Ride distance: 93 miles; ride time: 6:02; average speed: 15.4 mph; calories burned: 5410; total ascent: 990 feet. We had a wonderful breakfast served by our host church in Havre, the 5th Avenue Christian Church. Today’s ride actually took longer than yesterday’s ride even though it was 13 miles shorter. We were fighting the wind a good part of the day. Where I come from, the wind comes primarily from the west and occasional from the north or south. I never recall having an east wind. Today, it came from the east. And guess which direction we’re traveling – yep, you guessed it – due east. I boasted to my friend Paul Luedtke that in our more than 1000 miles of this journey, I had yet to have a flat tire. I should have kept my mouth shut. Within a very short time, I had my first flat! After changing the tube and remounting the wheel, I rode about 5 miles to where the support van had parked. I wanted to add more air pressure to the tire with the floor pump in the van. As I did, the tube blew out. I tried adding air to the spare wheel that was on the van and it too blew out. I ended up patching two tubes with my repair kit and that finally did the trick. It seems that I was getting the tube pinched between the tire and the rim and that was what was causing the blow outs. Paul had not had any flats on the trip either but just as we entered town, one of his tires went flat. Of eleven riders, ten have now had flats. Only Mike has yet to have a flat tire. We finally arrived in Malta shortly before dinner. We received a warm welcome from our host church, Elam Lutheran, and then were treated to a delicious spaghetti dinner. Following the dinner, we had a meeting with the church youth group, youth leaders, and pastor. Many members of our team shared their personal testimonies of how they met the Lord. It was a good time of sharing. Zack and I went to our host house which was unoccupied. The house belongs to the sister of a church member who lives about 50 miles away during the summer.
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