Before leaving Ralf pumped air into his tires. First tire pumped - pin gone . Ralf thought it was dislodged in the pump. I used my tweezers and paperclip to pry pin loose from pump. Unsuccessful removing pin. Meanwhile Ralf changed tube. Turns out the stem on tube had broken off when putting air in tire. It was a malfunctioning tube. Thankfully I didn't remove pin in pump as it belonged to pump. Once new tube in Ralf pumped tire up as hard as a ... rock. Apparently valve dislodged when Ralf removed pump, unbeknownst to him.
Ralf off and running .... cycling ...
Reviewing trip tic before leaving. Great, Trip Tic only to Quebec . Organizing tools in support vehicle- tweezers (check), paperclip ( check),stainless steel cooler with lots of water and no ice (check), toolbox (check), duct tape (check). Haven't had to use the duct tape yet but if I didn't have it Murphy's law would have kicked in.
22 degrees; cloudy; wind on Ralf's back.
Meeting Ralf in Montmagny for lunch.
Wearing Nike headband under helmet. It was full of sweat when he wrung it out. Water poured out ... yuk ... and now I'm going to have lunch.
Goal for today - reach St. Alexandre by nite fall.
12:45- I'm due for a nap. This 'support vehicle' is harder than it looks. Better find a McD's or Timmy's as I need a caffeine hit.
Meeting Ralf in Rivière du Loupe, travelling on 132 est. Detour ... Distracted by phone call from Rosalyn Gluck, missed detour hwy. got so lost ... driving on gravel, windy roads; bobcat bolted across road ( s*#!) ... windows securely closed. PC from Ralf ... "where are you?" Answer #¥*!
Went back to original detour and found signs- back on track; met up with Ralf . Planned to meet at junction 132 est and 283 sud. in 2 hours (2100 hrs)
Met up with Ralf . Asked about his navigating thro detour. He plowed thro and ignored workers instruction to turn back. Ralf ended up going thro peoples backyards with his bike (1/4 mile of detour); crashing some peoples pool parties by waving to people.
Total k for today was 170k
Staying in Rivière du Loupe Universal Hotel . Our choices were: retirement home which we checked out-.thought it was a Bed and Breakfast; a rubby dub bar/ hotel that appealed to Ralf and the Universal Hotel which is very nice hotel- welcomes cyclists.
Tomorrow Ralf taking an old railway track to New Brunswick. I will travel on hwy.
So far terrain has been flat; temperatures cool and wind is at his back . But Ralf feels God has a questionable sense of humour and things could change. We have to thank Marg Kitely for her prayers for great weather.
Well time to turn in but tune in tomorrow for more of Ralf's Ride.
NN ;)
Always carry duct tape
Here in Guelph many are feeling very badly for Ralfie's bicycle seat. No bike seat should have to go through that. The feeling is: there should be legislation.
ReplyDeleteHeather and I, though, have little empathy for the seat. We say: hooray for Ralfie and his Support Driver! Nice reading the travelogue on all this.
LOL. Who would have thought you had to travel through back yards to get to Charlottetown.
ReplyDeleteGood going Bro.