Wilbur almost to Plummer
It got interesting. Here's the Strava ride; note that it ends in WA before Plummer. That's because that's where I flagged a ride from Nate, the pickup-driving farmer. More on that in a minute.
Morning went great. Rode from Wilbur into Creston, where I had breakfast at the Corner Cafe; as good as advertised. Also the waitress had gotten engaged that morning, so all the locals were all aflutter (as was she, obviously). Then back on the bike, which was going great; issues from yesterday seemed solved by the tightened front hub.
Lunch in Medical Lake, which was a terrible sandwich. By the time I was back on the bike, it had started to drizzle a little bit. Oh well; riding bikes in the rain is a thing, right?
Well, here's the thing. Google Maps isn't great about road surfaces. So, about 20 miles outside Medical Lake, the road I was on abruptly became a 2-mile stretch of farm road. Now, ordinarily, I don't think this would have been such a big deal? But this is, you know... Prime alfalfa country. Which means that "farm road" equates to "hard pack with between 0 and 1 inches of really soft dirt on top of it, and you can't see the difference just by looking." So, that was TERRIBLE and took about 25 minutes, 40% walking.
Ok, back on the bike. Except that, once again, I seemed to be speed limited to about 24mph before the front hub started acting up again; either the stresses from the sliding/steering weren't so great, or some dust got into the hub, or both? Whatever. At this point, I was 25 miles from the motel, and figured I could limp there.
Shortly after this, it started raining in earnest, and meh. Whatever. Rain is rain, right?
Well, turns out the road to Plummer is gravel. Well graded, totally fine, right?
Yes, until it also turns into farm road. And that 0-1" of soft dirt? Yeah, that became 0-1" of super-sticky mud.
Road tires, road bike, road clearance; wheels basically stopped. I half-rode, half walked, struggled along for a bit; basically did the "I'm making 30 minute miles and have 13 to go; I'll be in Plummer at midnight, probably have enough food for that" math. Then, mercifully, the farm road ended and turned back into gravel (after about 3 miles), and I got the bike cleaned up enough to ride it (couldn't even come close to clipping in, with the level of crap in my cleats). That's when I discovered my hub issue started kicking in at ~15mph, and that's when I found Nate, who took me the last 12 miles to Plummer.
From here, not sure what happens. The two options are basically: Ride 16 miles tomorrow morning to a bike shop, which MIGHT be able to sell me a new wheel (or rebuild mine), but given the bike shop and its location, that's honestly not a given? Or, bike adventure over, find a bus to Cour d'Alene, send the bike home, and rent a car => Bozeman. Packing mud into my cleats has potentially destroyed the shoes, also, and the level of dirty in my clothes defies description; I have nothing warm I can reasonably wear tomorrow, and it's supposed to be 48 degrees here in the morning.
Honestly, I'm too cracked to choose right now. I'll decide in the morning, based on what I get out of pulling the front wheel apart and squirting a bunch of lube into it.
Morning went great. Rode from Wilbur into Creston, where I had breakfast at the Corner Cafe; as good as advertised. Also the waitress had gotten engaged that morning, so all the locals were all aflutter (as was she, obviously). Then back on the bike, which was going great; issues from yesterday seemed solved by the tightened front hub.
Lunch in Medical Lake, which was a terrible sandwich. By the time I was back on the bike, it had started to drizzle a little bit. Oh well; riding bikes in the rain is a thing, right?
Well, here's the thing. Google Maps isn't great about road surfaces. So, about 20 miles outside Medical Lake, the road I was on abruptly became a 2-mile stretch of farm road. Now, ordinarily, I don't think this would have been such a big deal? But this is, you know... Prime alfalfa country. Which means that "farm road" equates to "hard pack with between 0 and 1 inches of really soft dirt on top of it, and you can't see the difference just by looking." So, that was TERRIBLE and took about 25 minutes, 40% walking.
Ok, back on the bike. Except that, once again, I seemed to be speed limited to about 24mph before the front hub started acting up again; either the stresses from the sliding/steering weren't so great, or some dust got into the hub, or both? Whatever. At this point, I was 25 miles from the motel, and figured I could limp there.
Shortly after this, it started raining in earnest, and meh. Whatever. Rain is rain, right?
Well, turns out the road to Plummer is gravel. Well graded, totally fine, right?
Yes, until it also turns into farm road. And that 0-1" of soft dirt? Yeah, that became 0-1" of super-sticky mud.
Road tires, road bike, road clearance; wheels basically stopped. I half-rode, half walked, struggled along for a bit; basically did the "I'm making 30 minute miles and have 13 to go; I'll be in Plummer at midnight, probably have enough food for that" math. Then, mercifully, the farm road ended and turned back into gravel (after about 3 miles), and I got the bike cleaned up enough to ride it (couldn't even come close to clipping in, with the level of crap in my cleats). That's when I discovered my hub issue started kicking in at ~15mph, and that's when I found Nate, who took me the last 12 miles to Plummer.
From here, not sure what happens. The two options are basically: Ride 16 miles tomorrow morning to a bike shop, which MIGHT be able to sell me a new wheel (or rebuild mine), but given the bike shop and its location, that's honestly not a given? Or, bike adventure over, find a bus to Cour d'Alene, send the bike home, and rent a car => Bozeman. Packing mud into my cleats has potentially destroyed the shoes, also, and the level of dirty in my clothes defies description; I have nothing warm I can reasonably wear tomorrow, and it's supposed to be 48 degrees here in the morning.
Honestly, I'm too cracked to choose right now. I'll decide in the morning, based on what I get out of pulling the front wheel apart and squirting a bunch of lube into it.
Comments
Post a Comment