Tuesday, June 22
4K: Mythbusters
Myth: Kansas is as flat as a pancake
Truth: Kansas more closely resembles a waffle
The 4K entered Kansas today while crossing the Missouri River. We had
a long, hot day (94 miles in the end) but crossing into a new state is
always a good day. Especially when you are leaving hilly Missouri!
Unfortunately for the team, we expected Kansas to be flat - so the
rumor goes - and were greeted instead by long, rolling and significant
hills. Now we've only dabbled in 40 miles of Kansas roads so far, but
the team has conclusively decided that Kansas is in fact, not a flat
state. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because they were a
welcome relief after the hills of Missouri.
We started the day on a sad note- two of our riders have gone home.
Several people on the team dedicated their trip to these riders and we
started off. I rode today in Team Cripple, as we named ourselves due
to the number of collective injuries our group had. And indeed, we had
a slow start when I had not 1, not 2, but 3 flat-tubes at mile 1.
That's how many tubes it takes to figure out that my tire had a large
gash in it. However, it did provide Krystina with the opportunity to
time Henrik on how fast he can change a bike tire. Rumor had it that
Lance Armstrong can do it in 2 minutes and Henrik came in with 1
minute and 47 seconds. This is the standing record on the team this
summer - several teammates have vowed to challenge Henrik at the next
opportune flat tire.
We entered Kansas in a town whose name has yet to be determined;
however, it might as well be called Amelia Earhart because this is her
birthplace and they've named everything else after her: the airport,
the highway, the bridge, the earthworks shops, etc. It was about this
time that Abhishek, Charlie and Chorong took a wrong turn and went
about 5 miles in the wrong direction - resulting in a 10-mile detour
on an already long day: ever 4Kers' worst nightmare. They have Kevin,
our not-so-trusty van driver, to blame because he also made the same
wrong turn :)
The day ended as all days should- having a Sonic Blast. Several groups
decided to stop at Sonic before they reached the church to cool down
after a long day and this could be the beginning of a new ritual of
mine, because it was a highlight of my day. That and the strong
tailwind that brought us flying into Hiawatha at 28 miles per hour. On
the 4K, there are many discussions about weather and the pros and cons
of all kinds of temporal varieties that have greeted us, but we
unanimously agree that nothing is better on the 4K than tailwind-
helps you get over the hills that do, in fact, exist in Kansas.
Kristen Schubert
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