Day 18 – Wednesday 11th May 2011 – Cameron MO – Kirksville MO

Despite Patrick’s best efforts with a wakeup call, the hotel again failed. After the previous language difficulties and given luggage load was at 7am, he asked for a call at 6am. He is still waiting. This is at least the third hotel that has failed in this regard. Not a good average.

Breakfast at 6am was at the hotel and was very basic but included chocolate donuts. They did not last long with a number of Homer Simpson’s in the group.

The sky was heavily overcast with thunder storms predicted as we loaded the luggage and left the hotel just prior to 7am. With random rain drops increasing to intermittent rain as we progressed along the road, lightening strikes were soon observed all around us. There was no thunder with these. The air temperature was 23°C when we left and started to increase.

After about 12 miles, we were pulled off the road by the ABB staff into a truck stop as thunder storms were crossing our path.

After about 30 minutes, the weather radar showed clear air so we set of again as rain started to fall consistently. However, just as we did, a large lightening flash lit up the sky as thunder sounded. Soon after, the rain stopped but a strong wind hit us from the side. Luckily, this soon dropped off and the weather began to improve.

Riding on, the country side rolled up and down much like yesterday. The rolling is comparable to the gulleys on Kereru Road but rather than only being three of them, they are relentless on parts of the route.

The first sag was at 38 miles in Chillicothe and was held in sunshine. Checking my tyres, I dug further glass out of my back tyre while Patrick pulled wires and glass from his. Luckily none of the tubes punctured.

With little wind, we continued rolling up and down on Highways K, KK, BB and B before reaching lunch at 70 miles in the small town of Linneus. By this time, the threat of rain had virtually disappeared and the temperature had hit 30°C.

Due to two bridges being out, we had to detour from the printed route. While checking the map, some horses came running up to see us and help navigate. Luckily they did not decide to race us!

With the temperature remaining in the low 30s, water was again in demand so every time we saw the support van, we re-filled our bottles. We saw the van again at the 15 mile to go mark just as I had started on my Camelbak water having exhausted my two bottles yet again. Immediately after this stop, we hit a hill whose gradient matched that of the Burma Road. The legs were not too impressed! From there, it was a comfortable ride to the hotel.

After 6hrs 56m on the bike, we reached the hotel at 3:21pm after riding 196.1km at an average speed of 28.3km/h. The recorded amount of vertical climbing was 5,793ft (1,766m) with more promised for tomorrow.

With route rap tomorrow morning after breakfast, we walked about 1.5km down the highway to Coltons Steakhouse & Grill for dinner. They served raw peanuts as snack food and had good food and whiskey bread pudding for dessert. The waitress was a little confused, especially as Patrick tried to walk off with the bill! Returning to the hotel, the thunderstorms had returned and we were rained and hailed on briefly as we walked quickly back.

Numbers for the day:

Departure time: 6:54am
Distance: 121.9 miles (196.1km)
Riding time: 6hrs 56m
Average speed: 17.6mph (28.3km/h)
Maximum speed: 34.1 mph (54.9km/h)
Vertical climbing: 5,793ft (1,766m)
Temperature range: 23-30-27-32°C
Arrival time: 3:21pm
Weekly (Monday – Sunday mileage) to date: 356 miles (573km)
Total kilometres ridden to date / approximate kilometres to go: 3,136km / 2,426km
Rolling last seven days total kilometres ridden including today: 1,233km