Today’s Date: July 2, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Chanute, Kansas

Today’s End Point: Pittsburg, Kansas

Today’s Miles: 57.15 Miles

Cumulative Miles: 2,727.94 Miles

The heat advisory from yesterday was still in effect when I woke up and would continue until 6:00 pm. The winds were already strong at about 15 mph and promised to increase as the day went on. None of this deterred me since I knew that I was riding towards a rest day.

I left before 6:00 am into the strong headwind coming out of the south. The good thing about today’s route is that I was not going in the same direction very long, so the headwind sections would be broken up by crosswind sections. This is better than what I experienced throughout much of Kansas where I got on one road going east and just kept pedaling.

Like yesterday the sun was behind the clouds until about 9:00 am, and after that it was blazing away, turning the roadway into a furnace. The wind helped to such an extent I did not mind the headwind.

At a certain point, I was on small country roads with little traffic. As I passed a farmhouse in the midst of daydreaming, two dogs leapt out from the yard barking and giving chase. They reminded me of one of my own dogs, Vivian, each with some cattle dog in them. I would like to say that all of my visualizations of how I would handle this situation, ie in strong tone tell them to go home, use an airhorn to scare them, squirt water at them, came to the fore and I stopped them in their tracks. Well, no. I pedaled like crazy with each dog on each side of me keeping pace while screaming frantically “go away, go away”. After about a few hundred feet, they gave up the chase because they either got tired of chasing or were so convulsed with laughter while watching my defenses they became winded. After I got my heart rate down, I proceeded on to my destination.

I arrived in Pittsburg at about noon and the heat and humidity was bad. Pittsburg is a relatively large city, with a population of 20,000 people and the home of Pittsburg State University, with a student population of 7,000 students.

The first thing I saw when I entered the city limits was a Dairy Queen, so I just had to stop. With a belly full of blizzard, I proceeded to find a bike shop that my route book had identified.

Over the past few days, the drivetrain on my bike was noisy, and I was wondering if it was my chain. I knew that there was a bikeshop in Pittsburg that was on the way to my hotel. The guys in the shop were great they took a look at my bike. As I suspected, the chain was stretched and needed replacement. This would be my second chain replacement on the trip, but it makes sense since I have put nearly 3,000 miles on the bike and my getup would not be considered lightweight. They also cleaned the drivetrain and checked over the tires and brakes.

The guys told me the way they handle a dog is that most of the riders around town carried a gun. They wouldn’t shoot the dog, but would fire the gun into the air. Considering my first encounter, I can imagine myself with a self-inflicted wound.

After an hour or so, my bike was fixed and ready to go. I left the shop and went to my hotel. The hotel is on the edge of Pittsburg State University and is relatively new. The building is owned by the University and managed by La Quinta. It is the perfect place to lay low for the next two nights, with an actual mall right next door (oh the modern amenities).

Unless something amazing happens tomorrow (like me getting out of bed), I will probably not post anything until the Fourth of July.