Michael's Excellent Adventure

Day 12, 6-27-2002

Gremlins

We left Minot and found highway 52 easily enough. We started the day with some easy rollers, then it really flattened out. Good riding, but a steady crosswind. We ate lunch at the Empress Cafe in Drake, fully staffed by a bunch of Empresses, only one of which knew how to use the shake machine. Then John and I pushed on through the wind to Harvey, where we noticed that I'd popped a couple of spokes. Yikes! We pushed on, and I realized that I really needed to take care of them — the sooner, the better — so we stopped in the next town, Fessenden, and I replaced them. Then we turned due south for a real face full of wind, and pushed on enough to get us 24 miles from the day's goal of Carrington, and my rear derailleur cable broke. ARRRGH! I installed my backup, and we finally pull into town at 8:15 PM, after 139 hard-fought miles.