b'Day 26 Day 28JUNE 23 JUNE 25As we leave Geyser and continue on route 87, a pain in my right wrist and hand starts toAt daybreak we walk down the main street of Roundup to the office of Dr. Espinoza, a cause severe tingling and numbness. We are just over a thousand miles into our journeygeneral practitioner and the only doctor in town. He diagnoses me with a severe case and I can barely shift my bike gears. This makes climbing the continuous valleys andof carpal tunnel syndrome, says that I am on the verge of developing permanent nerve breaks very difficult. damage, and that we need to cancel the rest of the trip.We arrive in Lewistown mid-day and head to the municipal pool in Frank Day Park forWhen we tell him that is not an option, Dr. Espinoza gives me a cortisone shot and a much needed dip and shower. The pool is packed with locals, many staring at us, anda splint and tells me to keep my wrist and hand rigid for two straight weeks. As we our bizarre bike-short tans.are leaving the office he mentions in passing that maybe one of those new-fangled After making a few poolside friends, we ask about nearby camping and soon enoughhandlebars like Greg Lemond uses in the Tour de France would help keep me from are put in touch with the town mayor who gives the OK for us to set up camp right in thepushing down so hard on my wrist.park next to the pool. Even with numerous ice treatments, the pain and numbness in myI try riding out of town with one hand but after about five miles and three near wrist keeps me awake much of the night. collisions with cars, we stop at a gas station outside Roundup to check a phone book for the nearest bike shop. The closest shop is in Billings. We re-route in that direction. After BEGIN: Geyser, MT a half-mile of riding one-handed, I lose control of my bike and veer off the side of the END: Lewiston, MT road. DISTANCE: 71.42 miles Thats it!! No more of this nonsense.TRIP TOTAL: 1,213.9 miles We position ourselves in some shade just off the road and wait for cars to pass. As they do, I stick out my thumb in the direction of Billings. How silly this must looka couple with fully-loaded bicycles, hitchhiking. Day 27 After about twenty minutes, a trucker driving a huge car-transport rig stops to pick JUNE 24 us up. Hes passing through Billings. He ties our bikes down to the carriage of the trailer with big rubber straps and we climb up into his air-conditioned cab. The truck rolls along We leave Frank Day Park in Lewistown in the early morning, clean and refreshed, andat only 40 miles an hour, but as we cover the next 45 miles without a single down-stroke still smelling a bit like chlorine. U.S. 87 turns from due east to the south near Grassof a bike pedal, we might as well be flying. Range (pop. 155). The landscape consists of rolling prairies, farms and ranches in everyThe trucker drops us outside Billings and we pedal through a neighborhood to a Bed & direction for miles and miles. We see more mule deer and antelopes than we do peopleBreakfast called PJs where I spend the rest of the afternoon in recovery mode, icing my on this day. wrist.It is a long day, almost 10 pm, when we finally arrive in Roundup and check in at theThat evening we eat ribs, drink cold beer and listen to blues at Caseys Golden Big Sky motel. A local warns us about drinking the town water so we fill our water bottlesPheasant in downtown Billings. at a pizzeria that is still open. At the Big Sky Motel payphone, Emilie calls her Uncle David who is the doctor to ask his opinion about my wrist, which is completely numbBEGIN: Roundup, MTby now. He advises we see a doctor as soon as possible. We decide to make that the firstEND: Billings, MTorder of business the next morning. DISTANCE: 5.75 milesTRIP TOTAL: 1,302.1 milesBEGIN: Lewiston, MTEND: Roundup, MTDISTANCE: 78.32 milesTRIP TOTAL: 1,294.3 miles23'