So many days have gone by spent visiting w/ my now 85 yo dad and (2) 50 something yo sisters. eating great food, splurging on calories, and a bit of scotch & beer. My ride yesterday @ Mohican manifested the results of my choices.
Last Tues i rode that horribly muddy West Branch SP. I stopped @ Eddy’s in Stow, OH for shop to remove cassette from freewheel. Curt did. I spun my freewheel and it spun as freely as my slow uphills. Determined that hub needed to be serviced. negotiated schedule for Fri @ 4:00. Stow is about 80 mins away via interstate and thru Akron during what is left of a rush hour. Arrived @ shop. Long time for shop to report on status of bike which was not in the form of my bike being pushed out from behind closed doors. Report was my bearings were toast caused my my lack of maintenance. New bearings were ordered for free from Chris King in Portland, OR, guess on delivery was this Mon or Tues. I was pissed, I wanted my bike back so i could continue westward. I was not a happy camper as my schedule had been derailed. The hub was a bunch of parts in a baggie, it could not be reassembled w/o replacement bearings. Shit. I vented my frustration on not being called when the issue was discovered. To the shop’s credit they focused on fixing my bike. I left w/ plan of them replacing bearings on either Mon or Tues. Sat afternoon I received a call from the wrench who worked on my bike. He apologized for not calling me. He said my bike was ready as he pulled the bearings from his King hub and installed them in mine! Wow! What looked like a shitty deal turned smiley face again. Shop really stepped up. Sunday AM I drove back up to Stow, picked up sweet spinning rear wheel and drove back down to Mohican for a ride. Plans are now back on track.
Tues afternoon I will visit Indy cycles and go on a shop night ride on Brown County trails. Visit w/ owner Scott whom I met in Brevard during winter of 08-09. Need to be PUSH in Loveland, CO on Fri AM. I would like to ride Wilson, KS b4 PUSH. It’s 1300 miles from Mansfield, OH to Loveland, CO.
Spoke w/ Grace this AM. She will be around Breckenridge, CO on Fri for a bunch of days. I am a Grace groupie but in her inner circle.
Toured the family aluminum foundry run by middle sister Lynn and sort of overseen by our dad. Lynn’s son is showing interest in foundry and might stay after school to become the 4th generation in the business. He is sharp but then aren’t most college kids? I sense he is above the normal.
Ohio is hot & humid, albeit not always hot & humid. Have had several sweltering days and some pleasant ones. My guess is I am better acclimated to the heat and humidity which really extract energy. Quit complaining. By Fri i will be out of the plains and into the CO mountains for the higher elevation and dry summer heat. My frige has trouble keeping daytime temps low. CO elevation sometimes prevents the automatic burn start. I’ll take the mountains.