Day 36 - We Need a Bike Shop

I always find it interesting, and sometimes humorous, when I look back at the smaller events that lead up to a bigger event. Such was the case today.

I started this trip not wearing socks and I still haven't. This has caused my cycling shoes to possess quite an offensive smell. Well, I should say offensive to other people. I don't mind it much. Then, I met up with Terry, Ryan, and Cooper in Kentucky. Mind you, there are many smaller events leading up to us meeting in Hindman, Kentucky that I will not mention here. Not only did I meet them but, they were so nice that I was able to ride with them (minus Cooper, unfortunately) all the way to Colorado. When we all shared hotel rooms, the odor of my cycling shoes was so overpowering that Ryan and Terry firmly suggested I place my shoes outside the door. I am a considerate fellow and complied.

However, in Scott City, when I went outside the motel room in the morning to put my shoes on, there was only one there. I walked around the parking lot looking for my shoe. The owner of the hotel saw me walking about and asked if I was looking for something. I said I was looking for my shoe. He then said that dogs run around at night and sometimes steal customer's belongings that they leave outside. So, I start walking in between houses surrounding the hotel peeking over fences to find large, mad dogs but no cycling shoe.

Ryan and I got breakfast and left Scott City. I put on my sandals and will just have to get new cycling shoes in Pueblo. No big deal. I was going to need to get new ones anyways. They did smell pretty bad.

So you see, if my genes didn't make my feet smell bad, if I had worn socks, if I would not have met such nice fellow riders with such sensitive noses, if I was not so considerate, and if dogs didn't like smelly shoes so much, I would still have that cycling shoe.

Also, in the morning at Scott City, Terry noticed a small bulge in my other tire. Not nearly as large as the one in the tire I replaced (thanks again, Rod) but, a bulge nonetheless. I switched the tires so the one Rod gave me was now in the rear and the bulging one was up front. I did some preventative maintenance and used a dollar bill as a boot inside the tire like George commented about in a previous post and slapped on a couple layers of duct tape.

I also noticed another issue with the bike. I had the bike flipped over while I was switching the tires a couple nights ago and the bike fell over. The front chainring went right into the wall and bent one of the teeth. As I ride, the chain does not fall into place nicely with certain gear ratios. I am hoping they will be able to bend it back in Pueblo. Until then, I am riding a single speed.

The ride went smoothly for Ryan and I (Terry left Scott City before us) and we made it to our first rest stop in Leoti. I decided this would be a good time to call the company that manufactured my tent. I had to pay 13 dollars for the replacement pole and told them to ship it to Pueblo. They said it would not arrive until Friday or Monday. I plan on leaving Pueblo on Friday. I do not want to wait two extra days in Pueblo if it does not arrive until Monday. So, I told them to send it to Poncha Springs. However, Poncha Springs is just a day's ride from Pueblo. If this pole is not in Poncha Springs by Friday, I will be past Poncha Springs by Monday. If this happens, I'll just tell the post office in Poncha Springs to mail it further down the road. This tent pole might be chasing all the way to California.

As we were leaving the convenient store in Leoti, a ragged looking man pushing a dirty mountain bike with some camping gear walked over to the side of the store in the shade. Ryan struck up a conversation with him and I joined them. He had come from California through Nevada and Utah on his way to Champagne, Illinois. However, he had run into some bike problems and was quite stressed about it. He got a ride from Colorado to Leoti from a trucker and the trucker paid for a motel room for him.

I wanted to see if I could help him out. The problem was that both his shifting cables were snapped. This makes the front and rear derailleurs put the chain on the smallest chainrings. This was a very low gear and made riding frustrating for him. I decided the best solution was to remove his front derailleur. This would allow him to manually put the chain on one of the three front chainrings. Three gears are better than one. Ryan also gave him his multi-tool because he didn't have any hex key wrenches.

He took the bike for a spin and seemed quite happy with it. In Kansas, that should definitely get him to a bike shop. His name was Jerry and described himself as "an old hippie".

Ryan and I left Leoti and kept on riding to Tribune. Along the way, Ryan was having issues shifting his front derailleur. I inspected it and concluded that his cable must be wearing out and nearly broken. I adjusted his limit screws which pushed the chain onto his middle chainring. The chain will remain there until Pueblo. 

We had nearly made it to Tribune when Ryan busted a spoke on his rear wheel. As we pulled over to inspect it, Terry called my phone from Tribune. I told him of our day and said that his was not much better. Terry got a flat tire after two miles this morning and then another only ten miles later. He was out of new tubes and had to resort to patching his old ones. His front tire is very worn which is why he keeps puncturing tubes.

After a long break in Tribune, the three of us now continued on to Sheridan Lake. Ryan busted another spoke on the same wheel just short of entering Colorado! Missing spokes tend to precipitate more busted spokes. He has spares but because of the location of the broken spokes, there is no way to replace them without a special tool which we do not have. Ryan's a bit stressed with the situation.

Poor lad.

In better news, I hit 2000 miles on my odometer!

I am over halfway finished with the distance for the trip. Also, I am well over halfway with regards to time. I estimate a month left of riding at the most. In even more exciting news, we entered Colorado today!

We made it slowly into Sheridan Lake, Colorado where we are staying in the church for free. Kansas has been a long gradual climb into Colorado. We entered Kansas at roughly 1000 feet of elevation and are at a little over 4000 feet here in Sheridan Lake. It was a long day, but at least we got to see the sun go down.

Not too shabby.

143 miles to Pueblo...

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life=good