Friday April 18, 2008, 78 miles (126 km) - Total so far: 2,272 miles (3,656 km)
Today I picked up 2 new Armidillos, but only because of a chain reaction of annoying events.
Here's how the day went...
Wake up, look outside to see a downpour. By the time I'm ready to roll, the rain has stopped, but I kept the rain gear on since everything was wet and cars would be splashing me all morning.
I started off on a busy and ugly road with a decent shoulder. After 10 or 15 miles the shoulder dissapeared and I got stuck riding a few miles of scary road. The scarriest moment was when an oversize-load pilot car started blaring it's horn at me. I didn't know it was a pilot car till I looked back though, and following that was a mobile home sticking about 6 feet out from the road. As I mentioned, no shoulder! I scrambled off into the grass and waved them on.
I was sick of that road, so I turned to the safety of the interstate. Yes, the interstates are actually really safe, in my opinion. 15 foot shoulders, smooth surfaces, rumble strips keep people those 15 feet away. All the time. It's loud, but I just put in my ear plugs. At about mile 45 I realized my bike pump was missing. At some point during the bumpy ride of the morning it bounced off. That wouldn't normally be a big deal because I also carry a CO2 pump, but I found out that was broken last night when I finally retired my old armidillo tire. I used the blackberry to find a bike shop so I could get a new one, and luckily it was only about 10 miles up the road. Litterly as I was getting off the freeway to go to the bike shop, I ran something over that split open my brand new tire's sidewall. Unrepairable, I was stuck. The first truck that came by picked me up and dropped me off at the bike shop door. Sweet. At the shop, I had the mechanic put on a new 700X25 armidillo on the back and fix a bunch of little annoyances. The slightly wider rear tire should hold up better. I got new pumps and another armidillo as a spare and was back on the road a couple hours later.
Only a few miles down the road, and only 15 from my hotel, the rain finally caught me. Normally I don't mind riding in the rain, but visibility was low it was raining so hard, and more importantly there was a ton of lightning and wind. I hung out under a freeway overpass for 45 minutes and finally got moving again after things cleared up. I never actually got rained on though as it started just as I made it to the overpass. Nice timing!
I also calculated out the next few days and I should be done by Thursday, which will put the whole trip at 29 days! Under my goal by 1 day.
That's it!
Here's how the day went...
Wake up, look outside to see a downpour. By the time I'm ready to roll, the rain has stopped, but I kept the rain gear on since everything was wet and cars would be splashing me all morning.
I started off on a busy and ugly road with a decent shoulder. After 10 or 15 miles the shoulder dissapeared and I got stuck riding a few miles of scary road. The scarriest moment was when an oversize-load pilot car started blaring it's horn at me. I didn't know it was a pilot car till I looked back though, and following that was a mobile home sticking about 6 feet out from the road. As I mentioned, no shoulder! I scrambled off into the grass and waved them on.
I was sick of that road, so I turned to the safety of the interstate. Yes, the interstates are actually really safe, in my opinion. 15 foot shoulders, smooth surfaces, rumble strips keep people those 15 feet away. All the time. It's loud, but I just put in my ear plugs. At about mile 45 I realized my bike pump was missing. At some point during the bumpy ride of the morning it bounced off. That wouldn't normally be a big deal because I also carry a CO2 pump, but I found out that was broken last night when I finally retired my old armidillo tire. I used the blackberry to find a bike shop so I could get a new one, and luckily it was only about 10 miles up the road. Litterly as I was getting off the freeway to go to the bike shop, I ran something over that split open my brand new tire's sidewall. Unrepairable, I was stuck. The first truck that came by picked me up and dropped me off at the bike shop door. Sweet. At the shop, I had the mechanic put on a new 700X25 armidillo on the back and fix a bunch of little annoyances. The slightly wider rear tire should hold up better. I got new pumps and another armidillo as a spare and was back on the road a couple hours later.
Only a few miles down the road, and only 15 from my hotel, the rain finally caught me. Normally I don't mind riding in the rain, but visibility was low it was raining so hard, and more importantly there was a ton of lightning and wind. I hung out under a freeway overpass for 45 minutes and finally got moving again after things cleared up. I never actually got rained on though as it started just as I made it to the overpass. Nice timing!
I also calculated out the next few days and I should be done by Thursday, which will put the whole trip at 29 days! Under my goal by 1 day.
That's it!
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