Life On A B-I7

Route

• Rensselaer to Fletcher Lake

Metrics

• Miles: 52
• Average Speed: 9 mph
• Travel Time: 7 hours 30 minutes

Notes

Thought For The Day

• Periodically evaluate your values. Make sure they are in alignment with your purpose in life.

I know people back home that think my sense of humor is as dry as a bone. Out here in Indiana I am a stand-up comic genius. Either that or people are very polite…

This morning I went into a coffee shop and there was a large group of friends all enjoying coffee together. One said, “where’d you come from?” I said, “I came from Washington, I just left yesterday!” That got a good laugh. After I got my coffee and was heading outside, another person asked, “where you headed?” I said, “I’ll be in Maine tomorrow afternoon!” That got another good laugh… The folks back home would say that it was a polite crowd. Of course, I would disagree.

About one o’clock this afternoon I had a serious need for a nap. I got off the bike at a nice shady spot. I got my folding chair out and made myself comfortable. When I woke up 45 minutes later, I didn’t realize my right foot and ankle had fallen asleep. As soon as I stood up I fell over. The first thought that came to mind was OMG, I’ve broken my ankle! Here I am 20 miles from the nearest town. What am I going to do? Within a few seconds feeling started returning to my ankle and I realized it wasn’t broken after all. I was extremely grateful. It turned out to be just a simple matter of waiting a few minutes for everything to be fine, then I was able to get back on the bike.

It seems I need a new front tire. The left side of the tire is worn more than the right side of the tire. This is likely due to all of the crowned road surfaces I’ve been riding. Instead of a new tire, I could fix this by riding on the other side of the road… Just kidding. I know what you’re thinking, just take the tire off turn it 180° and put it back on. I know that makes a lot of sense, but there’s three problems with that. The first one is, I hate changing tires and tubes on the road. The second one is I’d probably pinch the tube and then I would have to spend an hour or two patching it. The third one is I’m lazy and I prefer to have professionals handling that for me. I’ll hit a bicycle shop before too long. I’m pretty sure it’ll hold till then. If it doesn’t, I’ll take door number one and hope I don’t end up taking door number two also.

This is what bicycle touring is all about.

That’s not a ghost stepping out of the corn, just me.

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