30 May 2003
The infamous bike trip of
2003...
As I do every year, I set
one week aside for a bike vacation. This year it was the first week
of June. I planned to ride down to Illinois and visit my
grandparents. I had done that last year and really liked the scenic
route which spends a significant amount of time along the
Mississippi. But what would set this trip apart from that last one
was that I would also ride back and I would ride my Rans recumbent
and tow my BOB trailer. (Last year I had ridden my Klein mountain
bike and gone minimalist style with just a backpack.) So instead of a
300 mile trip, it would be a 600 mile trip. I was really looking
forward to it. Roughly 3 days down, 3 days there, and 3 days back.
Finally Friday arrived. I
finished work and went home. It was about 9:30am. The weather was
pretty good although it was very windy (the flags were stiff in the
wind which was from the northwest). Predictions of showers and
thunderstorms all day but for now it was sunny with large cumulus
clouds lumbering across the sky. I began my preparations to leave.
Packed. Ran errands. I had 5 stops I had to make before I could get
on the road. Finally at 3:30 I was ready and headed south.
I started on Highway 93
which would take me to Trempealeau on the Mississippi River. Very
beautiful route. Rolling hills. Lots of farmland but not at the
expense of losing all of the trees.
Just outside of Eau
Claire, the sky began to get very ominous and dark. The wind picked
up and large drops of rain began falling. I pulled over to a gas
station and went around to the back where I was out of the wind so I
could make my rig rain resistant. Once I was relatively satisfied
with my arrangements, I headed back south. The wind was both a
blessing and a curse and frankly it would have been nice to do
without it. It was partly a tailwind but there was enough of it that
was from my right side that it would knock me slightly off balance as
it gusted and I would have to compensate for that. I did notice and
appreciate the large portions of the road that had tree clusters or
wooded areas that offered a bit of a windbreak.
Although I had not been
down that way since last year, I recognised the scenes and everything
looked very familiar. I saw spots where I had stopped before...
At County Hwy F there was
a scenic view overlook/picnic area where I stopped for a few minutes
to stretch and remove some of the rain protection (since nothing wet
had happened really). I checked my cell phone and still had full
service. I listened to my voice mail and chugged some kefir and then
started riding again. It was a bit after 5pm.
A while down the road I
encountered an interesting sight. Off to my left, the farmland rose
up into a kind of ridge and along that ridge was a line of cows
heading single file somewhere (I assume it was milking time). I found
it to be a humourous and rather interesting image.
Finally I arrived in
Eleva and found myself in the midst of a big festival. The annual
BroilerFest. Food and fun for the whole family! One of those
situations where I would have liked to have had the freedom to stop
and hang out with people and divert myself from the road and enjoy
the local attractions for a bit. But so far, I have not had that
luxury on any of my bike trips. Someday I will though. That is my
goal and dream.
I continued on through
Eleva. It was beginning to clear up. I could see some sun trying to
peek out from the clouds off to my right when I look over my
shoulder. I was beginning to feel a bit warm with my hat and coat on
so I started to think about stopping to take one or both of them off.
Finally I passed Deetz Rd and came up to the point where I had
stopped for the night last year. (Deetz Rd makes a kind of rural cul
de sac where somewhat in the form of a U, it leaves the highway and
then a mile down it comes back to it.) I could see Holden Rd and
Deetz Part 2 and to my right was the spot where I had exited the
road...
So that was satisfying to
pass.
Then my descent began...
I came to a downhill area and was enjoying the coast. I thought about
how BOB was acting better this time as opposed to the last time I had
brought him along and he tended to fishtail a bit on fast descents. I
then was hit with a gust of wind that did ironically cause a fishtail
so I began braking but in compensating for being off balance, I ended
up on the gravel shoulder. As I tried to turn back onto the pavement,
my front wheel lost traction and went out from under me. We fell and
my left foot was caught under the bike. I slid on my arm, hip, knee
and the top of my foot. Judging from the groove from my pedal, I
figure I slid about 10 feet. Quickly I got up and made an attempt to
right the bike. Once it was back up, I sat on my seat and kind of
paused for a bit to get over the shock. My foot was oozing blood in
several places as was my arm and little finger. I could feel the pain
from the various spots on my leg and thigh where I knew that I had
been scraped. I had a moment of queasiness as I watched my sandal get
redder. It was torn and ruined – so were my pants. Finally I
noticed that my chain was derailed from my front cogs and so I bent
down to fix that. In doing so, I discovered that somehow (I have no
idea how.) my rear derailleur hanger had gotten bent and the
derailleur was pulled up and into my spokes. The bike was not going
anywhere. So I disconnected BOB (which was a difficult chore since
without any form of support, I had to hold the rig upright with one
hand and disconnect with the other while the front wheel tried to go
every which way... Plus one of the cotter pins was jammed!) and laid
the bike back down. I had to dig into the trailer to get my tools and
then I removed the derailleur and reset the chain so it wouldnt drag
too much in the gravel. For a moment I thought that the bike was
immovable and that I was stuck there. I was at a loss because down in
the valley, I had no cell service so I couldnt call for assistance.
Speaking of that, I was really surprised that nobody stopped to see
that I was OK. There were 3 cars that were passing as I crashed. None
of them stopped (although one honked). And then I was sitting on the
shoulder with my bike parts strewn about for at least 20 minutes and
nobody stopped. When I was trying to disconnect BOB, I was actually
on the pavement and passed my several vehicles including a semi and
nobody stopped...
Finally, slowly, I
gathered everything up and started to laboriously walk my bike back
up the hill. When I reached the top, I tried my cell again to no
avail. So on I trudged. The most exasperating thing was that I kept
getting pebbles and gravel in my sandals – and 90% of them
ended up in my left sandal under my injured foot. I would have put my
shoes on but didnt see that as an option with all of the blood and
gashes. So every few hundred steps, I had to stop and jiggle the
stones out.
Over an hour went by and
eventually I came to a point that was pretty open so I tried my cell
again. This time it connected and I called Shermie. He said that as
soon as he heard my voice he mentally went, “Uh oh”.
Quickly he volunteered to come out with his van. Then I called my
parents to tell them that I was going to have to cancel the trip. Not
only was the bike too damaged to travel but so was I. Then since I
was getting chilly just standing there in the wind, I began my trek
again.
Somewhere between Cty Rd
V (which goes to Strum) and Hansen Rd, Shermie found me. We drove to
his house and I tended my injuries and ate.
And so ended my great
bike trip of 2003...
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