It was a treat not to have to pack up being in a hotel last night. Hotel waffles were tasty.
My rear wheel made a “ting” sound. I thought it was the kickstand but when I pulled over, I discovered a broken spoke. I felt all the spokes and discovered two more were broken. Uh oh! We removed my wheel and replaced 2 of the spokes because they were on the “non-drive side” but I didn’t have a tool to remove the rear sprocket to replace the 3rd spoke so we carefully rode to the nearest bike store which was in the town of Marion.
The owner, Rich Curfman was super nice and generous. When he saw my special belt drive and sprocket, he scratched his head. I was hoping to use a big channel lock pliers or even a pipe wrench but he didn’t have ones big enough. I looked on his pegboard for ideas and saw a big C-clamp – “that might work”. I got an old inner tube to protect the sprocket teeth and it worked! Rich used his cool spoke cutting/threading tool to cut me some new spokes and used his magic touch to tension and true my wheel. We had a good chat with Rich and he said he’s been doing this for 50 years.
While we were at it, we adjusted Steve’s brakes and we were off and running. Thanks Rich!
We ate lunch at Kammie’s Kafe and continued on to our campsite at Miami State Recreation Area. Our camping neighbor gave us some beers and we toasted another good day.
So far we have been in these 6 states: DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
Today we rode 59 miles from Muncie to Miami mostly on Cardinal Greenway, Sweetser Switch trail, Converse Connector trail, and farm roads.
Ting, ting, ting the sound that brings terror to the touring cyclists aaah broken spokes. Lucky you had some spares. Your spot achme must be getting some serious touring miles. Weak old spokes heavy load and rough roads suprise… what bike is Steve riding? You guys are looking good only 70 more days to go. Hang in there.