Bike Problems

OK, so I bought one of those expensive suitcases to ship the bike to Ca!! Took bike to bike shop in Big Pine and had it serviced, et al, and the boys packed it up for shipping for me!!! Note the right hand upper corner!







So on Monday before the ride I get a call from Bernie's Bike Shop in San Diego = "your bike was damaged in transit??? Your DROP OUT HANGER for the Rear Derailer is broken. I don't have the part and you need to find one??"



OK, so I'm in Las Vegas with my daughter, and we begin to ride around town with the phone book in my lap calling away!!! OK, so every bike shop keeps saying "can you just bring in the drop out hangar, we need to look at it" even the shops that carry GIANT! So after 4 hours and no success, I call back to Ca guy, he has found one in San Francisco to order!!! Then, I finally get my brain together and call QUALITY BIKE SHOP in Savannah, Ga where the bike came from = duh!!!!! Talked to Robert and got the real scoop on the hangar et al!! Then, he has one of the mechanics call me back and they are ready to send the part to Calif for me!! Now that's what GOOD FRIENDS are all about!!! Just be careful if you're ever there if he's helping you with BIKEPANTS!!!! So I call back to Ca and Roger has found one there in San Diego! OK, so my life is back to normal!!


Picked up the bike in San Diego, rode it to the hotel, no problems!! Am with our bike mechanic Carol and we're looking at the spare tube Roger sold and I'm saying "this is not the right size" she agrees. OK, I should have thought about this this was a SIGN!!!



OK, now flash forward to Alpine and remember the hills I couldn't bike!!!! So Carol the bike mechanic and I begin to work on my bike. Yea, for those of you who know me, scary!!!!! OK, so I have NO GRANNY gear on the center ring and no lowest gear on the cog! (So much for the Bike Mech in SD). So we begin to use tools on the bike, real scary!!!! Now, I have a Granny and NO BIG ring on the center ring!! This will be the VERY best we can do, can't fix the clog at all. So I'm w/o 12+ gears!!!!!



I leave Alpine in the am, headed up a HUGE hill, steady climb for 7+ miles, through town, so lots of stops, YEA!! Of course, I can't uncleat and lay myself and bike down at stoplight! Woman standing on corner, starts laughing and says" you did that GREAT, you should be a comedian" visions of Laugh In and the tricycle!! I was not laughing!!



So I did some more cross training, make it to the SAG stop, 12 miles. I figure I walked about half. OK, we're done for the day!! Got to get the gears worked on!!!!!



Into Jacumba, quaint hotel!! NO WiFi, no laundry, not much of anything, but we can see the WALL for Mexico, spitting distance, BIG WALL!! Cold weather, dinner out of trailer, burritos for dinner!!!! BAck to room = flooded with ground water!!! Get that taken care of and wake up at 0430 and guess what it is RAINING BIG DROPS!!!!!! Still raining at 0600 = now raining on bed and lower flood is back and rising!!! It's in the 30's, the guides decide to ferry the girls down the big hill!!! She came back for the large group pf nonriders!! OK, now it is sleeting and we're loading bikes on the top of the van! OK, now it's SNOWING!!!!!!! Oh, I'm so glad I didn't ride today!!! Road trip to Brawley!! Beef Stroganoff(sp) for dinner!!!



OK, next am we have a 90+ mile trip to Blythe. Lots of rollers, few hills and I decide to ride it!!!
What a great day, good weather, good riding, the guides fixed ua the BEST picnic on the road with all kinds of sandwich stuff, ham and bean soup, et al!!! Made it into town by 1530!! yea, Lynn!!! This is our first lay day and woo hoo they have a bike shop!!!!! We get taken out to the Wester Sizzler for dinner!!



Next am, I invite my new friends to YOGA class at 0830!! Over half of the crew showed for class, many of whom had never done Yoga!!! It was great, I even discussed Yoga moves while biking!!!!



Next on the agenda is BIKE MECHANIC Class!! OK, so we take the bike apart and clean the Jessie!! It was filthy! So this is where I say the Big Pine Bike shop did NOT clean the bike?? OK, so maybe I didn't ask the right Triage ??'s when I went there?? But, the boys at Quality Bike would have called me and said "Miss Lynn, you bike really needs a good cleaning before you start across country"!! So now we clean and clean, lube and lube. Then, we take 3 of our bikes to the Bike Shop! This bike shop sells Motorcycles, Jet Ski's, and a few bike items, no bikes?!! But, the mechanic is great and he gets all 3 of our bikes fixed!! Oh yea, and I found the nail salon (2nd one, had to make an emergency stop on the first day, you know me!!! Still got the Mardi Gras toes going!! I had had a huge lunch, so didn't go out to eat with the family!!



Next am, To Salome, Az (yep, new state already)!! 64 miles!! Ride into Sweet Darlene's Rest and Bakery!! OK, you know what comes next!!!!

























The Pie Board describes this as Lemon Marange(their spelling not mine, in fact many of the pies were spelled a little differently)!

Poor presentation = paper plate, no fork, tangy lemon taste, short meringue, would have like more of the lemon layer!!! Note the Super Bowl napkin, out of my back pocket from the Albertson's Deli on the first day! Well, ya never know when you might need a napkin in the wilderness!!!! SCORE = 2 1/2 lemons!

My new family did not quite understand the payyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeee thing!! But, they now get the picture of what eating payyyyee is all about. Did not share my payyyyyee with anyone!!!!

Lunch in Hope, great sign as you are leaving town "Your are now beyond Hope"!!!!!

Into Salome, our hotel and bar across street are it!!! We get to have a Margarita Party because we're in a new state!!!!! We have Chinese chicken cooked out of the trailer!! Great!!!!!

OK, I've caught up a bunch. Many nights I'm to tired, can't get on WiFi, no WiFi, et al!! More to come!!!!!!!