Expensive but productive day

Hmmm oatmeal with dried fruit, cream, coffee, tea, toast with jam, and all
inside an RV. This morning could not have been better. Our friends from
last night invited us over for breakfast! I tell you, I really am happy we
have crossed into Utah (ok I know they are from Oregon, but we met the in
Utah) where people are downright FRIENDLY.

Ok here is the deal... I want to start out with an explanation and then an
excuse but I will give you the punchline first. Today we traveled 40 miles
but only biked 8 miles. Yes, that means we got a ride. If you hate us
now, then stop reading and never return but, if you would like to read on,
there is a good reason.

Thanks for sticking with us. This morning, Pat and Tom and their niece and
nephew were driving into Zion National Park. There is a section in Zion (1
mile long tunnel) where it is illegal to bicycle through. They offered to
rive us a ride through the tunnel. The only catch is we're camped about 20
miles from the tunnel. We had two options. Bike to Zion early in the AM
and hope to meet up with them (or anyone) to get a ride through. Second
option: get a ride there and have a guaranteed ride through. Well as they
say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," we took option 2. Also
there was a bike shop just outside of Zion I needed to get to. My bike was
limping again.

Ok before I go on, I just want to say one more time what wonderful people
Tom, Pat, John, and Jeanie are. We have not been this well taken care of
since well before we left home. We really are very grateful for all they
did for us and thank you just does not say enough.

So at the bike shop we got:
Two new tires (mine wore out plus spare)
Four water bottles
Four water bottle holders
One rack for water bottles that clamps onto Heather's seatpost and holds
two bottles
One rear flashing light for the BoB (the trailer)
Handlebar wrap
Chamois cream (butt butter)
Spare tube for the BoB
Spare tube for us
4 CO2 cartridges
Clamps to better attach rear rack to BoB
Cassette remover that does not need tools
6 spare spokes
And the best for last, Dana got his rear wheel rebuilt (explanation to
follow)

Ok, rebuilding a wheel is a big deal and not everyone knows how to do it.
I am one of those without the knowledge or skill/art to do this. Basically
you remove all the old spokes from the wheel and the hub (thats the thing
in the middle) and the rim (thats the thing on the outside that the tires
go around) are in two separate pieces. Then you put in new spokes in the
hub and attach then to the rim following a special pattern. Then the hard
part. Each spoke is tightened to the exact same tension, if you are off by
a 1/4 turn, then the wheel goes out of balance and wobbles. Not a fast or
easy process.

I walked into a small but well-stocked bike shop just south of Zion on the
9 highway called Zion Cycles www.zioncycles.com and Fred (I think he is the
owner) greeted me. My firsat thing was "can you rebuild my wheel because I
am breaking a spoke every day." He seemed to think for a moment then with
a down cast tone said " yeah, but it will take a couple of hours". I could
have hugged him. A couple of hours is WAY better than "no way" or "yeah it
can be ready by next week". This guy really rocks (yet another reason to
visit Utah) and totally dropped everything to build me a new wheel with
much better spokes. What a life saver. On top of that he added a few
washers to the attachment point of BoB and it finally fits perfectly.

The total price was arround $288. Fred gave us a huge 20% discount too.
We really appreciate it. If ever you are in this neck of the woods his
shop is for sure worth stopping in and getting whatever you need for your
bike. If all you need is service, this guy really knows what he is doing.
The best surgeons are the ones who do the work day in and day out all day
long, well folks Fred is your guy. If you read this, Thanks Fred we owe
you a lot!

While we were at the bike shop (www.zioncycles.com), a few things happened.
Tom and family left to go explore the park for the rest of the day. There
were hugs all around and we were sorry to see them leave. They wished us
well and headed out.

We met some fellow bike tourists, Wilf and Susan. They drove down from
Vancouver Island, Canada to Cedar City, UT. From there they hopped on
their bikes and have been touring the back roads for about 3 days now.
They were using full sets of panniers instead of a BoB (and yes Susan had
her fair share of weight too) like us. They have maps from the same
company as us plus some other back road maps. We found out from them that
one of the roads on our map is closed due to snow. Luckily they showed us
an alternate route to take. Maybe by the time we get there it will be
open. It was nice talking with them they really seemed to have their stuff
together and know what they are doing. Later on during their vacation they
will be on the same route as us. Hopefully we will meet up again.

So I think thus far our biggest expenses have been parts for the bike. I
guess this is a good lesson for both of us. We thought we had everything
we needed but turns out we were wrong. My rear tire was not strong enough,
my pedals were wrong, we needed a trailer, and Heather needed me to carry
her stuff. Most of this stuff could have been taken care of at home but, I
guess we will chalk this up to a learning experience. A very expensive
learning experience. I hope now we do not need to buy any more parts for
my or Heather's bike. but all of this switching and changing is really
slowing us down.

We may have a solution. Your thoughts would be appreciated here. We are
thinking of renting a car and having Heather SAG (support and gear) through
the rest of the mountains. We have not made the final decision yet but we
are leaning heavily in that direction. This way I can really push the pace
and bust out withh 70-100 mile days and still have time to eat and sleep.
If I really push it we can be out of these ups and downs in a week. This
would of course mean all our gear would be in the car not on BoB or my
bike. If you think this is a very bad idea please say so. If you agree
with this idea, well, please say so. The conflict is, Heather does not
want to give up. The reality is at our current pace we will be in the
Rockies for another month.

We heard from our Buddy Ryan today, he is well and almost in Houston (a big
stop for him with friends). We still miss riding with him. Heather and I
really are enjoying each others company so much on this trip. What a fun
adventure. We just look forward to being able to look back on this and
talk about it in the past.

I should warn you all. Service is really spotty here in Utah and Colorado.
Don't be surprised if you do not hear anything from us for several days.
Do not worry we are looking out for each other and will let you all know if
anything happens. Even without service we still write every night and will
post as soon as we can. I hope you noticed the posts for the last 4-5 days
just went up today.

Talk to you all later.
-dana

ps thanks mom for letting and TT know what we are doing.

Pps and Alex I will get you that address as soon as we move to the next
map. Thanks man