This year I wanted to get back on my bike and do another long distance bike tour, although shooting for a shorter trip than last year. The Pacific Coast Bicycle Route starts in Vancouver, travels through Washington, Oregon, and California, to end at the Mexican border. Last year I tried to cycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, but I had the misfortune of starting the same day that a new landslide blocked Big Sur and made the route impassable. I had to turn around and cycle back home. 15 months later the same landslide is still blocking the road with no estimated time to reopen.
So I’ll plan to do the northern section, taking the sleeper train from the Bay Area up to Vancouver and cycling back to San Francisco. Overall the route is about 1,250 miles, exactly half what I cycled last year.
In a few days I’ll pack up my bike, turn the key in my door, watch the world go by as I ride the train north to Canada, climb on my bike, and keep turning the pedals until I arrive back at my front door.
I signed up for the first learn and cruise session of the season, for the last week of March, with San Juan Sailing. The learn and cruise is a 7 day cruise around the San Juan Islands in Washington, spending all 6 nights on the yacht. March is still early season for the Pacific Northwest so I was expecting cool temperatures and rain.
I packed all my gear into a duffel and flew from Oakland up to the small regional airport in Bellingham on Friday evening, spending the night in a hotel. When I landed the ground was saturated and there was a cool stiff breeze, everyone I talked to on the way to the hotel remarked “oh, has it stopped raining now, it was coming down heavy”.
In the morning I awoke to clear skies, with low clouds enveloping the surrounding mountains, the air still crisp and full of moisture. As I had time I walked, with my duffel on my back, the couple miles to Squalicum Harbor and the marina where San Juan Sailing is located.
Day 1: Bellingham to Echo Bay
We met our sailing instructor, Captain Lara, and my crew mates Monica and Zach, both from Oregon, and after quick introductions we got to work loading our gear and the provisions onto the boat and preparing a quick lunch. We checked all the safety equipment was in order and then left the dock. The weather was still fair and the winds fairly light, we managed to make way under sail alone across Bellingham Bay, but the winds were not holding out and the rest of the day we motor sailed; up the east coast of Lummi Island, across the Strait of Georgia, towards Sucia Island and Echo Bay where we will anchor for the night.
We were the only boat in the bay and picked the choicest spot, setting our anchor in the calm protected waters. The boat had a diesel heating system that we put on in the evenings and mornings that kept the cabin nice and warm. We prepared dinner and agreed to wake with the sun in the morning.
Overnight the winds started building, and the deep horseshoe of Echo Bay protects from 3 sides, however the wind was blowing directly up the bay and the chop rocked the boat all the way to morning.
Day 2: Echo Bay to Roche Harbor
I wasn’t sure how I felt in the morning with the boat rocking about in the chop, I wasn’t brave enough to risk chowing down a large breakfast so I just nibbled. We made plans to get going quickly in the morning, just to get out of the unstable water. The wind was still blowing strong, with gusts almost up to 30 knots. We put the main sail up with a reef in and made our way around Waldron Island through President Chanel and up into Reid Harbor on Stuart Island where we practiced tying to a mooring buoy and had lunch.
Reid Harbor was well sheltered, and after lunch we practiced boat maneuvering under power, bringing the boat to a stop and turning it as tightly as we could. Once we’d all had a go at this, we hoisted the sails again and made our way south to Roche Harbor in the north of San Juan Island. We were beating into the wind and were able to get some practice tacking.
At Roche Harbor we dropped anchor and used the dinghy to motor ashore and stretch our legs in the little town, looking in on the old hotel and lime works. Back aboard the boat we prepared dinner and again settled in, this time for much gentler night as the wind died down and sporadic rain pitter pattered on the boat.
Day 3: Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor
We woke up to calm weather, perfect conditions for docking practice. We all found the idea of maneuvering our 42 foot Jeanneau yacht in tight confines mildly terrifying, but the calmness of our instructor and the reminder that slow is pro helped ease us in. After docking all morning we had lunch tied up at the dock and got under way in the afternoon.
Today we navigated around San Juan Island to Friday Harbor on the opposite end of the island. As we were planning our passages we were keeping an eye on the currents in the channels to make sure we would be able to navigate them under sail or under power. The winds remained fairly light and we motor sailed through President Channel before turning the engine off and sailing down the coast of San Juan Island.
Tonight we would spend the night at a berth, we radioed in to the marina and got instructions for where to dock. As it is still very early in the season the marina was fairly empty and we didn’t get instructed to a specific slip. After docking and connecting to shore power we were able to wander around town, use the shore showers, and prepared dinner again on the boat. Friday Harbor was the largest harbor we stayed at all week, with ferry service, shops, and a downtown.
Day 4: Friday Harbor to Blind Bay
We awoke Tuesday morning to fog and calm conditions, and used the morning again to practice docking. This time the slips were smaller and shorter and we all learned the necessity of communication to line up the boat, and its fairly wide turning circle.
By day 4 we were starting to practice route planning. Each day we rotated duties on the boat and the navigator charted a route through Pole Pass, one of the narrowest passes in the islands, and down to Blind Bay off Shaw Island. After lunch the fog had cleared and we left the harbor to some light winds in San Juan Channel and were able to turn the engine off and sail up to Wasp Islands. From here though the winds died down again and we motor sailed the rest of the day. The currents through Pole Pass were pretty strong and we crabbed our way to the narrow pass.
From Pole Pass we made our way down to Blind Bay where we dropped anchor for the night. I was eager to explore so two of us took the dinghy to Blind Island and then to the little dock at Shaw Island while the other two stayed aboard and got dinner started. The skies cleared and we were treated to a beautiful sunset and a starry night.
Day 5: Blind Bay to Inati Bay
The morning remained clear and I got up and watched the sunrise. Not that our spirits were low but the sun coming out I think lifted everyone, and we set sail. All week we had been checking the weather forecast which had continuously showed strong winds arriving again on Thursday, and our instructor wanted to make sure that we had an appropriately sheltered anchorage for Wednesday and Thursday nights. So today we headed for Inati Bay on Lummi Island, making our way through Obstruction Pass.
We started motor sailing as the winds were too light for sails, but mid morning we got enough of a breeze to turn the engine off and make way under sail. Today we made lunch under way, and Lara got her first turn at helm as we all ducked down to make a sandwich. As we turned into Obstruction Pass the winds died again and we motor sailed through. On the far side the winds continued to be variable and we got some point of sail practice in before we were forced to turn the engine on as we rounded Sinclair Island.
The winds continued to play with us though, on the far side of Sinclair they suddenly picked up again, so much so that we put a reef in the mainsail as we rounded Lummi Island. We were again beating into the wind and we got more tacking practice, after a couple of tacks our boat hook slid off the boat and we had an impromptu man overboard drill as we attempted to recover it. Usually with the man overboard drills we use the boat hook to grab the fenders that we throw overboard, but we struggled to find a technique to recover the hook. After failing to snag it with the mop we lowered the swim platform and finally managed to grab the hook out of the water. While unintentional it was a great lesson in the challenges of recovering something from the water, particularly when unplanned.
We continued tacking up to our anchorage at Inati Bay, where there is a small beach and waterfall trickling down into the ocean. In Inati we set anchor and then stern tied our boat by taking the dinghy to shore and securing a line to a fixed anchor, a tree trunk. I again took the dinghy for a little exploration of the shore, this time pulling myself along the stern line and rowing myself around. As we settled in for the evening there was thunder and lightning flashing the boat as the forecast storm system made its way towards us.
Day 6: Inati Bay to Pleasant Bay
We woke up to fairly clear skies, and the winds had picked up, but enough to be sailable. We set sail and practice some more tacking, points of sail, and putting the boat into a heave to. The winds were gusting fairly strong, but in the heave to the boat was calm as we prepared lunch for the second time under sail. After lunch we practiced man overboard drills with the fenders and each got a turn practicing the maneuver from both tacks. The wind continued to blow and we carried on south to our final anchorage of the trip in Pleasant Bay.
The anchorage was well protected from the swell and mostly protected from the wind, but we could still hear it whistling over the boat. We dropped anchor in front of a little beach and settled in for our last night on the boat. Everyone was tired but so content, the boat was cozy, we were well fed, we had finished all our exams, and Lara treated us to celebratory cider and she taught us to make cobra head knots to use for a keychain or zipper pull. Tomorrow we had an early start to make it back to Bellingham dock at the scheduled time.
Day 7: Pleasant Bay to Bellingham
We got up before the sun the final day, ate leftovers for breakfast, drank our morning coffee, and started to prepare the boat, packing up our belongings and the food. The wind today was the strongest all week, as we left the bay it was already gusting above 20 knots so we put up the mainsail with a double reef. As we made our way north the wind gusts continue to pick up, the highest gust we saw was about 34 knots (!!), not really cruising weather but great heavy weather experience. We dropped the mainsail and sailed under the foresail alone up to Bellingham Harbor.
As we pulled into our slip in the harbor we got busy preparing the boat and going through the checklist for check in procedures; emptying the boat of all our gear and food, filling up gas and water, emptying the holding tanks, putting all the electrical systems, sails, and rigging in place, and making sure everything was were it was supposed to be.
The week was a total immersion and every day felt long, but everyone had a smile on their faces at all times. Lara was always a calm influence, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the stunning scenery, the varied weather, and the great instruction and boat systems and handling practice that we learned through the week. We all vowed that this would not be our last trip to the San Juan Islands. We said our goodbyes and all went our separate ways. It would be fun to see each of my shipmates again in the future, but we’ll see where life takes us.
This was my first multi-day sailing trip on the largest yacht that I’ve sailed on too. A 3 day trip from the port of Redwood City, spending two nights in Sausalito, with a day trip out to Farallon Islands and back. We sailed around Treasure Island, past Alcatraz and Angel Island, out of the bay under the Golden Gate Bridge, and into the Pacific Ocean, experiencing the ocean swell away from the protected waters of the bay. The Farallon Islands are 30 miles off the San Francisco coast, which makes for a 60 mile round trip, on a boat with a top speed of 6-7 knots that’s a 10 hour day.
We arrived at Redwood City on Saturday morning of a 3 day weekend, got our stuff loaded onto the boat, got acquainted, and our Skipper, Andrew, gave us a briefing of the boat, a Beneteau 39. The boat has 3 cabins, 2 heads, a navigation desk, and a central galley/dining area. There were 6 of us in total spread among the 3 cabins and the seats converted into an additional bunk.
We set sail mid morning, leaving the dock with glassy still water. The rest of the day was very still with no real wind at all, so the entire day we spent under motor, first passing under the San Mateo Bridge, then to San Francisco, under the Bay Bridge, and doing a dockside tour of the city, crossing over to Marin before the Golden Gate Bridge, and finding our dock in Sausalito for the night. The first day was the easiest, and in the evening we sat on the boat with some hors d’oeuvre before walking a short way to a French restaurant for dinner.
The second day was the big one, Andrew got up early to get the coffee going on the stove, and put some croissants in the oven as we left the dock, we’ll eat breakfast on the way. We left Sausalito with some light rain patches and small rainbow appeared over Marin, but still, as forecast, very lights winds. As we rounded the Marin headlands, now with hot croissants in hand, and headed under the Golden Gate Bridge, the ocean swell hit us immediately and the boat rocked around with relatively high and closely spaced waves. It was a beautiful morning with some high clouds and the sun managing to poke out.
As we carried on out into the ocean the swell died down until the ocean became very flat. We left wide berth for the passing container ships, but ducked into the shipping channel to pass by the San Francisco Buoy, which marks the center of the channel into San Francisco Bay, 3 miles out from the entrance. A seal resting on the buoy eyed us wearily, jumped in as we circled round, but climbed back on as we departed. On our trip out we dodged around crab pots, which have little buoys floating on the surface, and continued on our way motoring through the calm ocean.
We were massively helped by the ebb tide, flowing out of the bay, under motor our boat has a top speed of about 6.5 knots, but the tide pushing us along our speed over ground was almost 9.5 knots. About half way the hazy outline of the Farallons appeared on the horizon.
As we got closer the rocky outcropping jutted out of the sea, with a splash of green down the largest rock. Small waves were breaking over the steep rocks. It can be dangerous to sail too close to the island when the swell is high, but with such light swell we could circumnavigate relatively closely with a smooth ride. The islands are desolate (Farallon comes from the Spanish for steep rocks or cliffs) as they jut into the ocean, where on a clear day the San Francisco coast is faint in the distance.
The islands are a nature preserve and are protected, you are not allowed to land at them. They are an important habitat for sea birds, and the entire journey from the bay to the islands the ocean was always rich with birds. As we rounded the islands we could see some birds, and quite a few seals, but it wasn’t until we rounded the last corner that we saw a huge field of birds all chattering at each other, covering the entire side of one of the steep cliffs.
As we rounded the island the mist was descending on us, and it was getting wetter with moisture in the air, and reduced visibility, the islands disappeared into a misty haze rapidly as we departed back for San Francisco, we timed it incredibly well. In contrast to the journey out where we could see both the mainland and the islands for most of the trip, on the way back we could see neither the islands or the coast. The ocean was still calm with very gentle swell, and we watched for shipping containers on the AIS electronic boat identification system.
Eventually San Francisco and the Golden Gate appeared out of the haze, and a few hours later we rounded the Marin coast and headed back into our slip in Sausalito. We tied the boat up just as it was getting dark, and tonight we went straight to the restaurant right next to the docks to warm up and hungrily devour a meal. We were all pretty tired and got an early night. Tomorrow is a shorter day so we could eat breakfast at the dock before heading off.
Andrew brought a jar of his wife’s homemade marmalade, from limes and ginger grown in their garden, it tasted absolutely delicious on the warm buttered bread. The forecast today called for some wind in the afternoon, up to this point we hadn’t been underway without the motor running as there was simply no wind. We were able to cross the bay from Sausalito, past Angel Island and Alcatraz, and alongside Treasure Island under sail, but the wind died down a little and we powered back on to navigate around Treasure Island as we ate lunch.
In the afternoon we powered down to the San Mateo Bridge and finally found the wind, turning the engine off and using the sails to take us under the bridge and back into the port of Redwood City. The wind picked up so much by the end we had to reef the mainsail to reduce the area. We had more opportunity to get some hands on sailing on the bigger boat, I got to practice helming and controlling the yacht to counter the rolls due wind gusts and sea state. We pulled into the dock just as the stars were starting to appear in the sky. It had been an easier day but I was still exhausted. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend, it was a great introduction to multi-day sailing trips and getting to see the bay from the water was pretty magical, let alone the trip out and around Farallon Islands, which relatively few people get to see as close up as we did.
I’ve been back in California for a week, I no longer look like my face was dragged across the pavement, but I still can’t eat properly, between the continued swelling in my lips and temporary brace that I need to wear for 6 weeks. Since I’ve been back I’ve slept (a lot), I’ve eaten, I’ve rested, I’ve enjoyed the idyllic bay area weather, and I’ve thought about the days I spent travelling on the trail.
The drive to Denver was fun, I retraced a long section of the plains that I had cycled. As I left Wichita the rain pounded my car and bolts of lightning struck the ground ahead of me. The storm gave way to oppressive heat, but this time I had air conditioning. The thermometer topped out at 42 C (107 F) and stayed over 100 until I started to approach Denver. After hours of flat the outline of the Rocky Mountains gradually appeared on the horizon.
I spent a day in Denver and did a walking tour of the downtown. It’s a large city with very grand public buildings and plaza. On Thursday I made the short walk from my hotel to Union Station to catch the California Zephyr. Due to storms in Nebraska that downed trees across the lines the train was running a few hours late. I boarded around lunchtime and after settling in to my cabin I visited the dining car for lunch as we climbed from Denver up to the Rocky Mountains.
It was fun to look out from Rollinsville to the road I had cycled up just a couple of weeks before. While the train journey over the Rockies was fun it paled in comparison to the experience of riding my fully loaded touring bike over Rollins pass. It took us the rest of the day to traverse Colorado, and the highlight of the trip for me were the Colorado River canyons, in this section the only other way to experience the scenery was rafting, and many of the rafters waved to us as we went by. Night fell as we entered Utah, by this point we were running 5 hours late, and I tucked up to bed.
As the sun rose we crossed from Utah into Nevada, crossing the sand flats into the Nevadan desert. Finally around lunchtime we picked up the Truckee River and crossed into California, climbing up and over the Sierra crest and descending into the Sacramento valley. As we crossed the Sacramento river delta the sun was low in the horizon and set with a stunning yello, orange, and purple sky over the bay as we rounded it and into Emeryville. As pretty as it was I was eager to get off the train and get home. It was a fun way to travel and I’m glad I did it, but it wasn’t quick.
Reflecting on my time on the trail, as I said before, and as probably came through from my updates, I had an amazing time that thoroughly exceeded all my expectations. For me the highlight was the expansive and varied landscapes that I travelled through. A bicycle forces you to be immersed into the environment through which you’re travelling, to see it, to smell it, to hear it, to feel the coolness of the mornings, the heat of the sun, the wind pushing you in all directions. It feels cliche to say but the national parks contained the most spectacular scenery, the hydrothermals in Yellowstone, and the soaring peaks in Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain, but the vast desert landscapes of the west were what really sticks in my mind.
I look forward to my next bicycle tour. I already have notes on gear changes I would make.
I woke up before sunrise again, ready to get most of the riding done before the heat of the sun. The national weather service has an excessive heat warning in place starting Monday through Thursday, with effective temperatures between 43 to 46 Celsius (110 to 115), and for Sunday morning there were also some thunderstorm warnings in place. Before I had my accident I was actually in a great weather window, with below average highs and below average winds. Unfortunately the accident had pushed me into a higher than average window.
I left the hotel at 4 am and headed out into the slightly muggy night air, it was pleasant riding. I hadn’t gone more than a quarter of a mile before noticing the flashing horizon to both sides of me. The thunderstorms were illuminating the night. While it wasn’t forecast to thunder over me, I wasn’t comfortable heading out into the wide, open, and flat Kansas country with thunder clouds all around. I retreated back to my hotel room and the cool conditioned air.
If I couldn’t start riding early I would have to ride later in the day in the hotter weather, and the area I was heading into was as remote as the area I was coming from, there are few accommodation options. I was also finding that the swelling in my lips was not healing as fast as I would like, and while it doesn’t hurt it is making life uncomfortable.
I decided instead to just ride south to Wichita, the second largest city in Kansas, which was only about 25 miles to the south of Newton. It should have been a 2ish hour ride in normal conditions, but I was riding directly into a 20 mph headwind, it took me 4 hours of sustained effort as the temperatures creeped up to make it into Wichita. I was glad to retreat to an air conditioned room.
The outlook for the next week seemed like something to endure rather than enjoy. I have thoroughly enjoyed every day of the tour, up to the day I spent in the ER. I don’t want to struggle through the eastern half with my mouth hanging open in discomfort, so I made the decision to declare success and make my way back to California. I’m pretty much exactly half way, I’ve cycled in excess of 2,500 miles through 5 states covering the American west, experiencing the Pacific coast all the way to Continental Divide and down to the Great Plains, I’ve eaten several gallons of ice cream and still lost weight. Maybe another year I’ll come back and ride the eastern states, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Ocean, but for the rest of the summer I plan to rest up, let my face heal, and head to the Sierra Nevada, relaxing by the cool mountain lakes.
I plan to rent a car, drive to Denver, and take the California Zephyr, a train that crosses the Continental Divide on the tracks I rode alongside when I crossed Rollins Pass, and then continues on through Utah, Nevada, crossing the Sierra Nevada in California, and pulls in to the east bay just a few miles from San Francisco. I should be sleeping in my own bed by Friday.
With a working bike I continued along the trail again today, travelling from Great Bend to Newton. The weather in Kansas is on a warming trend, next week is meant to get quite hot indeed. In a bid to beat the heat I started well before sunrise today, rolling out of Great Bend in the dark using my bike lights. It was totally worth it, I spooked a few deer and racoons, possums, skunks, or whatever they were, they went running, but the relative lack of wind and moderate temperatures made for a pleasant ride, and I watched the sun rise from the saddle of my bike.
Great Bend is named, predictably, because it’s where the Arkansas River bends to the south. The trail loosely follows the Arkansas River today, but then heads east, while the river continues further south to pass through Wichita. What I’ve been told about Kansas is true, it is flat, although it rolls, it is hot, and it is windy. The whole state seems to be laid out in a grid system, when you don’t have geography limiting you I guess there’s no reason not to.
The rural farmland punctuated by small towns continued, but it felt less desolate than the western part of the state which had few dwellings and few features, as I continue west there are more houses, more trees, but still lots and lots of fields of crops. There were also idyllic fluffy clouds punctuating the sky.
Tonight I’m staying in Newton, a medium sized town with some cute streets with well maintained houses. Tomorrow should be slightly warmer again than today so I’ll look to try and beat the heat again as much as possible.
Another day in Great Bend, today I mostly took it easy again, which was really my only option. Great Bend has a free zoo in the park so I wandered over and took a walk through. I saw a pair of grizzly bears playing together in a water pool not more than 6 feet in front of me behind a thick glass pane. Who would have thought the first time I’d see a grizzly bear would be in Kansas. And I didn’t even need bear spray. Their teeth and claws were still terrifying despite being on the other side of the glass.
I also have a working bicycle again! And it works even better than it did before. I have two new wheels, new bar tape, and a new right brake lever. Unfortunately I didn’t know there was an issue with the rear wheel so we didn’t order the part, but the mechanic noticed too much play in the freehub when indexing the shifter and was able to borrow a suitable replacement wheel from a showroom bike. I gave my bike a test ride around the block and it felt so good to have wheels again.
I’m still healing, my lip is still swollen and making it challenging to eat, but the weather will only get hotter the longer I sit here, and I think I exhausted the recreational activities in downtown Great Bend, tomorrow I plan to start riding early in the morning to beat the heat and take it as it comes.
Not much happened today, I got a taxi to Great Bend, about an hour away from Hays. It’s on state route 96, which the TransAmerica follows from Pueblo, first as a Colorado state route then as a Kansas state route, but the TransAmerica turns off of 96 just before it gets to Great Bend.
My motel is about a mile away from the bike shop, and on the way to the motel we stopped by the bike shop to drop off my bike. The shop is still expecting the parts to come in tomorrow and hopefully get it back rolling again.
The taxi driver took me the more scenic way, driving the state highways instead of the interstate, which meant I got to see some of the route I will skip from the car. It is more of the same, very gently rolling highway through wide open farmland, the railway line running parallel to the highway with grain hoppers every so often. Compared to the Colorado portion which was used as open grazing for cattle, in Kansas its primarily crops, corn, feed, and wheat.
That’s about it for today, taking It easy and looking forward to being self mobile again. Kansas is also heating up, it’s hot outside in the afternoon, and there’s a haze over the state since I got here from the wildfire smoke blowing down from Canada. Both typical for this time of year.
Today is the second day since I started cycling that I didn’t ride my bike at all, and this time it wasn’t through choice. While I was injured and patched up yesterday, my bike also received some damage as it careened into the pavement, the front wheel is not even round enough to rotate through the fork, and the right brake lever got smashed into two pieces. Both are toast and beyond repair. I tried to stand on the front wheel so at least I could hobble the couple of miles across town but it is permanently bent, the bike is not for riding.
So today my two priorities were mostly taking care of myself, which was easy, I was already in a state of forced immobility, and secondly figuring out how to fix my bike. The town I’m in doesn’t have a dedicated bike shop, and the brake lever I need will have to be ordered, even in a large city no bike shop would have it in stock. I called up the nearest bike shop in the next town over, an hour away by car (have I mentioned Kansas is huge and flat and very sparsely populated outside of the major cities), which also is a little closer to the TransAmerica trail. The mechanic hoped on the computer with me on the phone and placed an order for the parts that I need. They should arrive by Friday and he said he should be able to work on my bike the same day.
I only booked two nights in Hays while I figured out what to do next, so tomorrow I’ll use the local taxi to drive me and my bike over to Great Bend where I’ll be able to hopefully have my bicycle repaired the following day. If all is well by Saturday I could rejoin the trail and continue east, Great Bend is near to the start of section 8. There’s only about 100 or so miles that I will have skipped ahead. If nothing else having a working bicycle will be liberating as these cities are not navigable on foot. I haven’t been able to explore the Hays downtown which is almost an hour away on foot, which is not only a lot of walking but also unappealing in this Kansas summer heat.
So today unfortunately, was not like the other days. I woke up earlier than normal because some other people in the church hostel I stayed at were getting up very early to take advantage of the morning ride. I didn’t mind, I like an early start, and as a bonus there was already a pot of brewed coffee on the go when I got up.
I was only around 14 miles from the Kansas state line so I started pedaling and around an hour later crossed into Kansas. I expected to change time zones immediately but apparently the 4 counties that border Colorado are on Mountain Time also, so I had to wait for the next county to put forward my clocks.
On the way to the next county I caught up with a cyclist I’d been crossing paths with for the past couple of weeks, he’d got back ahead of me after my side trip to Boulder, so we rode together for a little while and chatted as we rode. We hadn’t actually ridden together previously, we just talked off the bikes. As we were coming up to Scott City, around 15 miles away, he was riding up ahead of me and I had my head down turning the wheels. I didn’t notice him stop to wait for me, and bam, I caught up with his rear wheel and over the handlebars I went. Ouch.
I won’t go into graphic detail, but a passing driver was kind enough to stop and offer to drive me to the nearest hospital in Scott City ahead. The bikes were loaded up in the back of the pickup and we were driven to the Emergency Room. Because my head hit the pavement they ordered a CT scan, and also took scans of my face to check for broken bones. They put in a drip and gave me some pain meds, some saline, and cleaned up my face. I had some cuts on my face that would need stitches, but while the CT scan of my head was clear, I had hit my tooth on the pavement and it caused a minor fracture. They wanted to send me to a hospital with a trauma unit that was familiar with this type of injury, the nearest one was two hours away in Hays.
The social worker explained to me that Kansas was large and remote, and I was in the middle of nowhere. To transport me to Hays I needed to wait for the local volunteer run ambulance. After a couple of hours it seemed like they would not be able to take me that day, and my options were to go by air, which sounded very expensive and was medically unnecessary, or an ambulance crew 3 hours away had agreed to come by, which would be 5 hours total once we got to Hays. Fortunately the local ambulance agreed to work into the evening and drive me over, and unlike the other ambulance the local ambulance also agreed to let me load my bike into the back of the ambulance. I was so grateful to the ambulance crew.
I had the accident around 12:30 Central Time, we had changed timezones in the middle of all of this, and it was after 7 by the time I arrived to Hays. The oral surgeon was the oncall trauma surgeon, and he was aware I was coming as he consulted when deciding to transfer me. He came in a little later and calmly explained to me that my injuries were low complexity and relatively minor, despite what it may feel, and he would be able to patch me up under local anaesthetic. Overall he was very reassuring and made me feel very comfortable. By 10 pm I had my tooth straightened out and temporarily wired to its neighbours for support, and 28 stitches total across my nose, lips, and chin where I had scrapped the pavement. I got my medications and the ER nurse organized a ride with the hospital security guard who was kind enough to drive me and my bike to a hotel in town.
At the end of a long day I was feeling sorry for myself but glad to be patched up, and grateful for all the care that I had received in Kansas. It wasn’t the day I expected when I woke up.
