Cotter Pin Shim for 23 Mar 23, 09

(at left, Foothill Expwy above Stanford)

My plan to roll across Palo Alto and pick up Portola Rd off of Sand Hill got aborted when the cotter pin Jimmy Spillane had sent me didn't seat properly. When we talked earlier, he had intimated that it might be so far gone,  I might have  to shim it. Well, his hunch was right and yet the thin strip of steel I   had used (no  not aluminum cut from a soda can) to solve this problem was not adequate. Back to the drawing board. I cut a bigger piece, hammered the pin in place and it got me to  the other side of Los Altos Hilld before I had to tighten the screw that held it all in place. 

I ran out of time to beat the school traffic so  that is why I  headed for Los Altos. I am going to have to spend more time with the fix that is needed on my cotter, but I did squeeze 23 miles out of the day.  The more time I can get in the saddle, the more my ride to Boston will be made easier. Hopefully my ride across America will feel like a drill, a day in day out feeling as though I am just doing another day of practice by the time I am done!!

Not much to report today which is probably good. It must mean that I am learning this bike and the roads upon which I am placing   it. Hmmmm, I guess I am getting good enough to take it  over the San Francisco Bay on the very first bridge that crossed it in 1927, the Dumbarton Br.  Though it's been rebuilt and outfitted with a bike path, there is a lot of wind out there.  Do I feel rock solid for such blowing gusts like I do on my other HiWheels? 

And yet like all challenges I've ever faced down, the hardest part was just thinking about it......

THX 4 all of U!!  

                                                                                                                                 

Note: This ride is not about me but it is a celebration of all the people who have helped me get back to wholeness physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. This as I stand on the shoulders of giants to enjoy the privilege of riding this bike, the only Eagle (backwards HiWheel) in active use in all the world...