Day 50 Enterprise, OR to Walla Walla, WA

Friday 9 Sept 2011 1'st day of the 8'th week.
Day 47 on the Road.

We woke to perfect cycling conditions the sun was shining and it was warm. First order of business will be to find a tube repair kit or even better a bike shop and some new tubes.  The problem is finding a bike shop may be nearly impossible.  In the past 4000+ miles we have only seen 4 shops and only 2 that were open. Today we had a 100 plus mile day planned with a couple of big climbs.

The crew is nervous because we do not have any new tubes on board.  We were able to patch a couple tubes with our repair kit before we left the motel though.  At least we have something should we have a problem. Most of the time you can get away with a patched tube but not always.  New is always better but when you have nothing a patched tube is great as long as they hold.

Should we have another one of those freak days with 6 flats we will be out of business. Actually we don’t need a freak day just a couple flats and we will be walking the bikes to Seattle.

The towns we passed through are so small the City Hall the Town Library and the Fire Department are all in the same building.

Most towns we go through do not even have a single gas station or even a stop sign.  Take Cottonwood for an example. For sure they do not have a Starbucks, or a Macy’s.  And you can also bet they do not have a pro bicycle shop with the tubes we need.

As we were riding through one of these towns a car pulled up alongside Ken and Joe and asked where we came from and we were headed. The car had a couple of road bikes on the roof.  Cyclist!  Ken told them we came from Connecticut and were heading ro Seattle. He then asked them if they knew where the nearest bike shop was. They pulled over and said Walla Walla had a bike shop but  that was 50 miles away. When they found out we needed tubes they opened their bicycles tool bag and pulled one out for us.

Perrrrfect as long as we have one new tube we most likely NOT get a flat.  If we had no tubes you can be 100% sure we would get a flat.  The cause of these flats is a small thorn that in the southwest they call “stickers” and here they call  ”goat heads”.  They are a cyclist nightmare

Check out this clip on You Tube

We made it through the day without a flat and entered the final state of our tour around 5PM Pacific Standard time. Washington!
108  Miles
5077 Feet of Climbing
Temperature 55 - 95 degrees