cycling. This ride had become long, painful, and aggravating. The road before me looked never ending. Sometimes life is the same way. I become impatient for things to happen. The road seems too long. I become aggravated with my situation. Sometimes the emotional times I go through are painful.

On my bike, like life, I have to keep pedaling. There’s no shortcuts. I just have to keep pedaling and I will make it to where I want to be. Sounds simple, but in life we are always trying to find shortcuts to our goals or we give up because the road looks too long. Once I make the decision to keep pedaling towards my goal, I must then decide where my mind will be. I can concentrate on the soreness and the aggravation, or I can concentrate on all the good things. For one, I am riding my bike, which I love to do and God has been gracious enough to give me the power to do. A day on my bike is always better than being in a cubicle. And number two, there is so much beauty all around me and I am a part of it, just like in everyday life. We can choose to worry about what we don’t have, or where we want to be and miss the beauty surrounding us. Let’s all stop and enjoy the beauty of our lives. Take a minute NOW and realize this fact. As God says to Job, “stand still, and consider the wondrous works (or miracles) of God.” Remember, YOU are part of that.

I made it home and felt emotionally magnificent because I made it – 72 miles in the end. I was sore and tired and relieved to be home. In life after we decide to “keep pedaling” and we make it through a hard, painful time we are better people because of it. We become stronger and wiser and are able to help others through hardships that we have conquered. Our trials make us who we are. Concentrate of your success, not the fact that you had to go through hard times, but rather that you conquered them and didn’t break. Choose to be great and you will be.

On a bike, I have time to ponder many things and get close to natural beauty and God. If everyone cycled, this world would be a different, better place. I truly believe that! I made the choice to see the good on this ride, see it in the pictures that follow. Oh – a few shots of the new tires too. They are faster and a lot quieter than my old knobby tires. I was faster and had a good grip on the road. I was happy with them. They are Bontrager Revolt Super X’s. I was in a deep dreamy colorful mood and the images reflect that.

Feed your Monkey!
–EB

I am going to change this out soon

This looked like a peaceful place to live.

Wind shaped tree

I went through Reading, Kansas and saw the "Tightwad Bank"

Church in Reading, Ks

Water tower in Reading,Ks

Close up to show the tornado sirens. Tornadoes are a part of life in Kansas

The Annex, Reading, Ks

Dead end number one

Brock Silo, I took a break to figure out where I was

Melvern Lake

Very cool old building near Melvern Lake

Times past

The clouds were beginning to build on the road home

I loved the contrast of the fence posts against the sky

Rolling hills of Kansas

Tree lined road

my bike

Yes, I was very tired

Expensive gas powered turbine generators

Hot exhaust

building clouds

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No plan today, just thought I would head northeast to some roads I had never been on before. I needed some new scenery. Soon, I am going to have to leave this area all together to find new adventures. I had plenty of time and I wanted a long Friday morning ride. My Adventure Monkey was hungry.

I was going to get a little more adventure than I bargained for.

It started out chilly. I had my sleeveless jersey on, mainly because it was clean, and I had my cycling shorts on too, of course. It was fifty something degrees out and with the wind of cycling, it was a bit nippy. Since this was the first year I have taken cycling seriously, I haven’t gotten any cold weather cycling clothes (yet). I need to do that. I want to try to ride as far into winter as I can. I hate to lose the shape I have gotten into this year.

About 2.5 miles in, my body temp was up and I felt OK, although my arms were cold. Six miles in, I was nice and warm, just the skin on my arms had lost a bit of  feeling sensation in them.

There was a thin layer of high clouds in the sky, just enough to keep the sun from being hot. The humidity was not even noticeable. It was a beautiful morning. When the weather is like this, my spirits are high and I can ride just about forever. It really does make me feel good. We don’t have a whole lot of feel good weather here, so I take advantage of it when it’s here.

Sometimes you have to force yourself to get started doing something. This was one of those days. I wanted to lay in bed for another hour or two. I laid there thinking of the other things I needed to get done and I wanted to take a long ride today without rushing, being able to take some pictures and enjoy. I felt pretty tired and uninspired until about 5 or ten miles into the ride. At that point I am doing nothing but enjoying the ride, the weather, nature and the exercise. The hardest part was getting started, and I am happy that I dragged myself out of bed.

I got the camera out when I saw a very Kansas looking scene. Then  a curvy road sign. I will always take the curvy road over a straight one. They are more interesting. You never know what may be around the bend.

The colors of the yellowing soybean field against the green on the trees looked cool. The overcast morning sun didn’t help me capture it. A late evening sun lighting the beans and the trees with long shadows would be perfect to capture the colors of this scene, but I wanted to shoot it for you. The greens are dark since the sun is lighting the opposite side. Shooting into the sun is tough, as you will usually want the sun at your back to capture sky and ground detail. I did have the sun at an angle though, which is best for lighting outside.

I ended up on Road 250 going under a bridge where it floods and into endless seas of farmland. Although that’s pretty much a given. There’s farmland all around us here in Eastern Kansas. Farmland and grazing land.

The gravel ended and I started riding on some bumpy dirt (not gravel) roads that led me to the backside of Reading lake. I took some time to stop and take some pictures of the lake and my bike. I road all around the lake too. It is a nice little lake.

Here’s some pictures of my bike. (Bike companies, I am for hire!) I am riding a Giant ATX 760 from 1989 that I bought in 1990. It has served me well, but I definitely need a new one. This bike was cool in 1990, but the technology of bicycle building has well passed this bike by. I want a touring bike that is more comfortable to ride for 50 to 100 miles. After 30 miles, especially on gravel, I am pretty sore. A touring bike is also capable of loading paniers (saddlebags) on racks. I took pictures of the Shimano components because they have served me problem free since 1990. Nothing but the usual adjustments and tune ups have been done. The gears still shift nice and smooth. Awesome. If you look close at the rear cassette, you will see that the gears are starting to look a little worn. A few of the gears have their heads lopped off. If I climb a really steep hill, my gears start to slip because of the worn chain and gears, all still original. I am going to change some things, but I just didn’t want to spend too much money on this bike. Check out the tires, obviously not a matching pair and after today, I need new ones. The saddle is new, it’s a Bontrager inForm saddle. More comfortable than my old one, but I think I am going to try out a leather Brooks saddle. They are supposed to be the very best for touring after you break them in. Right now, butt pain is my worst enemy on long rides

Want to know how I shot this picture? I only shot one image and had to do some post processing in Adobe LR and PS. Want to know more? If anyone is interested, I will do a tutorial post.

But here’s a point. I don’t have a nice bike or even the correct kind of bike to do the type of riding I do. But I am riding. If you want to do something just do it. Getting started is the hardest part! I am slowly purchasing the gear and saving for the bike I want. I hope to reward myself in the Fall with a shiny new touring bike made by Salsa Cycles out of Minnesota. C’mon people, put down the remote, get off the computer (after reading this of course) and go do something to feed your Adventure Monkey. You only live once. Thank me later.

This ride was turning out to be a wonderful one. The weather was beautiful, I was feeling great, and I love the adventure of having no destination, just riding. Then things got a little hairy.

I carry my phone in case of emergencies and it started to ring. I was on a stretch of road with new gravel laid down, so it was really bumpy and hard to ride on. I grabbed the phone out of the back jersey pocket with one hand, and squeezed the brake with my other hand to slow down when I hit a big bump in the road. It made me stop suddenly and I threw my uh, well my junk into the front stem. All I can say is I couldn’t answer the phone. I got lightheaded, saw stars and had to lean over for a minute. Not to get too graphic but I drew a little blood and was worried about the vasectomy I had about three years ago. Yeah, ouch is right. I somehow bruised my butt falling back on the seat or something. All I know is it’s bruised too.

All this happened 25 miles into the ride, so I had quite a ways to go to get home. I figured I could start pedaling again and I would be OK. The extreme pain had subsided except for a little stinging down there. I am not sure of the physiological response, but after that, I could feel all the soreness everywhere in my body. My feet were sore, my back, hands and wrists. I was just sore. Before the little wreck, I was feeling fine. This pretty much ended the great experience I was having.

As if that wasn’t enough, after I had turned to ride back towards Emporia, it suddenly felt bouncy in the back. My rear tire was low. It had a slow leak. I got the cheapo (another lesson) pump out and it didn’t work very well. I had another tube, but wanted to get somewhere where it would be easier to work on the bike. I finally made it to HWY 99 where it curves towards Reading. There’s a triangle of land there that I used to work on the bike. I figured out how to get the pump working better. The tube just had a slow leak, so I pumped it up and stayed on the pavement the whole way home, taking no pictures. I had to pump up the tube two more times before I made it home, but I made it. After getting home and cleaning the bike, I noticed my tires are pretty much shredded from all the gravel I have been riding. Time to go to High Gear.

All in all, ended up being a tiring ride. My Adventure Monkey was fed. Even a ride that turns into a disaster (this wasn’t quite a disaster) is better than any day in the cubicle world.

Feed your Monkey!

EB
Here’s the ride:

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