As the title states, today was a day of firsts: my first time in Kansas, my first time riding in hail, my first time changing a spoke (luckily I bought the tools I need), and my first time breaking One Hundred Miles in one day (107 actually). I also discovered it is illegal to ride on the freeway in Kansas, and this is apparently the only state in the union where this is true, but that Kansas has some pretty good roads and some exceptionally friendly people. I bet about 75% of the cars that passed me going the opposite direction waved at me today, completely unheard of.

I rode a quick 80 miles this morning and reached Burlington, CO by 2:00pm, and it was largely quick because of the growing towers of storm clouds building behind me. I didn't stop to take any pictures, only to fix another broken spoke, and booked it indoors. The final result was only a few drops of rain that I noticed, but there is are thunderstorm and tornado warnings in all the counties surrounding Burlington right now, so I have a little trepidation about making through tornado country Kansas tomorrow.

I jumped off the couch this morning around 6:00am and started prepping for the day's ride. The weather was much nicer than yesterday, with little wind, few clouds, and an early sunrise to kick off the day. After yesterday's fiasco I was ready to get some serious mileage in, and to my pleasant surprise my legs agreed with me. 90 long, empty miles under a blazing sun got me to a campground in Limon, CO.

I spent a great three days lounging around Chris' place in Denver, worked just about five hours at a nice little Starbucks a few blocks from the house, and generally did nothing for the last few days. We enjoyed a Saturday in the Golden Triangle, drifting between bars listening to different bands play all afternoon long.