What happened six hours after I posted; "Knee(s) are feeling better!" (or; You know that feeling when you shift gears (in a car or on a bicycle) and it either slips or there's that painful "KRRRRKKKKKKK!" sound.)

That's how I feel right now.
I've had plenty of time to think about this post, too much time. That is, I've had more time than just 8 hours of riding in the day to think about this post. I am back in Omaha. Here's the story;

Tuesday morning, May 16th. We are up and out of camp at 8am with about 78 miles between us and Juntura, OR. That's alot of riding, not to mention a couple very long climbs through the Oregon desert.

By 3pm we have traveled 53 miles inlcuding "Stinking Water Pass" (4800'). We are about to embark on the second "Drinking Water Pass", when my front tire goes flat. Not to worry, this is nothing unexpected, the third of our trip so far. Nate had one earlier in the day, now it's my turn. Temperatures are in the mid-90's so I hop off my bike and set to replacing my front tube as quickly as possible. Old tube off, new tube on, great! Start pumping it up...and the stem blows off! So, from a crouched position I jump up, a little out of shock, a little out of wanting to get another tube.

Thats when it happened. Somewhere between crouched and standing I feel a "Pop!" in my left knee, followed by a good deal of pain. It is suddenly very difficult to stand and my tire is no closer to being fixed. Feeling faily helpless we do what anyone would do in a time of need, we asked for help in the form of a lift.

We hitched a ride to Boise, ID. got my knee looked at and stayed at my friend, Scott's house (THANKS SCOTT AND FAM!!!!) Realizing that I wouldn't be able to continue biking 60-70 miles a day I decide it best to head home. Thirty-two hours on a bus later, I am in Omaha...on crutches and pain medication.

Why do these familiar surroundings feel so foreign? I would be lying to say that coming back to the comforts of home has been easy. My mind is on touring the country. The experiences from just a week and a half have been awesome. This sucks. I've said to a couple people that I feel like I am looking at a scoreboard and it says; "Bike trip - 1, Matt - 0" I feel a desire to not let it win. I have a number of decisions to make as far as what to do. Alot of those decisions are speculation till we hear from the doctor on Monday.

Bravely, like the hero he is to me Nate rides on. And though I don't envy him having to ride alone, I am very proud of him. He is nearing the eastern end of Idaho and should be toward's Wyoming in the next few days. I will keep you updated on both Nate's ride and my knee. Till then keep Nate in your thoughts, as well as my knee.

On the brightside, I made it 550 miles across Oregon. sigh.

peace,

matt (and nate - just a little more distant than usual)