April 26, 2015
Jacksonville to Beaufort
Another cold day. With drama!
Happy woke to find a screw loose (double entendre if you know Happy). That sounds better than missing. But in reality, he was missing a screw. That sounds kind of funny as well. But this one attached his rear rack to the frame at the fork. Meaning it carries all of the load from the rear panniers. That's a big problem. Especially on a Sunday morning in Jacksonville, NC. As luck would have it, there were three bicycle shops within 1/2 mile of our Day's Inn. And, as luck would have it, they were all closed on Sundays.
Plan B, breakfast at Waffle House! My favorite place for breakfast!
Plan C, Home Depot. We could easily find a replacement screw at Home Depot. OK, so it won't be one of those nifty kinds with a built-in head for an Allen wrench but we could make do. And it was located on our route, not more than 1/4 or 1/2 mile off of it. Good deal. And open, of course. Early, probably. Earlier than when we wake up, even. So after Waffle House, off we go.
I tell you, these people are so nice. We rolled in, and the "greeter" greeted us and asked how he could help. So I explained our situation, and he said, "No problem. Park your bikes right over here and take all the space and time you need." All that for one screw. What a guy!
So we unpack Happy's bike (more like Happy unpacks it and I watch). Then the ugly truth. The screw had not worked its way loose. It had been a clean shear at the face of the fork (I later find out this is the second such failure Happy has had on a Bike Friday; sounds like a DESIGN FLAW).
So now we have a real problem. Extracting a screw requires real tools. So me, I think better when I can ponder, walk around, look at stuff, and devise a path forward. So I wander off looking for an extraction tool (knowing that we would need to buy a drill at some point but a small price to pay to keep the trip going!).
So while looking for help in the tools, I get directed to the manager for that department, a nice guy named Jim. Explaining my situation (now that I fully understand it), he says, "No problem. Just wheel it over to our tool rental department, and we'll fix it up for you."
I would say I was floored, but in all my years touring, I've learned that serendipity is your best ally. So off we went to Tool Rental.
I should shorten this story up. After spending well over an hour messing with this thing, we finally made our repair. No luck getting the extraction tool to work. No luck drilling it out (we broke several bits with that exercise). Finally, we were able to get a larger diameter bit to drill through the eyelet that would almost accept a #8 screw. Except it didn't. So we went with a #6 and a washer and lock nut.
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So finally, by sometime close to noon we pulled away from Home Depot Bicycle Repairs. Cost? Let's see: tool rental, parts and material, shop supplies (WD-40), and labor. Grand total = $0.
Not even a tip (we tried, and Jim refused).
And we still had 50+ miles to ride. And contrary to weather reports, it was not getting warmer. In fact, we put our leg warmers on.
And the wind. Persistent and out of the west. Which was good mostly. Hopefully it would push this cold front through, I thought to myself.
The ride out of town was nice. To the north, northeast, and east. We had to make up for lost time, so I pushed it. Occasionally we would get some headwind, but most of it was either behind or to the side. But it was cold if you stopped. So we kept moving.
We took our first break at another "Coffee and Worms" store about five miles shy of NC-24, which would take us to Beaufort. We probably lingered there too long, as I felt particularly cold when I returned to the bike. But we blew through the next five miles pretty fast. Up to now the road had been all rural community-type viewshed: generously spaced houses, agriculture, and livestock.
NC-24 was a different story. This is a busy coastal road, and it was curb and gutter all the way to Bogue. That actually worked out OK, and in Bogue, the curb and gutter dropped in favor of a decent paved shoulder we could ride on. If the weather had been nicer, we would have crossed on NC-58 and ridden the beach route. But given the weather and wind, we decided to beeline it for Beaufort.
Eventually I got ahead of Happy. We had discussed stopping to eat, but places to eat were practically nonexistent north of Cape Carteret, so I had a banana and was good till Beaufort, where I could hear a beer calling my name!
About the only thing I can say about Morehead City is that you have to go through it to get to Beaufort. And during this time, you're back in curb and gutter land. The crossing of the Newport River was particularly tricky as the bridge shoulders actually narrow, and there was a strong crosswind blowing toward the very high (12"+) curb on my right, which I did not want to be pushed into. So I was out in the lane most of the time.
Beaufort, however, is quaint with a very accessible waterfront and at least one great drinking establishment overlooking the water and boats: The Dock House Restaurant and Bar.
Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 1,469 miles (2,364 km)
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