Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Day 43: STILL in Aurora

Today we started to wonder just where in the world our bike was. So we thought maybe we'd head over to the bike shop and see what was up. And, since we'd spent most of yesterday and the day before inside, we thought we'd try out Denver's fantastic network of bike trails, using Dave and Pickle's bikes.

After heading up to Expo Park and checking out the frisbee golf course (we didn't have a chance to play), we followed the canal trail most of the way across town to the bike shop, arriving a little after noon. It was a little bit different to be riding on individual bikes for once.

When we got to the shop, we were pleased to find out that they'd actually been trying to get in touch with us much of the morning. The bike was apparently pretty close to ready. The rear wheel rim had actually cracked in three places. The cassette was getting completely replaced. All of our chain needed to be replaced. We were going to get a new freehub. It would end up being close to $600 in repairs. But we could be on the road again in the morning. We hopped back in the bikes and went to the Spicy Pickle for lunch.

We headed back to Dave and Pickle's, enjoying the trails of Denver. Once there, we called Ryan up, who gave us a ride back to the bike shop so that we could ride the Pino all the way back to Pickle and Dave's. Riding back the second time was a bit more fun. For one, we knew where we were going. Second, the Pino felt like it could fly. Everything actually worked. Shifting, coasting, the brakes. On the way back we were having some legitimate conversation about emergencies that might arise on the bike paths when Jillian got confused and started thinking I was talking about ambulances driving down the bike paths. Thus we started the Jillian ambulance service, which consisted of a little mini truck that flew down the bike pathways, running over pedestrians in order to rescue people. It wasn't long before we had a song.

We stopped at a grocery store outside Dave and Pickle's to pick up some dinner and snacks in case we did decide to ride on. Our usual plan is for one of us to go in while the other waits with the bike. Jillian went inside and I called home to keep them appraised of our plans. I also gave every bit of small change (pennies, nickels, and dimes) to a woman who got all but violent telling me how hard life was as a woman and begging at the same time. It was a little bizarre.

Back at Pickle and Dave's we were in high spirits again. I sat down and looked for places we could cut miles.

Our first change was to switch our destination from Portland to Florence. It would mean losing those two days riding along the Pacific, but those were extra days, if you really think about it. Savings: about 275 miles.

Second change was to switch the route to move through southern Idaho instead of Montana. Flatter land. Savings: 250 miles.

That was almost a week of time. About as much time as we'd lost in Denver. We'd be losing out on two of the rides we really wanted to do, but we'd at least get to make it. We threw out our plans to reserve a car and drive to Oregon and back and shifted to getting ready. Jillian did some laundry, packed out stuff and tried to get as much blogging done as possible. I rewrote cue cards, updated the route online. Batteries were charged. Chuck was watched.

We also thought about modifying our first day out of Denver. Rather than ride north to Cheyenne we'd ride north through Boulder and Loveland, then turn west at Fort Collins and skip Cheyenne all together. The road would be significantly more barren, but we'd have a somewhat shorter first day to ease back into riding. Plus we'd get to see Boulder.

One of the last things we talked about was shelter. We knew we'd have a very, very long day in Wyoming. For several days we'd been talking about purchasing a tent or having my parents ship us a tent. Ultimately we decided the weight would be too much, and we instead decided to see if we could find something lighter. We went to bed, anxious at the thought of getting up and leaving the house we'd come to rather enjoy. Thank you Dave and Pickle!

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