Out of the Ozarks

And into the headwinds. The mountains are worse though. At least with the winds you've got something to combat the heat.

Plus if the 10 day forecast is accurate it's gonna get really hot for quite some time. No rain though, so there's that.

Today I met two new cyclists. I found them in the last big climb just as we were getting out of the Ozarks. They knew my name before we met and I knew their nationality. They are two women from the Netherlands: Anna-Marie and Elizabert (I've got no idea if I'm spelling that right. It's the Dutch version of Elizabeth). They've ridden before with one of the guys I rode with a few days back (that's how we knew of each other).

So I rode with them for about 50 of the 63 miles I biked today. Which was nice, because you can draft each other and avoid some of the headwind. Plus it's good to have company. We split off at the end of the day as they headed to their motel and I headed to the bike shop. They'll be resting tomorrow, so there's a pretty good chance I won't be seeing them again :(.

At the bike shop, I ran into that group I rode with again. They're down to 3 now: John, Will, and Joe. I got dinner with them at a pretty terrible Italian place. They'll probably be biking a good 30 more miles tonight. It might be awhile before I catch up with them (if I do at all). Either way, our trails diverge once we hit Pueblo.

Overall a pretty good day. It's good to finally hit some flat terrain. I'm just hoping for one day of tailwinds in the next 600 miles.

I'm in Pittsburg, KS.

Last thing: I should mention that the people at the Running Spring Farm (kind of a bunk-bed and breakfast) were all extremely nice and made for excellent company for the couple of hours that we saw each other.