Last night before I went to bed I did a pinch test on my bicycle tires and the back one had a little "give" in it. It was enough to make me wonder if it was leaking air, but not enough that I knew for sure it was. So I went on to bed.
This morning I woke up early to get an early start and checked the tires again. Back one almost completely flat, so it definitely had a slow leak. I took the bike into the restroom and repaired the tube with a patch. I couldn't find anything in the tire that caused the leak so my guess is a sharp rock penetrated the tire during my ride on the gravel roads yesterday just enough to cause a pinhole in the tube.
It rained a little last night, but the wind had everything dried off by this morning. I broke camp warm and dry, loaded up the bike and headed toward Gate City, VA for breakfast about 15 miles away. About 2 miles after leaving the campground, a cold rain started and temps began to drop. It rained steadily all the way to Gate City, and I was chilled to the bone when I made it to McDonald's. I couldn't stop shivering from being so cold.
I pulled out some dry clothes from my bags and changed out of the wet clothes in the McDonald's bathroom. I used the air hand dryers in the bathroom to dry off my wet clothes as well as I could and put on the dry clothes. I sat in McDonald's for over an hour drinking hot tea and eating breakfast trying to warm up. Pic of my table at McDonald's below.
This morning, I also started having a problem with my cellphone's battery. It went from about 75% charged to about 15% charged in a short time, without it being used. All I could think that it could be was reaction to the cold weather. I recharged it to almost full at McDonald's and after I left and started riding it did the same thing. It got down to about 25% charged in a short time with little use. To try to keep it warm, I put it on my thigh under my bike shorts. Next time I checked it was up to about 57% charged, and it was not hooked up to anything. So the cold air is definitely draining my battery. From now on, it will be riding on my thigh during the day and will be in my sleeping bag with me at night to try to keep it warm.
I disburse camped tonight at the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area near Cedar Bluff VA.
Total miles today: 69.3
That darn cold air has drained my battery while cross country skiing at -10F. Losing power is the worst.
ReplyDeleteI got to wishing I would have brought a paper map and compass in case the battery completely died.
Delete