Day 289
Tomorrow will be a better day
Well it all started so well. Up and away by 8.15am! We had 59 miles to ride, and as severe flooding and thunderstorms were forecast, we had booked a motel to sleep in.
The Garmin flashed that the route was actually only 50 miles, result! So, we took the decision to ride an off-road trail through the Park. It didn’t appear to add any miles and we felt confident that despite the thunderstorms during the night it should be OK to ride. It started OK, a grassy hard packed track. It was fun. We had made the right decision. Only actually we hadn’t. Two hours later we finally reached tarmac. We had walked the last third, made two river crossings (no bridge obviously) saw more mud than anyone needed, took a lot of it with us, on our bikes and bodies. The final section had been washed away, together Tom and I pulled and pushed our bikes through it. Neither of us could stand up by this point let alone ride. The mud was like ice. Finally, we were out. We tried to clean us and the bikes a bit and headed out onto the road, as we re-joined our planned route the Garmin came to life. Apparently, we had been riding nearly 3 hours, ridden 7 miles but still had 58.5 to go. All I can say is I wasn’t at my happiest!
On we ploughed, the Garmin clearly decided that today was the day to mess with me. It really wasn’t. We rode 3 miles, the Garmin announced that actually we only had 41 miles to ride. Yey! We rode another 9 miles, Garmin announced actually we still had 46 miles to ride! It went on playing with me. As I say it wasn’t my day.
Things picked up, we saw bison, wild boar, and some very cute donkeys. We spotted a car wash. Now this was a result. Five dollars later we had washed several pounds of mud off the bikes and ourselves. And the water was warm. Even better there was a Pizza Hut opposite, result. Naturally the threatened thunderstorm arrived as we ate. Top tip: remove your waterproofs from the outside mesh pocket before you turn the power-hose on. Then the slight tail wind became a strong head wind. Finally, it was over, our motel loomed Into view. Naturally we are on the second floor, and yep, there is no lift.
Tomorrow will be a better day Captain Tom!
