Rusty’s turn to ride:
The route for the day was only 26 miles but straight
up…Hallelujah!
While Rusty was riding I drove to Placerville to a bike
shop to get a flat repaired. That
morning when checking tires I found a goat head spur in the tire and pulled it
out. That’s when the trouble
started. Good thing I wasn’t riding
today because it would have been a hassle to begin with. Talking with the bike mechanic I decided to
have both tubes replaced with slime tubes.
I had ridden 3,200 miles across the U.S. with slime tubes and narry a
flat but an occasion addition of air. It
was frustrating because I had just had a new tire put on that wheel in Davis. The mechanic said that it was the best
Bon Trager tire and was excellent! BUT
GOAT HEADS are TREACHEROUS!
Let’s talk about goat heads: They are found universally except in the rain
forests (and not in Oregon). The plant
is a friendly little green plant about 18 inches high with cute little yellow flowers that dry
up and become EVIL GOATHEADS! We are
actually familiar with them. They are
all over Arizona and New Mexico. Originally came from Greece. They will be
numerous and obnoxious from now on.
After the bike shop I turned back to meet Rusty along the
road. He had ridden 7 miles and a lot of it was along chip
seal. I think our first real experience
with that road surface on this ride. It
is not a nice surface to ride. It jars
one’s bones and the bolts on the bike.
It was a tough 7 climbing miles
in the heat!
We had quite a bit of day and miles left so I decided to
ride a few. I rode ten sweaty
miles. We have now traded eucalyptus for
Ponderosa pines. Smells like the great outdoors!
We stayed at West Haven Motor Inn at Pollock Pines
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