Today was a big climbing day so I was up extra early (4 am!). I still ended up sopping wet but never felt totally drained as in previous days. It got downright pleasant as I got higher and higher and were it not for my squeaking belt it would have been a perfect day.
I’ve been dealing with a noisy belt ever since leaving Liberia. The mechanic who spotted my cracked crank took it upon himself to adjust the belt tension while we were waiting for my new crank to arrive. He meant well, but the tension had been perfect ever since I had the bike serviced at the Gates facility in Denver last summer. There’s a bit of finesse in adjusting it and if things aren’t aligned properly it can creak something awful. It only appears under pressure, like when carrying a heavy load, but can only be adjusted when the bags are off the bike. So for the past several days I’ve been tweaking in the evening and finding out the result in the morning when I start riding. It’s a minor problem but supremely irritating because it kills the vibe when pedaling, and particularly because it had been *perfect*. Sigh
I’m in San Ramon which strikes me as a very pleasant town and I think I’ll stay an extra day to explore and to plan. I find I’m not interested in going to South America (lots of reasons but mainly because I don’t see how to do it comfortably) but neither do I want to stop riding. There are a lot of options.
I stopped at the first open restaurant for breakfast. My hotel included a free breakfast but not at 4:20 am
I’d past several closed places and was getting worried that there might not be anything open before things got sparse when the serious climbing started
This is the standard breakfast. Eggs, black beans and rice (“gallo pinto”) and a fried hotdog. More often there’s fried banana instead of the wiener, which I would have preferred. And excellent coffee. Always excellent coffee
Karen PoretExcellent coffee because you ARE in the country that grows the best beans! Here at home, I have a friend who has a house in CR and she always brings me a bag of coffee to cherish. My favorite blend is the Cieloazul. Her house is up high on the coast north side, apparently. Reply to this comment 6 months ago
Hmm, it looks like I’ve got a crack in my frame. I’m ignoring it because the alternative is to abandon the trip, but this is definitely a factor in my lack of enthusiasm for going to South America
