Another great day, although it was hot and humid again, and we had a headwind a lot of the day. What made the headwind bad, was the mental part of it. Get this, a couple of the “weather guys” kept saying today we were going to have a tailwind pushing us northeast, uuuummmm??? Not exactly, so I was thinking the whole time that the wind was going to change direction, it didn’t. Part of this ride is also the mental aspect of it. You have battles with yourself, and you have to overcome them. Today was 86 miles, and we crossed another state line, Missouri. I have a couple of stories to share with you again today, and we will get to that in a minute, but first a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure. This is a picture of downtown Topeka, as we were heading out of town.
Another issue that I had again today near the end of the ride was I ran out of fluids, and there wasn’t anything in sight. We finally passed a store and I bought 2 32oz. Gatorades, and I came back to life. This happened to a couple of us yesterday mid ride, around miles 70ish.
Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride a dinosaur today, he is not full grown, I expect him to get to be maybe as tall as a 100 story building. Dino was very friendly. :)
Ok, enough silliness, here is the first story of the day. I was having brake issues, as in my back brake was very mushy, and not stopping my bike. The front one works fine, but the rear is used more often, for obvious reasons, and I have hydraulic disc brakes. They (the owner) graciously took my bike to 2 shops yesterday to get them to bleed my line to get the air out, at least that was the diagnosis from the 2 shops yesterday. Neither shop had the right tools to do this job, and I have very common equipment, Shimano, so this is a bit of a head scratcher. But anyway, we moved on and I rode today with really just a front brake, and they took my bike to another shop in St. Joe’s after the ride today, and they fixed it in about 5 minutes. They said the issue was the brake pads were worn out. I just replaced these pads less than a year ago. I am not sure the life span of brake pads, but that seems relatively short. It does depend on how many miles, your weight, and where you ride, but that still seems rather fast. We shall see how it works out.
Another Great Story
And now to today’s great story. I received another text from my friend, Jerry F. That I ride with and is a member of the Harpeth Bike Club. I will let you read it as well, it is awesome!!
Jerry,
Thanks for providing the info about Bruce Green’s astounding bike adventure across America. Bruce must have inherited some of his Dad’s amazing qualities. I had the good fortune of knowing Neil Green at Vanderbilt. He was a pioneer and internationally recognized pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Not only did he provide excellent surgical care for children, he was an amazing teacher for his residents, and an all-round great guy. Thought you might want to know a bit of the back story to Bruce’s adventure.
Scott
I love receiving these messages, and it truly is inspiring to read these messages as I cross the country and have tougher days than others. So again, Thank you guys for all of your support, inspiration, and donations!!
Here is the map of today, we barely crossed into Missouri, and are now north of Kansas City.
Here is the link to today’s video, Check out Tour de USA | Stage 27 St Joseph, MO https://www.relive.cc/view/1623794990
Thank you for following along with me on this journey, and if you can please make a donation to the Children's Hospital below. 100% of your funds go to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.
https://vanderbilt.ejoinme.org/bikeacrosstheusa
As a non-profit institution, the Children's Hospital provides care to the children who come through its' doors regardless of the family's ability to pay. Caring support from the community allows this level of service to continue.
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