day 12 Oh, Kane

Hank woke up early and left camp early. Metting cat and dog in kettle falls, they informed him of a shortcut off route that would save us a mountain pass and 20 miles. Instead of heading north to Ione then to Usk, we will ride south to Chewelah then cut east to Usk using Flowerly Trail Road. The group met Hank in a cafe called 103 in Colville. Finishing day 8 and 9 on the blog we started towards Chewelah. With fierce headwinds, we battled it with a 5 man paceline switching at 1.5 miles. 15 miles in a hidden nail punctured Beau's front tire. Eating a cliff bar and using the wrapper as a boot we road on. Stoping at a gas station to use the air compressor to get beau's tire a little higher psi, we also tried to lift kanes tire a little bit. Instanly the the tube popped. Pulling it off, we switched the tube and tried the compressor agian. It popped agian. Triple checking the tire for anything embedded, Hank found that Kane had manged to crack the rim right down the valve. A four inch long crack is what kept pooping his tire. Adding aother part to kane's broken part list, we wrapped it in electrical tape, put the tire on, and hoped it would last intill sandpoint. Losing day lioght and with 25 miles to usk we rode two miles up hill to a couintry golf club that housed a r.v and tent campsite. Muffins for dinner we called it a night, and hoped our shortcut was really going to be a shortcut.