6/17/13 Mon Day 34 Hot Sulfur Springs, CO to Frisco, CO 57 mi

This was a bad day.

Temperature was 42 degrees at  5 AM. We were awakened by blowing train whistles. The trains were coming through every 2 to 3 hours.

It was just this morning that I discovered the flat tire that had been caused by a piece of wire picked up the day before.  I fixed it that easily enough. As I was pedaling off the rear deraileur would not shift due to a broken inner cage.  No clue as to how it broke.  Had to shorten the bicycle chain and bypass the deraileur.  This effectively made it a two or three speed bike that would somtimes shift on its own as the chain would uncontrollably shift from one rear gear to another since the deraileur could no longer wrap the chain tightly around the cogs.

As I was dealing with this I met Phil who was doing the Trans Am. I also met Charles and Sue, a couple who had done the TransAm in 2006.

I went along like that for 25 miles before I finally decided that would never get  me to  the bike shop in Frisco, CO  that had my replacement deraileur 58 miles from where this all started.  Having it shift on its own suddenly was also dangerous.

I hitched a ride with a guardian angel who took me all the way to the Wilderness Sports Bike Shop in Frisco.  He was an electrical contractor who was doing some work on cell towers.  He had also been evacuated from Colorado Springs where they had forest fires that destroyed 484 homes.  His was spared.

I was in and out of the bike shops in 45 minutes with a new deraileur.  Having gears that work is such a wonderful thing!

After I got the ride from the electrition and got the bike fixed I doubled back on the bicycle to make sure that I covered the full distance of the Trans Am as a matter of honor and honesty.

That doubling back on the bike got me back to Frisco just as it was turning pitch black.I met Charlie  at Wal-Mart.We camped in the  city park in back of the store. 

As we were setting up the tents the automatic sprinklers started and gave Charlie a good cold blast of water. He was wearing just shorts and shorts short sleeved shirt.  Invigorating to say the least. 

Climbed 3143 ft today.