Headwinds. I hate headwinds. All day long, 20-30 MPH. With one break for about 10 miles as I rode along the lee side of the levee, east of Marston, MO. But I made it there from Sikeston at the blazing average speed of 9.3 MPH.
See, Barry? You need not worry about me breaking any speed limits.
It is not any harder to ride into a headwind. I just shift into a lower gear. It is just frustrating to be pedaling and pedaling and pedaling and covering only 6 miles per hour instead of twice that (or occasionally more). But I did get to my hotel in Marston, MO about 10 hours after I left Sikeston having cranked the pedals for a mere 7 hours to go a whopping 65 miles. 😛
The day started swimmingly when I turned left onto the street out of Sikeston to be confronted with a BRIDGE CLOSED USE ALT ROUTE sign. Nice. So I did. Then my Garmin failed to realize that I had reached my route so it let me ride past a turn. But once I got back to the route, the Garmin locked on and all was well for the rest of the day. Well, all was well with the Garmin. My little Cycplus electric tire pump died when I tried to adjust my tire pressure but Amazon will send me a replacement so that hardly counts as a problem.
Mostly it was a day of riding through industrial farms. By that I mean vast open fields on both sides of the road, miles wide, with nary a house in sight. Occasionally there would be a row of trees to hinder the wind but not often enough.
This day promised two things that made me stick to the Mississippi River Trail instead of taking the most direct route from Sikeston to Marston. First, I would ride past Big Oak Tree State Park, which is supposed to be beautiful and unique. Second, it would be the first time that I would actually get to see the Mississippi River on this tour. By the time I got to the entrance to the park, I was so demoralized by the wind that I skipped it and rode on past. I will return another day to see the park. But the river and the road along the levy ended up being well worth the effort.
I will close this post with the photos and let it be.
You can see the rest of the posts about this bicycle tour here: St. Louis to New Orleans
Headwinds are so spiritually demoralizing. Just gotta keep on spinning.
Love the water views.
Hope today is a better day.
Did you get to throw rolls in Sikeston? Adventure + adversity = memorable memories.
Hang in there, Art! Hopefully the good memories will outweigh the headwinds! Either way, this trip is such an accomplishment.