Day 25 - Tuesday, June 5th - Rest Day in Abilene, KS

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We are at Day 25 of the tour so by the calendar we are past the halfway point. We will have to wait until about 89 miles into Wednesday's ride to Topeka to pass the halfway point in mileage. It is actually pretty astonishing to look at this map and think that between here and Boston there are only two more rest days. It seems like we just started, but I have a hard time remembering Manhattan Beach. Once I escape the Tour Bubble and have a bit more time to reflect, I'll be using this blog and the other rider blogs to help recall some of the detail that makes up the texture of this trip.

 The past riding week was the longest of the tour with nine riding days, 686 miles and over 13,000 feet of climbing as we crossed three state lines.  The coming riding week is seven days. We will cover 623 miles with nearly 20,000 feet of elevation as we leave Kansas, go through Missouri and enter Illinois where we will have our fourth rest day in Champaign, IL

 We will reach a few more tour milestones in the next riding week 
  • Passing the halfway point in miles ridden - Wednesday
  • Sixth state line crossing into Missouri - Thursday
  • Completing the equivalent of our second climb of Mt Everest - Friday
  • Seventh state line crossing into Illinois - Sunday
  • Passing the 2000 mile mark - Sunday
Our stops along the way are:
  • Topeka, KS - Wednesday
  • St Joseph, MO - Thursday
  • Chillcothe, MO - Friday
  • Kirksville, MO - Saturday
  • Quincy, IL - Sunday
  • Springfield, IL - Monday
  • Champaign, IL - Tuesday

Sneak Peek at Tomorrow

Tomorrow we go 106 miles to Topeka with about 4600 feet of elevation starting out towards the southeast before we stair-step our way to the northeast.

Topeka is the capital city of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County located on the Kansas River with a population of about 127,000. The name Topeka is a Kansa-Osage sentence that means “place where we dug potatoes” and the founders chose it because it was novel, of Indian origin and pleasant sounding. A Kansa Native American of mixed blood, Joseph James, is credited with suggesting the name of Topeka. The city was laid out in 1854 and was one of the Free-State towns founded by Eastern Anti-Slavery men. The city is well known for the landmark Supreme Court case Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka which declared racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional. Topeka is situated on the Kansas River and got started in the 1840's as a ferry crossing for wagon trains making their way west from Independence, Missouri on the Oregon Trail. 
Location: Abilene, KS 67410, USA

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