Don't ignore the obvious.

6 weeks before my first tour I had to have surgery on my middle finger. 3 days before my first tour I developed some weird inflammation in same middle finger. Being totally absorbed with correct pannier packing, repacking and re re re packing, I shrug it off as just some weird inflammation. By tour day -1, I had to drag said finger back to the doctor, who shook his head, grabbed a syringe and scalpel and drained one nasty abscess while warning me to keep the wound clean the next few days...

finger.jpg


Don't ignore the obvious. Part 2.

That night my badly bandaged finger and myself drive to our departure spot and grab a good nights sleep. Bright and early the next morning, we load the bike, glide down the hill towards that first stretch of open road, and head off into the rising sun towards our eventual destination near the east coast. Pedaling blissfully down shaded country paths we stop 2 hours later for a little photography session where I notice the sun now at my back as I frame a photo illustrating our route ahead. Much hilarity ensues as I blame my throbbing finger companion for not noticing our initial launch point was on a little dogleg on the road which had switched back on itself and we'd been blissfully riding the wrong direction for 2 solid hours...

pt2.jpg

Don't ignore the obvious. Part 3

We put 90 miles in that day rather then the anticipated 60, got lost a couple more times, got really hungry, got route helped by a ghost roadie, got two free waters at an angry closed dive bar and walked our bike up a hill first time ever cause we just didn't care what anyone thought. The obvious part, I'll never have a better day on the bike then that first day of that first tour.

pt3.jpg