Then, since I was pretty grouchy, I got careless with Sam and didn't shift carefully to my small chain ring. Well, Sam doesn't like it when I get impatient with him and in retaliation,he jammed the chain, locking up my pedals. Luckiy, I didn't fall but now I had to fix the chain, making me even grouchier. At this point, the f bomb was mey primary adjective as I struggled with the chain, getting myself covered in chain grease. I finally got the chain released by unscrewing a plate under the front dérailleur.
I stood Sam up and wheeled him a bit to check the chain which was now fine. What I didn't notice was that my iPod headphones had fallen into the front wheel spokes and as I rolled the bike, one of the earbuds got ripped off. Seriously? Here I was, fighting a headwind without having music to help take my mind off of how much the day sucked. So, I spent the rest of the day pedaling against sustained 15-20 mph winds listening to it roaring in my ears. I have to admit, I was near tears several times as I fought my way up steep hils in the damn wind.
Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I hit a long section of fresh chipseal which was ridiculously rough riding. It really beat me up and my butt got really sore for the first time in over 1000 miles. Uphill in a screaming headwind on rough chipseal. I kept wondering, 'Why am I doing this?'
Things definitely turned around when I finally crawled into Rancheria where I had a great burger for dinner. The owner, Dennis, who remembered me from last year, gave me a room with a bed and a hot shower for $20 which is what I had paid the previous night for a pretty lousy campsite. I met Rob, a motorcyclist from Seattle who was so kind, he gave me his earphones to replace my torn up ones. One of the best parts of bike touring is meeting people who often go out of their way to help me out. Thanks Dennis and Rob! You really made my day!
-- Post From My iPhone
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