Math.Guy on 2 Wheels: June 21: Arrival St. Charles, MO

Mississippi River - what a difference a day makes!

Yesterday’s short ride made an arrival today an iffy proposition. I was going to need to catch a couple breaks. Probably most important, I was going to need a flatter route. Yesterday’s hills wiped me out, with the amount of gear I am carrying. Reasonable winds and temps would help too. Audrey’s place was 65 miles away, so my largest daily mileage was needed, to complete the day.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, and I left the hotel in high spirits, only to find out a block later, my back tire was nearly flat! I was hoping to complete the entire trip without a flat, and I had not practiced changing a tire before leaving. So back to the gazebo by the hotel, and I proceeded to unload the bike, remove the wheel and tire. No problems so far, I was halfway there. I came prepared with three spare tubes, only to find out all of them were the wrong size. 26 inch tubes, but my bike wheels are 29 inches. Didn’t know that. My Sun Prairie bike shop was closed for the evening when I picked up the tubes. They would’ve known the correct size.

So I was looking probably at the loss of a day. No bike shop open in Louisiana on Sunday. I envisioned calling Audrey, instructing her the correct size, and asking her to stop at a St Charles bike shop, and let her deliver them to me. Too early to call her yet, the only thing to do was to take the old tube, put it back on the bike, and inflate it. Maybe it would hold air for awhile. I could at least get a start. I rated my chances of arrival today in St. Charles at 10%.

So I started on the bike trying to avoid bumps and watched the back wheel. 2or 3 miles later, it was still looking fully inflated. Then I thought well maybe I can get an hour before it deflates. If so I could probably limp to St. Charles by refilling the tire. I’ve done that before. Well, to get to the end of this tale, the bike tire held air all the way to St. Charles!

Lots of conditions worked out for me today. The road was flat and level for most of the way. Pleasant temperatures. Just took my good-natured time, and kept turning the pedals. Along the way, I checked out the lock and dam at Clarksville. A barge was traveling upriver, so I thought I’d wait and watch the lock process. 20 minutes later nothing had happened. I stopped for a snack and came back half an hour later, barge hadn’t.moved yet. I continued and the road moved away from the river. But still relatively few hills. The area reminded me of British Columbia Frazier. River region. Some steep hills along the edge of the flood plain, but the route stayed in the floodplain. Easy Peasy.

Using my bike GPS, I was surprised how much of the surrounding land was barely above the river level. This was confirmed when I saw the sign about the flood plain area. Audrey’s residence is about 150 feet above river level, so I knew there would be a few hills at the end of the day. Not bad.

Reflecting back on this day, I was exceedingly fortunate in regard to the flat tire. To find out about the wrong sizes for my spare tires, without losing more than an hour on the journey is amazing. Most likely I will actually get a real flat, and if that takes place out west where it can be many more miles between places. Perhaps my wheels are an unusual size, and not all bike shops will carry that size? This could have me twiddling my thumbs for few days. Very fortunate.

Miles: 64

Elevations: High 680, near Foley. Low 435*, near Winfield

Max Speed: 33.5

Summary: 552 miles from McFarland, which includes bike miles in the evenings after the daily ride was completed

Elevations: McFarland 856. High 1350 by Blue Mound, WI Low: 435 Winfield, MO, End 571 St. Charles