Staying in Novafeltria at Hotel Magda: Solving a bike problem
We are staying at the family run Hotel Magda in Novafeltria. It is a charming small hotel tucked away down a side street. At breakfast we asked Davide about the availability of a bike shop. The second of Barry's Bebop cleats has broken in two (just like the other one several weeks ago) and we are concerned about crossing the Apennines with only one working cleat for him. Especially, since tomrrow's ride should be quite arduous as we have a 1000 metre climb in 30 km. Davide jumped in to action and was determined to solve our problem. He discovered that the local bike shop is closed for holidays, but he quickly came up with other options. First he emailed a photo of the problem to a friend, then he wanted to take Barry to see his motorcycle mechanic for access to tools and ideas, then he suggested that we take a taxi to the next town (he negotiated a fair price for the driver to take us and bring us back) to get parts..... Anyway in the end, with the taxi driver's patience and the kindness of many strangers, we ended up getting a pair of pedals from a spin bike at a local fitness gym for Mary Ellen to use, and transferred Mary Ellen's Shimano pedals to the front for Barry to us (as well as her Shimano cleats). With no bike shops available and no parts available locally, it worked out quite well. All in all, it was quite an adventure getting to the solution, but once again, we were impressed by the incredible hospitality and genuine kindness of Italians that we encountered today. Somehow, without meaning this to happen, everyone we met today took on our problem as their responsibility and they would not give up until a solution had been found. I can't imagine that this level of dedication to helping a stranger would happen at home.
