Day 36 - Teamwork makes the dream work

Last time we blogged we spoke about crossing Missouri. And now, only 6 days later we answer from Pittsburg, Kansas! Days really went by quickly and we progressed well. Last sunday we met Finley, a retired school teacher from Arkansas, and Benjamin, an art student from Leipzig. We met them at Al's place in Farmington, MO, a real paradise for cyclists. It is almost like a hotel, but only for TransAm cyclists. The next morning Finley and Benjamin started earlier than we did, but after one hour of riding we catched up with them. We stayed together the whole day and talked a lot. We decided to stay together the next days because we really enjoyed the company of these two guys. When you ride in a group you are able to do more miles than expected, and thanks to the group ride we did 95 KM (59 miles) plus this week. Finley left us and went south to Arkansas yesterday. We hope he can enjoy all the comforts of being home again. It was a pleasure to meet you! :)

The weather last week was very contrary. One day we had three thunderstorms and lots of rain, and the other day we had 30 degrees celcius (86 degrees farenheit) and it was very humid. But in total we were very lucky with the weather because we only cycled on the edges of the huge thunderstorms...

As we entered Missouri on sunday we thought the worst mountainous part is over now. But then all of a sudden we had to cross the Ozarks. We had no idea that there are "mountains" between the appalachian and the rocky mountains. So once again we had to deal with steep climbs and downhill parts. But the further we went, the better it got. It is getting better and better (flatter and flatter) and the hills nearly dissapeared so we could increase speed. Yesterday for example, we had a nice sidewind from south and it only took us about two and a half hours to do our last 50KM (33 miles) of the day. It was a good preparation for Kansas by the way, because we had to cycle one single road. This is going to be normal in Kansas...

We met some cyclist going east and they all talked about heay headwinds in Kansas. So we might be lucky and have tailwinds on some days. Kansas here we come!

Hints for cyclists:
- Al's place in Farmington, MO (probably the best accomondation on the entire TransAm route!)
- Barham house, Ash Grove, MO (ask local police officer)
- Cooky's Cafe, Golden City, MO (Delicious burgers and pies!)

Total mileage so far: 2643Km (1642 miles)

Follow Finley on 》http://www.yakfishonabike.com/blog
Follow Benjamin on 》https://cyclingusa.wordpress.com