Day Fifty-Four - Punctures.

My alarm went off at 5:50am this morning, in the hope that I'd get up earlier. It didn't work, and I just hit snooze a couple more times. I went up to the bakery that I ate at last night, and ended up having an apple fritter pastry thing, and a chocolate brownie. Traditional breakfast items were way overpriced compared to cakes, so I beat the system on that one.

I hit the road at 8:30, and started the long uphill to Lizard Head Pass. at 10,000ft, thi was the second highest pass I've done. It was a 16 mile uphill, and it took just over two hours to complete. The weather was good at this point, so it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it was over monument pass. The rest of the day was to be downhill, which I was very much looking forward to.

13 miles later, and I stopped at a place called Rico for lunch / a break. Here, my luck changed for the worse. Just as I arrived, a rain / hailstorm did too, and I was forced to wait for about an hour for it to blow over. Luckily, it did, and I didn't get wet. I set off again, but after no more than 6 or 7 miles, my brand new supposed 'super tough flat tyre resistant' tyre failed me, and I got a flat. Great, I thought. I quickly fixed that, and got on my way. Little did I know that a tiny stone had gotten between the valve and the rim when I changed the inner tube, so after a further 100m it was flat again. I must mention that I keep my inner tubes in the pannier I have to tie to the rack, so it's a pain to have to go into the bag. It was for that reason that I attempted to tape up the hole to see if that worked, which of course it didn't. I therefore decided another new tube was needed, so I undid all the rope, and fitted a new tube, this time with a Presta valve. Just as I was packed up and ready to go, it was flat. AGAIN. I realised it was because the inner part of the valve was bent, making the air come straight back out. I was spitting blood at this point with frustration, and went back into the bag for my last schrader valve tube. After fitting this and snapping both my tyre levers in the process (they were cheap and plastic anyway, I have others), I finally got going. I was absolutely paranoid about getting another puncture, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fix it without digging out the puncture repair kit.

The rest of the ride was largely uneventful, though paranoia was on my mind the whole time, and I stopped probably twice to put more air in unnecessarily. As far as I'm aware it's okay now, but I need to get a couple of tubes tomorrow, the ones I used today are beyond repair.

I'm staying in a motel tonight, overpriced but necessary because the weather is closing in. I also feel in need of a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I'm heading to Monticello, Utah, and the day after that is a really short day to a place called Blanding, the reason being I have a 74 mile stretch without anything, and then a tiny campsite place called Hite Recreation Area where I think I'll stay, and then a 54 mile stretch of nothing before the next place. Some do the 124 miles in one day, but I honestly don't think I can do that.