Durham, NC to Greensboro, NC

Even when stuff goes badly, things always work out. That's what I've found to be true on this trip, and even though I have experienced several jams or trouble spots and been rescued or worked through them each time, I am still amazed when things end up working out just right the next time I'm in a bind.

This morning I said a final 'thank you' to Dave in Durham, and pedaled west on a semi-busy highway (Route 70), towards Greensboro. I knew that I had a broken spoke and several damaged ones that I had to be careful about, so I was awfully careful to avoid potholes, bumps, and even pebbles. Trying to navigate the roads this way I was reminded of my old mountain biking habits of trying to find The Line to ride through rock fields, or muddy stretches, or over roots.

I was doing pretty well, though I was feeling kind of tired, when on mile 13, another spoke popped. I heard it, and looked at my rear wheel once I'd stopped, and sure enough, one more was kaput. Eight spokes had been damaged about 90 miles before, back in VA, just before the Kerr Dam, so two of those eight were now gone. I got scared that I had pushed my luck one too many times. I thought, "Why didn't I just get this fixed in Durham?!"

But, there I was on the road. I had biked thirteen miles, and I figured I had about 40 more to go. So, with my stubborn streak intact, I didn't give a thought to turning back. Onward then, down two spokes. My wheel was starting to wobble a little bit, but the rest of the spokes were holding, and I was ROLLING!

Once your wheel is compromised by broken spokes, it starts to be not perfectly round and true. Also, it puts odd and greater amounts of stress on other spokes, so often other spokes break more easily. The third spoke popped twenty four miles later. At this point, I really did think that I might have pushed my luck too hard and began to make my peace with needing a ride to a bike shop and began to plan and strategize.

Three spokes missing, I was 37 miles done on the day, and I figured I had about 16 more miles to go. Slowly and carefully, I rolled onwards! I bought some lunch, and I stopped for a nap in front of an ice cream/lunch shop. This turned out to be the funniest part of my day.

While on the bench outside the shop, I was napping. I heard someone banging on the window behind me. I couldn't see who it was, so I wondered if I was being told to move along. Nope. The banging started again, and this time it was more persistent until I turned around. This time, though, I caught a glimpse of a young boy ducking down out of my sight. What fun! He was banging on the windows and playing hide and seek! I played along, and then when I saw that there were two nice looking young girls giggling with two adults, I decided that I couldn't pass up the chance to talk with these fun people.

I was right in my guess that these people would be very nice and fun to speak with. They loved my bicycle mission, as were a few other folks at adjoining tables. I spoke for a bit, and then decided that I needed to juggle for them all, so I grabbed by beanbags and proceeded to have some fun in the store with the nice folks.

At the time, I didn't notice that the management were not pleased. They didn't like the fact I wasn't buying anything, and when I asked to borrow a pen, they didn't say 'no,' but I got the coldest looks and I finally asked if I should leave and she said simply, "Yes." Ugh. How to ruin a good moment! Fortunately, I'm no longer that shaken, and I used the pen to take down the email of a fun lady who likes to clown around (JoAnn), and returned it to the counter. Then, although I had offers from other patrons to buy something, I decided the best move was to skedaddle, and not support that business.

Packing up and preparing to head off, one of the women from an adjacent table met me outside as she was leaving, and pressed some cash into my hand (AWW!!) and told me it just something little to help me along. How kind! She told me she'd overheard something the staff had said, and told me that not all of them were like that. I would get some better Southern Hospitality later in the day.

Buoyed by the generosity and still glowing from the smiling faces my juggling had created, and a nap, I set off. Remarkably, I made it into Greensboro's busy streets/highways without loosing another spoke. Whew!

Before I found the first bike shop, though, I was enticed to a roadside tent with a few fellas cooking up something. I decided I was still hungry, and figured a couple of hot dogs would be fine and fun. Huh. They weren't cooking hot dogs. Nor were they serving burgers. In this part of the country, they were selling deep fried fish! I had me some delicious catfish from the fellas at Crazy's stand. They figured that we got along so well because I was crazy for doing my bike ride, and they work for Crazy's stand. Thanks, Greyhound and ______.

It did take me quite a while to find the right bike shop, though. It took me three bike shops and more than a half an hour. At the last and best stop, they pointed out that my frame was in far worse shape than I'd last seen it. Cycles de Oro is the name of the shop, and the staff was SO helpful. I asked them to fix my back wheel anyway, to try to limp into Winston-Salem, only 20-30 miles further on. They suggested some mickey-mousing strategies for the frame, and fixed my wheel FREE OF CHARGE, working past their closing/quitting time. My goodness. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

But, that's not all! Louis, one of the mechanics working on my wheel, upon hearing that I planned to camp next to the bike shop, offered me his back yard, just up the road. I accepted, and was in for a treat. His parents, Michelle and Sheldon, are avid bicyclists and Sheldon and Louis have done some touring. They are involved with Bicycling in Greensboro (see http://bikegso.org). They took me right in, fed me, asked great questions, and told fun stories. Sheldon showed me older B.O.B. trailers, and his many recumbent bikes. They knew just what to feed a hungry touring cyclist. They let me take a shower. And then they set me in front of a computer connected to the Internet with great folk music playing on the radio (The Back Porch show from public radio out of Chapel Hill). Ahhhhhh!

Tomorrow is another challenge, another day, but tonight I rest in a relative care-free environment. I guess both of those things are what made me want to do a ride like this.

Total Stage XIII Distance: 63 miles

Stage Time On Bike: a little over 5 hours

Total Stage time: a little under 11 hours

Total Trip Distance: over 1000 miles!!!

Net Elevation Change: +++

On to Stage XVIII

Back to Stage XVI

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