Today was a day full of unique memories. We had some very tough up-hill climbs, and some great down-hills. However, in between I had major shifting problems. I lost all of my back gears at one point. Luckily, Semone was able to get me back in gear (pun intended) with some adjustments on the cover over the brake/shifter. At the end of the ride, I believed I had broken something in this part of my shifting mechanism. I called a local Trek store, M&M Cycling in Sierra Vista, AZ and asked if I got my bike there (18 miles away), if they could fix it.
The owner asked a friend of his, Bob who lives in Tombstone, to drive over and see what I was talking about. His friend came and suggested I needed help from the bike shop. Our mechanics on the ride may have been able to fix it, but I was afraid if they couldn’t, then the bike shop would be closed and I wouldn’t get my bike fixed. I had one hour to get there. Rather than inconvenience the support crew who was trying to get everyone checked in, Bob volunteered to drive to/from the bike shop. We got to the bike shop and the owner said something like “you’ve been riding on this? The whole derailleur is messed up. You could have had it go into your wheel and had one nasty crash. I don’t think it can get fixed tonight.” My heart just sank. Then he looked closer and said, I think I can fix it. He needed to straighten the derailleur hangar and make other adjustments. He test rode it and said it was ok.
Now for the rest of the story, the shop owner is Martin Coll, a former Scottish cyclocross National Champion. I’ve included a link about him. He didn’t charge me anything. Bob wouldn’t take anything from me for the drive to/from, so Bubba invited him to join us for dinner.
http://www.veloveritas.co.uk/2017/01/03/martin-coll-part1-dec16/
Stats from the day:
Start city: East Tucson, AZ
End City: Tombstone, AZ
Miles: 73.43
Total miles to date: 579.94
Pedaling time: 6 hours, 6 minutes
Avg. speed: 12.0
Feet climbed: 3,645
Fatigue factor: 8 out of 10 (10 is the worst)
Wind: start: E 7- 14 mph; end E 11 mph
Road condition: 4 out of 5 (1 is the worst)
Temperature extremes: 56 at ride start, 77 at ride finish
Scene from the road today.
I didn't know that Tombstone had a wine country.
Today's Bubba Train - Adrian joined in. This shot was at the end of the day.
At the M&M bike shop. L-R are Bob, me and Martin Coll. One of those jerseys behind us is Martin's Championship jerseys. Biking people are the BEST!!!
A group of Border Patrol officers were having lunch at the same place we did. I asked for a photo with a few of them.
When I arrived back from the bike shop, a group of riders and crew were waiting for the last two riders to arrive. It was getting dark out, so you can see their headlights. Riders are Sue (oldest rider on the tour) and Ray (another rider who has friended Sue as a riding buddy. Have I said that bike riders are the BEST!