First off, the kids are fine, I am fine and Chris is doing well.
Here is our catastrophic ending.
It was the first day we had actually ridden IN rain (April, 12th), and with the rain came more wind, but we trekked on in the weather for the last 20 of our 45 miles to Carroll. We biked through some beautiful trails on the Sauk Trail, starting in Lake View going all the way to Carroll. As we turned the last turn of the day, at an intersection in the town of Carroll, I heard a huge 'crack' come from behind me, followed by a grating sound. I got a crazy adrenaline rush just imagining what could have just happened, as Chris and I automatically got into the grass on the side of the road. Profanities were coming from both of us as we stood over his bike and saw that his derailleur was on the opposite side of the bike as it was supposed to be, jammed into his cassette. Due to a stupid little bungie cord. We immediately found help from some very kind individuals to the nearest hotel - which began our search of how to go about fixing this catastrophe.
Even though these don't even begin to capture the damage...they are better then nothing. Here are some pictures.
After two days of searching, (with the help of the hotel, and bike shops in different towns in Iowa - who then called practically every bike shop in the Iowa/midwest area), and Chris' back pain throbbing from being jolted by his chain, things were looking grim. On closer inspection even more of his bike was broken then we had first seen on the side of the road, his rear fender, tire and spokes were looking bad, as well as possible hub damage. Our lodging and food costs plus the loss of days we would have to take on were adding up to to much. Crunching numbers we were finding that even a last minute jump to get from Iowa to Maine was cheaper then staying for another two days looking for parts, not to mention the actual assembly and labor charges! The amount of money, time, and resources we needed to get the bike fixed in Iowa didn't work with our money, time, and resources. We would rather see it all go to charity, or to helping people. Such little response for such a huge charity drive had been rubbing Chris the wrong way. Since he was the one who had put so much effort in getting the word out through different venues many months before we set out on the journey, his spirit was downcast. Our adventure however was just that - our adventure. So ultimately we chose to do what we found best.
Carroll, wasn't our intended stop, but apparently it was where we were ending. We had a good ride and a wonderful experience (weather aside), but we were sad to see it end when it did. I am secretly planning a "tour 2.0" to revisit the areas we missed by having to come to Maine earlier then we planned.
But here were are, in northern Maine. Planning and plotting our next adventure. I will be updating our day trips and multi-day adventures in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes these coming months.
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