Cross Your Fingers

As I mentioned before, Ben said Kentucky was a horrible state (with wonderful people). I had hopes that Virginia would be better. It sure didn't start out that way! Although he did find a bike shop in Damascus, VA that replaced his crank for just $40 (he had figured it would be well over $100).

This is the guy hammering away and shouting as he replaced Ben's crank.

Then, because he was so close to Tennessee state line, he dipped down and took a great shot in 

                                                                            front of the sign. 

He told me later that he was cruising along, in the sunshine (after days and days of rain) and feeling great, loving his ride and the perfect day. Then, at the bottom of a curve, his frame broke, almost dumping him onto the pavement, but he saved himself from faceplanting (he said he hasn't hit the pavement once on this entire trip).

Broken frame, sideways view. Sad Day.

The little red balloon is Rural Retreat.

He tried to call me, but had no reception. He sent a text asking me to call when I could, but of course he  had no reception again when I got the message. He had to walk his bike 6 miles to get to a place called Rural Retreat with reception. We were both pretty bummed about the frame, assuming that his best and only hope was to find a bike shop and a new frame to transfer everything to. I don't know anything about welding, but his frame is aluminum and that is hard to weld (or maybe there just aren't many people who do it. I am not sure which it is.) We disconnected and he was going to go into the gas station to see if they could point him to anyone who could help him. Of course, this was on Sunday, so the gas station was the only thing open in town (not that Rural Retreat has much to offer besides the gas station).

While that is going on, and his phone is going dead, Ed and I are using the Internet to see what options he has. We have wonderful friends who looked up bike shops, eBay sales of frames, friends and family in the area and all sorts of great ways to support his ride. We spent most of Sunday figuring his frame was toast. It has seen a few miles after all, with two or three seasons of cyclo-cross, then four years in San Francisco and 4000 miles of the cross country trip. But we were sad for Ben, thinking that 300 miles from the Atlantic Ocean his frame had given out on him.

Fixed frame. Not pretty, but rideable!

Oh, ye of little faith (as my mom used to say). While we were worrying in Clovis, Ben had found a guy who had just opened a machine shop. Although he could not weld aluminum, he knew a guy who could. So they loaded up Ben's bike in his truck and drove and drove out into the boonies to see this guy, a grouchy miracle worker who fixed Ben's frame.

Ben spent the night in the machine shop with his new friend (who lives there as he tries to get started in his business), finding lots of common ground. He just really has met great people. I know I keep saying this, but it is important to hear. The country is FILLED with wonderful, generous, supportive people.

 In fact, so many people have been so kind to Ben, that he is almost on people overload. If you know Ben, you know how incredibly sociable he is, and I never would have thought he could "get tired of people." But he told me (before this last breakdown) that there were some nights when he declined an offer of a place to stay, choosing instead his tent in a quiet park, because he just needed some alone time to sketch and relax.

Virtually candlelight sketching

Of course, the last night he wanted alone time came after a long hot, sweaty day with a sore ankle. He had found a gas station that had air conditioning and chairs to sit in. He was relaxing, and getting ready to re-tape his ankle when an entire high school football team came crowding in, chasing him out into the heat. Ben has never had much tolerance for football jocks (to put it mildly!) and when they started to hassle him about his bike and spandex, he came pretty close to doing something dumb (i.e. starting a fight with the entire team) until they backed off after realizing he had ridden his bike from California. But he still resented them for taking his cool air.

So, he found a small city park with a cool playground and set up his tent. I suspect this was a better night than the last one he spent in Kentucky. It was behind a church (lots of churches out there welcome cyclists). They had a pit toilet, water and electricity for him to use. All was good, until he used the toilet and a spider came crawling up out of the pit and onto him. I asked what kind it was, and he said, "It was just a little brown guy, but where he was sure made him look like the biggest spider in the world right then!"

 But now he is crusiing along in Virginia, and all is right with the world. He spent last night in a small town outside of Roanoke.

"When it all works you can ride for ever; today I did 116 miles."

More Kentucky Problems

Ben sent me a text last night saying he hated Kentucky as a state, but had met some really nice people. He was camping in the front yard of some of those nice folks. Here are some more of the issues he has faced in Kentucky.

This is the crank on his bike that broke. He was lucky to find a guy with a machine shop who helped him weld it so he could continue.

The clouds are building up for another rain storm. It is just no fun to have to ride and ride in the rain, knowing there really isn't a dry stop at the end. He was lucky enough to find another family who let him camp in their front yard. Some of these people even let him use their showers (not sure if that happened last night or not).











Apparently it has been raining so much in this area that it caused a landslide. This shot was taken right before that whole hillside just collapsed. Ben said it was crazy and he had never seen anything like it. I was hoping for a picture of the actual slide, but he said he needed both hands to steer around it. And that comment just really makes Mom feel sooo much better. All I could think about was that horrible landslide in Washington that wiped out an entire community.









He should be approaching Virginia soon. This is the map of that part of his route, then he heads north.

On the map below, he comes in on the orange line, then heads north on the yellow.  I do not know his timeline, because HE does not know his timeline. 

Hazards in Hazard

Beautiful road, but I don't think it is one he needed.

For some reason Kentucky has been VERY hard on Ben. One day rained so hard the whole day that he had a hard time seeing the road signs for the little byways he was supposed to follow. He got lost and went about 30 miles out of his way. Then his crank fell apart. But as he was on the side of the road in the rain, a nice guy stopped in a truck and offered to take him to his friends' house where Ben could spend the night. (I hope his friends were cool with him offering!) I think this was in Bardstown.

Swollen ankle

Ben thought he fixed it, but his tool wasn't strong enough to really tighten the crank on completely. So it kept coming loose. It was still raining, his gear was wet, he has a twisted ankle that is swelling up big time, and he calls me and asks if I can find a place to stay in Springfield, KY. No luck, but I help him find a more direct route to the next town (Danville) and a place to stay there. He stays the night in what he first thought was a very over-priced Super 8. But the night desk clerk washed his laundry for him. (He really does meet wonderful people. Or maybe he just really smelled.). Danville also had a bike shop that let him use their tools.

Broken crank

Yesterday he calls me just outside of Hazard, Kentucky (Of Dukes of Hazard fame?) His crank is totally dead now, and he has jury rigged it with one of his back up spokes (he took several with him in case any broke. Not sure if he has actually used them as spokes, but they have come in handy to fix other breaks). His ankle hurts still, he can't ride the bike any further, and there is no camping in the area. So another hotel night. Probably a good thing because as he was coming into town, a truck going 70 mph had a tire blow out next to him on the road. Said it was the scariest and most dangerous thing to happen to him on the trip so far.

He also has to figure out how to get the 125 miles to Damascus, VA and the closest bike shop. No bus, rental cars cost too much (and don't have a spot in Damascus for drop off), and he sure can't pedal it without the crank fixed. I suggested he go to a truck stop and hitch a ride.

I suspect he would switch rides with either this or. . .

. . .with this right about now.

Yes, I actually told my son to hitch hike. In spandex! In Hazard, Kentucky! Yikes!

As Ben said, movies make it look easy and fun to hitch a ride. No such luck. But he was lucky enough to find a machinist who let him borrow his welder to fix his crank. So, until he has to remove the crank, it is fixed. And he is on the road somewhere between Hazard and Damascus.

I would Hazard a guess that he misses Laura, Noah, and Mick right about now.

Rest and Repeat

Ben stored his bike in Belleview (a suburb of St. Louis) with some wonderful friends of Joanne Schenck. When I heard it was Belleview, it reminded me of The Triplets of Belleview. (I was pretty glad that it was a suburb on the opposite side of St. Louis from Ferguson when he flew back in earlier this week.)

He came home to be in his best friend's wedding. They have been friends since they were in second grade, and despite going different directions after high school, they are still close. It was a wonderful wedding, and he was very glad he could be a p part of it.

Because of the route he was taking, and limited options for flights, he actually came home two weeks before the wedding. So, because he is Ben and HAS to be busy, he started several projects. During the day he helped an ex-teacher friend (Sherri Stephenson) get her house/yard ready to sell and worked on an old Honda motorcycle.

At night he made things like this steam punk spider.

 He was pretty glad to get back on his bike in St. Louis this past Tuesday, even though we had to leave the house at 2:30 a.m. to catch his flight in Lubbock.

This was the park he stayed in his first night back out on the road, in Murpheysboro, Illinois. Ed's first thought was that it would have been lovely, but buggy. Ben, however, said there were no mosquitoes, but lots of fish jumping. 

He told me later that he pushed himself pretty hard the first couple of days, trying to make up for lost time I suspect. As a result, once he arrived in Utica, Kentucky, he had to stop a bit early and spend the night in a fire station that opens its doors to cyclists. He said the night before he stayed in a church that fed him LOTS of GREAT gluten free food. He was pretty happy.


Last night he stayed at the junction of two roads in Kentucky that had a park. Pretty nice place, even if a bluegrass concert began right about the time he had hoped to go to sleep. He said "Those old farts can play pretty loud! The music is louder than at the old death metal concerts that I went to. They're all so deaf it needs to be that loud."