Wray, CO to McCook, NE

Today was a really simple day. 95 miles. Pretty flat. Did I struggle? Sure, it was 95 miles.

We woke up at 6 AM today. However, someone’s phone alarm kept going off at intervals of 15 minutes since 4:30, so my sleep was not very good. Breakfast today, was sponsored by the YMCA-esque facility that we were staying at. They provided each of us 2 small breakfast burritos and oranges. They were delicious, but probably not the best food right before we bike 95 miles.
We left to for McCook at 7ish. I was feeling a little sluggish after those burritos so I decided to be a sweep with Jason (basically be the last pace line, making sure no one gets left behind). It was pretty nice outside, which made me nervous because it could get really hot later on. 10 miles in, and we were in Nebraska. It was nice to be in the Central Time Zone…a real sense of accomplishment. We cruised through, trying to bike efficiently and save our energy. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the new tires, but my bike felt really heavy today…it felt really slow. Regardless, I pedaled though, surrounded by endless fields of wheat and corn. 60 miles later, we made it to lunch. We sat at a park, in literally the middle of nowhere, for lunch where I chow down a turkey and cheese sandwich. Another pace line was struggling, so we joined them. However, they decided not to call out anything. 2 potholes and a set of rumble strips later, Jason and I made an executive decision to slow down and leave that pace line. My bike has enough damage on it, and doesn’t need more problems.

We finally arrived at McCook, NE. It was a lot bigger of a town than I thought it would be…it had a Wal-Mart. Still, no Fallon, Nevada. We stayed at a YMCA today, which was nice, because that means we could squeeze is late night workout in (and you thought your day was tough, ha). Since there wasn’t much in this town, there was no volunteering or friendship visit. For dinner, we were given our choice of a footlong subway sub. After dinner, most of the group did a Wal-Mart run, and took the rest of the night off. It was a pretty relaxing day, especially after a packed couple of days in Denver. I ended up unwinding in my sleeping bag, and called it a very early night. Since we lost an hour on road due to switching to Central Time Zone, sleeping early isn’t such a bad idea.