According to a recent study by a group of bored physicists, the state of Kansas is actually flatter than a pancake. If someone had a griddle large enough to make a pancake the area of the Sunflower State, then it would have more topographical variation. This pointless studying not withstanding, there are a lot of hills between Paola and Lawrence. Beautiful rolling hills past picturesque lakes, green farms, and other bucolic delights, but hills all the same.
Luckily, it was a short day of hills (about fifty miles) and we rolled into Lawrence around lunch time. If Kansas were a pancake, Lawrence would be situated at the top of the irregular lump in the middle: perched atop Mt. Oread—not a mountain, but not small either—it presents a challenge to cyclists and offers a little preview of what it might be like biking the streets of San Francisco. After a delicious lunch provided by my grandparents (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Pinkston!), we headed downtown to our host... Unfortunately, there had a been a little miscommunication with the host and we were a temporarily homeless group of twenty-eight. Luckily, one of our riders is somebody who knows people—or his mother is someone who knows people—we were able to make arrangements to stay at Trinity Episcopal Church. Thanks a lot to Bob Sanner, Judy Davis, and all the other people who made our stay there possible on incredibly short notice. It was unbelievable hospitality and also a perfect location.
Once situated at Trinity, the riders had a chance to explore Lawrence, do a little shopping, score some University of Kansas gear, learn the origin of the school's enigmatic Rock Chalk chant, get some food, and just wander around the campus. Some of us managed to take in a Boston Celtics World Championship at local institution the Wheel before getting to bed early for a hundred mile ride—and plenty more of those poorly publicized Kansas hills—the next morning for Paola.
All in all, despite the complications, it was another wildly successful day on the 4K. Though the trip has been meticulously planned ahead of time, certain adjustments just have to be made on the fly and the group—thanks to a lot of people's help!—responded fantastically. And as one of our leaders reminded us at the end of the day, this need to adapt to surprises and changing conditions is appropriate for a trip that on a very humble level serves as a metaphor for the journey of cancer treatment—an experience that is sadly often full of unexpected challenges and setbacks.
-Tom Koenigs
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