weathergal
06-26-2006, 11:41 PM
A little over a week ago I got back from my first multi-day tour, Biking Across Kansas (http://www.bak.org). I've only had my road bike for a year, but I wanted to celebrate entering my 30s by doing this, so I signed up.
I caught a ride out to the start at Johnson with some folks from Garden City, and spent most of the week riding with them. We took the early start and rode the 16.5 miles from the Colorado line to Johnson Friday evening, so Saturday (June 10) was a nice ride of around 50 miles to Satanta. Most of us had a good day with a tailwind, but a few riders fell on some really rough RR tracks in Ulysses, and ended up with a broken hip and elbow.
Day 2 was our longest day, 85 miles, and unfortunately, the wind shifted to blow from the east, gusting up over 35 mph at times. At first I got to learn a bit about drafting, but then the rolling hills started, and it was difficult to stay together. A lot of people ended up SAGging into Ashland, but through shear stubborness I rode the entire way, although it took almost 12 hours counting lunch and SAG stops. The next day's ride to Medicine Lodge started out more of the same, rolling hills and headwinds, with many not finishing the day. The winds were extremely frustrating at first, but started to diminish by late afternoon so I again made it through a very long day.
After that, the headwinds started to improve, although I was so tired that my hill climbing speed did not. Still, my slow pace was allowing me to make it in every night. The ride to Clearwater was fairly good, with the exception of getting run off the road by some trucks hauling modular houses.
It was in Clearwater that the first EMS unit showed up at our overnight school, and again the next night in Burden. At this point the organizers thought that it was just dehydration, so we got the "drink lots" lecture at the nightly meeting. Later on that night they found out it was something more. By the time I rolled into Neodesha on Thursday, the public health department was involved, and I was stopped when coming into town and asked if I had been having nausea or any other intestinal problems. I said no, and was allowed to go on my way. There were signs posted about proper handwashing, and several people were already headed home.
The ride on Friday the 16th from Neodesha to Girard was pretty good, although still slow for me. After arriving in Girard we set up camp and went downtown, where food booths had been set up and streets blocked off (several of the towns did this). It was there that I started feeling bad. I went to lay in the grass in the town square for a little bit, but when I got up to catch a ride back to the school I tossed my cookies. And was up twice more that night to throw up again. It had been years since I had the stomach flu, and I had forgotten how much it sucks. I wasn't the only one who got sick, as one of the guys from Garden City ended up in the hospital.
Therefore, I did not ride the final 15 miles Saturday from Girard to the Missouri border. I wasn't throwing up anymore, but had little a bit of diarrhea and just felt completly drained. I caught a ride to the ending picnic site in Alma where our van back to western Kansas would pick us up. Sleeping on the way back and pretty much for the next 12 hours after that helped recovery.
So, a pretty interesting trip. Old-timers said it was one of the more difficult BAKs in recent memory. Latest estimates showed that around 75-80 people got sick, and tests show it was a norovirus (http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/14870415.htm). Despite the hills, wind, and sickness, I still had fun enjoying the company of other bikers. And I will probably do it again if I get the chance, although hopefully I would be faster and get earlier starts in the morning.
Sorry this got really long. Hope I didn't bore anyone.
I caught a ride out to the start at Johnson with some folks from Garden City, and spent most of the week riding with them. We took the early start and rode the 16.5 miles from the Colorado line to Johnson Friday evening, so Saturday (June 10) was a nice ride of around 50 miles to Satanta. Most of us had a good day with a tailwind, but a few riders fell on some really rough RR tracks in Ulysses, and ended up with a broken hip and elbow.
Day 2 was our longest day, 85 miles, and unfortunately, the wind shifted to blow from the east, gusting up over 35 mph at times. At first I got to learn a bit about drafting, but then the rolling hills started, and it was difficult to stay together. A lot of people ended up SAGging into Ashland, but through shear stubborness I rode the entire way, although it took almost 12 hours counting lunch and SAG stops. The next day's ride to Medicine Lodge started out more of the same, rolling hills and headwinds, with many not finishing the day. The winds were extremely frustrating at first, but started to diminish by late afternoon so I again made it through a very long day.
After that, the headwinds started to improve, although I was so tired that my hill climbing speed did not. Still, my slow pace was allowing me to make it in every night. The ride to Clearwater was fairly good, with the exception of getting run off the road by some trucks hauling modular houses.
It was in Clearwater that the first EMS unit showed up at our overnight school, and again the next night in Burden. At this point the organizers thought that it was just dehydration, so we got the "drink lots" lecture at the nightly meeting. Later on that night they found out it was something more. By the time I rolled into Neodesha on Thursday, the public health department was involved, and I was stopped when coming into town and asked if I had been having nausea or any other intestinal problems. I said no, and was allowed to go on my way. There were signs posted about proper handwashing, and several people were already headed home.
The ride on Friday the 16th from Neodesha to Girard was pretty good, although still slow for me. After arriving in Girard we set up camp and went downtown, where food booths had been set up and streets blocked off (several of the towns did this). It was there that I started feeling bad. I went to lay in the grass in the town square for a little bit, but when I got up to catch a ride back to the school I tossed my cookies. And was up twice more that night to throw up again. It had been years since I had the stomach flu, and I had forgotten how much it sucks. I wasn't the only one who got sick, as one of the guys from Garden City ended up in the hospital.
Therefore, I did not ride the final 15 miles Saturday from Girard to the Missouri border. I wasn't throwing up anymore, but had little a bit of diarrhea and just felt completly drained. I caught a ride to the ending picnic site in Alma where our van back to western Kansas would pick us up. Sleeping on the way back and pretty much for the next 12 hours after that helped recovery.
So, a pretty interesting trip. Old-timers said it was one of the more difficult BAKs in recent memory. Latest estimates showed that around 75-80 people got sick, and tests show it was a norovirus (http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/14870415.htm). Despite the hills, wind, and sickness, I still had fun enjoying the company of other bikers. And I will probably do it again if I get the chance, although hopefully I would be faster and get earlier starts in the morning.
Sorry this got really long. Hope I didn't bore anyone.