Day 31 St. Joseph, MO to Chillicothe, MO
Happy 4th of July America and friends! To celebrate, out riders knocked out 89 miles with ominous skies in the background and puddles all around the parking lot. I'm told (I was sleeping soundly) that it rained and stormed from about 4-6 am. We departed about 6:45 and all the fireworks were over (so to speak!) However, since we were all sure it was going to rain more, we were dressed for the worst--rain jackets, rain pants, fenders, booties, and more.
After saying goodbye to Arlene, I carefully moved down the road expecting to get wet. As it turned out, the skies became just clearer and bluer as we proceeded east. After riding about 12 miles with my rain jacket on in the 70 degree temps, I was soaked all right, but on the inside, not the outside of the jacket. I stopped for a moment and wadded it up and put it in my jersey pocket.
I rode with Doug to the first rest stop and after refueling, was ready to move out. For some reason, I took the time to pick up my bike with the front wheel off the ground and spun the wheel to make sure it wasn't rubbing on my brakes and was still basically round. Checked good. I did the same thing to the rear wheel and . . . it was rubbing against my brake. No matter how much I opened my brake, the rear wheel kept rubbing.
About this time, one of our ride leaders, Barb Munk came over and said, ". . . why don't you let Mike (her husband and our ride leader) take a look at that?" I heard her, but I was thinking, ". . . it really isn't that bad and I'll just ride it to the end." Then I spun the rear wheel again and for the second time Barb very quietly said, ". . . why don't you let Mike come look at that?" Well this time the thought registered that if maintenance is available, USE IT! Kind of an old airplane kind of thinking.
About 15 minutes later, Mike pulls up, takes off my rear wheel, puts it in a truing jig and as he is examining the wheel, he discoveries a one inch crack that straddles one of the spoke holes. Essentially, one of the spokes was pulling away from the rim. This meant the wheel was trashed and I'd need to use the spare wheel the team carries in the van. Mike took my cluster of gears off my rear wheel and put it on the temporary/borrowed one and I was rolling about 10 minutes later.
Since my 30 minute repair put quite a few folks in front of me, I had plenty of reason to try and ride faster. About 10 miles down the road, I caught a group of about 8 of our guys that included Larry. I moved to the front of the group and had a blast pulling them for the next 20 miles until a Scott Terpstra flat tire slowed us down. After a quick flat fix, we motored to the rest stop.
The rest stop was right in the middle of an Amish community. We saw multiple carriages, buggies, and horse drawn wagons moving about. On the way out of town, I stopped and took a picture of 6-8 wagons and horses hitched up as their owners participated in an auction.
I rode the last 20 miles with Bob, a former US Marine. We had a great time riding and talking in the quiet countryside. When we arrived in Chillicothe, the hotel staff had cold water, watermelon, fruit and orange juice on hand for us. Sure made us feel welcome!
The normal routine had us cleaning our bikes, hitting Golden Corral for dinner, and then we all sat outside in some shade and traded lies. Yes, another great day!
After saying goodbye to Arlene, I carefully moved down the road expecting to get wet. As it turned out, the skies became just clearer and bluer as we proceeded east. After riding about 12 miles with my rain jacket on in the 70 degree temps, I was soaked all right, but on the inside, not the outside of the jacket. I stopped for a moment and wadded it up and put it in my jersey pocket.
I rode with Doug to the first rest stop and after refueling, was ready to move out. For some reason, I took the time to pick up my bike with the front wheel off the ground and spun the wheel to make sure it wasn't rubbing on my brakes and was still basically round. Checked good. I did the same thing to the rear wheel and . . . it was rubbing against my brake. No matter how much I opened my brake, the rear wheel kept rubbing.
About this time, one of our ride leaders, Barb Munk came over and said, ". . . why don't you let Mike (her husband and our ride leader) take a look at that?" I heard her, but I was thinking, ". . . it really isn't that bad and I'll just ride it to the end." Then I spun the rear wheel again and for the second time Barb very quietly said, ". . . why don't you let Mike come look at that?" Well this time the thought registered that if maintenance is available, USE IT! Kind of an old airplane kind of thinking.
About 15 minutes later, Mike pulls up, takes off my rear wheel, puts it in a truing jig and as he is examining the wheel, he discoveries a one inch crack that straddles one of the spoke holes. Essentially, one of the spokes was pulling away from the rim. This meant the wheel was trashed and I'd need to use the spare wheel the team carries in the van. Mike took my cluster of gears off my rear wheel and put it on the temporary/borrowed one and I was rolling about 10 minutes later.
Since my 30 minute repair put quite a few folks in front of me, I had plenty of reason to try and ride faster. About 10 miles down the road, I caught a group of about 8 of our guys that included Larry. I moved to the front of the group and had a blast pulling them for the next 20 miles until a Scott Terpstra flat tire slowed us down. After a quick flat fix, we motored to the rest stop.
The rest stop was right in the middle of an Amish community. We saw multiple carriages, buggies, and horse drawn wagons moving about. On the way out of town, I stopped and took a picture of 6-8 wagons and horses hitched up as their owners participated in an auction.
I rode the last 20 miles with Bob, a former US Marine. We had a great time riding and talking in the quiet countryside. When we arrived in Chillicothe, the hotel staff had cold water, watermelon, fruit and orange juice on hand for us. Sure made us feel welcome!
The normal routine had us cleaning our bikes, hitting Golden Corral for dinner, and then we all sat outside in some shade and traded lies. Yes, another great day!
posted by Steve King at 11:19 AM
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