Day 30 – July 16th

During the course of this trip, I have often found myself confronted with an internal battle of addiction. Over the last few years I have had a harder and harder time dealing with it; I’d hoped that cycling away the majority of my day would equate to less time to think about it and thus less time to succumb to it. I am proud to say that during this entire journey the temptation has only proven too strong once. However, that does not mean the constant attack upon my will power has gone away or remained hidden; quite the contrary in fact. Often times the only thing that keeps me in the saddle when confronted with my drug of choice is the support of Gary. Many of my friends and family may know of it already, but some of you may be unfamiliar with this powerful narcotic-like substance I am always battling.

Well two days ago was one of the toughest bouts I have ever had in dealing with it; I actually came across a sign advertising for it! Early into the ride, cranking on the pedals, feeling light yet strong, I was really getting into the days ride when I saw a billboard that nearly knocked me off my bike. I could not believe the inconsiderate bastards would promote a direct confrontation to my senses. The sign read “Antique Store: Over 40,000 books”. How could they? While I am well into the seven steps of the recovery program, being smacked with 40,000 used books is more than one man should have to face. Had it not been for Gary screaming at me from behind to keep moving, I know without a doubt I would have been in there, nose deep in books, looking for some old classics. Wow, I was close to a total and complete regression of my hard earned progress. Thanks Gary for helping me stay strong!!!!

As you can imagine, this morning I had to suffer another test: Glen’s Rare and Used Books beckoned and this was only a few miles after starting out. I really wasn’t prepared, but still managed to resist. Seriously though, someone should have done a better job of plotting this course so that I could better focus my efforts on cycling than avoiding books. Ahh well, like so many other pains on this great adventure, I will just have to deal with it.

The ride, aside from the books, was going great today. I was feeling strong on the bike, and the right knee, which has been tight the last couple days, was finally starting to loosen up. The only issue I was really having was the annoying ‘creaking’ sound that was being produced by my tone deaf bike. And old faithful had been making the same bloody ear music for the last couple of days. There was definitely something going on with the crank, bottom bracket, chain, or rear cassette. Finally, after 180 miles of dealing with the grinding, I came to the nerve fried conclusion that I needed to get it into a bike shop; today. After stopping for a quick bite to eat at a small family diner, Larry had a shop picked out and we were setup to get it taken in. While Gary and I took care of business on the road, Larry did the same with my malfunctioning machine. My initial thought was that the bottom bracket had water in it, and thus the bearings were making the awful sound. The mechanic Larry brought it too thought the same thing and soon had the bottom bracket cleaned out and re-greased. Yet the sound remained. Over the next several hours this master wrench put my bike through the ringer; switching out cranks, pedals, the big ring, cassette and finally the entire rear wheel. After doing a remarkable job in diagnosing the problem, which was the housing of the rear hub, he sent Larry and the bike to a local Trek dealer to have the problem resolved. The Trek dealer was able to get the housing replaced, and all appears well. He did inform Larry that this is a known problem and should it recur to bring it to another dealer and they will switch the entire rear wheel out; he would have switched it out versus just the housing but did not have the wheel on hand. None the less, after hours of patience on Larry’s part and some pretty astounding wrench work, my bike is back and will be with me as I set out tomorrow for another day of riding in New York. While I am very thankful to have had Gary’s other bike available for the final 40 miles of today’s ride, I missed the geometry and feel of my own bike terrible. After 3,000 miles in 30 days, we’ve formed quite a strong bond.

The day ended with us in Oneida, NY fully geared up and anxious for the next three days. Mr. Adams joined us again for our traditional post ride salute.