BAK - From the border to Ness City
Depending on how you count it, we’re on day 2 or 3 of Biking Across Kansas. If you, like me, count the Friday early start from the border as day 1, we’re on day three.
But on BAK, time isn’t really measured normally. I stop thinking of each day as a measurement within a week. Instead, I look at the days as our next destination.
Today it is Ness City day. Yesterday was Scott City day. Tomorrow is Hoisington Day.
Today was remarkably cool, especially for this time of year. The wind was somewhere between 8-13 mph from the east, creating a headwind. But as my friend Don Hineman of Dighton said, those wind speeds hardly qualify as a headwind in this part of the state.
Western Kansas is expansive, and I found myself thinking about that today. It sort of reminds a person how big this space can be, and how small we are in it. But then, along the way, I’ll run into people I know - on the ride and in these communities that welcome us - and I realize that the world is quite small sometimes, too.
We stopped in Dighton for lunch, and former Representative and Republican Majority Leader Don Hineman came to the city park to meet me and catch up. When I first came to the legislature, Don was a mentor of sorts. I don’t know if he knew that he was, but I paid attention to how he approached each session and learned a great deal from him. I was grateful for time with him today, and that he was willing to come catch up with me.
We always look for opportunities for fun, too, and anytime we find the good old unsafe playground equipment, we take some time to spend a little time on it.
We also just look for any opportunity to have fun.
I love the random meetings you get to have with people, too. As you’re moving down the road, or stopping somewhere along the way for lunch or to take a photo, it’s not uncommon to run into someone you haven’t seen in a while. The conversation takes off most often like you’ve not been apart long at all.
This year is the 50th anniversary of BAK. Tonight we finished the day with a presentation about the origins of Biking Across Kansas - with participants from the first ride in 1975 and the years after sharing their insights and experiences.
The ride began with a conversation around a campfire, and the first ride had 76 riders - which was many more than the founders expected. This year, we had upwards of 750 riders registered.
Oh, and a lot of them come from Hutchinson.
But it was nice to hear people from people who have a connection to BAK’s origin talking about what made the experience great for them, and what brought them back year after year, or in some cases, back again after years away.
This ride is about people. Getting to know them, sharing an experience with them, and appreciating them and all the variety that comes with them. And it’s about Kansas, and appreciating all the variety this state brings to our world - if we slow our pace to see the beauty of our world and the people in it.
There were funny stories tonight about how the founders - Larry and Norma Christie - used to get onto riders who treated BAK as a race. It was never designed as such, because they wanted people to see this ride as an opportunity to experience something much greater than winning.
They wanted to give them the chance to experience living.
My good friend and college roommate Jeff Horlacher was on some of those very early BAK rides, and has been a bicycling advocate in Colby ever since!