What a turnaround in 24 hours! First off, I’m so grateful to Matt for letting me crash at his place, and for all the ways he helped me out!
The amazing mechanic at the Red canyon bike shop, Daniel, opened early, and replaced my broken spoke, trued my wheel, and bent my derailleur hanger back into place.
Matt had some errands to run in Colorado springs, and offered to take me and my bike to a shop that had the right derailleur for my bike. After calling several shops – it’s getting harder to find nine-speed components – I found the Great divide bike shop in Pueblo, and they even were willing to do the install that day! We drove there, dropped off the bike, and then I hung out with Matt while he ran errands, getting some tasty boba tea in the process. Then we drove back to the shop, and found my bike back in tip-top shape! Matt then continued to be a hero and drove me back to where I originally broke down so I wouldn’t miss a beat or need to backtrack. We caught the tail end of a pretty epic rain storm, and then I was back on the road, bombing into Pueblo!
I’m now rolling along the eastern Colorado prairie. I can still just barely make out the shadows of the mountains far behind me, but before me is nothing but flat, open country – and thankfully I’m finally off the busy highways! Looking forward to hundreds of miles off backroads!
