Special Feature: Sunrise Scenery & Wild Winds

By: Kate Pearce

Wow! I’ve gotten so good at biking! This is amazing. We’re flying. Cruising through the beautiful open land, sun shining, biking-generated breeze blowing. It’s amazing doing 20 miles in an hour. 

Then it all makes sense. We had a tailwind! It’s hard to recognize sometimes until we realize we’ve been going so fast without working so hard. Whenever a tailwind kicks in (which has been pretty rare), I catch myself truly appreciating the scenery. Sometimes I’ll ride with no hands to just sit up straight and feel free. Today, Delia and I were coasting down a hill in the morning sunrise, riding with no hands, pointing out excitedly at the beautiful landscape surrounding us. 

Our new wake up time of 5am has allowed us to be out on the road for sunrise, and it’s been beautiful. Plus, the weather is cooler and it’s very tranquil. The first 20 miles of today’s ride were wonderful. Open plains with grasses flowing in the wind, a hazy horizon made orange by the glowing, rising sun. I’m not sure if the haziness is from my scratched and foggy sunglasses or the morning sun, but it’s pretty nonetheless. 

I wish I had pictures to show you of these lovely mornings, but I tend to be too busy cruising along to take any. Imagine wide open plains in all directions, lit by a rosy sun. No one is on the road besides us, leaving it feeling so free and peaceful. 

I was struck by the beauty this morning, and so I wrote a blog post while riding. Well, I voice recorded it. It came in really handy when writing this up later. Just kidding. It sounded something like this...

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

Suffice it to say that going 25 mph is not conducive to audio recording, but it certainly is helpful for cycling enjoyment. 

Tailwinds make me feel like I’ve suddenly gotten so much fitter, faster, and freer. 

Headwinds on the other hand are demoralizing. Why am I going so slowly? 14mph does not match with how much effort I’m putting in. Grinding away on flats, not going above 15mph is frustrating. Wind in the face, wind shoving my bicycle to the side, wind everywhere except behind me. In moments like this I sometimes get frustrated with biking. I try to remind myself that it’s not about speed but about enjoying the ride. But man, headwinds are annoying. I guess on the bright side the forced slowing lets me soak in more podcasts. 

Speaking of, I finished Serial and Caliphate earlier this week and started and finished another podcast series today! I like learning things and hearing interesting stories as we take in new landscapes. 

In terms of scenery, I’m continually amazed by how beautiful Kansas has been. For no apparent reason, I’d imagined Kansas to be flat reddish brown dusty dirt in all directions with tumbleweeds rolling about. I’ve always been a big mountain person, so flat farmy land didn’t sound appealing. The potential for adventure and the grand scale of mountains like the Rockies are what draw me in there. It’s been exciting (and somewhat surprising) to find some of that in Kansas. While there are no mountains, the scale is still incredibly impressive. Being surrounded by beautiful open space in all directions is pretty awe-inspiring. Turns out Kansas is kinda cool!