Day 31: Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

St. Joseph to Chillicothe, MO
Miles:  90  Climb:  3,894
Total Miles:  2,228

We rode ninety miles on country roads to Chillicothe, the birthplace of sliced bread.  It was a hilly, scenic ride.  Nice roads, very little traffic and gorgeous farms.  In the words of the Brits on the ride, it was quite lovely.  The ride was hard, but I handled it fine and enjoyed the rural roads and beautiful farms.  The farmers who passed on their tractors or in pickup trucks waved the typical friendly farmer wave.  It made me miss my dad.  Part of our route went through a large Amish community and the Amish farmers were in the fields mowing hay and cutting wheat with horse drawn implements. When I got in Chillicothe I rode around town to see the murals on the buildings before heading to the hotel.

The route was very hilly, hill upon hill upon hill.  I compensated for my missing gears by using a combination of gears on the big chain ring with more leg power on the hills I could, moving to the small chain ring when the grade exceeded 6%, which it often did.  I actually benefitted from having the sick cassette because I learned how to more effectively use the gears that worked, knowing which ones were best for which situation, instead of just moving to the small ring when a string of hills loomed ahead, as I had done yesterday.

I rode alone today, which gave me lots of time to think.  I was in the middle of nowhere, not yet to the first SAG stop in the metropolis of Maysville, when in the yard of a farmhouse I saw a sign that read:  "To keep the thing that makes you tick, it needs to be unwound."  I smiled when I read that.  It is exactly why I am doing on this bike ride.  I wanted to do something that pushed me mentally and physically to get me back to what makes me tick, and this ride is fulfilling that need. The ride is called the "Cross Country Challenge", and that's an accurate description.  The mileage, the schedule and the route definitely make this a challenge.  I wanted a challenge, and I'm getting my money's worth.

But I've decided that the next long ride I do won't be as scheduled as this one.  I'd like to have flexibility to explore places and adjust the route as I travel. A friend told me about "hotel camping", and then I met a couple when we were in Dodge City who were doing that.  They called it credit card touring.  The tour I am on is fully supported, meaning that riders carry only what they need for that day's ride.  Someone else carries the gear and provides food.  Each day is point to point, and since rooms are booked and flights home have been scheduled, we have to ride each day according to plan, no matter what.  At the other extreme is an self-contained ride.  In that scenario the riders carry everything they need, clothes, tent, food, cook stove, sleeping bag on the bike with them.  We've seen a few self-contained cyclists on this trip, and I've done a couple of self-contained rides.  It's fun, but it's a lot of work and you can't cover many miles in a day because of the weight on the bike. With Hotel Camping or Credit Card Touring, the riders carry minimal gear.  They wear one biking kit and carry one set of street clothes and sandals in a handlebar or rear bag.  They have minimal weight on the bike and as much flexibility of schedule as the credit card limit allows.  I think I'd like to try that next.

Tomorrow's ride is going to be a hard one.  The riders last year called it the Day of A Thousand Hills.  Even after 28 days of long mileage, strong headwind and serious climbs, I still feel anxious tonight about what is ahead tomorrow.  The forecast is for warm temperatures, the possibility of a thunderstorm, and we might actually get wind out of the west.