Day 4. Didn’t expect a solo day

September 21, 2022

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

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

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

Nearly the only building in Tebbets looking lonely is the Katy Trail shelter (hostel) for hikers and bikers only

The geographic population center of the US, so you see, that at this point in the ride, the country revolves around ME!

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

Looking up at the dome and what does appear? Four arches, a fresco, and a huge chandelier

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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2 years 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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2 years ago

Mike AylingNo mention of a new tube or two yet?
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2 years 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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2 years ago