Wandering Wheels - 13 January 1991

Thirteen is definitely Team Bias' unlucky number. We had so many problems today. It started out early in the morning when we, well, actually Scott, discovered that sometime in the night Chip had moved his bag outside and it had been covered with dew. Needless to say he (Scott, that is) was not happy at all. Then everyone loaded up on the bus, which took us to Solvang, Denmark in the middle of California. I ended up eating a couple of wonderful buttermilk pancakes and my official beverage on this trip, ice tea. Then Randy, John Joachim and I split a day old cherry danish. Couldn't tell, though.

Then they bused us back to camp and from there we began our trip. We've been riding for a whole week now and up until today we've had very few problems. And at the beginning everyone was feeling good. We were all set to take off and hit the road with food in our bellies and anticipation on our lips. Then things began to go wrong. First there was the hill. Now hills are no big deal anymore, but after doing 72 miles yesterday it was rough. Then we got a great downhill and hit a trip high 45 mph! Then Tim dropped his waterbottle and toppled his bike (this was just the beginning for Tim as you shall soon see!).

Then we reached lunch about 20 miles down the road. It was right on the beach, so we all trashed our shirts and shoes and went in. That water was COLD, but it felt great. Dennis and I went body surfing, but only once as our skin was beginning to develop icicles. Then, as other groups arrived and most began to sunbathe, Dennis, Chip and I began work on Hurts Castle. At first it looked more like a turtle, but it turned out pretty fine.

Then our group decided we'd get an early jump to Santa Barbara. Not that it helped. First, even before we got out of the parking lot, Tim's tire went flat. So we spent an extra ten minutes before we left. Then about ten miles out, Randy's tire went flat. So we spent a long time as he tried to fix it. Then he discovered he had a broken axle. So Chip and I rode on up ahead, 'cause I had a phone call to make. Now that I think about it, I wish I had stayed. I'm feeling guilty about splitting from the group. I'm not sure why, exactly. I guess it's just breaking up the group.

So Chip and I got a couple of groups ahead and were going along fine reading the chalk markings when I ran over a 3/4 inch nail and pierced both sides of my innertube. So we held up another group (which made me feel bad) to get it fixed. Meanwhile, Randy got his axle and the remaining members of Team Bias were coming to us when a mix up at a light sent Tim careening into Ed's bike and flying through the air over his handlebars, bruising his shoulder and scraping his nose. So he had to wait until the van came and got him.

So everyone finally reached our destination here in Santa Barbara, albeit by about seven different routes. From there I called back home (school) and talked to Ami and Mike, but no one else was there (like Miss Stacy Leigh). So that was kind of depressing. Then we went to dinner at a place called Hudson's. It was good food, but a bit expensive. However, Tim got iced tea all over him (told you it was a bad day for him), but got a free dessert from the waitress. Then we had class on goals and a wonderful little service. Then the Boy Scouts (we're staying at their camp) fixed us a wonderful fruit cocktail cobbler. Then Dennis, Scott and I talked about dorm pranks and now I'm off to go sleep under the starts, sans tent. I'll write about how it went tomorrow as people are wanting the light out to go to sleep. Æ

Tunes: rem - fretless