05.26

i don't do sitting well.

woke up this morning, packed, and noticed one tire was flat, the other low.  pumped them up and the seem to be holding air.  i started out the door and noticed the front wheel was loose.  upon further inspection, i found a sheared half a nut in the room, apparently from the axle.  fortunately, there is a bike shop a few blocks down, small, but they have a good rating.  the don't open till 10.

i walked across town to have breakfast at mr. d's., then walked back.

kingman is an interesting town. the town itself is shaped by all the rock formations around it, the interstate, which feels almost like a separate town, and the desert to the north and east. 

andy devine ave, a.k.a. rte 66, is the main drag.  there's a parallel road one block over which is the main commercial downtown.  it's really wide, 4 lanes, with very little traffic. half the buildings are vacant, but there's an obvious attempt to build back taking advantage of the rte 66. there'a brewery, a couple of restaurants, an art gallery and a biker's shop. 

mural art has even made it to the small western town.

i'm hoping to be at the bike shop at 10 and back on the road no later than noon.  8 hours should get me to lake mead, but it might be tight.  i missed the cooler morning hours, so i'll be riding in the heat.  if i'm lucky, there may still be a camping spot available.

the bike mechanic turned out to be great.  he scavanged a few parts and fixed the axle, spent a little extra time do a few checks, adjusted both brakes.  a transplant from maine, of all places. certainly a change of climate.

interestingly, he said that small bike shops like his were getting killed even though the bike business in general has boomed.  the small guys can't get the new bikes in; new bikes sales are the lifeblood of a shop.  he said he's 6 months out for parts.  fortunately his wife has as good, and stressful, job that can keep him going.  he showed a lot of love for the bike, i'm tempted to ship it to him after i finish the ride and let him do a full overhaul.  he confirmed what greg in williams said about the bike shop i went to in flagstaff, not good.

finally got off around noon, was at the top of coyote pass, 3,800 feet, just outside of kingman at 12:30.  from there i had relatively flat ground with a slight cross/tail wind for the next 55 miles.  felt nice to be just rolling smooth even if it was mostly desert, the mountains on either side rough, jagged rock.

the last 10 miles turned west into the wind a little bit more and started rolling up and down 

till finally, there was the canyon of the colorado river damned by the hoover dam.  

one last climb after the dam and i was rolling into the visitor's center for lake mead, waving my senior pass and relieved there were camp sites still available.

the night was a whole 'nother story.