Fargo and Away

Soon after I arrived at my hotel in Jackson. I received a text from Kai. He had arrived at the next campground, and had experienced both weather and mechanical difficulties.

“Got to the campground. Pretty brutal day. Last 5 miles just mud. My belt came off and my rear brake is busted.”

Ugh. I was glad to hear that he had arrived, but worried about his ability to continue on. About a half hour later I received another text:

“Fixed the brake.”

That was welcome news. Apparently, the mud was so thick it built up on his tires and pushed his drive belt (like a bike chain but made of rubber) off. The only way to fix that is to remove the rear tire, refix the belt, and then but the rear wheel back on. It’s a bit of a task in good conditions. At elevation, in the rain and cold, with tires caked in mud the consistency of chunky peanut butter, it was chore. Kai later told me he worked on the bike for 45 minutes before he was fortunate that another cyclist came by and lent him a hand. He finally got the drive belt back on, which would allow him to pedal, but the rear brake wasn’t working. Fortunately, he finally managed to fix it.

“Everything was full of mud, so when I got the wheel back on to get the belt aligned the disc brake went in wrong. Luckily it was an easy fix.”

I was glad to hear Kai was able to get it sorted out, and relieved that I had turned back instead of continuing on with him. I don’t know how I would have been able to deal with a mechanical issue like that on my bike. I had enough trouble staying warm on my ride. I couldn’t imagine having to stand in the rain and work through a tricky bike fix feeling as run down as I did. I was glad I listened to my body. I took some medicine and went to sleep.