July 21, 2018
Eureka – Pittsburg
194 km (121 miles)
815 m (2673 feet) elevation
7:08 moving time
4444 km (2762 miles)

It was still dark outside when we hit the road this morning, only 17 degrees and a little breeze. Seeing the sun rise and the colors of the land getting brighter was beautiful and something we plan to do most days from now on.

The day got warmer as the sun came up but nowhere near the last couple of days. In the end of the day it was around 36 degrees but when we are cycling we don’t feel the heat as much.

It was a nice riding day and we were both feeling good after our rest day. Monika is having some problem with her knees but likely it has something to do with the hight on her saddle, we will improvise on that tomorrow.

We had headwinds most of the time but for a short time we had tailwinds and it was so much fun ☺

We are almost over Kansas and feel that it gets a bad rap for the landscape. Although somewhat flat and similar over all those kilometers it has a certain charm. It has gone from being completely flat and mostly yellow to being in kind of green colors with trees and hills. The people we have encountered in Kansas have been extra nice but the wind proved to be a challenge.

For the second time in our trip we were offered cold water from a passing driver that saw us standing by the road when we were taking a water brake. Such a lovely gesture from a stranger 🤗

For the first time we could not get a free water in our bottles from a fountain machine. Hopefully it was just in this one little shop, we got free water in the next town.

Rolled into Pittsburg and went straight to the bikeshop called Tailwind Cyclists. Wish we could always be tailwind cyclists! 😉 It was a good thing we finally found a bike shop that was open because Saemi’s chain had an 8% stretch which is way too much so we had both our chains replaced. We usually replace chains after 5%.

Our tires – especially the rear tires – were also way too worn and we desperately needed replacing them. Too bad they only had two tires so we decided to put the new ones on both our back wheels and take the better old one with us as backup in case a front tire gives out.

Monika brakes pads had to replaced on the back weel and she was told that she should be using both breaks and that she will have to do it when we hit the Ozarks and the Appalachians 😏

The owner really knew what he was talking about and even though the parts plus work wasn’t cheap it was money well spent.

Looks like we might have to sleep in our tent for some nights to come but we will see.