I think last night may have been the first time of the whole trip that I managed to get consecutive 8 hour sleeps. Unfortunately I think that run is about to end, but it was fun while it lasted.
I took ages getting ready this morning. Not entirely sure why – I felt good, I just really wasn’t bothered about rushing. Either way, it was almost 8:30 when I got on the bike. I think I may have had a bit more urgency had I known that I would lose an hour on time difference when crossing into Montana..
I felt brilliant once on the bike. The best I’ve felt since leaving San Francisco and the wind wasn’t even behind me. The first 60 kilometres passed by in what felt like l less than an hour (obviously that was not the case); however my joy was cut short when I heard a twang from my rear wheel. Unlike last time, I knew it was a broken spoke straight away and rather loudly let my frustration be known. Thankfully there was no-one around. Fixing the spoke wasn’t the issue. It’s more the fact that it happened on a completely smooth surface and it’s a new wheel… it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
With this setback, the late start and losing an hour, I suddenly found myself riding to a fairly late finish. Part of me wanted to push the pace but the heat wouldn’t really allow it. It was over 40 degrees for a large amount of the day which is just ridiculous, and whilst it’s not humid like it was in Asia, the temperatures stay above 35 until after 7pm here. So it wasn’t as if it got easier as the evening drew nearer.
All in all, it’s another day ticked off. Starting out this morning I was hopeful of a very good day but it has ended up being a bit of a grind.
As a side-note, I saw a sign today that read: “Pray and you’ll meet God, Trespass and you’ll meet him sooner”
I feel as if it may as well just say: “set foot on my land and I’ll blow your head off”… What if someone doesn’t catch on because of the subtlety??
Distance: 107.8miles / 173.4km
Riding Time: 7:07:31
Av. Speed: 15.1mph / 24.3kph
Tom Davies RTW 
Damn, that wheel again, wait till I tell that lot over in Portland. As it happens I was in London yesterday and took a stroll into your bike shop and said hello to Angel, he seems a top bloke. Stick to the main road and don’t be tempted to take any shortcuts across private land.
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