Day 13: The Flat Fiasco (Milford, UT to Cedar City, UT - 54 miles*)

Today was an abnormal day. After much discussion we decided to head straight south to Cedar City. The north blowing wind yesterday made our trip much more difficult than normal. On flats we trudged at 8 mph, compared to our normal 16 mph. We knew the wind was going to be blowing straight at us all day, but our other only option was to head into the town of Beaver and take a dirt road through the mountains.  

We felt good in the morning. The wind wasn't too bad and we quickly went 14 miles south to the town of Minersville. Dan and I stopped at the post office and sent some unnecessary supplies home.  I now only have one of each article of clothing, except three pairs of socks. We usually wash them with hot water at night. About once or twice a week, if we stay at someone's house, we can do laundry, which is a real treat.   We have come to the realization that we will always smell and were ok with it.  I think Dan still uses deodorant, but I have forfeited the battle versus body odor.  Our hair has permanent helmet indentations that a shower can't get rid of. Our tan lines look bad and our facial hair looks worse. 

Things got bad coming out of Minersville. I got a flat tire half way up a mountain. Like normal, we changed the tube and went on our way.  50 feet down the road I was bouncing I'm my seat more than normal and realized my tire was once again low. I put on my last spare tube and as we were mounting the wheel to the bike we were startled when a blast of air hit our faces.  The tire blew out. 

We then put a patch on the previous tire and went on our way. All that took about an hour on the side of the road. Dan noticed a few hundred feet down the road that my tire was looking low again. We thought the patch didn't work so we put a new patch on. We were optimistic when I made it a mile down the road, but them ten minutes later, my tire was low again. That was four flat tires if you couldn't keep track. 

We thought it was a slow leak, and with no extra tubes, our genius idea was to refill the tire every 3 miles. We had 25 miles to go into Cedar City. 

The plan was working although it seemed that it was leaking faster and faster. After 5 miles or so, I couldn't go a mile without refilling the tire. Dan and I thought that if we could keep doing this for ten more miles, then I could walk the bike ten miles into town. Luckily we knew there was a bike shop in town so I could buy a new tire and tubes. 

As we were standing on the side of the road looking desperate, a red truck with a racing dirt bike in the back slowed down and stopped next to us. Inside was Devin, who just graduated high school, and his little brother Trevor. Devin asked if we needed help. Dan and I both said "Yes!"  

The truck bed didn't look like it could hold much more so I put my bike in and got a ride into town.  Dan courageously continued riding because his bike couldn't fit, and we planed to meet up later. 

Devin was on his was to a dirt bike race in California. They seemed like really cool kids. They dropped me off at Bike Route, where Bobby, a pre-med student at Southern Utah University, got me everything I needed.  He let me use a room in the back to do all the work myself so he only charged for supplies.  Turns out I had three "stickers", which are little thorns, sticking through my tire which was causing all the flats. I couldn't even see them but Bobby said they are common in southern Utah. I got a new tire, new tubes, more CO2 cartridges, and new shoe cleats for Dan and I. I then got two dinners for myself at Sonny's BBQ and met up with Dan a few miles away at the house we are staying at. 

Turns out Dan had a really rough day. The wind picked up and was blowing in his face the entire time. He even ran out of water so he resorted to knocking on a door to ask for some. Looking back at it, it probably wasn't a good idea to split up. 

*In all, Dan did 54 miles and I did 30. It sounds like the part I skipped today was the hardest though. 

Tomorrow we plan to head to Panguitch, passing Cedar Breaks on the way.  We are really excited to be in southern Utah. So far it has been beautiful. 

Sorry we didn't take any pictures today. As you can see it was a crazy day. 

I did snap this one picture of Adrian, who lives at the home were staying at. She sat outside the room like that for 20 minutes and read us her novel of 11 chapters titled, School Story. It is about a girl who is given control of a classroom because her teacher is leaving for half a month. She decides to escape school and take the class on a field trip to Russia.  It was a really good story.