2 Truths and a Lie

1.       My phone was ran over by a car
2.       I biked 156 miles this week
3.       I broke my ankle

Which one’s the lie? I wish I could tell you #1 was the lie. That’d be great. I also wish I could tell you #3 was the lie. Sadly it is not. I did not bike anywhere near 156 miles this week. It’s been a weird few days.

Saturday was our day off, which was a perfect time to clean the camper, stock up on food, and get rested for the next 6 days of riding. Our next 6 days would be a reroute off the Adventure Cycling Association’s route that we’ve been following to the coast. We had planned to bike north where we could follow some well known cycling trails and stay off the road for a bit. The original route took us 200 miles on Hwy 12. We had heard that was a sketchy section with narrow shoulders and lots of semis and after riding on it for 2 miles on Friday, we felt reassured that the reroute would be best.

Sunday was great! We had our longest ride yet at 47 miles. The roads were awesome! We were on back roads all day with very low traffic and really kind drivers. Everyone slowed down to pass and went completely into the other lane to do so- exactly what you should do when you see a bike. We couldn’t have asked for better riding (Question, though- Why are roads named “Big Flat Rd” always the hilliest?!). We knew we had made a great decision to route north.

Monday was eventful. We started the day on trails following the old Milwaukee Railroad. The dirt trails were overgrown and we generally went much slower than when biking on the road. We were actually having a great time! It was so nice to be away from cars and really see Montana! There were trail maps along the route so we could read about the construction and development of the trails and railroad. The last trail map we read said that there would be a tunnel in the next section and that the route was about to get really overgrown. I was totally up for the challenge! We arrived at the tunnel to find it fenced off with no realistic way around it. Dead end. We biked back to the road and had to have teammate Kate pick us up. We were dropped off at the next section and were somehow surprised when we biked 5 miles down a mountain bike trail to come to a fence again. When we stopped to check the map, I realized I didn’t have my phone. We turned around to bike back to the road, and the driver of the only car that had passed us in HOURS came walking back to us asking “Did you guys lose a phone?”. It had clearly been ran over and the screen was completely smashed. I bought that phone 2 years ago when my old phone broke on Bike and Build. Another tour, another phone I guess! We’ve been lucky to have WiFi the past couple days, but it’s been hard not being able to download my rides to Strava! Ugh, the struggle…

We were super optimistic for a better Tuesday! We would be on biking trails! However, the theme stuck. We biked 4 miles- paved road, to packed dirt, to overgrown tracks, to a fence. We biked back to the campsite, had lunch, and shuttled to the Trail of the Olympian- a bike trail! I’m sorry, but I don’t even know how mountain bikes ride on that trail. When I say it was a gravel trail, know that I mean it was a loose rock trail. I’ve biked on the Katy Trail in Missouri. It was all limestone gravel, which was kind of terrible to bike on, but I would bike that 3 times over rather than biking the Trail on the Olympian again on my handcycle! We had to be picked up 16 miles into our 24 mile day because it had taken us 3 hours to get halfway on that trail. I was super bummed about losing the miles, but I knew we would be on the Coeur d’Alene the next two days, a 70 mile paved trail. The plan was to ride bike back up the trail 50 miles to catch up on the missed mileage. Tomorrow would finally be a smooth day!

And it was! We skipped a day in our routing (we knew that day would be a little sketch again), so we just did a downhill on a mountain biking trail, which connected to the Coeur d’Alene. It was SO beautiful!  The ride between trails was smooth, slightly downhill, and really fast. SO much fun! We had about 20 miles on the Coeur d’Alene, and I can’t say enough good things about this trail. If you go west, it’s all a tad downhill (at least the section we did). The trail snakes through lots of cute towns, so we had to cross roads every so often. At every crossing, there were bollards (basically just posts) in place to ensure no cars drive on the trail. Can you see where this is going? We had 4 miles left on the trail when I looked right after beginning to cross a road, just to triple check there were no cars coming. And there weren’t, but there was a bollard that I would hit straight on. I was/am SO EMBARASSED!

So, there are some perks to being paralyzed. Fortunately, I can’t feel much below my chest. Also unfortunately, I can’t feel much below my chest. It’s a double edged sword. I hit the bollard, moved out of the road, and my friend and I took a minute to stop laughing once the shock of the situation wore off. My bike was fine, I was fine (seemingly), and we only had 5 miles left in the day. Everything would be fine. I was not even planning on telling anyone else this happened, because it was so embarrassing. As I was riding, though, I could just tell something was wrong. And when I got back in my chair I definitely knew something was wrong. After 7 hours in the emergency room, we found out I had broken my ankle! I was glad to get an answer, but super worried it would mean cancelling my ride AGAIN. The doctor completely understood, so he said that I could still bike. I was given a walking boot and was told to take 3 days off. WHAT A RELIEF! I would miss 2 biking days, but that would cover the reroute that was apparently not meant to be. I’m super sad to be missing riding the Coeur d’Alene, but I’m glad that I can still ride into Cannon Beach in a few weeks.

So, what’s next? Today we’re doing some bike maintenance and figuring out how to get into my bike. We have a few other housekeeping things to do, but I’m mainly just going to relax and ice my ankle. The day started off with pancakes and a latte, so I really can’t complain. I’m just so thankful God has blessed me with a good sense of humor to combat my clumsiness and ability to get myself into some weird situations. 

-Laura