17-04-13 Day 06

Kingman, AZ to Peach Spring, AZ  Kingman, AZ

Today, our 6th straight day on the road proved to be our biggest challenge so far. What started out as a promising day quickly went in the wrong direction. As we made our way out of town, and after completing another long climb, we had a small mishap that has now made a huge impact to our schedule. Well, I guess when you consider the condition of Randy's bike you could actually call it a near disaster. If you take a close look at the photo below you'll notice an obvious problem with the front forks. Yes, they are snapped in two.

Randy's broken bike.

As we made a typical, routine, left-hand turn, in a close formation, Randy trailing with Karen just ahead, Randy hit a large shoulder bolt lying in the roadway which immediately turned his handle bars to the left. With his front tire now almost perpendicular to his bike frame, his momentum created an unbearable force on the front forks and they gave way. The good news is that Randy sustained only a small scratch on his left hand and a small fracture in the first knuckle of his right thumb. The bad news is we are now scrambling to get a bike repaired.

Fortunately, Nate had only left our company just a short time earlier so with a call from his mom he was our support team one last time. In the mean time we were blessed to have a local lady, by the name of Michele, stop and offered her unconditional assistance. Without asking Michele prepared her SUV to carry Randy's bike to a local bike shop which Karen found with a quick search on line. In the end, although she offered to take Randy to the ER, Michele stayed at the bike shop until Karen arrived on her bike a few minutes later. Then Nate arrived and took Randy to the ER. Hours later discharge papers were served with only a splint on Randy's right thumb. 👍

A selfie with the angel in pink, Michele at Bicycle World.

At the close of today, with Karen's highly skilled negotiating techniques we are expecting a new fork to be delivered on Saturday and hope to be completing our ride to Peach Springs. Stay tuned for updates......