Day 4. Didn’t expect a solo day - The Cycling Duo rides again - CycleBlaze

September 21, 2022

Day 4. Didn’t expect a solo day

this morning, I carried the bikes down the stairs to street level after pumping up Kath’s rear tire. It had gone flat overnight. I patched it last night but it may still have a slow leak. I decided we’d head to the coffee shop and start the trail and see how it goes. We get coffee and breakfast and come out; tire is flat. So it’s not holding air. Great. And I mean “great” sarcastically.

Oh, the things you see and people you meet when you’re cycling touring and have breakfast on the street
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Now Hermann has a lot of guest houses (“haus” in German) but they do lack bike shops. The first hardware store I rode to only had 5 tubes, all 26” sizes. Another ride further out of town to the other hardware store, no tubes, no luck. Dollar store? Still no luck. No Walmart, target, anything that would vend a tube. Nada, zilch. So it was going to be a taxi  ride for Kathleen and a solo ride for me.

I suppose a fair question would be why was I in search of a tube in the first place? A Boy Scout should always be prepared. Well, I didn’t make it out of the cub scouts, and I did have several options but they weren’t working for me. The original tube I patched but over the course of pumping the valve had become bent and would not hold air. The replacemnt tube was a fancy Tubolito and super flat-resistant but it would not expand to fill the 700x38 of the tire. I could feel it inside the tire, but the tire other than the inner tube would not inflate. So that’s why I put 5 miles running around town before getting the taxi ride.

In rural Rhineland you’ll find a baseball diamond with a grain elevator directly behind
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For the first 30 miles I was spinning along at 15-16mph. I didn’t think I was going to arrive in Jefferson City first but I definitely thought it might be close. The next 20 the sun blazed in its full glory and I faced a quartering headwind. I soldiered on, alone with my thoughts. I did have a few bright spots running across other cycling groups. I talked with them arriving, with one group asking about the cycling convention, another I asked if this was the “all you can drink” part of the trail, and still another. Apologized I forgot my wristband the the musical entertainment. The last group asked about the entertainment, and I said it was me and broke out in song. I can’t sing but that didn’t stop me from continuing the improv.

I saw sights like this stuff; trees, trail, and a bluff
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Nearly the only building in Tebbets looking lonely is the Katy Trail shelter (hostel) for hikers and bikers only
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The geographic population center of the US, so you see, that at this point in the ride, the country revolves around ME!
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Rolled into Jefferson City around 13:30 and there was Kath in the hotel lobby with a cold Gatorade. She was all checked in and we went for a swim, cleaned up, and then walked into town to sightsee and get something to eat. At 16:00 it was still 96F. At the first museum we went to, the docent recommended the state capital. I thought it was going to see a dome and statues and that would be it. But what a surprise when we saw a whole history museum built into the first floor. Quite interesting. 

Nothing ever looked so pretty as the end of a hot ride in Jefferson City
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Looking up at the dome and what does appear? Four arches, a fresco, and a huge chandelier
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Quite a sight seeing the capital at night
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Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 154 miles (248 km)

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Gregory GarceauHi Paul, I've been reading all along, but this post gave me a couple reasons to comment. One of them is that I never got beyond Cub Scouts either. The tasks to win those pins and badges were HARD--especially selling light bulbs door-to-door and learning how to tie a necktie. You'd think the den mother would have overlooked those things after my balsa wood airplane with rubber band propeller won the city-wide Cub Scout race. Whew! I guess I've never gotten over that, even after all these years.

The other thing that got me to comment was that The Feeshko and I eloped and got married in Jefferson City. That was 39 years ago. The city looks a lot nicer in your photos than I remember it, but I did enjoy the state capitol building.
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1 year ago
Paul MulveyTo Gregory GarceauThanks for checking in. And congrats on 39 years. Kathleen and I have made it 28 and we’re looking to extend our time together. Except for this day, when I had my solo ride. But that’s an anomaly (I always feel smarter when I can use “anomaly” in a post. It’s my second favorite to “nebulous”). I will most likely have more solo long-distance tours, but for right now, it’s fun to have my bestest buddy with me.
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1 year ago
Mike AylingNo mention of a new tube or two yet?
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1 year ago
Paul MulveySorry - didn’t mean to leave out those details. Kath bought a new tube at the bike shop and another new one as a spare. We almost had to use the new spare as she flatted out on day 5. I figured at that point something was stuck inside the tire, and we found the wire bead. It probably came from a truck tire retread she picked up on the highway into Hermann.
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1 year ago