Derailed

To Schenectady, New York -- 30.4 miles, 10.0 mph, 1350 ft

As planned, today was another short day.  We weren't in a particular hurry, so we slept in till 7:30 and then enjoyed the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Though it was still cool outside, the sun was shining as we headed out of Troy. Unfortunately, a mile into the ride, a bungee cord on the back rack of Meg’s bike somehow leaped into the chain, jammed in the rear derailleur, and ripped it into two pieces. Ah, definitely not fixable!

We had planned to visit a bike store on the way out of town anyway, so now we just had a couple more items to add to the list. Since the bike shop was still a couple miles away, we shortened the chain, removed the derailluer, and turned the bike into a single speed. Dex and I slowly coaxed it along to the bike shop while Meg and Kylie stopped to pick up some snacks for the road.

A couple hours and couple hundred dollars later, we were on our way. However, since the only 10-speed derailleur at the shop was a Shimano Deore (not XTR), it wasn't perfectly compatible with the XTR shifters.  Either that or the installation and adjustment was just beyond me, which is entirely possible. In any event, ten clicks of the shifters only results in eight jumps on the back cogs. Hmm... oh, well. At least it's adjusted to make sure the uphill gears are available. We're not that concerned with going fast down hill; we've got plenty of weight to take care of that.

Kylie, collecting metal nuts, bolts, and ball bearings

Fortunately, the ride was mercifully flat as we are now following part of the Erie Canal bike trail (and Mohawk Hudson bikeway). The notable exception was the last few miles up to the home of our Warm Showers hosts.

Dan and Anita are awesome. Despite having evening tickets for a concert in Troy, they graciously accommodated us. Their custom built timber house is fantastic and they fed us an incredible meal of lasagna, salad, and ice cream for dessert. Dan offered us the use of their car in the event we wanted to stay put tomorrow. The weather forecast is for 100% rain from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and temps in the low to mid forties. We might not make much progress tomorrow.