…and the wind and I became friends…

Confessional: It had been two weeks since my last ride.

Last week would have been cold without rain gear (cold weather wimp, remember?). I have been on the 60 hour work week during the refueling outage at the plant and Sundays were my only day to ride. Things are back to normal and Friday rides will commence the day after Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving plus days off to shoot and ride – life is good!

I left with no destination in mind, just knew I needed to head south and into the wind so I could have a tailwind on the trip home.

I’ll be honest, even though I was craving a nice long bike ride, The first 10 miles or so was not so enjoyable. It was chilly and I wasn’t “feeling it.” It was feeling more like work than a fun bicycle ride. I tell on myself just to inspire those that are thinking of getting that old bike or running shoes back on the road. Sometimes it doesn’t start out so enjoyable.

But after six miles or so (and thoughts of turning around and heading home), it was like the carbon deposits were blown out of the engine, and it was running nice and smooth. Maybe it was that I got out of town and was pedaling in the country, or it could’ve been that I became nice and warm, or maybe the endorphins had kicked in. I am not really sure, but I felt great.

Kansas in the winter can be very boring and ugly. Is that really the case? I think it is all a state of mind. I can choose to live somewhere ugly or beautiful all by changing my perspective. I shot these for those of you not from Kansas. It seems vast and endless. I was concerned I wouldn’t get good pictures, being that I wasn’t riding anywhere scenic and it was the end of Fall in Kansas. Sometimes, I just need to open my eyes and see.

I turned on Road P and to my surprise came to the Rocky Ford Bridge, renamed Bird Bridge by the locals. Back in college this used to be a really long bicycle ride to come this far. Today I had just gotten started. I realized my older self could kick the crap out of my younger self and it made me smile. This bridge has a story and a made for TV movie. I know what happened here, but I didn’t realize it was so famous. I googled it and found THIS and others. I didn’t realize it was so famous.

I love old bridges. Most of them are being replaced by ugly causeways. I had to stop and break out the camera.

This topic may be getting gold to some, but the wind is always a factor when cycling in Kansas. It was kicking my butt this day too. Instead of getting angry at my old friend, I just listened to him talk my ear off for about 28 miles or so. I knew he would have my back in the end. I was feeling pretty tired after 25 miles and thought I may have pushed a little too hard after a month without much time in the saddle. But as soon as I turned right on Road F and headed north towards Emporia, the wind became my best friend. He definitely had my back. Road F about killed me last summer. After riding hill after hill and running out of water, I had some choice words for road F. It got a new name from me that day – use your imagination. But today, the hills were nothing. Cycling took precedence over any photography. The Armstrong in me came out, and really there’s not much in me. Keeping over 25 mph became important. Keeping over 25 mph became fun. I pedaled until my legs were dead, and then I pedaled some more. What a rush! My Adventure Monkey was satisfied and check out the last image – 40 miles exactly!

Your turn. Get off the couch. Ride your bike. Take some pictures. Do something different that you’ve always wanted to do. Your Monkey is hungry. Go and Feed Your Monkey!

Eric

Here’s the route: