So the day began with another flat tyre. I pumped it up and it was fit to ride, but not fit to take over the next set of hills. I thought I was stuck for the day. I go into a very nice café, sit in a soft chair, listen to the music and have a coffee and chocolate brownie. Well not exactly. First I enter the café, am asked about my trip, then find myself assisting Zac to change my tyre again. He even goes home to get his proper pump. Then I have the coffee etc, Zac has to go to work at the bar over the road and I go to Bi -Mart on the retail park to buy new inner tubes. I then return to the café (now my home for the day), have lunch, relax.
Later in the day I cycled the 27 miles out to Sumpter to put in some mileage before climbing hills tomorrow. Sumpter is a lovely place to stay. I am camped in the garden of the Stockade. It is an old gold mining town, once home to an opera house, three news papers ,and fifteen saloons. Today the population is 140. There is a restored narrow -gauge railway, with a steam engine. There are the ruins of an old dredging mine. Everything is nicely restored in an authentic way.
A very good day. which just goes to show that you never can tell what will happen!
Hi, Sarah -- I've enjoyed reading the story of your trip from the beginning to your current stay in Sumpter. Sorry to hear of your further puncture(s), but glad yesterday turned out to be a good day nonetheless. When you were in Halfway, I had thought of (but then promptly forgot about) recommending getting the valve holes in your rims drilled out to accommodate the more standard (in America) Schrader valves which would allow "Slime" to be injected into the tubes to help seal up goat head punctures as you ride. Might be worth considering. A couple of fellows from Arizona (Alex and Adam, I believe) who started on the East Coast as well, came through Halfway yesterday and I told them they might catch up to you in a day or two. Seemed like really nice guys, so hope you get to chat and maybe ride a few miles together.
ReplyDelete-- Bill