Day 3 April 29th

 

It would be impossible to come up with two days of riding so polar opposite in so many different ways. I got up this morning still hungover from the challenges that yesterday brought. Being so whipped last night I deferred the needed bike maintenance until today. I readjusted the temperamental front brake & then discovered 2 missing attachment bolts from the rear pack rack. This allowed the rear fender which the fender was attached to fall on & rub the rear tire. Not good. With no spare bolts onboard I resorted to robbing the bolts from one of my bottle cages to teace them. While performing these repairs a woman approached and introduced herself as a biker from LA area who was with a group doing a regional ride. The one rider had suffered a broken shifter cable & they were in dire need of a pair of wire cutters. Of course I did. I have everything, including a whole bunch of stuff a “real biker” would laugh at. I ended up going over to there room & helped with their repair and exchanged stories of the day before. I suspected that my encounter with the decent of the “glass elevator ” the night before was a result of my poor planning & novice biking skills. Turns out not. Their decent came about 1/2 hour after mine. The one ended up with the shivers just like me & found bike control almost impossible. The other walked her bike down the final segment! Yeah it was bad. We finished the repairs & said our goodbyes & I launched @ 9:30am