Bike gymnastics

Today's Google Earth file: http://tomerceg.googlepages.com/Mcphersonks.kmz

Three of my close friends out here decided that today would be a good day to try some bicycle gymnastics. That's never a good idea. If you're going to get airborne during a crash you have to "Stick the Landing".

I jest because they're all going to be fine. Joanna has road rash all over the place. She got an up-close look at a semi truck as she was laying on the ground, which scared her more than the crash. She's tough as nails though. The only way she'll ever skip a day is if her knee got embedded in her eye socket or something.

Ray had a much scarier day in a totally separate incident. . I came upon the crash scene and saw him laying in the street. He and Tom (the other Tom on this trip) had both gone over the handlebars. Tom walked away with only minor scratches. Ray wasn't as lucky. He was able to make a little joke about "not hurting the asphalt", so I knew at least mentally he was OK. He made a trip to the hospital to check for broken ribs, and fortunately they came back negative. His bike is torn up, but our crack mechanics got it operational. He's touch-and-go for tomorrow, but is hoping to give it a shot. We'll see how stiff he is in the morning.

Apparently this is about the time in the trip when these kinds of incidents tend to happen. We've all gotten comfortable with each other and with riding every day. We let our guard down a little, and then things go haywire in a hurry. I'm just really happy that everyone is going to be OK.

As for today's ride, other than the two incidents on the road it was a beautiful day. Who knew that Eastern Kansas was so pretty? I certainly didn't. Gentle rolling countryside, the "amber waves of grain", little pockets of forested areas. Kansas also has really nice roads. So the cycling was really wonderful today.


I took a bunch of pictures today. I also took 8 short unintended movies today, because, well, I'm an idiot. I accidentally set my camera to video mode and didn't figure it out until after the 8th movie. If you'd like to see why I'll never be a movie director click here: http://tomerceg.googlepages.com/DSCN0371.MOV

At the rest stop Ian decided to express his feelings about riding across Kansas. You may need to click on the picture to truly understand the humor of the situation.


I finally got a bit of Kansas steak at dinner tonight. I couldn't have ridden all the way across Kansas without at least one good hunk of beef. McPherson also has one other little local delicacy that I was not aware of. What a shame I won't be around to enjoy them...