Saturday, July 14, 2012

My Luck Has Got to Change!!

Friday, July 13th...and Friday the 13th it was!
Vilsteren, Holland
Rain on and off and ON and off...all day...and it's starting again, but I'm in my tent all cozy for the night, so it can rain away!!!






I have moments during the day when I'm pedaling along on one of these glorious cycle paths through the fields of Holland and I think...I can do this...I love this...I should stay. And then I get to town and spend an hour or longer trying to figure out where the path goes, where I missed a sign...did I miss a sign or was the sign missing?...retracing my steps, looking everywhere even behind me for signs (kinda like the AT:))...frustrated, exhausted, angry....checking all three of my hard maps and my app and my photo of the lastest posted path map on a sign post (clever, huh?)...and then just trying to pedal around to see if I run into the route...arrgghhh! Ask someone, you say? Why would they know where the route goes? They never cycle them! I tried that in the beginning and got these strange looks. I will say today in Zwolle when I was lost for over an hour even trying to follow auto signs to the next town, a women overheard me trying to talk to a gent who didn't speak English and she said there were route numbers down that way! When I get to the numbers, I don't know which way they are going...east or west? So I jump on the route after checking my compass to see if I'm even headed in almost the right direction and a couple of km later I'm moving smoothly again. There are the long path numbers that go for hundreds of kms...and there are the numbered intersections all over the place, and there are the red signs that point to the various towns around that intersection that paths go to. Lots of options and still I'm confused. I understand most of the information and have a map of the munbered intersections to refer to that help me, but anyone who says this is easy hasn't done it alone.

So that's one torment for today. The rain issue continued from packing up all the way through the day. It was the worst when I was cycling back to hopefully recover my umbrella that I had stood against the bike once when I stopped to read maps and signs and cycled away without it. About 15 min later I went for it because the rain was starting again and it wasn't there. My heart sank! I remembered where I'd left it but wasn't sure how far back that was...then tr
ying to go backwards wasn't easy because I was also at a time of lost signs. And the sky opened up and I realized how much that umbrella helped. And it's not just any ole umbrella, it's a Go Lite...my 2nd...because I lost the first while with Heike on the Olympic Peninsula last summer. It's actually a shade umbrella too...haven't needed that function on this trip:-/

But the BIG happening today was Blaze broke. Yup...there I am going through another adorable cobblestone village when she doesn't seem to be rolling right. She's so loaded down, it's hard to really see what may be rubbing. Is it the brakes? They seem ok. Try going again. Nope, something's amiss. I'm messing with the backend when the rack flops backwards...flopping in my hands...yup! Yikes! This isn't good. Take all my gear off to get a closer look. (rain has stopped again...see what I mean?...oh, wait...it's starting again:() The rack has sheared off at both bolts which attach it to the back of Blaze above the suspension joint! This is not good. This could really screw up my schedule getting to Hamburg. I'm on a back street in a town where I know no one with a broken bike. I want to cry. Nope, that won't help you right now. Can you bungie the rack up enough to ride it? Got 2 extra bungies and I attached them on each side of the back of the seat and hook them on the back of the rack. Hmm. That seems to hold it enough that I can ride it. Now, I need to find a bicycle shop. This rack is made in England. Perhaps they'll be able to overnight a new one and I won't be delayed too long. (Oh, I can see sun shining through the fly of my tent...but since I also hear rain, I can't open it and look.)

Ok. First folks I see tell me where to find the bike shop. Great. I get there, go in (sky is opening now and it's really raining HARD! So glad to be nestled in for the night when this happens.)

I'm touring and I've got a serious problem with my bike. Can I bring it in? Sure. Thank goodness one of the guys was comfortable talking in ENglish with me. I find most Dutch speak it but are shy. I told him the rack was busted and it was a special rack for my trike. I bring Blaze in, strip her load ("that's why it broke...that's quite a heavy load!") and he puts her up on the lift.








The other guy comes over with a piece of metal with holes in it and they're going to fashion a connector from the rack to the bike. So clever. While they're fixing Blaze I go around the corner to the Chocolate SHop and buy them some truffles. Sweet guys deserve chocolate:) 15 euros later, I'm back on the road. I think that only took an hour. I sure hit the right bicycle shop and I thanked them profusely!:-

Who just drove up? Come on. I'm way back from the road. I saw cyclists camped in a village park this morning. In the village where I paid to camp. I mentioned it to the woman in the bakery and she said No problem. So I thought perhaps it was a tourist coastal thing. It's not. You can't camp here. I don't know who he was. He was in a truck. There were these hiking trails and signs I couldn't read of course. I looked for anything that might say No Camping. I tried and I lost. Getting used to setting up twice a night:). It's getting old though. So at 9:30 (is that the bewitching hour for rousting wild campers?) and in the heavy pouring rain I packed up. Well I packed in the tent but I waited for the rain to clear before packing my bike. Actually it's quite enjoyable to cycle in the evening. A couple of miles further I found a spot near a bridge and a canal that looks like others have camped here. The police will have to physically move me from here.

Enough for Friday the 13th!!! Tomorrow has got to be better.

Beaten and Battered BagLady



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