After leaving the trailer behind everything seemed to move
faster. Without the drag from the trailer I seemed
to have a bit more energy in my leg(s).
I expected to closer the gap between me and San Antonio by half, but
after two hours of riding I had already passed twenty of the thirty miles I had
hoped to cover. I was beginning to think I might make it to San Antonio and I
still wasn’t 100% sure where I would stay.
If I had only covered twenty miles I really had no place to
stay. I was seriously considering ghost
camping at a park, country church, or find some brush near the railroad tracks.
But I had moved so far that San Antonio was in reach.
As I turned out of Martinez, Texas toward China Grove
(whoa-oa) I started hearing this thump, thump.
I developed a large blister. The
inner tube sprung a leak, but was sealed up against the inside of the
tire. The tire held the air in but soon
popped. The tube actually sealed itself
a bit and I was able to gingerly ride another mile to get lunch at US 87 and
then another mile to Walmart. I
purchased a new tire. And was still able
to ride another half mile to the Days Inn at Loop 410 and US 87.
After a long ride I jumped into the pool just as the
rainstorm rolled in. I watched the fat
rain drops plopped into the pool. I wasn’t
fast enough to get a good picture of it.
By the time I got back into my room to fix the flat, the tire had lost
all its air pressure. I’m very thankful
that the mechanical and maintenance failures have not left me out in situations
where I was completely helpless.
Many times I have felt close to calamity when concerned
about bike maintenance or shortage of energy to keep riding. But I find if the worst case scenario happens
you can just get off the bike and walk. And
for me if the REALLY worst case scenarios were to happen (like a blow out on my
hydraulic knee) then I would just have to depend on the goodness of strangers
to help me out.
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