It was a strange start to the day.
As soon as I left the motel there was a wind in my face, which worried me because I wanted to put in a long day. Wind like this had previously done my head in. Fortunately it wasn't as bad as the same strength winds in Nevada or Kansas. Here there are trees and building galore which provide some shelter and break it up so it wasn't too soul destroying.
The next issue of the morning was my wheel.
I had bought a new tyre yesterday because the old one had worn worryingly thin. I thought I should replace it before I ride the fast descents that are ahead of me.
The bike shop swapped it all for me but this morning my bike didn't feel right. In the end I checked the front tyre and the shop hadn't tightened it at all. The front wheel was just sitting loose which could have ended in disaster. Luckily I spotted it and an accident was averted!
Just after this I (again) learned the important lesson not to ride with your mouth open.
A big juicy fly that has probably been bathing on a giant turd smacked into my tonsil and was never seen again, despite many wholehearted efforts to free it.
The last test on this difficult morning was the discovery of my least favourite patrons In the whole of America.
They were terrible.
It was a husband and wife team. Both extremely rude and unhappy but happy to show it.
The husband had a habit of shouting something at you then mumbling his discontent to himself.
When I ask him to repeat himself I'm 100% certain he did not repeat exactly what he was muttering.
I decided to order something cheap and quick so I could leave without delay but they obviously didn't like my order. I heard him mumbling 'bagel and cream cheese and tap water fggagrbe blah blah. I said what?
They ignored my request for a glass of water and told me to go and get a bottle from the fridge myself. It is the norm in the USA to give you endless glasses of ice cold water. Rarely do people expect you to buy bottled so I wasn't asking too much.
I explained I just wanted tap which they continued to ignore and mutter about.
The tipping point was when he mimicked the English accent and said 'tap water'
Really strange behaviour from someone running a business.
Very often people repeat what I say and laugh and joke. Its usually because they like the accent and I take it as a compliment. When this bloke repeated what I said he was being a twat.
I said that's it, cancel my order, I'm going elsewhere.
On my way out we had a brief discussion about who should stick it up their ass. I'm not sure what 'it' was but it was clear we weren't going to agree anyway.
I think this is an example of a pitfall of riding the adventure cycling routes. This couple (I presume had) had previous with other cyclists at some point.
It's unfortunate that their brains can't distinguish between different people on different bikes.
If I had a restaurant or any business here I would be extremely pleased to be on this bike route.
So I rode onwards. I was actually a bit worried because I'd already gone 40 miles and the next town was another 10. I would normally eat after 20-30 miles max. I was fine though and didn't get the food 'shakes'.
I really want to ride back to back 100 mile days on this trip. I know I'm capable of it and previously (Back in Kansas) did 2 X 96 mile says in a row. I managed 102 miles today and thought I would go for another tomorrow. The terrain has now gotten very hilly though and it's just going to get harder tomorrow. I was riding for 11 hours 27 minutes today, including 2 brief stops for food. I also climbed 5,600ft in total and some of the hills have been getting really steep.
I'm going to try for it tomorrow but its not going to be easy.
Other than things getting hillier and steeper I've been going through allot of dense forrest. There are lots of cabins hidden between the trees. I can't really remember the film Misery but this is the kind of setting I imagined it to be filmed in. if there weren't so many tourists about I might be getting paranoid.
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