PowerCycle

03/04 My poor legs! I didn’t realize I’d be riding over 3000 feet on my first day. After having to turn back because I missed the turn for the hotel I wanted to stay at I tracked it down and got settled in. Then it was over to the store to buy some beer. I forgot they have cable TV in the rooms. Its been well over a month since I’d last had a TV on. The hot shower was the best.

Saying goodbye this morning was kind of a downer. Monika left before I did to get ready for her race this weekend. I’ll miss her. Zdenek also left to continue his ride up north. My total time at the Casa ended up being 42 days. This is someone’s house too. Imagine having a house guest for that long? They have a pretty good system set up so the family has use of the bathroom/kitchen during the time they need it and the general rule is that no one goes in the main house area. Santiago and his entire family really go out of their way to make everyone feel welcome there and it was one of the best time I’ve had so far.

Stopped and had the best lunch at a nice restaurant a few miles before reaching the PanAm highway. I was starving but managed to avoid ordering guinea pig, which made up about half the menu.

When I realized I missed the turn for the hotel I stopped and checked my GPS. Two huge German Shepherds were sitting near a store watching me. One of them came over and sniffed my front pannier and then my leg. I didn’t want it getting too friendly so I honked my new horn and it backed away. A minute later I started riding away and the stupid dog came running after me. It bit my rear pannier but not hard enough to puncture it. I hate dogs.

No problems with the bike. I have a bit more load then when I was riding last on it but everything held together. The obvious new addition is a 2nd spare tire. Having 2 spares on the back makes it look like I have a lot more than I do. Both spares are (well) used so it’s better that I have both. I also added a new horn (the kind with the black squeeze thing–it’s mounted unobtrusively do I don’t look like a dork). The compressed air one I have is dead. The hose was worn through in half a dozen places. I left the air bottle mounted on the handlebar mount to keep the bag from bouncing back too far and snapping the mounting clip. I also have a new pair of pants and a new shirt. The ones I bought them to replace will be getting donated sooner or later.

Since I’ve been here car alarms have been going off almost non-stop. I wish they’d ban them. There are just too many stupid people out there. No one even pays attention to them except to wonder who the idiot is that can’t figure out how to disable it before opening the door.

Ken Jennings, the guy that won 74 games on Jeopardy! was answering questions on my favorite web site, Reddit. I had no idea he was so funny.

GPX track