by Jeff

I woke up this morning with one thought on my mind: can the bike be repaired?  As many of you know, there’s nothing like desperation to improve one’s prayer life. The great thing is, the Lord is fine with that… regardless of our circumstances, in good or bad, He welcomes us to come to Him with our needs, our joys, and anything that’s on our heart or mind. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Rain was threatening in the morning, so, having learned our lesson in Petoskey, we packed up quickly and were ready to head out by 9:30am. Well done crew!  Dave and Sharon Buck came by our campsite with all the best breakfast foods:  an abundance of yogurt, fruit, and that most healthy and delicious of all cereals: Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries. I, along with the rest of my family,  hope there are Crunchberries in heaven.

While the rest of the family ate the amazing buffet laid before them, Dave and I loaded up the crippled tandem and headed to Einstein Cycles less than a mile away. I had called them the day before to let them know our issues, and Dan (one of the mechanics) suggested we get the bike there when they opened at 10:00am. When Dan saw it, he gave a low whistle and said, this is going to take some work. But he was optimistic, and so Dave and I returned to the campsite to finish breakfast.

An hour passed. Then another half hour… and no word from the bike shop. I was getting nervous. I called, and Dan told me that his manager had to run out to get a blow torch… something about bending metal is easier when you have a torch.  *Gulp.  Okay, sounds, um, good!  The derailleur hanger, which is the mount for the mechanism that moves the chain up and down the various gears, was bent in a couple of different ways. Translation: the steel, which isn’t supposed to bend very much, can break when a lot of pressure is applied. Hence, a torch would make the metal more malleable, allowing the metal to be bent, but it would also leave it more brittle. More praying…

After breakfast, we decided to divide and conquer: Angela took the kids and biked to the laundromat with all of our dirty, smelly clothes, while Dave Buck took me, Cora, and Caleb back to Einstein Cycles. Einstein’s is a fabulous bike shop, by the way. It even has a coffee shop attached to it, so that’s where we waited while the bike’s outcome was being determined. As soon as I got there, it started hailing–like crazy hail–and I was soooo glad that we packed up when we did.  I checked with Angela to make sure they had made it inside before the hail hit – they had (barely!).  In the words of Hannibal from the A-Team: I love it when a plan comes together.

So, we waited in the coffee shop. Finally, at 12:45 in the afternoon, Dan came over. And… he was able to fix everything! He bent everything back into shape, installed a new derailleur, new chain, and adjusted everything.  Not only that, but he tightened my headset, which is the steering element of the bike–it was quite loose, and I wasn’t sure how to do that job on this strange tandem bike. What a guy! I can’t heap enough praise on this shop and the professionalism & kindness that I experienced there. Here’s what Dan wrote on the receipt, among the itemized list of things they did:

Labor 1 hour: Surgery on very bent derailleur hanger and dropout

Labor 1 hour: Lots of surgery, very delicate, careful surgery with a propane torch.

Ha ha. Love the humor. It was an expensive repair, but they also gave a significant discount. Like I said, these guys were generous and awesome. And I picked up a correct size master link chain for the next time the chain breaks!

See the black parts? Those were yellow, pre-propane torch. Time for a new paint job…

The mechanics at Einstein Cycles. Dan’s on the right, he masterfully put my bike back together. Thanks Dan!

Time to get back on the road! More to come in Part Two!