Friday Aug 7th, 2009.
Rode only 49 miles today. Pretty tired. I have been bucking headwinds on and off ever since I started this trip. Somedays it is over half the day. It seems like the headwinds are 110 mph but I am sure they aren’t. They do make me work a lot harder and slow me down though. I have been told that I will get tail winds after the Continental Divide. I hope so. I could use a good tail wind and it seems like I get headwinds all the time some days.
I rode into Thompson Junction which is the corner of highway 200 and highway 56 heading up to Troy, Montana. I was debating going up the road further but it was about 30 miles or so to another good camping spot and I was not in the mood for more Incognito Camping. I asked how much the RV Park charged and she favors bicycle campers and only charges them $5.00 and that includes a hot shower. I stayed there and took a shower and did my laundry in real laundry machines. It was nice to have a warm shower. Those are pretty rare these days.
My left leg ileo – tibial band is becoming very sore. Sandy at George’s cycles gave me some stretching exercises to help. I’m taking a few Ibuprofens to help. My back hurts all the time. I have a big knot in the top of my right shoulder that is very painful. But it only hurts when I am riding my bike or when I’m not riding my bike so at least it doesn’t hurt other than that.
I have been whining to myself about all my aches and pains but my other personalities have no sympathy for me at all. I have been getting along with myself pretty well though. I hardly get in any arguments with myself and when I do, I am pretty easy to work it out with.
Saturday, Aug. 8th, 2009 -- Rode 89 miles today from the Junction of Hwy 200 and Hwy 56 to Kootenai Falls and on to Libby and then on to Mike and Mo’s (Monet) Kuzmic’s house.
I ate a bagel and peanut butter for breakfast and left at 7:00 am to ride to Libby. Very beautiful country. Saw several deer this morning. Whitetail deer and Mule deer. Saw a big rabbit in the road that got hit just before I got there. It was still in good shape and I was hungry so I almost started a fire to roast it. Juicy roasted road kill for breakfast. I was pretty tempted but I passed. I wanted to get to Libby. I tossed the rabbit onto the side of the road so it would not become pancake rabbit. What a waste of a good rabbit.
I came around a sharp corner and saw a doe and a fawn in the road trying to get over a guard rail on the side of the road. I stopped and saw a car coming pretty fast down the highway. I flagged him down and he slowed down just in time to stop for the deer. They would have gotten nailed otherwise. So there you go. I have already saved a few frogs and a doe and a fawn on this trip. I couldn’t save the rabbit though.
BEWARE OF SATAN’S TEMPTATIONS
As my sweet wife Lori knows, I have a bad habit of picking up valuable treasures I find on the sides of the roads. This trip has been difficult because I have passed by numerous treasures on the road and because I have no room to carry them, I have just passed them by. Many wonderful useful things I just left on the road. Nice gloves, pliers, tow straps, bungee cords, more bungee cords, wrenches, TV controls, rabbits, etc. Lori would be very proud of me for passing all that good stuff by. Anyway, I was going down the road slowly grinding my way up a hill and I saw a Brand New Fishing Lure still in its package on the side of the road. Enough was enough. How do you pass by a Brand New Fishing Lure? So I turned to look back to verify my new treasure and you guessed it. My tire went off the side of the road a few inches and dug immediately into the sand and gravel and BAM. Down I went again. More bruises, broken bones, compound fractures, concussions, and Duct Tape to repair the damage. I sure am sick of wrecking my bike. I did go back and retrieve the Lure. New in the package with the price tag still on. This Lure better catch a fish! I couldn’t pass it up.
So there you go. Satan tempts us all with little treasures and if you give in to Satan’s Temptations he will slap you down and make you wreck your bike. So the Moral of the story is to keep your Eye on your Goal (On the Road) and eventually you will get there. If you get distracted with little temptations you will lose sight of your goals and have a bike wreck. At least I think that is the Moral of the story.
Kootenai Falls was very beautiful. See photos. I ate lunch in Libby and then saw I had a cut in my rear tire and it was flat. There was a small bike shop in Libby so I went there and we patched the tube and put a patch on the tire also.
I purchased a knee brace in Libby and that seems to help my left leg IT Band feel a little better. I rode the last 38 miles down Hwy 2 to get to Mike and Mo Kuzmic’s house. The wind picked up this afternoon and hit me in the face all afternoon. Tough afternoon. I got to the Kuzmic’s house at 8 pm and was glad to get there. I was pretty tired.
Mike and Mo Kuzmic treated me like family. John Kuzmic (My old Crusty Boss at HP) was nice enough to ask his brother Mike to put me up. I got fed a great Elk Steak, got to soak in their big tub, and got a warm shower and a soft bed. It was much appreciated.
Sunday, 10 Aug. Mike was nice enough to drive me 37 miles to go to church. After church we were sitting in the living room and we heard a loud BANG. We thought it was a gunshot or something. I went outside and realized my front tire had blown out while the bike was just sitting there. REAL NICE. So Mike and Mo took me 55 miles into Kalispell to a bike shop on Monday to purchase two new tires. My back tire already had a cut in it so I will keep it and use it for a spare. I am grateful that the tire blew while I was in a place to get some help.
In the end, Mike and Mo Kuzmic were very kind to me and saved my bacon. I am very grateful to them and to John for calling them to arrange a place for me to stay. I lost a day of travel, but I am very glad my problems happened here instead of somewhere else. Mike and Mo will be glad when I am gone but I am very glad they helped me.
AM I A PHYSICAL STUD OF A MAN YET? --- Not Quite Yet!
I have ridden my bike for a little over 800 miles in the last two weeks. Some days I have pushed it pretty hard (for an old man). I looked in the mirror when I got to Libby at the Kuzmic’s house and much to my disappointment, I still do NOT have WASHBOARD ABS. I stepped on the scale and I have lost a total of about 4 pounds. However, I did weigh in at 179 lbs which is the first time I have weighed less than 180 for several years. Much to my dismay I still am wearing “MUFFIN” shorts. For those of you not fully educated, “Muffin” shorts are shorts that you put on and your belly hangs over the top of your shorts and looks very much like a nice “Muffin”. Anyway, I still have Muffin shorts, NO Washboard Abs, and my scrawny legs look about the same as they have for a long time. As I looked into the mirror I realized that I actually had a pretty close physical resemblance to a Tadpole on Stilts. I thought my legs would look like Lew Platts (A professional weight body builder with Huge Legs) by now, but it has just NOT happened. However, I finally lost a couple of pounds and now I know the secret formula. If you ride a bike for approximately 200 miles you can lose “ 1 “ pound of weight. MAYBE. All you have to do is ride 200 miles. NO Big Deal. If you ride 800 miles you might possibly lose 4 pounds. Now that is a good deal. I finally have the magic formula.
Later,
Dan
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