Falling is Funny

Hi!
Amanda and I are taking a break from the heat of the highway in a place called Montesano off highway 12 in Washington, at the public library of course. Despite the fact that we finally showered on Sunday night, our clothes weren't so lucky, so unfortunately we still stink. We stink a stink that even the weird old lady smell of old books cannot cover up. In fact our stink blasts right through that old lady/book smell and rips it to peices. My apologies to the 13 year old girl next to me.

Anyway, two very amazing things happened in the last three days since we've been able to update the blog. Both Amanda and myself fell. Don't worry, we didn't trip while walking or crash on our bikes or anything. We just fell. Upright on the bike one second to horizontal, on the road, underneath the bike the next. The culprit both times: clipless pedals. They do help me feel connected to my bike in a good way most days. I know the transfer of energy from my legs to my pedals is more efficient with a rigid sole...blah blah blah. But there are moments of extreme fatigue, for example, when I wish my feet were not connected to my pedals. Or maybe when I drop my camera while trying to take pictures and ride simultaneously and I want to turn around and pick it up and I can't un-clip in time and I know I am about to fall on the road and my bike is going to fall on top of me in slow motion, in that moment, I don't want clipless pedals anymore. Or when Amanda is on the sidewalk, not even moving, and she clips in and her pannier hits a beautifully maintained planter box full of flowers and she falls over, bike coming down on top of her... At that moment, I am thankful Amanda has clipless pedal because I am laughing so hard I am crying. But really, it's quite humiliating.

So I am considering this another right of passage for this trip. The first being changing a tire. The second, totally eating it when not even moving because of your stupid clipless pedals. PS we totally have pictures.