With A Little Help From My Friends/Tired of Waiting (Double A Side)

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Yesterday morning Dom assured me we were going to have a nice quiet day.  It was to be our longest and hilliest thus far so my hopes weren't high.  

Breakfast went smoothly and by 8:30 I was shopping for breakfast supplies when the phone rang.  A rider had managed to crash on a slippery bridge and, as well picking up some grazes and bruises, she managed to damage the electric gears on her 3 week old bike.  3 hours later, with the help of YouTube, I managed to get everything working well enough to get he back on the road but I was then seriously behind the curve.  The rest of the day past in a blur of tearing back and forth on US101 to give the weakest riders a boost in the van over the worst couple of hills.

I arrived at the hotel hot, tired and just a tad grumpy.  The hotel looked pretty decent but the entry door was festooned with signs saying 'Absolutely no cats'.  You develop a sort of sixth sense about these things and, sure enough, it was a nightmare.  The morbidly obese drone on reception insisted that each of the 16 rooms had to be checked in separately... with the room occupant present.  This involved much typing, stopping to take incoming calls and going to the toilet as well as no fewer than FIVE signatures by the room occupant accepting liability for every conceivable calamity (including cats shitting the bed).

Each of our riders, having done 86 hilly miles, had to stand in line for an average of 35 minutes to check in.  They weren't happy and took it out on the nearest available tour leader :-(.

On the plus side I received a visit from friends.  Three Merican couples who I know from trips past and who live in Oregon had driven over to meet me and took me out for dinner.  It was nice to see them and I really like free dinner.

This morning, joy of joys, it is pissing down.  Bugger.



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