It was cold this morning. mean see your breath, fight off numbness in your extremeties cold. I wore my jacket and my thermal tights and undershirt, and I even started the day with my thermal balaclava (before switching to my ear muffs). I wasn't too happy about that cold, and in fact I called Thomas at one point to bitch about it to make me feel better (while walking as I called, because standing still would make me freeze). But hey, it did make me motivated to keep moving all day, so there is that.
Of course, as per tradition, the first thing I did in getting out of the city was to promptly take a wrong turn go the wrong way for awhile before realizing, consult Google to get back on track, and then get even more confused by its directions through the suburbs. It was embarrassing. If I knew what was good for me, I wouldn't mention that it happened. But hey, it's tradition. I crossed the Coon Rapids Dam one more time (and at that hour of the morning it was totally dead), did a little more city navigating, then was soon well and gone from the Minneapolis metro. I was doing well, making good time.
Then as morning turned toward afternoon, the wind really started to pick up, and progress slowed considerably. It's out of the North and the West, and I have to say I really wished I had the option of turning East today. But I didn't. So I just kept my gearing low and tried to maintain a slow but steady pace (which wins the race, right?)
And then, about twenty miles out from my destination, I suddenlu heard that dreadful "pssh" noise I've come to know all too well. I had a puncture, the first I've had on my Race Kings (after closing on 1300 miles put on them overall). It's also my first time getting a puncture with a tubeless set up, so I'll admit I was nervous as hell. I saw the sealant foaming up, all orange and gooey, and after a brief moment of panic about what to do, I realized the best thing I could do was just keep riding and let the sealant do its thing. And you know what, a few nerve wracking minutes later, it did. The leak sealed, the sealant stopped foaming. I lost some pressure, but best I could tell it was holding.
I had to piss like crazy, so I stoppee in at a gas station in Mora, relieved my self, got a couple candy bars, then chilled for a moment, checking that my tires still seemed to be holding. Then I ventured back into the wind to make the last ten miles to my stay. Being as its in the middle of no damn where the almighty Google actually steered me wrong, taking me to a place a mile past it, making me turn and go another mile, on gravel, to get here (when I could have turned a road sooner and come straight here). Google is rarely wrong, but with places as remote as this, it does happen.
So, my stay tonight? I messaged a lady through couch surfing and she confirmed a stay for me. But with a few catches. One, that she's not actually in Mora, but 6 miles north in a cabin in the woods by the Snake River. Two, it has no running water of any kind (where there was once a shower, she has clothes hanging, which amused the hell out of me), but I could get some from the neigbor if need be. And three, she's not actually here, because she's hiking in Nepal right now. None of those catches bothered me much. So here I am.
The front tire is still holding it seems. So consider me still on team tubeless for the time being. I got in before 3 today, and I'm going to try to get to sleep real early, so that I can get up as early as possible tomorrow. Because I'm doing a damn century tomorrow, with the wind against me at that. The earlier I can get going in the morning, the better. Let's hope the tire holds, the winds don't pick up until late, and that I'm feeling fresh in the morning. I'm back to life on the road.
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