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Saturday, June 27: What an awesome day of gravel grinding in the great state of KS. This was kind of like my vision of American Dirt. Now that’s not to say all the pain and deprivation that we’ve been through in DE thru MO was not in the fun category, but today was my nirvana. I mean just riding out here and being so aware of your surroundings, of this massive expanse of land just unfolding in front of you for mile after mile. It’s humbling, foreboding, challenging and amazing! As many of you have heard me reiterate so many times when talking about my X country trips here in the good old USA, KS has to be my favorite for the gravel road riding. It’s just this fantastic land that surrounds you and swallows you up. 


Ok, so we got going at 7:45 AM today, where I left off. I did about 1 mile of berm on Rt 99 south, and then took a R on 280th, and was on gravel the rest of the day for 85 more miles! I did have Judy follow me on this first stretch because it was nice and wide with a pretty good road bed. That only lasted about 7-10 miles. Then we had to part company because the roads I was planning on riding, they were not for the 2-wheel drive van. So I had Judy take Q road north to the junction with 300th and then go west to Cassoday while I went south on Q to these minuscule backcountry roads through the wonderful Flint Hills area of KS. 


Went R on 7 which had this maze of little access roads coming and going off of it, and this was my undoing. I had mapped, gps’ed and memorized this section, and be damned if I didn’t blow it. Somehow I just remained on 7 south towards Eureka. Once I realized that I screwed up, I was 5 miles down the road. So I checked my gps and saw the problem. As I was doing that a father and son stopped and wanted to help, seeing me standing there. I told them what I did, and the guy offered to drive me back to where I should have gone straight. Took that offer with zero though. Hell, I’d already gone out of the way, and I wasn’t about to feel guilty in taking a pick-up truck ride back to the right spot. They gave me 2 pints of water to take with me when I departed. 


Got going again in this tiny dbl track road that began to undulate all over the place, and I mean with some STEEEEEEEP climbing on really rocky, rutted road bed. Passed the access road to the hamlet of Thrall, and then continued straight into the Flint Hills area, doing deep descents and crazy climbs, especially across the E. Branch of Fall River. I mean this place was so amazing because you’re in KS, yet you’re going through and along all these flint and chert cliffs and ridges cut by this stream (not a river for sure!). Made it out to River Road, H road, and went south for a couple miles. Next up was this little dbl track road called 260th. This looked more like a farmer’s access road than a county road. And once on this…LET the climbing begin. It was relentless and steep. I ended up riding in a place called Lapland. Now for those of you who know of Lapland, you know that it’s an area up in Finland that is above the arctic circle and just treeless, with nothing but these big hills rolling on forever covered with arctic grasses. I’d been there many years and it’s the spitting image of the real Lapland. It’s also reminiscent of Northeast Iceland, and I had this de ja vu moment riding in this area because it reminded me of when I’d ridden around Iceland on the ring road, entering the dirt road portion of that ring where you’re just surrounded by all this crazy topography. It’s just beautiful.


The road was just relentless though with all  the ups and downs. So this road started out as 59, and then changed into 270th, and then changes again to 135th. Look on a map or gazetteer and you’ll see this as a little hair of a road that traverses Greenwood and Butler Counties. I passed a couple guys doing ranch work out here because it’s open rangeland, and I waved and yelled out how cool this place was. They just smiled and waved back at the goofy Ohio ass cyclist. I would ride by the cattle and they’d just scatter in front of me and behind me. Couple times I was worried that I’d get taken out by a frightened cow/or herd of cows. 


Went R on T323 - Battle Creek Rd - for more miles, and once I kind of topped out on 323, I was out of the green, rolling Lapland area. That’s when I could pick up speed. Took a R on Hilint Hill Rd, then a L on 140th, X ed a RR and there was Judy at the corner of 140th and 150th. She related to me how the roads she took, they were bad to, and only the last couple of miles on 150th were asphalt. Her section took her 1 hr of driving on a rugged, rocky road at 20 mph. She was a bit shaken, but ok. I told her there was no way in the world that she could have taken that van on the roads that I was on. Hell, the two ranchers I’d seen, they were on a ATC. 


Lunched with Judy at the junction of Rt 99 and 140th, and then I threw my bike in the van to recon 150th for Judy, seeing that she’d have to be on it for 38 miles to the town of Newton. It was asphalt and I just wanted to be sure to make her feel better - and heck, me to. I didn’t want her doing another 38 miles of rugged gravel. If it would have been crap then I’ve have routed her down I-35 and then west on KS-196 - which would have been a long, long detour. But anyway we were good. She took me back to 140th, and I got going again west, this time on this earthen road that had 1 foot deep ruts in it from the rain days of the past few weeks. No way for the van on this one either! Did a R on Price, and intersected with 150th to meet up with Judy just to be sure 150th was still asphalt. It was. So we decided that she’d go 15-20 miles west on 150th, while I paralleled her on 170th and 160th. 


Off I went up Price to the north, then went L on 170th west, to a L on Turkey Creek south, to a R on 160th west. And most of these were just smoking fast gravel roads, most notably 160th. With the wind out of the northeast, I had a slight cross-tail wind, and there were times when I could do 18 mph. Now there were still some slight ups and downs, but nothing, I repeat NOTHING like the Flint Hills. And cool thing out here on the gravel in KS, all the people, the farmers and ranchers wave at me. I mean it’s a KS thing I guess. It’s cool to have someone wave a friendly wave at you on a bike instead of flipping you off. You know how the jeep people have this wave thing going on? Well, here in KS it’s the same thing, but from car to bike. Love it!


Rode along and watched the combines mowing down the summer wheat by the thousands of acres, watched as farmers plowed fields and watched as ranchers did ranch work with a gazillion cows out in the fields, just thousands and thousands of cows out here. Took 160th to the junction with River Valley Rd to meet with Judy again. She was good on 150th, which for me as assuming because with were only a mile apart on parallel for this section. Got hydrated with powerade and water, and got going again for my last section of 160th to Newton. Again, super fast riding. I mean some of this gravel out here is so packed down that it like desert concrete. Other sections are loose, thick, and a pain in the ass to ride. But really it all evens out in the long run. Did a piece of riding where I entered Harvey County, and 160th turns into 12th, past this nice swim lake & and camping area - Harvey County East Lake. The people were out there today en mass what with the sun and it being a Saturday. Just past the lake I met up with Judy, trying to see if she could drive down 12th. We met up with about 3 miles to go for me. I think with all the waiting around today, she was just restless and bored, and had to find something to do, so driving was the answer. 


I made a L on Woodland Rd and junctioned with 1st street, aka 150th. That was the end to a great day of riding. So at this point I was 3 miles east of Newton. Got in a total of 86 miles, and I really had FUN. Yea, imagine that, fun for a change on the bike rather than getting my ass handed to me. The weather today was hot by my standards, but cool based on the areas typical weather in late June - temp was 86 today. Tomorrow we go up to 94. But much sun is in the forecast. So I hope to get an early start again tomorrow and maybe make it past Hutchinson, KS. Have to X the Arkansas River tomorrow, and I have a distinct feeling that it will not be via canoe. Water is still up everywhere. Guy told me yesterday that had we come through here 3 wks ago that I would NOT be riding on the gravel. Many of the gravel and earthen roads out here are really washed out and rutted from all the rain in the previous weeks. 


So the rivers are still pretty loaded with all that water. May have to employ the same method as I used yesterday on the Neosho River - bike to one side, car caravan to the other side. Remember - there are not many bridges out here! Late……Pete