This blog entry is totally out of sequence but the story needs telling now. When it rains, it pours. It has been a week of dealing with one mechanical issue after another. Replaced my front derailleur in Missoula. Suffered a bad tire rip and subsequent on-road repair fiasco on the Montana side of the Lolo Pass. After I successfully trashed my backup tube the sun was setting and I was ready to have a cider and just declare myself the clear loser in this battle. Enter stage left Heather and Jodee, two intrepid sisters of generous and understanding spirit who were riding their bikes to the west coast from Boston. I gladly accepted the invitation to crash in their cabin for the night so I got a good night’s rest in preparation to deal with the situation in the morning. In the end, that little clam bake cost me a return visit to Missoula for replacement tire and 2 more tubes. Thank you Kaleb, Emily, Ashley and Travis for your vehicle support in dealing with those issues; thanks Bob, Emily, and Locke at Free Cycles Missoula for all your assistance and thank you Brennan and Jordan for welcoming me into your new digs on short notice.
I got back on the road early Friday evening and then the fun really started. The icing on the cake turned out to be shearing off the machine bolt that attaches my right front pannier rack to the fork. Another night camped off the side of the road in grizzly bear country with no dinner in my best effort not to attract the company of uninvited, 600 pound, furry guests. On Saturday morning I found myself descending the Idaho side of the Lolo Pass riding in the rain, one-handed while carrying one of my front panniers in my lap at times and slung over my left shoulder at others. To my good fortune, a fire fighting pilot named Matt gave me and Tanya a ride to the next sizeable town, Lewiston, Idaho where I had planned to assess the situation.
I informed a couple of my facebook peeps of my situation and the friend of a friend network was activated. Within two hours I had assistance coming from two directions via North Dakota / Washington state connections (thanks, Stephanie and Stacy) and through my boy, Hans’ extensive bicycle network across the country. I’m hanging out in Burger King nursing off the WiFi udder, sheltered from the rain when Scott shows up with a truck to haul me and my gear off to warmer surroundings. We’re trying to figure out exactly what our connection is to one another and it turns out that I’m at the receiving end of some kind of four degrees of separation bike miracle. Scott has a bike shop and we pop in where he proceeds to drill and extract the metallic problem child from my fork and voila- Tanya is ship shape once again! Upon meeting Scott’s son, Everett, I told him how his father had helped with and he responds, “yeah, my dad is totally sweet.” You had to be there but the inflection in the word “sweet” was not the way one would describe that boy next door that all of the girls like but no one would actually date; it was “sweet” the way a bitchin’ Camaro turns heads at an auto show. Once again the Universe comes through with perfect timing and I’m back on the road heading for Portland with at least two new friends I need to see on the road to thank in person.
Scott, bike mechanic / heroic father
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Hope your own your way to see Keiko and family in Portland. Give my favorite dog Deuce a big hug from me.
Much love and luck to you for the rest of your trip.
I’m heading west!