Today started off great! We only had 30 miles to ride until we were at the entrance to Glacier National Park, and the park has rules against bikers being on the road from 11am to 4pm on certain narrow sections of road. So rather than hurry up and wait, I decided to sleep in and take my time getting there. As I enjoyed my oatmeal and a muffin (what a treat!) I decided that I should try and stop at the bike shop in Whitefish to see if I could get some lower gearing for my bike.
The bike shop was open, and they were willing to shift around schedules to get to my bike. They estimated that it would take them 2 hours, though it turned into 3 and a half. Out of the stop, I came out with a new 24 tooth front sprocket to replace my 30, a new rear derailer (mine was bent somehow), and two new spokes. At some point I had broken 2 spokes and hadn't even realized it. What an important catch, because once you start losing spokes, you put more load on the remaining spokes causing more to fail.
Finally after much effort by the bike mechanic I was able to leave town. It was a very pleasant ride along back roads to Columbia falls where I got lunch. While I was there I met an older man riding his bike. He liked the looks of my bike but bragged that his flag was bigger than my flag.
Then it was off to Glacier. Again my route took me along some back roads, avoiding most of the traffic of the main highways. This was fabulous until the road turned into dirt for 2 miles. That section was awful, every vehicle that passed me, left a cloud of dust. I was soon covered, and worse, I couldn't see anything after they passed. I was worried that I'd hit a pothole or get hit by another car.
Finally I made it to Glacier, just 15 minutes after the road opened for bicycles. Then I had a beautiful ride through the park to get to the campground.
Glad your bike repair was so fruitful. And laughed hard at the picture of the flag.
ReplyDeleteYou have been an awesome journaler, we love every word and a post that summarizes two days very fine as in "We had two days of hill climbing, and mountains views". mom
I'll add my comments to Mom's and say we enjoy reading whenever you have time to write & post, but don't beat yourself up over missing a few days here or there; I think it's important that you have fun with your journaling & not have it become a chore; you're working HARD every day just biking the way you are...so that's plenty! Love, Pops
ReplyDeletePS Jesse arrived tonight at PDX for a 2-week visit. He's tall...6'4"...wow!