Central City, NE to Blair, NE

No pictures tonight . . . I was talking to a son yesterday and he said I should get some pictures of myself.   In the process of trying to turn the camera’s lens around to take a picture of myself I inadvertently turned on the video component which won’t do.

Tonight to only have my comments but they should be entertaining.

Have you ever had one of “those” days?   Without a doubt this was one of “those” days for me.

Last night I was doing a post in the lobby of a Rodeway Inn.   I was going to submit the post and then find a place to stay within my price range.   While writing the post the weather channel was talking about the severe weather coming with high winds and potential hail.    Being a big chicken I booked a room.

The next morning the weather channel was again forecasting gloom and doom and their statements were backed up by lightening that was flashing all around me – even though Central City was still dry.   I ate breakfast and had a decision to make.   I could wait at the hotel until 9:00 a.m. when the percent chance of rain would fall from 60% to 20% or I could head out.   It wasn’t terribly cold and I figured the storms were moving East so if I got wet at least I would be pushed in the right direction – sucker!

Today’s 116 mile right quickly became a battle of wills.   I was bound and determined to make  Blair, NE and the wind was determined to blow in my face, directly, until I gave up.   Typically the winds or road will shift several times to give me a rest.   Today was different since all 116 miles were to the East and the wind continued to come from that direction.   The 11.5 MPH average over the 10 hours was punishing and I stopped at an extra store or two for my orange juice and chocolate milk energy boosts.   By noon I was 20 miles behind my typical benchmarks.

Imagine how excited I was at 3:00 p.m. when the wind did start to abate a bit.    I didn’t have the energy to make up any time but I was able to push my speed up by a mile or two.    Then disaster (this is a bit of an overstatement).    MG’s  (Miracle Go) back tire started to go flat 3 miles shy of Blair.   Tired, hot, and ready to rest meant nothing when the tire went flat.   I took the back wheel off and checked the tire.   There was no object in the tire so I figured that I hit a sharp rock that caused the tube to tear.    I replaced the tube and continued to Blair.   There was a nice big beautiful hit that was taking me quickly toward Blair when I heard a sharp pop and again the tire when flat.   The tire still didn’t have any foreign objects embedded in it so I figured the bad spoke (if I didn’t tell you about this earlier, I discovered a bad spoke yesterday.   It wasn’t broken but it also wasn’t doing its job) was puncturing the tube when it took any stress.   I cut out the spoke but left the tip in the rim since it no longer had any pressure on it.  I again replaced the tube and again enjoyed the downhill when, you guessed it, the second and final tube went flat.   I couldn’t use the tube repair kit I had since the hole was more of a slice.   As embarrassing as this is to say, I walked and hitchhiked toward Blair (so much for the downhill that I wanted to enjoy).

Stopped at a car dealership and found out that Blair has no bike store so I was on my own.   I continued to walk to a Walmart.   I bought a new tire and a new tube.   I took out the spoke end from the rim and reassembled everything.   I had MG in Walmart’s lobby doing all the “fixing”.   It was amazing how the little kids coming in with their parents kept asking about “what the crazy man in the corner was doing”?

I can say that the bike was able to take me to a Rodeway Inn about a mile away and there I stopped for the night.   I was still hot, tired, and ready to rest.   I am hopeful that the bike is fixed but I will need some miles under my belt before I will have such confidence.  If this doesn’t work I don’t know what else to try and will have to navigate to the closest bike store which may be in Omaha.    Wish me luck!

This was a long day.     I tried to think deep thoughts but typically all thoughts came back to holding my body and bike together to make it to Blair.

One thought did come to mind with respect to the Bike/Life analogy.   You know that you are on a good bike/life/path when you:

1. Wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is the sunrise.   If you get up grumpy you are not on the right path.
2. Wake up next to someone or something you love (pets count).   If you don’t this isn’t an indicator that you don’t have a good life but means you are probably still searching for a missing piece to your life.
3. You are energized to do things that provide meaning.
4. You have a list of things that you want to get done full well knowing you can’t get everything done in 1 day.   You are okay with this because you always have tomorrow.
5. You pay yourself first (good food, good sleep, and exercise sometime during the day) to ensure you have the energy to do great things.
6. When you review your day you have made the world a better, more happy place.
7. You made at least one person important to you smile at least once.
8. You try to “Pay it Forward” at least once a week.
9. You go to bed each night knowing you have done your best.

A further thought.   At birth everyone is given their own bike or life.   It is unique to that person in that it can be different colors, bigger, smaller, more sporty, more expensive (face it because of DNA, environment, and nature we are going to be different).   The thing that people forget is once you’ve accepted your bike as yours (parents have to turn you loose sometime) you can customize it to your hearts content.    Yes you may be limited in the short run but goals and hard work can change it to be the most beautiful bike in the world.    My realization?   It seems that many people forget this fact and quite trying to improve.

And remember . . . every mile you do today is one less mile you have to do tomorrow!