Day 39 – Major Malfunction
July 31, 2012
Start: Brooks Lake Campground
Finish: Whiskey Grove Campground
Today’s miles: 63.7
Total miles: 1175.4
Splats: 0
Divide crossings: 1
I am now sans handlebar, brake, and 4.7 liters of water-carrying capacity. At least my body, mind, and spirit seem to have weathered my longest day without breaking down.
The day started well enough. After 5 miles of dirt, I found myself back on the paved 287, where I was super excited to come across a lodge and store with decent coffee! Caffeinated, I rode on. I soon passed a tandem bike pulling a trailer headed in the opposite direction. Then another and another. In total, there were six tandems spread out. As I chatted with a CDT hiker walking down the road, the last two tandems came by and pulled over. The two families have been riding the Trans America route since May. It was neat how all of our journeys converged at this random spot.
Immediately after leaving 287, I began climbing hard toward Union Pass. I pedaled steadily and was up near 10,000 ft before I knew it. The rest of the day took me through a rolling high country with views of the Wind River Range. A couple in a truck stopped to talk for a minute and gave me a bag of cold cherries, which I devoured in record time. As mid-afternoon came around, the day started wearing on me, but I just kept going. I wanted to be within shooting distance of Pinedale tomorrow.
Riding towards Mosquito Lake, I watched ominous clouds approach. As I rode, the unicycle went limp, like it was sinking. I wondered if I was hallucinating in the thin air. In reality, part of the seat post that holds the handlebar had snapped off. I classified it as a fatigue failure (thanks engineering school), similar to how a paper clip breaks after bending it repeatedly. I have no brakes and nowhere to hold my 4-liter water bag and water bottle without the handlebar. Head scratching commenced immediately. The unicycle wasn’t the only thing to fold under the pressure today; my shorts ripped, too.
As the handlebar and brake are non-essential systems of the uni, I could continue riding. It was interesting to ride without the handlebar for a change. In some ways, it’s nice, but I think that, overall, I prefer to have it.
I pulled into the campground here a little past 8:00. I was out of water and filtered water while debating whether to pay the $12 fee to stay or to step outside the campground and camp for free. After much debate, I resigned to stay put, and I’m glad I did. Soon after, a Suburban pulling a trailer arrived and claimed the campsite beside me. After they settled in, Vickie, Tim, and DogFace invited me over to enjoy their fire. I went over for what I expected to be a five-minute chat, but three slices of pizza and a beer later, I’m feeling fat, happy, and unlikely to achieve an early start. It was a fantastic end to a good day. Even with the mechanical woes, the day was pretty good.
