Ride on, Highway Cat !!: Highway to Hell

Day 4; Canyon Alpine-Brookside Camp(Cache Creek)
131km., 19.9 km avg. Saddle Time; 6:44

The day started out nice, with a huge omlette. (ham/cheese with hash browns, toast OJ and coffee). Woke early and ready for fun times. Early in the ride, I stopped at a questionable "gas station" ( the pumps looked toast and the store portion was half lit and barren). I got some fluids and calorie bars though, which was all I needed.(I passed on the squeezable sandwiches). As I fiddled with my bike just outside the store, I could hear a dog barking in the distance. Turns out that being a km away was close enough to launch an attack on me. Can you say CUJO ?! Luckilly, I was at the start of a descent on this lonely stretch of highway. Dogs are really demons sent to Earth from Satan who prefers cats as pets. The day ahead saw hot sun and a few longish hills. I had a really nice break by the water at "Goldpan Provincial Park"Goldpan PP
Once I was about 50 km west of Cache Creek, the inevitable happened... While on a very picturesque descent...BLAMMO !! or SHHHPANGGGO !!
Totalled the tube and tire. Had to swap the whole "deally"(Homerism). Was a nasty fix that took 45 min in the hot sun. The dried skin on my fingers cracked nicely and bled rivers of crimson. Of coarse, I had to take pics as this was my inaugural flat episode. These "Marathon Tires" are fantastic, but a bitch to instal. I'm used to the flimsy700/23 road tires. I should've taken pics of the bloody digits. Finally arriving at Brookside, I secured a site, then went to town for much needed beer and food. While packing my bike at the grocery store to return to home base, I noticed a lack of pressure in my FRONT tire !. ... AAARRGGHH ! When it rains, it pours. Pour me a cold one!

Well, at least they have Wi- Fi here, so it was nice to touch base. Shower and beer helped to cool the growing beast of doom...

"I can do this"

A good place to fix a flat. Would've bin a different story if it was the front tire as this was a fine hill. At least I had the concrete barrier to utilize.

Ever ride on a "rumble strip" with a 100 pound road bike ?

I would camp here, but this guy didn't want visitors.

Not a humungous climb, but worthy of signage and a good primer for the days ahead. Highwaycat agrees with me that the scenery is soothing to the soul. Or some crap like that. Ha ha

Interesting...

This is a view from the shoulder lucking up. I didn't hang out here too long. I probably shouldn't have stopped at all.

Rest stop at "Goldpan Prov. Park"

Highwaycat was thrilled at the sight of this metallic dinosaur. I told her that it is called a "Trainasaurus Rex" Ha Ha, sigh

BLAMMO !

Another view of the big production. Amazingly, I wasn't angry, but was cautious and strangely methodical in my repair procedure. I think I had Sunstroke. HWC was whining the whole time and drank much of my water supply. We could've died right here. Well, maybe not.