The Center of the USA!

We just crossed into Nebraska after 3 days of biking through Kansas. The Kansas countryside was really remarkable, and I think we all had some pretty unbelievable days of riding. Lots of foggy, hazy mornings, turing into humid afternoons. While we hear the wind coming from the west can be really strong, we fortuantely haven't seen it just yet.

On our longest day of the trip, we biked 95 miles from Manhattan, KS into Beloit, KS. Temps were over 95 degrees, and we were hustling to beat the heat. It didn't go so fast, but we had a blast just the same. I rode with Noah, and we took lots of breaks to stave off the heat exhaustion. I got two flats during the day, but after 2000 miles, I'm getting quicker at changing them on the road. It was a tough day, but it felt great to make it through our 95 miler as a team. Sonya, one of our trip leaders, and a rider on CUS '08 knew of a sweet little ice cream shop in town, and we all went and had some delicious malts right after our ride. The table below was completely filled with glasses after P2SF rolled through.

Riding from Beloit, KS to Red Cloud, Nebraska we had 2 important stops along the way. One was the geographical center of the US, and the other was the worlds largest ball of twine. Yes! We added some of our own twine to the giant ball, and took lots of pictures scaling the mass.

The geographical center of the US is way out in the hills of Kansas. It was such a nice ride along the rolling hills of the countryside. At the geographical center pictured below, we had a snack break and hung out with the rooster that seemed to be guarding the monument.

Tonight we're in Alma, Nebraska, and we have a couple more nights before entering Colorado! The weather out here has been just great! No hail, just some thunderstorms. But they've always been way off in the distance, and make for some of the most amazing views I've seen during the trip. Colorado here we come!

-rob