Sunday, April 29, 2012

Ride Day 38

I stayed at the Colorado River Landing RV Park last night and it was very nice. They had a pool, good showers and a lounge room. The best part though is it was quiet for sleeping. I got a good night of rest and was ready to go this morning. I left as usual around 7AM. The ride was rolling hills with lots of twists and turns. Not much excitement along the road. The temp was in the 90s and the humidity was maxed out. I was sweating heavily as I rode. It was getting in my eyes and dripping off of me. I can take it but it doesn't make it comfortable. My bike gave me trouble again though. I had another flat and this time I had no spare tube. I tried to take off the tire but my hands were so slippery from all the sweating that it was almost impossible to get the tire off. I struggled but finally got it off. I found a leak and patched it. After another struggle I got the wheel back on the bike and pumped it up. More correct would be tried to pump it up. It was still leaking. I got a bit pissed off about how stupid I was to not test the tube before I put it back on. I needed to rest before I tackled the job for the second time. I struggled even more this time but got the job done after way too much time and effort. It held air but the whole affair stole my desire to ride for the day. I pushed on anyway and made it to my destination finally. My hands are cramping on me from struggling with the tires. I was not a happy biker today. The best part of the ride for me was when I ran into a biker coming from the East Coast. He told me he had ridden 1060 miles so far. I thought I had more like 1400 miles to go but he had his odometer going so he is most likely right about the mileage. That was like riding 250 miles today for me. I could make the coast in about two weeks if that is all the miles I need to ride, and it flattens out from here on. While riding along a quiet two lane country road today a cop came up behind me and told me over his very loud loudspeaker, "This is a warning. Bikes must ride right of the white line so move over." I moved over and he cruised by with his truck right at the far right edge of the lane just to show me that the lane was his. What an asshole. He also does not know his law. I included a pic above of the "shoulder" he told me I had to ride on. I was pissed off at him and had a hard time not turning around and just giving him the finger as I moved to the center of the lane. I decided to just let him go away instead but I was burning for a couple of hours after this. Bikes get no respect from some people. More later...

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