Harlowtown to Roundup: "No one drinks the water in Roundup"

Today was 72 miles and around 4:45 on bike. The next furthest town would have made it a 107 mile day, and I was tempted, but not everything went in my favor.

Connective tissue... Of alll the body tissues it is the biggest pain (hah). Skin is easy: lube and gold bond. Muscles are easy: protein, sodium, potassium, and sugar for fuel. Neurons are easy: sugar, sodium, potassium. Friggin' ligaments needed calcium and magnesium. Bastards.

Either a tendon or ligament inside me left knee/thigh decided to flare up for the first 30 miles today. I treated it with swearing, a cliff bar (full of calcium and magnesium), water, Ibuprofen, creative stretching, and at the end of the day ice (frozen pees, then I ate them) and compression. It behaved itself for most of the rest of the ride. However, it caused me to go slow during a great tailwind.

After my rest and doctoring, the route turned northeast and the wind turned from west to northwest, meaning a side wind. The terrain's rolling hills also got rollier and steeper. My hopes of a 107 mile day were fading... Then it got hot, 95 degree no shade hot... Which is not the hottest I've ridden in (115), but that isn't 100+ miles weather. It also meant 40 miles with no break, because there was never enough shoulder for me to rig my own and if I break without shade I'll run out of water and/or overheat. To top it all off I then discovered that I had a slow leak in my front tire which had made ten miles harder than usual. I decided to let fate call this one: Roundup is home tonight.

For the record, this is not a tale of woe. I was lucky that my first serious injury-level leg issue was during a flatish ground tailwind so I could take it easy, and that my flat was a slow flat so I could just pump it up instead of a boiling roadside flat change. I just need to do 100 miles tomorrow or 95 the day after that in order to finish shaving a day.

Roundup is interesting. I tried three churches but no one was home. I finally gave up and went to the fairgrounds where camping is free but kind of crappy... That is until I discovered the adjacent river / bathtub. My first bath since Missoula felt great, and I finally stopped feeling overheated.

I thought my story would end there, but around 8pm a sheriff came by and said "did anyone warn you not to drink the water here?"..... Well no.... I drank a couple pints actually.... I then tried to get the story from him and other locals in the area. No one could tell me why I shouldn't drink it, just that no water in town is good.  Some said rusty pipes, some said it was from a flood last year, all said it would either give me the shits or just preserve my insides. I couldn't figure out if it was a organism issue or a metal issue, so I didn't feel safe filtering it.

Now I am sitting on two gallons of store bought water, and an extra roll of toilet paper for tomorrow. Just in case. Maybe they should put up a damn sign...