even if I had the mental, physical and emotional fitness for the ride itself, the mechanical demands of fixing issues would snap rule me out of this race. I am such a clumsy clueless bif when it comes to that stuff

Same here

I’m close to jumping out a window putting basic stuff together like toys, cribs, etc.

Oddly enough I loved to play in my dad’s shop and use his tools when I was a kid.


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SPC has bcome a mountain woman and aint about the heat. Her plan was to shift over to a really early schedule and bike at night now that the trails are ossum and they are down in elevation and the days are scorching. Unfortunately, 1 mile out of town she got a flat and will b busy for a while. Its a bummer cuz the convenience store closes at 10 and she will now not make it (no chocolate milk and ice cream which are ez calories). Good news is the bar is open till 12.

@Garick JF had chain issues that caused his major delay.

Fun race fact: the leader ED is so far ahead no one noticed he lost over 1/2 day in Montana with bike issues

in spain when it quite hot we'd usually ride from like 5 or 6 until 11ish and then take standard european 2-3 hour lunch and then resume for a few hours before calling it a day around 4-5 which gave us a few hours to explore the new town and get dinner

in the alps we didn't have that issue of heat so just rode a more regular schedule

fixed it then instantly blew out and her spares all need patches. She is now walking 3.8 miles into town and has the sadz

Ouch! That doesn't look likely to be a town with much in the way of supplies either.

this is the stuff i was dreading - surprised she didn't keep multiple spare tubes on her person though

shes riding tubeless. The tire bubbled today (which was tubeless) and now currently is riding with tubes till gets the tubeless mounted. She had 1 functional spare which insta blew and 2 more that need patches.

woah, i'm such a dinosaur didn't even know that was a thing

Definitely a testament to the terrain she was going through. Tubeless are pretty rugged. I've gone years before without getting a flat running tubeless.

She going to be able to get any of that done in the burgeoning metropolis of Gordon, Nebraska? Or is she going to have to sit tight for an Amazon order to get delivered?

ETA: On a Sunday, is anything even open in Hicksville NE?

Last night was a bumer. SPC got to town before 1200 and got her hotel after the 3.8 mile walk. The bar was another mile walk. She called and no answer. So she ate road snacks for dinner. She got all of her tubes patched. Setting a tubless in place is tricky but I guess can be done with gas station air. She could not get it to set so she is riding tubes for the net couple hundred miles. Some of which is paved so fingers corssed on that. Unfortunately she is having some issues with her cassette and most likely needs a new one. She has to make it to norfolk, where i sent her saddle for a bike shop (mile 1878). Today will most likely be short due to her late start and a lerge gap from Valentine to the next hotel. So she will prolly flip her schedule tonight and start super early tomorrow am

Not 100% sure I understood that, but if so, you're saying she's ready to go, but prolly not far and bike limping along? Then an early stop and pushing to Norfolk tomorrow early AM?

Hope all goes well and she gets into someplace with a real bike shop before anything catastrophic happens.

I have come to realize that a major component of an event like this is making critical decisions while exhausted. Simple mistakes snowball into catastrophic problems really fast. The trail SPC was on yesterday is right next to 20 they are not on 20 but a trail that mirrors it. It had nice sections but also rough ones. Last nigh spc was closing in on town and got tunnel vision. When she changed her flat she was obviously tired and focused down field. She did not inspect the tire thouroughly and there was a thorn in there that caused the instablowout which resulted in this entire ordeal.

It can be really easy to spin out and come unglued. SPC is moving slow and methodically this morning to right the ship and get back into action.


Gogogogo

G - just saw your post. The bike is currently functional but she can tell that there mechanical issues with changing gears. Shes hopeful that the patched tubes will last. There is 90 miles of paved and the rest is unpaved. They are on reasonable flat terrain so she can minimize shifting and is just hopeful for not to many flats over the next 278 miles.


ETA i think today is a short ride to valentine then tomorrow super early start with more riding at night

fingers crossed!