All in all, a pretty good day
Today was a pretty good day, even though:
- Almost immediately there was a steep hill, which made my knee hurt.
- In the descent from that first hill I got a flat – the upside being that my knee immediately got some rest. After having checked the tire, I put on a new inner tube, inflated it and off I went. After a minute or so I felt the back wheel being a bit wobbly – checked the tire pressure and it was a bit low so I inflated it some more. Then after a few hundred feet I felt that it was almost flat. I couldn’t believe it – a second flat! It was all my fault though – the second time I checked more the tire more thoroughly and found a small spike that just had gone through the tire. Removed it and then fixed the flat, inflated the inner tube and I was finally on my way again…
- Most of the day I rode against a strong headwind.
- It took me at least an hour and a half to find the hotel. I had put it as a waypoint in the GPS by selecting the Holiday Inn in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania – turned out that was not the hotel I had made my reservation at. In fact, it was no longer a Holiday Inn, but a Best Western… So, to find the hotel I decided to use the address instead – turned out there was no Cherry Lane in Bethlehem. Asked at a gas station, where they checked a map and it turned out that it was not in Bethlehem, but in Hellertown that is next to Bethlehem.
- When I finally got to the hotel, I could barely walk to the room because of my knee.
But, on the “plus side”:
- Great weather to ride a bike in – a slight overcast with the sun coming through quite often.
- Besides the first hill, the road was mostly flat or downhill which made the miles go by fast (despite the headwind).
- There was time for some activties off the bike. Admit it, you’ve always wondered how the crayons are created – well, all you need to do is to visit the Crayola Factory in Easton, Pennsylvania. And if you have kids, bring them along – there’s tons of stuff for them to do. And you don’t have to feel the awkwardness I felt as being the only adult there without kids…
- Tomorrow is a day off, and I have a jacuzzi in the bathroom.
So, all in all, for a moment today there was definitely hope. It was even a sign leading me on:
But I still have to see how it feels tomorrow. The fact that I was barely able to walk once I got to the hotel was a bit worrying…
Well, that’s it for today – the NBA Western Conference final beckons.
Google Map of the day (complete with the search for the hotel at the end) can be found here.