The following is everything I know about riding bicycles
with Collin Gelderman from Valemount to Blue River on Monday, October 1, 2012.
1) The
distance is 92 kilometers.
2) I
had to give up on my original back tire after it shredded three inner tubes.
3) I
got a newish tire from our lovely WarmShowers hosts in Valemount, which I put
all my hope in when we started the day.
4) As
soon as we started riding the sky started to sprinkle rain almost playfully.
5) By
the time we hit the highway it was more of a drizzle.
6) Within
the first hour my new tire started to slowly deflate.
7) At
the same time, the sky turned the rain into a steady shower.
8) The
slow leak had to be refilled every 15 to 20 km.
9) The
shower turned into a monsoon.
10) The slow leak turned into a quick flop that
needed to be refilled every 2 to 3 km. We were trying to conserve the last
inner tubes we had left.
11) The monsoon got through all my rain gear, so
that I was thoroughly soaked inside and out from head to toe.
12) I finally gave in and took my tire off to
find, and take out the wire I had ridden over which punctured my inner tube.
This was done on the side of the highway while huge, semi trucks ripped past,
spraying us in the face repeatedly.
13) My frustration with the day turned into crazed
delirium. Lots of giggling and cackling.
14) My hope in the new tire was restored after
pulling out the wire pieces and putting in a new tube.
15) My hope was completely dashed as we finally
pulled into Blue River and I had yet another flat tire.
16) We managed to swallow all the pride we had and
got a room at the cheapest motel in town.
17) We need a bike shop, so that I can get new
tires or else this whole thing is a bust.
18)
Tomorrow we are going to stuff our bikes onto a Greyhound bus and cheat our way
to Abbotsford, so that we can get to a bike shop and so that we can have a
proper rest with Collin’s extended family.
19)
I kind of feel like crap.
20) I mostly think today was awful, but I partly
think it was hilarious.
Keep on keepin on man! There's lots of tires and fried chicken and waffles waiting for you in Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find bike boxes! if you end up biking it I may be able to find you places in bc :-) Erin Swan
ReplyDeleteI am heading to Salmon Arm tomorrow, and on to Abbotsford Thursday. Maybe we should keep in contact cause I think I'll be in someone else's bigger vehicle and we may have room or something...
ReplyDelete