ROYAL GORGE, COLO. – So there I am posing at the side of US 50 with a horned antelope skull balanced on my helmet. Is it wacky altitude weirdness or just giddiness about being on the road again?
Probably the latter. We left Pueblo early and steadily headed toward a line of blue mountains ahead of us. As the morning wore on the mountains grew and finally enveloped us as we progressed into the Rockies. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/20/1984-bike-tour-day-39-entering-the-rockies-its-all-uphill-now/
PUEBLO, COLO. – We decided to lay around and do nothing for the day. We had covered so many miles the past couple of weeks, we were feeling just plain tired.
The news that a controversial liberal radio talk show DJ — Alan Berg — had been gunned down had upset our hosts. Anyway, we just didn't feel right overstaying …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/19/1984-bike-tour-day-38-just-hanging-out-in-pueblo/
PUEBLO, COLO. – It's after midnight, and Bruce and I have just finished making basic overhauls and installing new parts on our bicycles. We used the “bicycle workshop” in the shed behind the home of our newfound friend — a 14-year-old in a house full of biking enthusiasts.
We got a late start this morning from Ordway after our epic 124-mile ride the day before. Fortunately the air had cleared this morning and we continued on good, old Route 96. In all, we'd ride this road for 241 miles, all the way from Dighton, Kansas. ..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/18/1984-bike-tour-day-37-well-housed-in-pueblo/
ORDWAY, COLO. – Most of western Kansas and eastern Colorado was closed this Sunday, so we did the only thing we knew — we kept pedaling.
After patching up two flat tires just after sunrise, we rode out of town and back to the flat terrain. Everything was closed in the first town in Colorado — Towner. Same at Sheriden Lake …
So when we finally got to Haswell, thirsty and parched, there was nothing but bad water and what little water we had in our bottles. No bathroom. No shower. The only store in town was closed. Nothing to do but jump on our bikes and press on….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/17/1984-bike-tour-day-36-cant-stop-cycling/
TRIBUNE, KAN. – We're walking back from dinner at the Cactus Patch restaurant, and realize we're riding through history. We're in the town of Tribune in the county of Greeley. The next town down the road tomorrow will be Horace. Follow the bouncing ball. What did Horace Greeley write in the New York Tribune? “Go west young man!”
We started heading West early in the morning after a torrential downpour struck at 4:30. We ate and washed up at the church (still open, as promised) and hit the road at 6:45. After a few miles the terrain opened up more than before, if that's possible. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/16/1984-bike-tour-day-35-go-west-young-men/
UTICA, KAN. – How many times have I heard people complain about driving across Kansas because it's soooooo boring?
Chalk up another reason why bicycle touring is the best way to see the country. Kansas, by bike, is anything but boring. For one thing, you get to stop at all the small-town cafes.
I have a notion that many of these towns where we've stopped lately — Bison, McCracken, Ransom, Utica — are all frontier towns. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/15/1984-bike-tour-day-34-eating-across-kansas/
LA CROSSE, KAN. — We're sitting here writing at our journals at a picnic table that's about 30 miles south of the geographical center of the US.
We clicked off a lot of miles today, and I am tired and a little sore, but I feel like I could charge across more than 100 miles of Great Plains tomorrow morning. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/14/1984-bike-tour-day-33-dont-fence-us-in-were-rolling/
We stopped at a cafe this morning for a long breakfast and fiddled around so we got a late start. Bruce later admitted he just didn't want to get going, given the accident yesterday on the busy highway.
We strapped his bent wheel rim to his panniers and left, finally reaching County Road 88 and the TransAmerica Route. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/13/1984-bike-tour-day-32-limping-across-kansas/
Tuesday, June 12, 1984Chanute to El Dorado, Kan.99 milesLocater map
I’m reprinting the day-to-day journal entries of a cross-country bike tour my friend and I took in 1984. More about the TransAmerica Tour 1984
Gene’s Journal
We’re staying at a motel across the tracks in a town with the unlikely name of El Dorado after Bruce had …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/12/1984-bike-tour-day-31-shortcut-proves-hazardous/
Tonight finds us at Bryan and Janette's apartment in Chanute. They're a wonderful couple that Bruce met at a restaurant in town where he was eating. Bryan found me a few hours later as I was riding into town.
That's because Bruce and I got separated today.
We cycled the 35 miles from Golden City to Pittsburg in about 3 hours. Riding our first flat roads in four weeks meant we had a lot of power to cover lots of ground — fast…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/11/1984-bike-tour-day-30-kansas-is-big-state-to-lose-partner-in/
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