9/25/2006 - Missoula International Airport, 45.65 miles.

What a hectic, eventful day! The eventfulness started last night actually, after I have written my journal entry. It started out as a gentle breeze, but the breeze became much stronger as the night wore on. Eventually, I had to come out of tent to make sure the tent was properly staked to reduce the noise of the tent fabric flopping in the wind.

Some time around midnight, it began to rain steadily. It would sometimes rain hard, but it didn't seem to ever stop. It continued raining through the early morning, so I was forced to pack up in the rain. Fortunately, the rain tapered off when I began packing up in earnest. It was nevertheless troublesome....

I finally got started riding at around 7:30 a.m. The sky was still gray and ominous, but the rain had essentially stopped when I set off. The ride began in a gentle descent. Before I got to the final climb, it started raining again. Then, a bomb shell, I felt a weird resonance in my bike. When I got off to check, I realized my rear wheel was going flat. The wind picked up. The rain droned on. There was no shelter, and I knew what had to be done. I took a long breath, and went about unloading the trailer, taking the trailer off, flipping the bike over, taking the wheel off, and replacing the tube.

In the process of replacing the tube, I found a big sharp object, which I removed, embedded in my tire. The tube changing was relatively easy, but putting the last section of the lip back of my new tire proved challenging. I broke a tire lever - took a breathe - and after many tries, somehow - gently - put the lip back without, as it turned out, hurting the tube. What an ordeal. It was about 8:30 a.m., and I had not even made that climb out to Lechbrect!

The rest of the ride out was uneventful except for two things. First, I felt dirty. In chaging the tire, I had smudged my rain jacket. Second, I realized that a sharp pain of numbness and tinglishness would shoot through my hand if I don't change my hand positions often.

After getting a hot coco and breakfast burrito at a Sinclair station in Potomac, I rode smoothly into Missoula. Somewhere near Milltown, I saw an angler fishing in the middle of a quiet section of Union Creek River. I waved; he waved. I wanted to take a picture but didn't in fear of disturbing the atomosphere. It was one of the most peaceful moments I felt during the trip.

The ride to the Adventure Cycling office was a little anticlimatic. While the lady who saw me was quite friendly, I felt the place was very professional and quiet. I borrowed a phone to make a call to Avis to make sure a car was ready for me, got a more detailed local map, and quietly ate my celebratory ice cream before proceeding the lsat 5 miles or so to the airport....