51.40 miles (Total: 2156.84) Avg Speed: 9.2mph Max Speed: 15.5mph

I woke, ate, packed, then went immediatley across to the auto repair store in town with my spare spokes. I walk up to an old guy and explain the situation and what I need doing to my spokes. A bizarre request maybe but he just takes the spokes and leads me to his workshop outback. He gives me a pen an I draw a simple illustration of what I want. At this point he has barely spoken a word to me and just whistles to himself. He knocks the head off then takes a blow torch to loosen the metal before bending it perfectly and dunking it in cold water for the temper. It looks amazing, I take it back to my wheel and we thread it through the back-end without taking off the cassette. It would have worked perfect except it barely screws in at the other end, just a little too short. I go back and have the spokes blow torched and twisted again, we can only manage one bend to have the necessary length. I thank him, but he simply goes back to laying underneath a truck with his tool box.

The spokes hook on and screw in, we check to see if the wheel spins straight and its pretty good! After finally heading out we only make it a couple of miles and I hear one of them has came out, the other is still in. Its a shame they weren’t quite long enough with the original S-bend because I’m pretty sure I could have went to Oregon on them. The other just about stays in and we make it Eads. I’m riding very slowly and cautiously so were not making good mileage. We find two dutch women biking the TransAm then a guy from Virginia, alas none of them have the tools to fix a driveside spoke either, nobody does.

We head out of town only another few miles and come across Tom. He was born in Iowa, where he is cycling too but lives in Hawaii and is a cycling accessory vending machine. Every gizmo, gadget and spare you could think of. We attempt to remove my cassette with his special lockring tool, but the thing is on so tight it basically just breaks it. Then two fellow englishmen turn up heading east, they ask how we are but are reluctant to head over and join the roadside workshop. Eventually one of them comes over, they don’t have a chainwhip but have another lockring. So we try again, 6 guys at this point with wrenches, lockrings & rags everywhere, nobody can get the thing off. “Somebodies bloody swung on that thing is what they’ve done” said the other guy still stood across on his bike in a cornish accent.

I end up buying two fiber fix spokes from Tom, essentially a piece of string that hooks round and screws in to add tension and stability to the wheel. The English guys look on sheepishly and tell me I should head back to Eads and try fix it. Eads population, 12. Where am I going to take it, the invisible bike shop? I didn’t respond in this way but they are very different riders from us. They ride in matching monogram jerseys, they don’t have a single story to tell becuase they are too busy concentraing completing each map panel and all they did was moan about the wind in Wyoming. They would go back to Eads, not me, I need to get to the bike shop in Pueblo tomorrow so will push on towards Haswell tonight.

I’m not sure how much of it was pshycological, but having what felt like a full set of spokes on the back wheel gave me confidence and we made it to Haswell. Ordway was the original destination but this is what we were dealt, a basic city park without an open store in sight. We setup tent and ate the last few scraps of tuna and bread we were carrying, breakfast could be had in the morning when the store opens. Its 90 more miles to Pueblo, I think I can make it. I figure its a reasonable size city with most of the traffic from now on heading that way so if something does go wrong I will just have to stick my bike in somebodies pick-up and hitch in. To end the night I spot a jagged outline on the horizon, I tell the others. It was out first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains and it got us all ready for some exciting dreams in bed.

77.91 miles (Total: 2105.44) Avg Speed: 11.4mph Max Speed: 19.5mph

Now happy with his new front tyre, Joe is horrified to find his other tyre is now showing signs of bulge. Its a stronger walled tyre however and doesn’t look terrible so should last him to Pueblo. We leave our shoes outside the motel rooms because they smell rancid. Joe’s sorry start to the morning worsens when he finds one of his shoes is missing. A local guy tells him a dog that wanders round the motel probably took it. Cycling shoes are not cheap and he is not a happy chappy. We walk through some streets aimlessly to try find it without luck. He will have to ride in his sandals on his spd pedals, not ideal.

After eventually setting off we make steady progress through the endless wheat fields that have started to make the ride taxing mentally. Kansas is an endless stretch of crops and farmland, it can become a boring slog so I’ve started to rock more tuneage to provide a soundtrack to the scenery.

At a gas stop we come across Jerry, an old hippie riding from California to Illinois. Some kids in the last town snapped and broke his gears and cables. The guy was stuck in his lowest gear, didn’t seem like he had much money and was many many miles away from a bike shop. This is finally our chance to repay the cycling gods for the help we have had.

Me an Joe assess the situation, we can’t simply fix the gear by replacing his cable. The only option is to remove his front deraillier which will allow him to manually put his chain on to whatever crank he wants. This essentially gives him 3 options for gears. He tries it out and its a big improvement, he will be fine on his middle chainring right through Kansas. I give him my bike multi-tool, I can use Joe’s till we get to the next cycle store. He replies “Serious! Far-out man.”

We continue on knowing Terry is waiting for us in the next town from which we will push on to Sheridan Lake in Colorado. Just as we feel pleased about being able to help somebody else my rear wheel goes “Piiing!”. Another broke spoke, not again. Its rear driveside again, which means I need a wrench, lock-ring, and chain-whip. I considered picking these up when I broke my last one, but there is a reason nobody carries the tools, they are expensive, big and heavy. Added to that the fact the cassette which is the part that needs removing actually tightens slightly on every crank, so to remove one from a touring bike that has covered thousands of miles is tough by the roadside even with those tools.

The wheel remains fairly true and we make it to meet Terry without further problems. He tells us on arrival that he has had two flats today and is now out of spare tubes and riding on a patched one. Its as if our bikes no they are within 2 days of a full service in Pueblo, we will be limping or hitching our way at this rate.

We have another 30 miles to Sheridan Lake and I press on cautiously whilst Joe goes over the physics again of missing one spoke. We make it 15 miles without further issues and see the Colorado state sign, its a huge moment. Colorado signifies the start of the West for me and apart from passing through Denver airport I have never been. We are all excited about the states to come after hauling through the east and mid-west.

Right then it happened, “Ping!”. Another, two spokes down put a hole in Joe’s theories. I feared they may begin to drop like flies. Out of options, all I can do is ride the bike. The 15 miles to Sheridan Lake is like walking on wafer thin ice, to make matters worse, the roads in eastern Colorado have cracks every few feet which you can’t help but hit. I’m taking it very slowly and eventually we crawl into town just at sunset to find the pastor and his wife who invite us into the church to sleep for the night. They advise us to sleep in the nursery area as it has double padded floors and offer us full use of the kitchen and food.

I find a method online to replace spokes without removing the cassette, it involves bending an S-shape into the end of the spoke after cutting the head off. It seems good, in the morning I will take one of my spares over to the auto repair shop and see what they can do. For some reason despite our individual problems everybody is happy and laughing. Joe openly admits he wanted to encounter problems, it would be too easy otherwise!

55.55 miles (Total: 2027.53) Avg Speed: 11.2mph Max Speed: 18.3mph

I could barely contain my excitement this morning in anticipation of the England Germany game. What I then witnessed was a humiliating display with a defence reminiscent of Newcastle’s during our relegation season that left me empty and sore inside. Lampard, Barry, Johnson and Upson should be ashamed at how FAT and SLOW they were! World Cup over lets get back to whats important, the ride.

Joe was tense, his tyre was a great concern we can only see how far it gets him. The early riding he continued to live with the constant thud from the patch that shocked his shoulders on each revolution. Starting late after the game and riding slowly meant we were in for a long day. Terry had dropped by the motel early but pressed on as usual to beat the heat. He has worked and lived out in the desert of Australia but seems to struggle with it more than we do.

We stopped regularly to check how it was holding up, bad news. The patch didn’t look to bad but other areas had worn through and scratched the tube causing it to leak. Joe put a new tube in using his dollar bill trick between tube and tyre to provide extra insurance. Just as I’m offering to setup up Joe Meyer Needs A Tyre Dot Com a white pick up pulls up alongside asking if were ok. Joe sheepishly replies he needs a new tyre. The guys name was Rod and they exchange numbers before he drove away saying he might be able to help. Potential saviour, “Options” as Joe likes to say.

We stop for lunch in Dighton, another Frigid Cream lunch. Again the diet may seem disgusting to you, but when your riding all day your pretty much hungry the second you get back on the bike. Joe gets a call from Rod confirming tyre size and he again makes no promises but its sounding good, he will call back again soon.

As we approach Scott City Joe gets another call, its Rod. “I’ve got you a tyre, meet me at the Lazy R Motel. Joe has a smile as wide as Kansas and he suddenly ignores the thump he has lived with all day and we power into town. Rod is stood outside waiting, he gives Joe a tyre from his bike that he drove to Denver to pick up in his car. Its the exact same tyre Joe has too, incredible.

Terry has us a room booked across the street and Rod comes over to join us. Terry had tried to buy beer but when he presented it at the counter was told you weren’t allowed to buy alcohol on a sunday! Rod had another trick up his sleeve, he slipped out and returned in seconds with a crate of Corona. Turns out Rod is from South Carolina and is just up here helping out with the wheat harvest. He’s a keen biker who is hoping to ride his bike back home once he has finished.

We all went out to dinner and Rod covered the bill insisting his boss had been paying for his all week. He claims we have inspired him to do the ride which he was still unsure of. We all hope he does.

63.97 miles (Total: 1971.98) Avg Speed: 12.8mph Max Speed: 32mph

Neither of us were in any hurry this morning and after raiding the motel breakfast we went back to the room and watched some World Cup before finally leaving around 11am and going to Wendy’s for a second breakfast. Its incredible how much junk I’m able to eat on this trip yet still lose weight.

The riding has been flat in Kansas so far but today it went to another level, you could practically see the curvature of the earth on the horizon the roads were that flat. We have managed to coincide our crossing of Kansas with the wheat harvest which means there are lots of combines being transported from field to field, they take up the entire road. We got to an oddly named town called Rush Center for lunch and stopped in a bar for a few hours to let the heat ease up.

After Rush Center things got interesting in the afternoon like they always seem to. Joe asked me if I could see anything wrong with his back tyre. “Yeh, its pulsating!” I tell him. So we pull over at a rest stop to see it has a huge bulge, the tyre is past its use by date. He had been planning on getting them replace in Pueblo but it had buckled too soon and thread was starting to come out. He applied some strong gorilla duct tape to the area and we rolled on into the evening. Only a few more miles later we stopped at a service station to check it. The tape had worn through already, so he decided to switch the tyre to the front so it had less weight and reapplied an extra dose of tape to get us to Ness City.

As we were about to leave a chubby young hispanic guy comes out to talk. He works there changed truck and tractor tyres and offers us some help. He takes an industrial tractor tube patch, lathers a rubber cement on the bike tyre then slaps his patch over the top. The thing looks indestructible, Joe would just have to live with the bobble he got from the front everytime his tyre went round.

We hobble our way into Ness City and grab a shake and burger before booking in at the Derrick Inn Motel (Derelict Inn more like). Whilst were sat in the room Joe’s bike also manages to fall over and bends a tooth on his top front crank, he will just have to use his other gears until Pueblo which seems like a lifetime away at 260 miles.

109.55 miles (Total: 1908.01) Avg Speed: 11.9mph Max Speed: 22mph

Joe woke to a flat this morning which required attention before we could hit the road, Terry had up an left before we woke. Another Gas station breakfast was not cool but options were limited. We hit the road hard knowing it was going to be a long day. We were planning on reaching Larned which includes a stretch of 60 miles with no services.

First pit stop was in a town called Buhler, a friendly local heard me talk and came over to say ‘Gooday mate!’ before realising that was Australian and then responded ‘Cheerio!’, strange. The heat was insane again so we decided to take 2 hour stop in Nickerson for lunch to save ourselves from the hottest part of the day. Terry came just as we were about to leave and wasn’t up for the 60 miles afternoon stretch without services so decided to stay at Nickerson an catch up with the mileage tomorrow.

It was difficult to stay focussed knowing the supplies we had needed to last us until Larned, and looking at my cyclometer the miles were crawling up. My water was going down quickly as my throat kept drying out. Very early in the riding it became clear we would have to ration what we had. It started to become uncomfortable when I was down to my last half bottle of, by this time boiling hot, water. We pulled over to the side of the road when we saw a pipe pumping out ice cold water. The sign read ‘Nonpotable’ Joe rang his mum to confirm this meant non drinkable. He does have a water purifier which we were about to bust out when a guy pulls up with his young son and offers us a keg of iced water to fill up our bottles. Its happened again, just when I need it most the only car all afternoon comes out of nowhere to save us.

Now well stocked we feel great and slowly but surely I grind my way to the first 100 of the trip, it was a great moment the best thing was I felt I could go on forever. We continue another 9 miles until reaching Larned and treat ourselves to a motel room, We haven’t showered properly for a few days. We order pizza to the room and I watch some more World Cup highlights. Looking at the progress we have now made in Kansas was great, we are destroying this map.

76.20 miles (Total: 1798.46) Avg Speed: 14mph Max Speed: 26.5mph

We had breakfast at the Prairie Grass, the place we ate at last night. Joe has become addicted to the terms that I use in sentences and has started adopting them for himself mainly profanities and and the few bits of rhyming slang that I use such as “Dog & Bone” – phone. He has developed an obsession with British terms and accents, one of his favourite films is Snatch, which he loves to quote.

The early riding was nice and cool and we coasted along the flat landscape with barely a car passing. We came across an eastbounder called Brett, who told us about food poisoning he had gotten in Pueblo that held him up for 4 days and gave us some tips on the next few map panels. We then encountered another local rider, Don Foster from Wichita. He circled back on himself and road with us for a while. He turned out to be a pretty amazing guy who had cycled all over America including many parts of the TransAm. He couldn’t stress enough how amazing Wyoming and Montana were, all of which I have to come. The sad part to this story however was Don had parkinsons disease and is getting as much riding in now while he still can. We joined him for lunch at Cassody’s for the pizza buffet. As I stood by the counter with my drink and plate ready I got talking to the woman next to me who seemed really pleased I had decided to do what I was doing, she then told me to put my money away and paid for my lunch! Amazing, Joe was chatting with Don an missed out.

The riding for the afternoon continued to be perfect, with only crosswind which from what I have now read and heard seems to be common. After talking with Don and riding for sometime in Kansas now I feel riding westbound compared to eastbound is greater in almost every aspect. Initially it was only the winds that concerned me, but its only the weather systems that come from the west and they are at 30,000ft. The winds in Kansas actually come from the south all summer. Going west we actually creep north to Colorado so will benefit from a slight tailwind at times and prior to Kansas we haven’t experienced any wind whatsoever as the roads are closed in between trees. Added to that we have all the best scenery still to come whereas Eastbounders have Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia which are very pleasant but plain and samey. Plus we gain an hour each timezone where they lose an hour and finally it has always felt like the most natural course for me to take as the land was originally settled east-to-west by the frontiers. I would be interested in an Eastbounders response to this.

Once we arrived in Newton we made our way to the city park for another free nights camping. Its was the nicest park yet. Me an Joe dashed to the pool to catch it before closing time and bathed for about half an hour. We went into town for a Chinese buffet for supper. When we got back to setup our tents Joe busted one of his poles so now only has the front half of his tent elevated but managed to see the bright side of things, as he says life = good.

64.55 miles (Total: 1722.26) Avg Speed: 12.3mph Max Speed: 28.5mph

The England game worked our perfectly for me this morning, because kick off was 9am which meant I could watch it then ride. After qualifying with the US me an Joe hit the road all smiles. It was flat again but the odd hill kept cropping up much to my annoyance, this is Kansas I demand flat roads.

After making it to the small town of Toronto we found the only place in town with any food. A small store with a table and chairs, the only problem is they have no AC and its probably warmer inside than out. We look in the fridge with our throats closing up from thirst, its practically empty. The guy explains his truck is broke so he hasn’t been able to restock and the soda fountain is broke due to lightening damage! So we are left with a big bottle of fresh orange which we both down in seconds, everything else in the store was near boiling point. He actually makes us some really good sandwiches but due to the heat and thirst we can’t manage much and get them wrapped up to go. After laughing at our predicament Joe asks me with a straight face if I want a hot coffee and I began to cry with laughter.

We rode only 5 miles up the road to find Terry at a really nice Cafe, but we didn’t care, our lunch in Toronto would be memorable at least. We took another short break from the heat then headed out towards Eureka. We were chased by a storm cloud the whole way and at one stage we could even see a wall of rain crashing down the road just ahead but we were only blasted for a minute until we eventually reached town and found Terry in the city park.

There were no showers but they did have a pool which was closed. We all stank and had no clean clothes for tomorrow, we had to take a dip in that pool! It was bordered either side by two small baseball fields with games going on, we figured when it gets quiet we could hop the fence and take a dip.

Joe went first, then me and Terry. Each sneaking over then slithering into the pool briefly before hopping out. Me and Joe went into town for food at a bar whilst Terry cooked himself food on his stove. When we returned Terry was sat with a wry smile. He explained right after we left the local sheriff pulled up, a young 5ft nothing cop packing a gun, baton, tazer and the usual rubbish these power trip cops have. He interrogated Terry for about an hour about hopping the fence after a local in the empty park had somehow spotted us. He threatened Terry with jail for the night and lectured him over and over. We all went right round the back of the pool and were only in for around 10 seconds each.

Drama over we decided to all sleep out tonight as there were no bugs and it was so humid. A lightening storm way off in the distance lit up the skies which I watched for around an hour until going to bed.

98.85 miles (Total: 1657.71) Avg Speed: 13.4mph Max Speed: 25.5mph

Terry left early as usual whilst me an Joe made our way over for a Gas Station breakfast, not exactly a meal of champions but very necessary. We cruised out of Golden City towards Kansas holding some of our best average speeds so far. It still wasn’t flat though, but very gently rolling.

Pretty soon we hit the state line, Kansas. Slap bang in the middle of America, Joe would be approaching his halfway stage soon as his route goes directly west across Utah and Nevada, whereas the Transamerica trail which me and Terry are riding goes North from Colorado towards Montana before finishing on the coast in Oregon.

We reached Pittsburg, Kansas and proceeded to look for one of the bike shops listed, I got stopped at a red light and then flew right past the shop Joe was stood outside because its covered by a huge tree. After a few minutes riding I realised Joe couldn’t be that far ahead so turned around and found him about a mile back from where I had came. I picked up and extra tube then we headed for lunch. For some reason we decided to eat at Sonic which is a drive in place, so we denied ourselves the air conditioning of a sit down joint. After eating too much too quickly like I always do we rumbled and burped our way out of town.

Things started to really flatten out after this point, but the directions got confusing. The map told us to take several turns on ‘unsigned roads’, if its unsigned how do we know which road to take! We double checked with some guys in a pick-up and we were on route.

70 miles into the ride we reached the small town of Walnut. Terry had earmarked this as a potential campspot but me an Joe had wanted to push on to Chanute as I needed a motel room to watch the Slovenia game in the morning. After sitting in a convenience store for a while Terry turned up and we discussed the options. Terry had been to the campsite and found no water or restrooms and was then greeted by some extremely racist locals so he decided to push on with us too.

There was a detour in place for the ride into Chanute, added to the extra mileage I did earlier in the day and this would be close to my first 100 mile day. It wasn’t to be as I reached the Safari Inn Motel at 98.85 miles. I considered riding to the store to bring up the hundred but pizza and world cup highlights soon ended that. In Kansas its only a matter of time until I hit over 100, we plan on flying through this long flat state.

68.17 miles (Total: 1558.86) Avg Speed: 11.9mph Max Speed: 37mph

I took my time this morning knowing I was getting picked up around 9:15. Joe and Terry packed up and headed off towards Golden City. The Sunshine Bike Shop car pulls up and Alex gets out to introduce himself. We stick my bike and bags in the van and head to Springfield. Once at the bike shop I introduce myself to Kay who I spoke with last night. The shop was great, far better than the Carbondale bike shops, I wish I could have had my full service here. Kay tells me to look around the store for supplies so I pick up a few Cliff bars and energy shots. Once Alex has fixed my bike I ready my wallet to pay when he tells me its all free!

Out of all the generosity I have received so far this one is overwhelming. Alex returns me to Fair Grove to continue the trail and I thank him again for his work. Time to get the show on the road, I head up to the gas station to grab even more supplies and eventually get going around midday. This was to be the last day in Missouri and the end of the Ozarks, I had almost 70 miles still to do so hit the road.

I cruised up and over the last few rollers, on every climb the sun managed to dip behind a cloud for me it was all going to plan. I stopped only briefly at each services to refuel so I was making great time. I passed through a town called Everton which amused me, no sign of any scousers though. Towards the end of the ride I got stuck behind a mower cutting the sides of the road which had a van behind it to warn drivers. It was going around 12 mph so I would have to race to get by it. After waiting a while I got the opportune moment on a downhill and flew by it, only problem was the huge uphill afterwards. I had gotten a head start but the mower began gaining on me as I reached the crest but then left him in my dust on the next downhill.

The Ozarks hung on right to the last minute before the roads eventually began to flatten out, a sign of the riding to come through Kansas. I cruised into Golden City and made my way to the park where I hope to find Terry and Joe. I met Terry outside the gas station, then we found Joe at the park. After taking a shower we watched a softball game and ate some food. The humidity was incredible, I laid in my tent dripping with sweat and had to get out and wait an hour or so before trying to sleep again. Tomorrow is state number 5, I can’t wait.

69.97 miles (Total: 1490.69) Avg Speed: 11.7mph Max Speed: 39mph

For once the temperature cooled off last night and my tent didn’t suffer too badly from condensation as it has done. We were out of options for breakfast so rolled to McDonalds for a cheap one.

The elevations profiles on the maps showed we would continue to ride through the rolling Ozarks so it was back to the same rhythm of the past few days. Starting early in the morning means you can get around 40 miles in before the heat really picks up, so we managed to make it to a family cafe for lunch around this point. There was a sign outside saying welcome bikers, we soon realised it was motorbikers judging by the personnel.

After lunch we got riding again and I began to here a strange sound coming from my bike, it was a random clunking sound that seemed to go off regardless of me pedalling or not. It got worse so we pulled over to take a look. I spotted a broken spoke in my rear wheel on the driveside a.k.a I can’t fix those. We got to a Wal Mart and reassessed the situation, there was about 15 miles left to Fair Grove and the broke spoke hadn’t unsettled my wheel to much, it was still running pretty straight. Terry offered to switched his front panniers with my heavy rear ones to lighten my load which I was grateful for.

These are touring wheels, one broke spoke isn’t the end of the world right? There was a bike shop 20 miles off route in Springfield tomorrow I could try get too. I nervously pushed on, standing on my pedals as much as possible to distribute my weight across the bike. We made it to Fair Grove without incident and pulled up under the park pavilion where we can camp for free, they also have toilets and showers.

Once settled in I reassessed my options when some local cyclists pulled up. They were friends with a bike shop in Springfield and gave them a call to try and help out. Amazingly the owner Kay offered to send somebody across in the morning to pick me up, fix the spoke, then return me to Fair Grove. One second I’m sat considering riding 2 hours off route for this then yet again I’m saved by more generous people, when is my luck going to run out?

We sat and ate Subway when some eastbounders pulled in, 3 young guys from West Virginia. We swapped advice on the days ahead before hitting the hay, I’m being picked up at 9:15 in the morning. Terry and Joe will ride on to Golden City whilst I will catch up with them later in the day, at least thats the plan.