4K for Cancer 2013: Fairbury to Franklin: Team Portland's second century, from one amazing host to another

Another century for Team Portland! We rode 100 miles and made three turns the entire day. Yay for Nebraska!!

We hit the road early, at 7 am. Luckily, it didn't get very hot throughout the entire day. In fact, when we started the day, Mr. Florida (Maroun) was actually wearing a jacket because he claimed he was chilly. I wouldn't say it was chilly but it certainly was mild for July 3rd in Nebraska.

I want to make note of just how lucky we've been with temperatures on this trip so far... we've seen mostly 80s, and today it was under 85 all day. Last year on this day, the Portland riders attempted this day in a high of 115 degrees. It was unsafe to be outside, let alone bike 100 miles! So, we were very glad to see temperatures that were 30 degrees cooler.

My view for most of the day!

The first 20 miles rolled by smoothly, but shortly after the first water stop, Julie got a flat and it turned out her tire was shredded. That meant she needed a new tire, and the water van had to come get her. We waited about an hour because the water van needed to give water to the faster groups before it could turn around.

Julie waiting to be picked up after her tire got shredded.

Chelsea and Joanna taking a nap while waiting.

Throughout the day, the miles passed slowly. The scenery was nice... but it was the same for 100 miles. It was a lot of cornfields, wheat, and cows. The cows were always huddled together under the sparse shade in their fields and it was pretty funny to see a wide open field and then dozens of cows crowded under a tiny tree.

I thought this was cute because this is how I used to spell Grandpa when I was little!

Oh, another thing.... Nebraska isn't flat.

So basically I'm never believing anyone ever again when they say anything is flat. Cycling is always going to be painful. Always.

We couldn't really talk that much because we needed to be in a single file line on the road, so I did a lot of entertaining myself and just being lost in thought. (I was okay with that until I started to drive myself crazy around mile 90.)

Ok let's be honest I also entertained myself by taking pictures on bales of hay.
Sidenote: A police car passed by while this was happening and we kind of just grinned sheepishly at him. He didn't stop us though.

Chelsea and I posing with the Oregon Trail/Pony Express sign; there was nothing "express" about our day

As per the norm, we did water/food stops at mile 20, 40, and 60.

Mama Meredith yelling at Dave for only eating half his sandwich at lunch.
P.S. That grass was infested with ticks and everyone pulled a few off of themselves after laying in it.

The water van chilling at the lunch stop at mile 60. Mama Meredith was on top of the mileage with these stops, making sure we never went more than 20 miles without water... this stop was at mile 60.00!

The schedule changed slightly after that because a newspaper in Red Cloud, NE wanted to take our picture. Jeff Ferris from Omaha had put them in touch with me and they bribed us with cold waters, so of course we stopped in. Red Cloud was right on our way, at mile 77. Our food van also hooked everyone up with free smoothies at the stop! While in the nice city park, I talked to Jeff's nephew's best friend (I know, confusing) for a while; he and a friend go to University of Nebraska: Lincoln, but are in Red Cloud for 8 weeks this summer doing a project and getting credits for it.

Maroun posing in Red Cloud with a historical sign about Willa Cather (an author of novels about life on the frontier plains)

The town of Red Cloud

Sign on an antiques shop: "This shop is like Nebraska weather... if you don't like what you see, come back tomorrow!"

Another quick water stop at mile 90 and we were in the home stretch.

Mile 90 water stop

For the last 10 miles I was so worn out and bored that I put on music to get me through the last bit of the ride. It worked. We finally pulled into Franklin, Nebraska. It was a small town of a little less than 1000.

Julie and Joanna showing off by riding no-hands into Franklin

The Franklin United Methodist Church spoiled us to no end! They were an amazing host that has hosted the 4K for 12 years. They had a huge dinner already waiting for us as my group pulled in right at 6 pm. Many members of the community joined us for a potluck dinner. I talked to three ladies at dinner that were really nice. Two of the three were farmers, and told me that the dinner was sort of sparsely attended this year because we came right in the middle of the wheat harvest!! The church had showers ready for us and knew just what we wanted to eat. They even had the wifi password ready for us ;)