Day 52 July 13th BBQ Surprise

Merriman NE to Chadron NE 76 miles (2,359)

I rode 76 wind aided miles today. When I finally arrived in Chadron I was tired and hungry and pulled into the first motel I saw. Here is the manager, Willie, practicing the art of barbecuing pork ribs:
He gave me a reasonable rate and said for 10 more dollars he would include a dinner of barbecued spare ribs, corn on the cob, and a special cheese dish made by his wife. I gladly agreed. This was the best dinner I've had in quite a while:

After this morning's storms passed and it seemed safe to begin riding, I started out on highway 20. I soon came upon this informational marker;:
as well as this billboard boasting of all the famous people from Gordon Nebraska:

While I was eating breakfast at the diner in Gordon, this cyclist walked in looking for a hearty meal. His name is Donald:
He is from Spokane, Washington. He is riding in a race called Bike Non-Stop US. He showed me a cool app on his phone that showed where all the other racers were. The one in first place is almost done - that is, he is about 1,800 miles ahead of Donald. The racer in last place is in Idaho only a few hundred miles from where the race began in Portland. Donald explainef the wide disparity between first and last place is the result of the heat wave the riders experienced right from the beginning. One rider quit after only 35 miles. Almost all of the riders suffered heat stroke within the first few days. Many were hospitalized for 1 to 3 days. Donald explained that the writer in first place seemed unfazed and rode only at night and found air conditioned hotels for the heat of the day. The riders are completely self supported. Here's a picture of Donald's setup:
As you can see, he has considerably less than I do.

Comments

  1. Angie RJuly 17, 2021 at 3:55 PM

    Just incredible what people on bikes accomplish. We met a Dad and his 12 year old son (who turned 13 on the trip) in Oceano, cycling from Canada to Mexico. They would stay in a hotel 2 nights a week so that Dad could spend one day in Zoom meetings for work, and his son would pick up lunch for them 😃. Fun to see them enjoy this adventure together. They loved Ken’s tri tip!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robert AJuly 17, 2021 at 5:37 PM

    Amazing! Whole lot of respect for folks that are touring just like you are! Mayor street cred! 💪🙂

    ReplyDelete

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