Where it all came to an end

I think the Dude's secret admirer said it best best when he pronounced that, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you." Well today, I was the all-you-can-eat buffy.

After my night in Bonchester Bridge, I awoke to find myself coming down with a cold. Not surprising considering the mileage I had been riding in the pouring rain dispicable rain. However, it looked like the sun was breaking and I was only 60 miles outside Edinburgh, then if I wanted whimp out I could jump on the train and get into St. Andrews for my first conference with time to spare.

Plan sounds feasible, right? After all what could go wrong?

As I would find out... pretty much everything.

Sun, glorious sun

Sun sweet sun: Sun washes over the road out of Bonchester Bridge, Scottland.

As the day got going the sun broke and I was awash in the warm glow of a long forgotten friend. After a few miles the heat started to clear my chest and for the first time in the last week I was sporting a smile as I rolled across the scenic Scottish countryside.

Dispite the horrendous weather I had experienced earlier, I was loving bike touring once again. There is nothing like having the miles roll effortlessly under you as the sun shines and there is not a car within what feels like a hundred miles. This is what makes Scotland ideal for cycling. Quiet, quiet rolling roads. The efficiency of the fixed gear bike just started to eat up the miles, as I flipped back to my tall gearing so I can make the most of the fast rolling roads.

My first stop was for coffee and a croissant in a small town that doesn't see many visitors. An older woman with a walker, tells me she figures I am Australian, I smile and agree. Perhaps this is one small part of the world where drunk Australians (god love em) haven't invaded. For the record I am Canadian and usually get mistaken for Americans (ack!).

Mishap #1: Melrose Chain Smash up

Just prior to entering the town of Melrose I ran across a father sun bike touring duo. We sat and chatted a while comparing our completely different approaches to touring. Myself with my self-admitted mad 10 lbs pack and these two cordial fellows who had taken the more traditional. As an aside, on of the bikes was an amazingly nice S&M coupled frame. Beautiful!

As most other cyclists they were particularly curious how I was faring with such a light load, especially considering I had brought items to camp with. I didn't lie, I told them it was great when the weather is nice, toucher otherwise, but you can slam back the miles.

As I talked with them I didn't think much of taking the opportunity to swap my wheel to a taller gearing. I mean perfect right? because the ride into Melrose involves a very very steep hill. This would be my undoing because I apparently didn't tighten the wheel enough. As I descended into Melrose I was spinning like a mad man (perhaps a cadence of 180) since a car was driving down my ass. Then out of no where the chain gave way, stuck in my spokes and through me into a massive skid, that was so long it actual melted a portion of my tire!

Chain mayhem: I carefully tried to pry this disaster loss, only to realize it was a lost cause without breaking the chain.

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