Bean Farmers Need Love Too!      Day 5, 109 Miles

Did the title catch your attention... Good! 

First the boring part. To start, I really wanted to write something enthusiastic and interesting about today's ride. But with western Missouri and Eastern Illinois looking very much the same, it's tough to come up with something unique. So let me be brief and then I will get to the love of bean farmers..  Today, I rode 108.90 miles. There was a slight mist for the first 10 miles and clouds hung heavy the entire day, but there ultimately was no rain. It was an absolutely perfect day to do my longest ride of the journey. The temperature was in the 70s and there was a nice wind on my back for 40 of the last 50 miles. I rode 90 miles of the 109 by myself and really enjoyed it. I had my first flat tire of the trip and was able to swap out a new tube without much issue at about the 65 mile mark. As written in previous entries, crops, farms, cows as far as the eye could see. Despite the tire blowout, I finished in the top 5 and felt great. Average speed 18.49 MPH, fastest speed 35.50 MPH, done in 5 hrs, 53 mins... shaving a full hour off my best practice run back home! 

One small clip I caught while going under a cool, almost art deco bridge:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1SI4Ek2Sxg

Since I didn't have that much to write, I thought I would share a funny story from my first ride 23 years ago. It was a hot day in July 1991. My bicycle had broken down and I was stuck on a two lane highway in Idaho. Cell phones were too expensive for a kid back then, so I started walking the 15 miles to the nearest town. Keep in mind, my bike was fully loaded with gear and it was in the middle of summer with temperatures above 90 degrees. 

After a couple miles, a farmer in a pickup truck pulled over and offered me a ride to town. I was very grateful and quickly accepted. As we rode along, we passed many bean fields and the 50+ year old farmer let me know that growing and selling beans was the business that he was in. I was young and acted as interested and mature as I could have possibly acted at that time in my life. After a while the conversation waned and surprisingly the well weathered cowboy hat wearing man made a comment about my lycra shorts. In my head, I was thinking... 'Hmmmm.. that's an odd question'. I specifically remember that they were a shiny turquoise like color with yellow Nike lettering. He started asking if they were padded and comfortable and if I sweat much in them. I freely answered his questions, however, even as naive as I was, this seemed to be a strange line of questioning coming from a salt of the earth, slow drawl talking farmer. He shifted gears and also shifted the conversation by openly discussing his former occupation as a massage therapist. I was not yet awkward and probably encouraged the conversation by asking questions. He started to discuss various techniques and how he had gone to school to learn the profession, and further added how he regretted that he got out of the business. I was questioning in my mind how he gone from professional masseuse to bean farmer. As we neared our destination, he began to comment on how tired I must be carrying all of my gear and kindly offered to show me some of his former techniques and work on any sore muscles that I had. And he would do it for no charge! I was indeed very sore and had never had a massage, but the idea of Farmer John working on my leg cramps didn't strike me as something all that appealing. I politely turned down the offer and asked that he drop me at the Holiday Inn hotel that I could see in the distance. As he pulled in and we unloaded my gear, he asked to walk me to my room to help me get situated. I turned him down and quickly ducked into the lobby as I graciously thanked him for the lift. When I knew he was safely away, I picked up my gear and walked a half mile or so to another cheaper hotel down the road. 

The whole event was bizarre to say the least and obviously left a lasting impression. I didn't process it fully until days later, but I think that either the man was really missing his old profession or I had my first and likely only encounter with a gay bean farmer. It must have been tough to be an almost cowboy like character working as a bean farmer and trying to find a date with a man on the down low. I can't imagine that would have gone over very well in Idaho as a farmer, back in the early 90s. If I'm right about his intentions, I hope that he managed to find some company or at least changed his pick up lines... maybe something like, 'Hey Colton, hot in the fields today huh?  Oh, and by the way, you look mighty cute in them jeans.' LOL.

Hope you enjoyed the story. 100% true! Thanks for following. I will go from Springfield, IL to Champaign, IL tomorrow for a ride of about 84 miles. After that, my first rest day! 

A few pictures of the day: