I was able to get things rolling again after a nice surprise from Lisa. As I headed back out to the trail, I reconnected with Dan for the first few miles as he had some family business himself to take care of. Getting back to the solace of being alone and trying to navigate quaint little farm roads, it was an enjoyable morning but then the krunch, krunch, krunch, sound of something happening on my bike again. For about 20 miles the sound would not relent. I could not figure out what it was. My only thought was my front wheel hub was going bad. Heading west away from some large towns, I needed to get this resolved. The sound matched the rotation of the wheel. As I moved forward the country roads were more like a wide bike path. Between cornfields I came across John who was traveling from Chicago to New York. We talked about our travels and shared our experience. John gave me his card (crazyguyonabike). What a great idea. I need a card!
Looking at my route, I saw that as I came into the next big town, about 2 and 1/2 hours away, there were several bike shops that I could investigate. Meandering my way past cornfields, and belly button beans, and dry fields that were being rested, I finally came to a little town to scope out a bike shop. The first shop I came to had been converted to motorcycles only so that wasn’t going to work. Some gentleman outside working on the building pointed me to another shop, because my second choice was closed for some reason. I later found out that the owner of that shop was a local fireman. His shop was closed on a fairly regular basis because duty called.
The warehouse shop that I came to was filled with eclectic, vintage bikes everywhere. There were tri bikes, there were old school French bikes, basic touring bikes, but just a fun shop to look around. Dan behind the counter, took a look at my bike and was very confident that he did not have the parts necessary to potentially fix what might ailing my bike. So he offered to call a shop in a town south of me and find out if they had the parts and time to take a look. Confirming they did, I had to reach out to Lisa Marie again who thankfully was still somewhere in the area. While waiting for Lisa Marie and Erika, Dan and I had a great conversation about all the different bikes and things to do around town such as a newly installed bike path. He loved the idea that I was cycling across the country and recognize that many people ride their way through his little town.
Lisa and Erika (my SAGSC – Support and Gear Sherpa Chicks) came to my rescue and delivered me to the local bike shop in Oxford Ohio. How interesting is that. This was my oldest son’s Alma Mater. It was fun to see the town again. The local bike shop took care of me. Confirming it wasn’t the hub or a cracked rim, Doug began to go over my bike and make several other adjustments. Checking the wheel true, adjusting some spokes, tighten some bolts, and adjusting cables. Feeling very confident it was not the hub he sent me on my way. Thank you for the great service Doug (Bikewise).
Heading into a local restaurant We ate lunch and I gave the girls permission to do what they were going to do. I was again just a passenger. So they decided to do some wine tasting. Go figure. After a wonderful day I needed some sleep. but before I could do that I mentioned the card to Erika. She roked it out it a matter of seconds – woop woop – LOVE IT!
