Linda and I participated in Biking Across Kansas in 2011 after Linda had done a portion of it in 2010. Amazingly, I didn’t blog about our 2011 trip, but I guarantee our Facebook timeline is full of posts during our 2011 trip. The next 2 summers found us doing biking trips with some close friends, but our heart was aching for BAK.

The route is announced every year on Kansas Day (January 29) and the 800-person roster is filled pretty quick within a couple weeks. The route is usually a west-to-east route that goes straight across the state, around 500 or so miles. This is completed over 8 days of riding. The route this year (40th anniversary) started in the southwest corner and advanced diagonally up to the northeast corner – going through Manhattan. In fact, that particular day started in Salina and went through Fort Riley and Manhattan before ending in Wamego. Linda and I felt that this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, even if we didn’t have the time to do the whole thing.

We spent the day riding with a very good friend, Stephanie; she’s doing the whole route across the state. We left Salina at 06:30am and went through Abilene, Chapman, Junction City, Fort Riley, Manhattan, Zeandale, Waubansee, and then finally into Wamego.

We rode around Manhattan for a while, taking pictures on campus, in front of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and at St Isidore’s (where we were married). What a wonderful day.

The big news is that we completed our first Century Ride. We were sore, tired, and very hungry. We ate a wonderful pasta dinner provided by the high school wrestling team and then made our way back to Salina to pick up the other car. We finally got ourselves back home by midnight and enjoyed hot showers/baths and the comfort of our fluffy bed and soft pillows.

Here’s to all of the others that spent the night in the gym or in a tent – and still have 3 more days of riding. Sure made me think about doing it again next year.