Day 55: No Spoke, Untrue

Still in Kamiah, ID

Stats!
Miles biked today: 10.8
Total miles biked on trip so far: 1970.5
# of spokes broken: 1
# of awesomely nice Idahoans encountered: 2

So we set out this morning, ready to conquer our last rocky mountain of the trip. After that one, we have one more pretty serious climb, and then it should be smoothish sailing.

We had great weather, and started out strong. About 3 miles into the climb, we heard the dreaded snap! and SPROING! Oh, no. We pulled over immediately and found that I had indeed broken my first spoke. And it was on the drivetrain side (the side of the back wheel that has all the gears on it). To replace a spoke on that side, you need to remove the entire gearing freewheel. We thought we had the tools to do that, but they fit Dean's bike and not mine. No tools.

So we spent over two hours in the hot sun, first trying to remove the freewheel without the right tools, and later trying to get the spoke out without having removed the freewheel. We finally got the spoke out, after Dean rode back into Kamiah to get some needle-nose pliers and wire cutters from the hardware store. But we couldn't get the replacement spoke in.

When there's a missing spoke, the wheel immediately goes out of true, wobbling and rubbing the brakes with every turn. Riding without a spoke is essentially riding with the brakes on, and you can only ride a limited about with a missing spoke before another spoke breaks. I was unwilling to climb a mountain with an extremely out-of-true wheel, especially when the nearest bike shop is 100 miles away.

We rode back down the mountain. I was very anxious on the ride back down, because I was worried another spoke might go, but we made it okay. We called several local bike shops, looking for advice, or thinking maybe they could overnight us the tools we needed or even a whole new wheel.

The lady at the motel gave us a deal on a double room (the only room left) and called around to see if there was anyone around going to Lewiston for the day who could pick up some tools for us. That was a really nice offer. Unfortunately, no one was going.

The last bike shop we called, Ride On Bicycles (for some reason, not listed on our map), really, REALLY came through for us. Scott, the owner, offered to just ride down to Kamiah (100 miles away!) and fix the wheel for us when he got off work at 3 p.m. And he did! He drove more than an hour and a half, brought all the tools we needed, and charged us exactly NOTHING for it. He wouldn't even take gas money. But I bought a whole new wheel from him. I needed it, anyway, and we'll be in Lewiston in a few days, so we'll pick it up then, and I won't have to worry about broken spokes for the rest of the trip, I hope. Joe at Revolution Cycles in Rockville mentioned that my spokes were worryingly tight before we left, so I was lucky to have made as far as I did with no breaks.

So I am bummed that we didn't make 2000 miles today, but really glad my wheel is all fixed up, and glad we met Scott, the nicest guy in Idaho. He must be, right?

Also, there are amateur MMA fights going on right next to the motel, and Dean and I have tickets for ... 10 minutes from now! Normally, I really can't handle watching MMA, but when in Idaho, right? I might have to watch through my fingers.

Ok, we've got to run. But back on the road tomorrow!