Date: August 26, 2005
Route: St. Genevieve, MO to Cape Girardeau, MO
Distance: 68
Ride Time: 5h
Elevation Climbed: 4380’
Weather: high humidity, high of 97 degrees, heat index of 110 degrees, oh, my
Log
Missouri really let us have it today! I am bloody but unbowed. I’d say it’s a draw and I’m more than satisfied with that outcome. It worries me that I’m sounding like a sportscaster but I do feel that the last 5 days have been a title match … Renner vs Missouri.
At 6:30am when we walked over to breakfast, the temperature was 74 degrees with 96% humidity. Our departure was delayed until about 7:30am for safety reasons … we were invisible in the fog. We were all antsy to be on the road, milling about and twiddling our thumbs. Daco perched on the stairs in hopes of catching a glimpse of blue sky. We finally left in a murky haze.
The first 10 miles were the familiar Missouri hills, though I could not see the crests for the fog. The next 13 were as flat as Kansas, which, as those of us who have cycled there know, is flatter than a pancake. What a strange and surprisingly boring stretch of road. I was zipping along at 17mph actually wondering when I would get some hill-relief! At mile 16.5 we reached the half waypoint to New Orleans (see above).
Then the hills returned with a vengeance. One after the other followed by more and more. The temperature kept climbing along with the terrain. The route took us past heritage farms, dairies, corn and soy fields and a wonderful field of sunflowers. They disappeared over the horizon with their faces all turned to the east.
At mile 60 I stopped at the only café in the last 35 miles. I sat with Jill and John and gulped a large diet coke. Jill gave me the best present of the day. I was mentally prepared (physically was another matter) to do 25 more miles of hot hills and she corrected me … there were only 15 miles left! I felt so great that I relaxed and had a long conversation with the owner of the restaurant and her husband. She told me that she loved this high humidity and said, “Honey, by the time you get through Mississippi and down to New Orleans, you’re either going to love it, too, or be dead.”
