The Standing Rock Bike Tour - Day 8 - Wind River (Steemit Exclusive)

October 17th, Day 8

I’d like to say I slept like a baby that night, but to be honest, I kept dreaming that I was getting pulled over. Sleep paralysis only heightened my anxiety, and when I finally awoke, I gave thanks for the absence of police on the scene.

My tire was flat though.

I didn’t have the patience to fix it right away, so I dove into my snacks. Only after I had devoured a quality breakfast was I even going to think about patching up that old thorny piece of rubber.

I pulled a blueberry bagel from my bags, and sat back on the concrete entryway. I’m pretty sure I was camped out at the base of someone’s driveway.

After I devoured an apple and tossed its core out to the countryside, I chugged a jug of water and wiped the sleep out of my eyes. It was time for another video.

First, I dug into a recap of events; the flat tire, the broken pump, the relentless winds, and of course, running with those horses at sunset. I delved into my views about waking up to red and blue hues, in contrast to my enjoyment of riding under a full moon.

Then I got real. All of these break downs, all of this wind, it was getting to me. I was exhausted. I didn’t have faith in my patch kit, and the weather forecast said I could expect strong winds to start picking up again real soon.

I hated fixing flats. The dirty, rotten, no-good, black palmed frustration associated with the task always left me cursing at the wind, and kicking up dust. I needed to get my mind right before I did the deed.

While still on camera, I asked myself, “Why am I really doing this? What’s my motive?”

“Well first off, I’m doing this to show you how awesome bikes are, and demonstrate how far someone can actually pedal. I want to show you the epic potential of fossil fuel free travel, and I want to encourage you and many others to hop in to the saddle as well.

Secondly, I appreciate the efforts of everyone at Standing Rock, and all the Water Protectors who are protecting the Cannonball and Missouri River from potential devastation, and I want to bring up a gift to the elders there.

Next, would be the time I’ve already invested in creating a documentary for this adventure. I want to use this experience to teach others.

I also grew up in nature, which made me absolutely fall in love with the wilderness. Protecting the planet was not just a nice thing to do- it was the reason I was here. I was called to do this- even if that means fighting the wind, all day, for a hundred miles.”

I looked at the camera. You could tell I was drained. Still, I cracked an optimistic smile and giggled, “Let’s see if we can do it!”

“A big ol’ ‘Thank You’ goes out to all of you for your support.”

I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath of fresh air. Then, as I opened my eyes, I release the breath in a powerful exhale.

“Game time.”

I stared at the camera.

Anxiety clouded my eyes, and a light coat of dirt tanned my face, but behind all of that, a sense of determination surged.

I finished the video and loaded all my camping gear back in to my trailer. After five to ten minutes of working the bike pump, my tire was filled, and I was set to cruise.

Luckily, the wind was kind of blowing me in the right direction. Every minute, it seemed to pick up and gust a little harder, pushing me faster and farther.

Then, boom! It cut against me. Nearly throwing me off the road, I grappled with my handlebars and fought with gravity to regain my center. Forget about endurance, merely staying upright was now my biggest challenge! An ever present tidal wave of air gusted against me, so I shoved my shoulder into its gut and rode on.

Covering ground went from exhilaratingly fast, to frustratingly slow, turning what would normally be a gentle cruise, into a painstakingly difficult ride. The more I fought to gain ground, the more the wind would wage war against me.

I looked down to see if my tire was holding up, but unfortunately found that the wind wasn't the only thing holding me back.

The “flat free” goo was a sham, and now I actually had to get my hands dirty and patch the dirty old tube.

For the next 20 minutes, I scrambled around on the side of the road unhitching bolts, wrestling rubber, scratching and patching tubes, and constantly losing the parts that I just had.

I was losing my patience too. It was a good thing I was able to take care of everything, because another ten minutes of dealing with that nonsense would have been the end of me.

I hopped on my sailboat and started paddling towards the shores of Pine Bluffs, praying to God that my tire would hold up. I knew this town had to have some kind of patch or extra tube for me. I just didn’t want to have to swim there.

I put the sail boat metaphor down and kept rowing through the storm. Then, with a gust of luck, the wind started to pick me up and push me forward. Finally my tailwinds had arrived!

Then, just to toy with me, the wind shifted and tossed me off into the grass. I quickly trekked through the rough, and regained traction with the asphalt. A little more prepared, I now expected to get thrown around.

I lifted my wings, and the tailwinds shoot me forward.

The flag I had made the day before was now a chew toy for the aggressive wind, and within a couple miles, it was completely leveled. So I pulled over, wrapped it up, and tied it horizontally to the trailer to use another day.

Caught up in a whirlwind of dust, I entered Pine Bluffs. The dirt and debris clouding up the sky, made me feel like an astronaut caught out in a Martian Sandstorm- except I wasn’t wearing my spacesuit, and was now at the mercy of the wind.

The minute I walked through the door to the corner store everything changed. Instantly creating an asylum, I was no longer being berated by the elements, and scolded by the sand. Pop music played overhead, and old ladies shopped for bread.

I ordered a sandwich at the deli, and sunk into the hard bench as I waited. I called up my Mom and caught up with her while I ate my lunch. Then my friend Zach called. Half an hour later, we hung up, and I was ready to roll.

My tire was not; but I was. I still had to come up with a plan to fix my tube, but first, I wanted to explore the rest stop I saw on the map. I always had pretty good luck posting up there. On top of that, the rest stop couldn’t have been more than a quarter mile away, so either way, it made sense to go there.

Getting there was more of a task than I imagined though. As if trapped in a wind tunnel, I battled my way forward with each stride, and at times, I even had to fight to breath. I might as well have been skydiving.

It didn’t take too long to notice that the rest stop was built with the wind in mind. Sheltering dozens of picnic tables, concrete slabs cut the entryway into family sized cubicles, that were mostly blocked from the elements.

Inside, a map detailed all the architectural designs that allowed the building to operate in harmony with the surrounding eco system. From passive heating techniques, to renewable energy usage, this place was built to last.

The rest stop consisted of one, relatively small room, with a couple bathrooms, and an information booth. A bench stretched out along the wall, and brochures hid in the corner.

For being out in the middle of nowhere, it seemed kind of busy; there was always at least one other person in the lobby- mainly truckers and retired couples.

Most, if not all the surrounding highways were closed due to the extreme winds, so all the semi-truck drivers and I huddled together, and waited for the 45 miles an hour gusts to simmer down.

The truckers were entertaining folks to talk to, but I still had to fix my tire, so I found a picnic table outside, and stashed my trailer underneath it. Then, after grounding my self in steadfast determination, fought against the winds to reach an automotive shop, a quarter mile away.

Being an auto shop, and not a bike shop, they didn't have any patches or tubes for me. They did however have a can of tire sealant. I was somewhat of a skeptic at first, but it was my only option, so I went for it.

A couple slimy glugs later, and the tube was filled. Then after couple billion pumps, the tire was inflated as well. Unyoked from my trailer, my bike felt light, and even though I still needed to swim upstream against a current of unrelenting air, my tires were finally round again.

I checked back in at the rest stop, and hung out for a while. The wind was still ripping through the plains, and any effort to escape was in vain. I was still feeling pretty drained, so I unfolded one of my blankets, and laid it out on the floor.

This little rest stop was now my home- at least for today. I spent a fair share of the afternoon listening to an audiobook of “The Science of Being Great”, but occasionally I got around to talking with the truckers and little old ladies.

Everyone reacted differently to my story. While most were impressed, most of them also thought I was crazy. A couple people were on the fence about the whole Standing Rock thing, and one person couldn’t seem to care less. He was far too concerned with showing me an app that would allow me to stream full length movies on my phone for free.

“I don’t want to watch any movies though…” I protested. “I’m more of a ‘listen to audiobooks on YouTube kind of guy.”

He kept going on about how this was in fact, much better. I wasn’t buying it, so I stepped outside.

Finally Wyoming had taken on a form more appealing than the bare prairie. I looked around at the pine tree filled hillsides, that sprung up around me. Slowly, they swayed back and forth, breathing with the wind. A metal ball attached to the flag over head, kept rattling against the steel pole, and the flag itself, flapped loudly in the wind.

Out of nowhere, I wondered how my grandparents were. My Mom mentioned that they used to live here, and that some of my ancestors were buried out in these bluffs. None of that ever interested me before, but for some reason, I was now delightfully curious.

Sure enough, I did have relatives buried a couple miles away. I called my Grandma, and she told me all about it. My Grandpa reminded me to brush my teeth, and they both wished me safe travels.

The sun was finally setting, so I returned to the rest stop and continued lounging on the floor some more. A janitor was cleaning up the place, and I tried my best to stay out of his way. He saw my bike, and overheard my story, so he knew my situation.

What surprised me was his kindness. Out of nowhere, he opened up a closed bathroom and told me I could sleep in there.

“It’s closed for the season, but you can still sleep in here if you’d like. I know with that main door swinging open and shut all night, it’ll be hard for you to get some rest, but it should be pretty quiet in here.” He said.

He was a kind looking gentleman, probably in his early 40’s, and if I were to guess, I’d say he was a dad. He was definatly a Christian, because after I thanked him, and he finished cleaning, he left me with a couple snacks and a pamphlet. It was one of those obviously fake $100 bills that had scripture on it.

I was more thankful than words could express, nonetheless, I still feel like he felt my gratitude. I wheeled my trailer inside, and set up camp in the bathroom.

I had a little bit of Wi-Fi too, so I spent the night looking up YouTube videos that talked about Standing Rock. I updated my blog and did some mindless web browsing for a while, then eventually hid under my covers, and tried to get some sleep.

I couldn’t find the light switch anywhere, so I threw an extra layer of covers over my head and tried to settle into a dream. My plan was to go to bed super early, then wake up and hit it when the wind died down later that night.

When I woke up at 2am, I looked over to find that my tire was flat.

I exhaled a quick breath (that sounded a lot like a tire loosing air) and frowned in disappointment.

“I guess I’ll fix that tomorrow.”

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Just now tuning in? The Standing Rock Bike Tour is getting released exclusively on Steemit, day by day, for the next two months.

Previous Chapters Include-
Introduction- Igniting the Fire at Unify
Day 1- Indigenous People's Day
Day 2 - Musical Mantras
Day 3 - Bottling My Prayers
Day 4 - Glorious Heights
Day 5 - Inner TurmOil
Day 6 - Massive Strides
Day 7 - Sunset Stallions

The Story Continues...

Learn more, and access all available chapters at-
http://www.righteousendeavors.com