PowerCycle

08/13 It all makes sense now. It’s Friday the 13th. That’s why I started the day off by going the wrong way for a couple miles, why my bike sandals were damaged, likely beyond repair, why my rear hub failed which may result in a flight to Florida, why I had to walk up the first hill on my entire trip and why I fell for the 2nd time. Yes, today kind of stunk. The most brutal gravel road known to man was to blame for all of this. It was just past the village of Media Cuasta next to Laguna de Ayarza. This is how steep it was– standing next to the bike with the brakes locked, the bike would actually slide backwards down the hill. It was this steep for almost a mile and a half. It wasn’t just steep either–loose rocks, mud, potholes and water channels all added to the fun.

The hub was the first thing to go. At the not-so-crazy part toward the beginning the chain would skip every once in a while. It made climbing pretty hard but the hill was so steep I would have been walking anyway. When I eventually made it to the top it was at the point that pedaling did nothing. The cassette would just spin around in a rather unhelpful manner. I’m really thankful that the town I’m in was downhill the rest of the way. The hub ended up with about 14,000 miles on it however the bearings and some other part inside were replaced earlier due to wear/defects.

Pushing a loaded touring bike uphill is about as much fun as a jumping off a building and landing on a bike with with no seat. Not only was it wearing me down the stress I was putting on my poor right sandal finally did that in too. The strap by the heel on one side pulled out which killed about half the overall strength of the shoe. I didn’t realize it but it also made unclipping from the pedal very hard. I found this out when I stopped, leaned to the right and realized with dismay that I couldn’t get unclipped. And down I went. My elbow did a great job of taking the brunt of the fall and actually didn’t come out of it too badly. It was a really good thing I wasn’t on the right side of the road when this happened because I might have tipped right off a cliff.

When I rolled into town my luck changed for the better. A guy named Samuel had his son take me over to a bicycle shop (that I never would have found). Unfortunately the older gentleman working there had no experience with the hub or the cassette and couldn’t even get the cassette back together again. There wasn’t anything he could do so I pushed my way over to the police station and asked if there was a hotel. It was only a block away so I headed over there to come up with a plan. The place was locked up and the owners didn’t live there so now I was stuck. That’s when the guy living across the street came over (Antony). He spoke English and after hearing my sob story offered to let me stay at his place in a spare bedroom. Needless to say I was thrilled. After settling in we went over to grab a beer. That always helps me think.

Here’s the plan: tomorrow at 7am his brother is going to drive me (and the rear wheel) to a bicycle shop in Guatemala City (5 hours from here). This will cost me 3x the bus fare but having a guide is worth it. If they have a new Phil Woods hub I’ll get that. If they have a new PW hub and a good wheel I’ll get the wheel too. The rims are getting pretty worn on mine anyway. They could probably survive to Columbia but if I get get good ones now it’s worth it.

If they don’t have a PW hub (and they won’t) and they can’t order/install one then I’ll go to the airport and see how much it’ll cost for a ticket to Florida. I can arrange to have a new hub shipped there overnight and finding someone to install it is easy. The cost of the flight will work out to be the same as staying in Guatemala City for 10 days assuming it gets there that fast. Tony is fine with me leaving my bike and gear in the spare room if need be.

I’m starting to think Ortlieb, Phil Woods, Shimano, Koga, Oakley, Schwalbe and Tubus should sponsor me. If their gear can survive me it can survive anything.

I also broke my top speed record… 44.2 mph. This was on a paved section first thing in the morning (when I was going the wrong way so you can imagine how pleased I was to have to ride back up the hill… I guess it was funny in a sad way).

GPX Track