A Nightmare day

Day 32


Distance travelled: 45.2 miles
Time in the saddle: 4 hrs 44 mins
Overall distance travelled: 2919 miles

I woke nice and early, which quite surprised me because I couldn’t sleep last night. It took me ages to get off. I started really well by squirting sun tan location into my eye, why don’t they colour code the spray button. I know it’s simple to point the spray in the right direction but first thing in a morning is not the right time to think straight…. admit it you’ve all done it. My right eye will never suffer from sunburn…that’s if it ever stops watering…it hurt. I broke my pannier rack sometime yesterday. I stuck it together with plaster…awe gusher needed a plaster…poor bike. It’s a good job I watched Blue Peter I would have never have known how to do it other wise. The only thing I didn’t use was a washing up bottle…shame I’ve always wanted to do something with a washing up bottle but never found out what to do…. careful.
It is eight miles to Pittsburgh on the highway 22. I couldn’t use it through Pittsburgh so I had to detour. It took me seventeen miles to get into the centre. There was a broken water main on one of the roads so I had to do another detour…it was getting ridiculous. I am really disappointed with how many miles I have dne today but at least I’ve done some. I will make up for it tomorrow.
As I finally entered Pittsburgh in torrential rain I bumped into a policeman on a cycle. Matt his name was and he asked me what I was doing….I put my clothes back on and….only joking. I chatted with him for a while and told him that I need to get to a bike shop to fix my pannier rack. He told me to wait where I was he had to do a small job and he would be back in five minutes…then he would cycle with me to the shop. When he came back his gun wasn’t smoking so it was resolved without any problems.
We cycled through the city and got to the shop pretty quickly…thanks Matt you were brilliant. They guy in the shop wasn’t so nice. He wasn’t going to do t at first but relented once I told him that I was cycling across the country. To be honest he did a nice job…but nothing else….Natt where are you when you are needed.
Trying to get out of the city is even harder than getting in. I cycled for ages then stopped next to a guy sat at the side of the road…I probably shouldn’t have…he was waving at passing traffic...and slavering profusely. He didn’t understand what I was saying so I tried a different language…English. He said I could go on the highway, which I wasn’t confident with. Another guy approached so I asked him…he said the same. The first guy shouted out at the top of his voice that he had told me where to go…a nightmare…the solution…run like the wind, which I did….or cycled. I couldn’t cycled on the freeway…I asked a copper.
I asked some guys in a garage which way to go. They told me not to go through a particular area, which I was heading…I might not get through on a bike….and they didn’t mean because of the road restrictions. By this time I was ready for anything and didn’t really want to detour again. I wasn’t that intimidated with the boys from the hood, boys with hoodies, or Robin Hood, whatever they are called. One guy even offered to drive me to the edge of town, which was nice but although I was tempted I declined his nice offer. They gave me an alternative, which one guy said “you might get through in one piece….I was enthused….. That will do….. I actually met a couple of guys on the street in the supposedly rough area who were really helpful. Two massive black guys, who were quite intimidating but very polite and helpful….It just shows not everything is what it seems.
I eventually got back onto the 22, which was legitimate after Churchill. I managed to get a puncture, which I fixed really quickly……a few miles down the road I got another one. …is today never going to end? I am looking at patches of grass at the side of the road because I suspect that I may be camping out…that’s the type of day I am having…bring it on. Nothing can damped my enthusiasm…Only five hundred miles to New York and this is the first day where I’ve had lots of problems…I’ll walk there if that’s what I have to do.
I finally came across a motel, which looked better than it was. The guy at the desk was very nice and it was cheap. The problem is there is no Internet, I will have to got to a ‘bar’ to send this message…so be it.
Tomorrow is bound to be a better day…we’ll see.