Niles, Ohio to Erie, PA 91 miles and 1873 feet of climbing
During the last 30 miles of Tuesday's ride, my bike's rear derailleur began to slip out of one gear and into another without me shifting. This is a common problem with these bikes as the derailleur cables often stretch after so many miles. If it's just a stretched cable, it is usually easily fixable by doing what's known as a barrel adjustment to tighten the cable to the proper tension so it shifts correctly. In this case, however, I suspected that the cable might be fraying at the end that sits within the brake lever shifting mechanism. Over the years, I have been on many rides where my bike's gear shifting starts to malfunction. Then a few miles down the road, the derailleur cable snaps. When this happens, the shifter is rendered useless, and you are left to pedal in one gear for the rest of the ride.
After getting in yesterday, I filled out a "work order." to have Dana (who is the tour director's husband and now the tour's head mechanic) look at my shifting problem. I mentioned to him to please check the condition of the cable within the shifter to see if it was frayed and ready to break. After dinner, he said he had done a barrel adjustment on the bike, and it was now shifting fine. I asked him if he had checked the cable for any signs of fraying. He said it couldn't possibly be that because the bike was only four or five weeks old. I said that it was a rental bike before I bought it, so technically, it was not new.
Fifteen miles into today's ride to Erie, PA, my rear derailleur cable broke. I stopped at the first sight of the SAG car and told Dana and Fred (the new tour helper) what just happened. Dana looked at it and said,
"Wow, yes, well, it's nothing we can fix here today."
"No, that's a 2-hour job right there.", Fred said.
They had the bike up on the rack just last night, and I specifically asked them to check the cables. Why didn't they didn't check the cables? I don't know for sure, but I suspect they just didn't want to bother, or they assumed the cables were relatively new. Either way, what would it have taken to check the cable to see if it was compromised? And where is young Payton, the bike mechanic-firefighter? He's back in Champaign, Illinois. I spoke with Payton a good deal during his brief time with us. He was always enthusiastic, proactive, and very thorough in everything I saw him undertake. Had I asked Payton to check the cable because I suspected it was fraying, he would have checked it in a second.
So, here I am in the middle of Ohio with only the use of 2 gears on my bike and 70 + miles to go to get to our hotel. When they looked at me blankly and said, they could do nothing. I said to Dana,
"What's the rest of this ride look like? Any big climbs?
He said, 'No, no, just rollers. "
I said nothing to them. I took my bike and rode off.
About 75 yards down the road, I shouted,
"F******* idiots!" about three times, as I recall. I believe they heard me yell but didn't understand what I said.
I was seething. Oh, and did I mention it was raining?
The chain was stuck in the smallest chainring in the back. I still had use of the front derailleur so I could shift the chain to the big chain ring in the front when going down hills or on some flats, the highest gear on a bike. I knew I was in for an interesting ride pushing the big gears in an effort to make it the remaining 70 miles to the hotel, but I had no choice; I was not going to ride in the van.
This next part of my story may sound a little dramatic, but it's the truth. The rain, the wind, and my anger propelled me past several riders until I reached the first SAG at 35 miles. I got off my bike, took a piece of pound cake from the food tray, walked back to my bike, ate 3 bites, threw the rest into the woods, got back on my bike, and rode off. I was there for perhaps four minutes.
I was still livid. It then started to rain harder, and as the downpour intensified, so did my determination to finish the ride. Pushing that hard in such a big gear, I wondered how my knees would hold up, but I had no choice.
There was an "unofficial" SAG stop at an ice cream and root beer stand at about the 65-mile mark. I remembered the place from my 2019 ride. I pulled into the parking lot, saw no one from our group, and then continued on down the road. I was fortunate that there were no extended steep climbs in the last 70 miles because I would have been forced to get off the bike and walk it up the hills. As it was, I stood up on the bike a lot and pushed up the hills I did encounter, one very slow pedal stroke at a time. I came very close to having to dismount a number of times when the inclines became too steep, but I never did.
I was the first to arrive at the hotel. Tom, the tour director's son, asked me how I was. I said I was fine and very happy I had made it. I also mentioned that I was thinking of going in search of a bike shop to get my bike repaired. He said Dana could fix the problem. I mentioned that Dana had looked at my bike just last night and had not realized the cable was frayed and ready to break. At this point, I decided it might be wise for me to be a diplomat and give Dana another shot at fixing the now-obvious problem. I like Dana; he is a soft-spoken man who I know has a full plate of endless daily duties. He is not the problem with this tour. The failure to hire enough competent staff is the problem with this tour. I told Tom I was undecided as to who should fix the bike.
Somehow that message must have gotten back to Ms. Tour Director because Dana walked up to me in the lobby a while later and said he would like to take me to a bike shop soon to get my bike taken care of. When I asked him why he wouldn't be fixing it, he said something about all the other stuff he needed to do.
Ten minutes later, we were in the van and off to the bike shop. The bike will be ready tomorrow at 10:00 AM. We have a day off tomorrow, so that works out nicely. If there are any issues with the work done on the bike at this shop, I can have them resolved tomorrow.
It was an interesting day, to say the least. The fact that I was able to power through the last 70 + miles in 2 gears and still feel good tonight is surprising to me. If the terrain had been more hilly as it was on our previous days, I would have been walking a lot.
This was also another instance where the cold and rain seemed to energize me. I have no idea why, other than that I rarely feel so cold that I can't continue. I know that if I just keep pumping, it will keep the cold at bay at least somewhat.
As I write this, I am looking out my hotel window at Lake Erie. My knees seem to have held up surprisingly well. My right knee is a little stiff but not bad. I can also feel it in my lower back as well, but nothing too bad.
It is about 8:00 AM here, and I plan to get some breakfast before I go with Dana at 10:00 AM to pick up my bike at the bike shop. The mechanic that worked on it called me last night to say it was ready.
What to do in Erie, Pennsylvania, on a day off?
That's a good question.
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