Today sucked. The head wind really howled, from the South South East, right after the descent from Mount Walker. The wind was so strong that at one time a gust moved my parked bike and trailer back inch! The wind not only slowed me down (and deflated my morale) but also adversely affected my control as well.
The day would get worse at around 40 or so miles when my trailer tire went flat - just when the traffic was picking up. I unloaded the trailer and took out the tube but could find neither the puncture nor cause. While I was fixing the flat, I also discovered lines of on both sides of the tire spanning its entire circumference. Since I could not find the cause, I put the tube back and pumped the tire up again, hoping for a miracle. It came, sort of. I managed to ride that tire all the way to camp, checking it every few miles or so. A few miles further on, the headwind also weakend somewhat.
After arriving at camp, I fretted about the tire situation. I wanted to continue on and have Mom express mail the spare tire at home to Raymond, a couple of days down the road. But after further discussion with both Grace and Mom, I decided to stay put and have Mom express mail the tire to Hoodsport, a town about 4 miles north of camp. What changed my mind was Grace's reminder that I had promised to put safety first on this trip, and neither riding on a ed tire nor the possibility of having to hitchhike seemed very safe.
So my bike trip, just 4 days old, takes a hiastus for a couple of days. The trip hasn't been as great as I'd like so far - what with the headwind, road closures, bad tire, and (gasp) even badly adjusted equipment...
Oh well. I can only hope for the best from this point on and take this trip one day at a time.
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