Day 23 - North Platte, NE to Kearney, NE

Weather
Temperature: 82°F
Conditions: Clear
Wind: W 7 mph

Ride Info
Altimeter Trip: 280 ft
Altimeter Odometer: 52,790 ft
Maximum Speed: 31.5 mph
Average Speed: 22.3 mph
Distance Trip: 99.7 miles
Distance Odometer: 1,713.4 miles
Elapsed Time: 4 hr 17 min 33 sec

Finally some clear skies and nice weather greeted us today. It was a great day on the bike. The terrain between North Platte and Kearney is as flat as a pancake (only 280 ft elevation gain over the course of 100 miles), and we had a fair breeze at our backs. It was me, Chip, Jim, and the tandem again taking turns at the head of the paceline. There were a bunch of little towns along the way, each spaced about 10 miles apart. Every town has its big grain silo at the railroad station which provides a visual goal to ride towards. Fortunately, all of us were having a great day on the bike and were averaging some pretty high speeds. The high speed and good conversation made up for the lack of scenery. Nebraska seemed to take a long time to cross, similar to Montana. Made a stop in Odessa for lunch and then it was only a short ride further to our final destination of Kearney. If I remember correctly, we stayed in churches for the most part during our trek across Nebraska. I was really starting to look forward to moving on to a new state (Iowa) but was worried that it would be more of the same boring farmland.