Ritt entertained the Art Moen folks with his juggling for a
few minutes, then we loaded our gear on the bikes and started to leave.
Monday, October 7, 1996 - Time out: 9:40 AM + 70°
A lost day
I decided that our risk of failing to find lodging for the night was too great; that we needed to carry tents and sleeping bags to avoid future disaster. The only rational solution was to return to Williamston, get my sleeping bag and tent and a set of extras I had for Ritt. We rode our bicycles across Jackson to Enterprise Rent-a-Car, located in the Art Moen Chevrolet building, rented a vehicle, stowed our bikes in the Art Moen body shop, then drove an hour back to Williamston, picked up the camping gear and returned, getting back to Art Moen around 2:30 PM.
Ritt entertained the Art Moen folks with his juggling for a
few minutes, then we loaded our gear on the bikes and started to leave.
Disaster struck.
Ritt's rear rack snapped off.
Being real nice, the Art Moen Chevrolet Body Shop folks repaired the rack (temporarily) by shortening the strut and drilling a new hole for the bolt. I was skeptical that the rack would hold a serious load. With the realization that this may be the last chance for days before Ritt could replace the rack, we got the Art Moen Body Shop folks to direct us to a local bicycle shop a couple of miles away.
We then rode to On 2 Wheels, on the west side of Jackson, where
Ritt bought a new Blackburn rack which they installed for him. Ritt's bike
is a 20 year old custom frame. Fitting and attaching the rack was more complex
than average.
While I was waiting for Ritt, I bought a new bulb for my NiteRider headlight.
By the time Ritt's rack was installed, his flag reattached to the new rack and everything loaded on the bicycle, it was 5:15 PM. We had blown the entire day.
Sometimes, like when Nelson and I left Fairbanks and had to return to replace his tires, you have to work out some wrinkles before getting very far. I'm not really upset by the delay. We had to expect some trouble on a trip of this magnitude.
I was concerned that Ritt was not using front panniers and could be overloaded on the rear of his bicycle. He told me that he had two sets of low-rider front panniers at home in Tucson, so hated to buy another set on the trip, and who would blame him; but, I was worried that he would have more problems with his load. Ritt is far more experienced than I with long-distance bicycle travel, but his experience is limited to camping-out and he doesn't seem to realize that there is no real avoiding some camp-out preparedness even for folks who stay in motels.
Total distance traveled today: 8 miles (a record low for the entire trip).
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997