Proud to be a biker (RB day4)

OK, I’ll admit it…. I’m having fun today…. 58 miles with a tailwind, but I did climb 1,500 feet in 4 miles at the end of the day…. an hour and a half in the lowest (of the 27) gears I have.  Grind baby, grind!  And I feel great, biking is wonderful.

However, things didn’t start too well…. I had a flat rear tire just 10 miles from Clifton Park.  This happens when you ride your bike on the shoulder, where all kinds of wiers stuff lurks.  Lots of broken bungee cords, and pieces of steel belted radials!  (I blame the latter)  Fortunately, I was carrying two spare tubes.  I installed the new tube, but didn’t correctly seat the tire’s bead…. pumped er’ up, the tire parted from the rim, and the tube exploded.  Here’s a shot of the parts of a tube you’re NEVER supposed to see!

So, then I used the “other” spare tube I had, but, although it had no patches in it, it also had a hole!  I patched it and now all is well.

Anyway, after that long climb, I’m back in the same place as last year… the Whitcomb Summit Motel (and Tavern)  The views are incredible from up here…. you feel like you’re king of the world (or at least on top of it!)  Here’s a shot of the road outside the door.

It is kind of an isolated place, but this year the restaurant (and bar) are open.  The  choice was Spaghetti… but that is the perfect diet for a biker! (and it was good spaghetti)

There is even a band “Missguided”… their set list includes, “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo” , “Chevy Van” and “Horse with no name”…. there a couple of guys of a “certain age”…. and are very courageous to play those songs!  Plus they even let me sing “Dixie Chicken” with them!

I decided to have the spaghetti with a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie…. and a little Campari for an apertif, served by bartender Margo.

I may try to kick it up a notch and shave a day off my Cape Cod total, which will mean doing 85 miles two days in a row.  It all depends on the weather (which is supposed to be bad)

By the way, I didn’t feel the earthquake.