Day 35
July 5, 2005
Today I fell into the worst emotional funk of the trip thus far, and I think it was due to not taking the day off in Rawlins. I had worked out the whole day in Rawlins, formed a mental list of things to do, but went against my instinct and pushed on. The whole day of riding yesterday I kept thinking about all the things I should have been doing instead of riding to Saratoga and I think it all came down on me this morning.
We got up, broke down camp, went for breakfast, and got on the road – yep, that’s how it works out here. As we started covering ground, we started passing folks heading the opposite direction who stayed at Encampment with the Kiwis, as well as Kaitlyn and Andy, two people my age I had been hearing of but never met. There were a total of ten cyclists that camped at Encampment last night. That was the beginning of it. I already felt like I wasted a day I could have been doing other things I needed to be doing, and now I was finding out I missed the Fourth of July party I was looking for.
So that started it. Then Paul was trying to get me to draft with him. Paul’s a great guy and there was no harm in what he wanted to have happen, I just don’t like riding with other people like that, it’s not my style. I love having the time alone to make the day at my own pace; to just be out there on the bike with me, nature, God, and whatever else should happen to come along. However, I also love camping with other people. It’s great to have the team to come back to at the end of the day and plan out the next day with and so on and so forth. But I just can’t ride that close to anyone for a sustained period of time, not now anyway, so now that was getting to me.
Then, almost like a trumping diversion from all my other little problems, my rack gave out again. Different problem and easily remedied, but enough to make you wonder what’s going on. We were just starting a little down when the rack gave out. Paul was at the bottom when he realized I was still near the top with problems. A guy headed in the other direction – yes, one of the lucky chaps at the party last night – stopped to make sure I was alright and offer his help. I told him I was cool and could rig it securely to get me to Encampment. While I was telling him I was okay, I was waving my tent to Paul, trying to get him to keep going – I didn’t want him to hike all the way back up the hill for nothing. But he did, and it was nice of him to make sure I was okay. I told him I’d be fine to get to Encampment and would like to make the rest of the ride solo, so I could gather my thoughts a bit. He understood and headed back down the hill.
On the way to Encampment I realized this was all because I hadn’t stuck to my plan to regroup in Rawlins. I needed the day off and I flew right over it. So I decided to call it a day and set up camp in Encampment. I told Paul when I got to town and he continued to Walden without me.
I rode around and realized there wasn’t too much to the small town. I went to the little one-stop shop and got the necessary nuts and bolts to properly fix my rack. I ate my leftover pizza from the night before, fixed my rack, chatted with some nice folks from Iowa, and realized I’d be wasting another day if I stuck around there. I got back on the bike and set out for Walden. Another catalyst for pushing on to Walden was I knew the Kiwis would be taking off soon and I wanted to spend at least one more night with them.
I got to Walden, found the city park, threw up my tent, and headed over to the showers with Paul. Heather and Jackson were happy and surprised to see me, as was I glad to see them. I finally met Andy and Kaitlyn, and we all went out for one last dinner with the Kiwis.
I really have enjoyed the time with Heather and Jackson. They’re just great, genuine people who aren’t afraid to tell you what they think, but aren’t crass about it either. They’ve been great company to travel with and will be missed.
After dinner, I went to the gas station to call home and headed back to the park where we were lulled to sleep by the sounds of a co-ed softball game.
Day 35: 73.63 Total: 1,701.38
Today I fell into the worst emotional funk of the trip thus far, and I think it was due to not taking the day off in Rawlins. I had worked out the whole day in Rawlins, formed a mental list of things to do, but went against my instinct and pushed on. The whole day of riding yesterday I kept thinking about all the things I should have been doing instead of riding to Saratoga and I think it all came down on me this morning.
We got up, broke down camp, went for breakfast, and got on the road – yep, that’s how it works out here. As we started covering ground, we started passing folks heading the opposite direction who stayed at Encampment with the Kiwis, as well as Kaitlyn and Andy, two people my age I had been hearing of but never met. There were a total of ten cyclists that camped at Encampment last night. That was the beginning of it. I already felt like I wasted a day I could have been doing other things I needed to be doing, and now I was finding out I missed the Fourth of July party I was looking for.
So that started it. Then Paul was trying to get me to draft with him. Paul’s a great guy and there was no harm in what he wanted to have happen, I just don’t like riding with other people like that, it’s not my style. I love having the time alone to make the day at my own pace; to just be out there on the bike with me, nature, God, and whatever else should happen to come along. However, I also love camping with other people. It’s great to have the team to come back to at the end of the day and plan out the next day with and so on and so forth. But I just can’t ride that close to anyone for a sustained period of time, not now anyway, so now that was getting to me.
Then, almost like a trumping diversion from all my other little problems, my rack gave out again. Different problem and easily remedied, but enough to make you wonder what’s going on. We were just starting a little down when the rack gave out. Paul was at the bottom when he realized I was still near the top with problems. A guy headed in the other direction – yes, one of the lucky chaps at the party last night – stopped to make sure I was alright and offer his help. I told him I was cool and could rig it securely to get me to Encampment. While I was telling him I was okay, I was waving my tent to Paul, trying to get him to keep going – I didn’t want him to hike all the way back up the hill for nothing. But he did, and it was nice of him to make sure I was okay. I told him I’d be fine to get to Encampment and would like to make the rest of the ride solo, so I could gather my thoughts a bit. He understood and headed back down the hill.
On the way to Encampment I realized this was all because I hadn’t stuck to my plan to regroup in Rawlins. I needed the day off and I flew right over it. So I decided to call it a day and set up camp in Encampment. I told Paul when I got to town and he continued to Walden without me.
I rode around and realized there wasn’t too much to the small town. I went to the little one-stop shop and got the necessary nuts and bolts to properly fix my rack. I ate my leftover pizza from the night before, fixed my rack, chatted with some nice folks from Iowa, and realized I’d be wasting another day if I stuck around there. I got back on the bike and set out for Walden. Another catalyst for pushing on to Walden was I knew the Kiwis would be taking off soon and I wanted to spend at least one more night with them.
I got to Walden, found the city park, threw up my tent, and headed over to the showers with Paul. Heather and Jackson were happy and surprised to see me, as was I glad to see them. I finally met Andy and Kaitlyn, and we all went out for one last dinner with the Kiwis.
I really have enjoyed the time with Heather and Jackson. They’re just great, genuine people who aren’t afraid to tell you what they think, but aren’t crass about it either. They’ve been great company to travel with and will be missed.
After dinner, I went to the gas station to call home and headed back to the park where we were lulled to sleep by the sounds of a co-ed softball game.
Day 35: 73.63 Total: 1,701.38
posted by SuperByron3000 at 7/07/2005
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