Enid and I went on our first organized ride of the year – a 38-mile ride beginning and ending in Wamego, KS. It took us out to Westmoreland, KS and then back to Wamego by way of Flush, KS. (Appropriately, there was a rest room available to us in Flush.)

The first part of the ride was pretty nice. It was hilly which typically means that I beat Enid on the downhills (I and my bike outweigh her and her bike) and she beats me on the uphills; although this time I was beating her on those as well. We determined that she was probably just in the wrong gears which we corrected. We had our first stop in Westmoreland. There were cookies and apples and grapes and bananas and water and on and on and on. It was a great rest stop. We peeked in on the elementary school gym and it looked just like every small Kansas school’s gym.

We headed out of town, turned south and were immediately in a head wind. It felt like it stopped us. The next 20 miles were all into the wind and they were tough. It reminded me of several days on the BAK years ago and how hard a head wind can be mentally. We pushed through it and made it back to the finish.

We checked back in and then went to the small swap sale that was outside. Enid bought 2 new biking jerseys for $5 each. We then went to eat; Wamego could use some good eating establishments. They have about 4 fast food places and not much else.

The ride was well organized with wonderful rest stops and good support by volunteer HAM radio operators. The state and county police were driving the route to make sure everyone was okay. I hope we can ride the Yellow Brick Road Ride that the same group does in October. All proceeds to go build a bike trail from Wamego to St. George – a route I occasionally biked in high school.