Day 46

Miles: 83

Mileage from start: 3,974

Why is the second day after a break so hard? 

Sure, we left the nice, upgrade suite around 10:30 a.m., but we had to stop to avoid thunderstorms four times. The worst episode came while we were buying cherries and blueberries at a farm stand. So, while the rain and thunder passed, we stood in the barn and ate a pint of blueberries, a quart of cherries and two ears of corn. 

After the rain, came the sun and some pretty impressive heat. And then two flat tires. Both mine. Both rear. Both harder than they should have been. Turns out, the rim tape on my rear wheel had shifted and exposed the sharp edges of some of the holes where the spokes attach. I think we got it moved back. But now we have no back-up tube because the tube in my rear wheel has so many patches in it, it’s starting to be more patches then original rubber. Hopefully we’ll pass a bike shop soon. 

We’re camped at a park near Fulton, N.Y. with the goal of getting an earlier start tomorrow, if only to leave more time during the day for things to go wrong.