Donkeys hiding behind a horse
119 km/74 mi
Today started out well enough. It was cold and cloudy, but I felt more confident on the bike because I'd moved some items around in the front panniers and it seemed easier to keep control of the bike.
Maybe I got cocky.
I felt good on the gravel roads outside of Pomona lake park. Slow, but comfortable. I slogged my way nearly to pavement, when suddenly the gravel got very squirrelly: just a big pile of rocks, very little hard land. Unfortunately I was going downhill.
Whoa! WHAM! My head slammed against the ground (in a helmet, thankfully). I got up and checked the bike, then myself. A holder for one of my rear panniers had snapped-not the end of the world, I have a couple more. I ripped a nice hole in my new Gore tex rain jacket near the elbow. Bummer, I'll patch it up when I get to Wichita. I had a few scrapes but nothing serious, and I did a few of those tests they go through when someone hits their head on TV and I seemed ok. But I found out later I'd lost my tiger eye glass bracelet from Kamakura. I had a feeling it was too fragile for this trip, but it was a shame to lose it.
Gravel battlescars
The rest of the day was a long and very hard slog. I finally reached pavement and vowed never to let Open Street Map lead me through gravel again (though I had to ride on gravel to get to the campsite). But the going was rough all day because of a crosswind that was almost as bad as a headwind. It took 8 hours to go 60 miles.
A hot meal after a long day