Bicycle Trip

My tire was flat again when I woke up today. Looking more carefully, the stem of my tube seemed to have gotten cut from riding crooked through the wheel the other day. I replaced it and reinflated it with the campground's air compressor. That puncture proof tube served me well, but now that I'm out of thorn territory, I might not miss it's extra weight anyway. By 8:30 I had said goodbye to my friends from the night before and hit the road.

It was a cold morning and it took me a few minutes to get out of bed. When I finally did, I tore down my camp quickly. I pushed my bike through the gravel driveway and hopped on at the paved road. But when I started riding I felt a bump. Looking down I saw that my rear tire was flat. I was surprised because it felt fine last night. Few people were up at the campground, and the owners weren't around so I decided to just reinflate it with my hand pump.

Wow, what a crazy day. Just about nothing today went according to plan.

I woke up feeling pretty discouraged for several reasons. It was cold. I was itchy from all the mosquito bites. The wind was fast and east. My bike had started making a concerning squeaking sound the previous day. And worst of all, my formerly broken arm had started hurting and was a little swollen.

Today started out pretty typically. I had a homemade breakfast of eggs and fried potatoes, said goodbye to my hosts, spent an embarrassingly long time looking for a missing glove, and hit the road around 8:30.

The skies were darker than I expected from the forecast and the wind was right in my face. I could tell it would be a hard day quickly because I couldn't get my speed much over 20 km/h and with about 160 km to ride that isn't what you hope for.

After a subway breakfast I went to district bicycles in Stillwater to get my spoke fixed. This is unquestionably the best bike shop I've ever been to. The fixed my spoke quickly, were super friendly, and even gave me a granola bar on the way out. I got back on the road around 11:00.

It was hard to get out of bed this morning. I finally managed to get everything together and leave the hotel room by 9:00. I made a quick trip to Subway where I ate half a sub for breakfast and saved the other half for later.

The morning in Higgins was the best of the trip so far. I tore down my camp and headed to the donut shop for breakfast. Some of the familiar faces from last night were there again including, of course, Kay, the owner who had let me camp on her yard and use her shower. I ordered a breakfast burrito and chatted with the gang for a while and then changed into my cycling clothes preparing to leave. Finally I asked to fill my bottles and went to pay for my breakfast, and Kay wouldn't let me. She told me to come back sometime and I could buy a meal then.

Today was a nice enjoyable ride. I left the RV park in Amarillo after having a complimentary donut around 8:30. It was a short haul to highway 60 and a nice ride for the rest of the day.

My first stop was Pampa where I filled my bottles and chatted with some motorcyclists for a while. Then I passed through Miami before things got hilly. It wasn't long climbs and descents like before, but a consistent up and down as I cruised through what looked like little mesas here in northern Texas.

I'll have to apologize in advance that I don't have many pictures today. Because yesterday was so long today became very short.

Whew, what a long day. I rode 223 km today and managed to hold an average speed of 29.8 km/h. But let's start from the beginning.