Do you recall the movie ‘Groundhog Day’ with Bill Murray? After today’s ride I feel much like Bill Murray’s character, Clark. Today, as the day before, and the day before that, we awoke at 6am, had breakfast at 6:30, delivered our luggage to the van at 7:15, and at 7:30 commenced pedal through vast tracts of fertile farm land. Tomorrow however, the topography begins to change, for we approach the Bitterroot chain of the Rockies.
In cycling through this seemingly endless bread basket, I was struck by the thought that considering that other states, such as California, Wisconsin, Kansas, Tennessee, Florida, along with many others, all have enormous acreage of arable land growing bountiful crops suitable to that locale, or grazing pastures for livestock, hunger should not be a concern for any family in the USA, indeed throughout the world. More learned people than me understand the nuances and challenges with combating chronic hunger, but I suspect it’s more of a distribution challenge than a quantity of goods challenge.
I must say that today was one of the toughest days I can recall on the bike, made so by long exposed climbs with a 15 mph headwind on our chest for 80 miles. I would still call it a fine day, viewing the passing landscape and enjoying the company of likeminded cyclists from across the country. After 103 miles though, we were all exceedingly pleased to be to our quarters for the evening.
Until tomorrow…
Cheers,
JK
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