Today was a 'rest' day of only 99 miles. Ok, I did ride round the parking lot to get the full hundred...
While I am feeling physically strong at the moment, I had a bit of a mental mind fart on this section of the tour. We skirted round Nampa. You can see all the signs of urban growth. Many new housing developments next to old broken down barns. I couldn't get my camera out int time but I saw a horse in a pasture eating grass next to the sign saying the land was for sale and zoned residential.
Mental stress seems to be debilitating than physical stress. When I got my first flat tire on day 2 (I think) I ripped the sidewall. That evening, I coated it with duct tape and a dollar bill shim so I could get some more miles out of it as it was a brand new $50 tire. Since then, I've been worrying about the stupid thing exploding on me. Tonight, I'm putting on a new tire just to maintain my sanity.
Then, my left pedal started clicking loudly every revolution. It sounded like it might fall apart. Having calculated, that I have at least 750,000 more revs to go this tour, I called for the cavalry and my good friend Stephanie is going to mail me another pair just in case. Thank you so much Steph.
Mentally, today was tough. I could feel myself being a bit cranky and wasn't really in a good mood for a while. The scenery was expansive. You could see sage brush / high desert for miles but, while everybody else thought it was beautiful, it creeped me out as I'm a city boy and the countryside I'm used to is from Scotland and Western Oregon. I rode on my own for a bit and longed to have my ipod to hand.
After a yummy deli sandwich for lunch and a metaphorical self slap to the face, I snapped out of it. We only had 28 miles to go on our 'short' day. We passed Mountain Home AFB and Ann then spent the rest of the ride singing songs from Top Gun. Ugh..
We arrived in town a couple of hours earlier than usual so that gave us time to clean ourselves, bikes and laundry ahead of time. Off to the city park tonight to go see the Summer Concert. I hear it might be the final Spinal Tap reunion tour...
Oh yeah, pictures are here
Oh and, just for John Schader, you'll be glad to know that Rebecca (the daughter of the tour operators) plays accordian. She serenaded us for lunch today.
Bummer about the tyre and pedal...hope the rest of the bike is holding up. Glad to hear the metaphorical slap-in-the-face snapped you out of the doldrums and you're off out on the town for some normality. Have a pint of pale for me.
ReplyDeletep.s. do you need the verification word for comments? it's kind of annoying... ;-)
Loving your blog. I sit and read with a cool drink and watch the Tour de France...it has been a crazy race so far and we are not even in the mountains yet. Safe Travels!!!
ReplyDeleteAnother state already. Can't believe you are covering so much ground so quickly. Enjoy every moment - you will be rolling into Georgia before you know it.
ReplyDeleteKeep the daily updates comming so us armchair travellers can enjoy :)
Hey Doug, Keep it goin and dont let the mental bit get to ya. You made me run/ jog the Marathon in Berlin, so im gonna kick your ass at all times till you do this!!!! And also just to let you know, mums now following your progress on your blog, so if she can manage that then you can do this lol. Accidents will happen, just don't stress about them. If anything breaks it breaks..... as long as you got gaffer tape itll work again!!! I had to cut bits of my backpack out of my rear sprocket on my motorbike (when it got trapped)goin over the Alps so it didn't sieze and throw me off, and i worried a lil bit, but gave up worryin, especially as i hadn't realised it had happened just comin out of Calais!!! Could have been nasty lol.... if it happenes it happens, nowt you can do exceppt improvise... and you'll get there!! Trust me... I could have gaffer taped my motorbike together in greece after writing it off and ridden it home but i actually wasn't fit enough too lol. Anything is possible. Scenery is scenery, as it passes by your nearer your goal.
ReplyDeleteSooooo proud of you bruv!!! And what a story you gonna have to tell when you come back!
Stop streesin and just enjoy!!!!!!!! Thats an order!!!
love ya.
Your lil sis. xx