Day 122: Bike problems
Back on the bike again today. Legs are not happy with me. Initially I thought of aiming for Tequila today (150 kms) but then realized that it is basically all uphill between here and there. So picked a spot half way called Ixtlan and aiming for there today. This is 83 kms and about 1300 meters of climbing.
I am back on the 15D road. Again this is a paid road I shouldn’t be on. Would occasionally get a beep from passing vehicles. I choose to understand these as beeps of encouragement rather than beeps of “get off the fucking road”.
At about 15 km into the day, just as I was starting to get into my grove, I hit a problem. My chain detached and became stuck between the cassette and the wheel… Finding it hard to describe this but will attach a pic. And it was rightly stuck. Couldn’t for the life of me get the leverage to pull it free. Ended up having to take off the back wheel and then with both hands managed to get the leverage to pull it free. I could then reattach the chain.
However, how did this happen? With the bike still upside down, I went through each gear and when on the last gear I could still downshift another gear sending the chain between the wheel and the cassette. For all the experienced people, this would be an easy problem to solve but I am not experienced with bike stuff (tho I can now change a tire). I could make a guess and say that maybe the limit screws need adjustment. However, this is my first time cycling since the bike was on the bus yesterday so maybe the derailleur or derailleur hanger is bent again.
So now I have a choice to make. I could technically cycle now, but just need to not go down a gear when in the lowest gear. So my choices are to try to fix the problem here on the side of the road, cycle back to Tepic to a bike shop or cycle on.
I decided to just cycle on. I just need to be careful to know what gear I am in when shifting down. Then tonight, or more probably at the next rest day in a bigger town, I can try to fix it. I like the idea of waiting till the next big town so I could try to fix myself and will have a bike shop nearby when I fail miserably.
Found a cheap motel in Ixtlan. The shower didn’t work but still leaked water, no locks or keys and not the cleanest. Was loud and barely enough room to fit the bike inside. But was cheap exactly when I needed.
