Today started out nice. 5 medium climbs and 6000 feet of decent.
On the first decent I was cruising along at about 30 when my rear rack fell off. Yeah, it just fell off. It didn't fall all the way off though...it was still hanging on and dragging on the ground. I got stopped and looked for my multi tool. I then remembered I had lent it to Jason earlier (i thought) So I jammed the rack back on and put the bags over my top tube and coasted down to the bottom of the hill. This was dangerous...don't try this at home kids.
When I got down I looked through all of my gear again and lo and behold, the very last thing in my bags was my tool. So, I start to try to fix the rack but the tool I have is just not the right one. As I was working on it another biker on the same path as me comes up.
Here is what the conversation sounded like: "Oy, troubles mate?" He was British. I asked if he had a socket. "Whats a socket? I said, um, you know, a socket. I could not think of a better way to describe it. After looking at what I was working on he said he had a "dumbbell". What the hell am I going to do with a dumbbell? Turns out a dumbbell is a nifty little tool which looks like a dumbbell but has socket holes all over it. It worked out great! Man's name is Keven and he saved my day.
Another snipit from our convo: He asked, "Fancy a biscuit?" In my head I was thinking that I don't know what you are getting at buddy but I like girls. But in British, biscuit means cookie. He said he got them from Target. He was pretty excited about the deal he got on his biscuits too. I attempted to joke with him and told him we call that store "Tar Jay" because it is French owned. I don't know if that is true or not, but he got very serious and said "I have never saw a Target in France.
We rode together for awhile more and he is an interesting cat. He rode from England to China once. He lives in Switzerland and works 5 months of the year saving up for the rest and just rides his bike all over the world.
After awhile we got separated. He liked to talk and used all kinds of fancy British words. It was fun listening to him even though many times I had no idea what he was talking about.
After that it was a most enjoyable ride for 20 or thirty miles. We rode right next to the Mexican American border for awhile. Jason got a flat somewhere around here. Then we rode down I 80 for about 25 miles. And when I say down, I mean DOWN. This is where we dropped about 6000 feet in 25 miles. I loved it although I really had to brake a lot . My bike wanted to go faster, but 35 is about as much as I dare to go on a fully loaded bike. Speaking of which, before we got going we stopped at the post office and I mailed 5 lbs of stuff home. Doesn't sound like much but it all adds up.
From here nothing really exciting happened. It just kind of overall sucked, besides the fact that I was riding a bike. My bike computer stopped working, my flashlight fell off, the road was the worst rode in the nation....perhaps. My body hurt everywhere...my butt mostly though. My legs are exhausted. I am concerned about my left knee and my left Achilles tendon. Both hurt a lot. I think I will be alright though.
We ended up in El Centro--about 15 miles shy of what we were shooting for. We planned to camp but a motel owner say us and offered us a good deal for a room. As we were beat, we took him up on his offer.
We walked to the food store and stalked up. A lot of tuna and nuts and easy to eat things. I also made peanut butter and honey tortillas. I made 8 of them and put them in sandwich baggies. They are great for on the road. They are just like the expensive supplements from a bike store. Very high energy and compact.
I will clean this up in a couple of days........the internet is slow and I am exhausted. It is actually the end of the fourth day and we are near Hope AZ. Tempe in 2 days!
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