bak 2010 - hill city

It wasn't raining when I packed up in Colby, but everything was a little bit wet. The temps were supposed to make it into the mid-80s, so I just put on a light windbreaker. I love this jacket because it's light and can be rolled up to the size of an orange and placed in my jersey pocket if it gets too warm. It is, however, water resistant, not waterproof. A local church was serving a pancake breakfast, and although it was a valiant effort, they were quickly overwhelmed by hundreds of hungry cyclists. I stopped for a picture of the red brick streets of downtown and the county courthouse before heading out of town on, you guessed it, Highway 24.

The affectionately called "SAG Hags" were dressed up to serve us snacks and let us refill our bottles several miles down the road.

With about 15 miles to go to Hoxie, the only town offering any lunch options, the light mist of earlier turned to a steady rain. My jacket, jersey, shorts, socks, shoes and gloves were completely soaked by the time I reached Hoxie. They offered a lunch buffet, but the best part of the lunch was being out of the rain.

The rain had mostly passed, but I was stilled chilled, so I rode hard for the next 15 miles to warm up. There was another SAG stop at Cottonwood Ranch and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds.Ended up with 68.9 miles for the day.

The last 15 miles were much warmer than the morning thanks to the sun and the hills leading to Hill City. The town was actually named for land speculator W.R. Hill, but I could have been convinced otherwise. During the day I jumped on the end of a double pace-line with a group from Wichita, the OZ Bicycling Club. Later I rode the shuttle with some of them to the park where they were serving pulled pork and bierocks. We walked a couple blocks for ice cream, then back to the school to prepare for another day in the saddle.