Lucky Thirteen. I woke ready to start my day. Now on central time waking up at 9am seemed much easier. I felt good having slept and eaten well. I left again riding into the wind. I tried to get back on route but missed a turn somewhere. This actually benefited me as I stumbled upon a Wal-Mart in Rensselaer. I bought more water and some zip ties.
I ripped apart the wobbly front left rack on my bike. I again attempted fixing it. But the more I tried, the more the eyelet stripped. I devised a plan to fix this problem. I removed the screw completely. I placed a spacer between the bike and the rack. I attempted the thread a zip tie through. It was too fat so i whittled it down to a thin enough width. I threaded it through and tightened it up. I tightened the top. It worked! It is actually tighter to the bike and seemingly sturdier than it ever had been before. I have come to believe that duct tape doesn't fix everything, but zip ties and super glue might.
I was feeling quite proud of myself as i set off. I'd hit Illinois today for sure.
The rain started a few minutes later. I was quickly soaked. But it stopped as soon as it had finished covering me with water. However, it left me with more strong winds to fight. Still in high spirits I continued onward. I breaked for lunch and watched the clouds. The farmers waved as they drove by.
Refreshed and ready I saddled up. Fwomp. Fwomp. Fwomp. I love flats. I pulled off the back tire. It was leaking from where i had patched it previously. I pulled off the old patch, scraped it down and replaced the patch. Super glue was needed again. It seemed to hold. I pumped it up and saddled up. Fwomp. Fwomp. Dammit. I pulled the wheel off again. I could find a leak this time. It seemed secure. It must just be a slow leak. I pumped it up to as high pressure as I could make it. A few miles down the road it was soft again. I pumped it up again.
This flat created a huge dilemma. Rensselaer was 15 miles behind me. The next place, Wal-Mart (ugh!), I could get a new innertube was almost 30 miles ahead of me and 10 miles off route. I opted to move forward besides the sun falling towards the horizon. I hit the Illinois border about an hour and a half from sunset and 20+ miles from Watseka. It would be a race against the sun to make it to walmart. I pedaled harder than I have the rest of the trip so far. Luckily, the route I'd made had rolling hills and lots of curves making me actually feel like I was getting some place. It took me just over an hour and 20 minutes. I beat the sun. It was setting as I pulled into walmart. The sky was red with envy over my accomplishment. It was really gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice. I found the inner tubes. I also purchased a new hydration bladder as the mouth piece from my hydration pack seemed to have disappeared. I left and found the cheapest motel in town.
The motel was a bit of
a time warp. But it sufficed. Besides, I really needed a good shower.
Sent from my HTC PURE™, a Windows® phone from AT&T
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