Truly last ride with Marcus and Linda. We shared first 50 kilometers to Dinosaur before I continued east while they took off south. Sad 😢 However we had a lot of fun on the evening before and I think it helped me to recover mentally. Thanks again guys and see you in Europe or who knows somewhere else! 😊

Today it was supposed to be a long day - 50km to Dinosaur and after that another 90km of desert where there is literally nothing. Like truly nothing. Just a road snaking up and down. I was prepared for this.Fueled by the good vibes and some nasty calories from a gas station food, I hit it right off the bat. Good road and slight backwinds kept my spirits high. I smashed it during the first 40km (90km total) and got a flat yet again. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Some tiny needle-like piece of metal punctured my back tire. No biggie, get it out and pop in a new tube, I thought. What I did not see coming was a massive hole in my spare tube. Last spare tube. 😬 Didn’t panic just yet - tried some hybrid approach where I put punctured tube and topped it of with a tubeless sealant. Worked! For 0.5km 😂

Game over. It was either 40km back to Dinosaur or 50km to Maybell. On foot that’s like 10h. Cool… Honestly, even though my situation wasn’t great I didn’t feel particularly bummed out. I knew that people would help me and I was on a somewhat popular road not a backcountry gravel. Suns out, guns out - I waived at the very first car and it stopped. Guy handed me a bottle of iced tea and said that I should try my luck with the next car because he is only going 20km further. (Idk where. There was nothing there 😅) Anyways I took the bottle and thanked him for stopping. ‘Nice I will die of dehydration slightly later.’ 👌😂 He took off but no later than 1 minute another car passed by but didn’t stop. I guess a cyclist wearing all black in a desert indicates mental illness? But guess what - third car I waved at did stop. And it had a road bike on its roof. Salvation. Shout out to this lady from Colorado for stopping by and giving me her spare tube and letting me use her track pump! I have more luck than brains. 😅 Let’s hope this tad small tube (20-25mm) on a 32mm tire will hold up long enough for me to get some more spares. So far so good - I made it to Maybell. Hopefully I’ll get to Craig where is the nearest Walmart, my only chance during Labor Day. (Walmart is open all the time right?)

This is what I love about USA - people. I can’t imagine being in a better place during dire situations like this. It’s just extremely natural for Americans to help one another. Amazing! 👏❤️