17-04-15 Day 07

Kingman, AZ to Peach Springs, AZ

Today began as a wait-and-see day. Our typical day, if we are riding, would begin around 5:30-6:00 am with breakfast then on the road around 7:30-8:00. Today, however, we needed to wait until the bike shop opened at 10:00 am. Then, we needed to wait and see if the front fork arrived. At 10:30 the waiting got the best of us and we called the bike shop to see if they had heard anything. To our surprise they did have some news for us but it certainly was not what we expected. The young man at the bike shop, Kyle, said he had just spoken to UPS and they are trying to find our package. He continued on to explain the fork had been shipped but not as instructed, Saturday delivery. Rather, the fork was shipped UPS ground. This means the fork will not arrive until Tuesday. Not a desirable outcome. So, on to plan B, C, and D.

Plan B - Our immediate thought was to identify the location of the package in the UPS system, then drive to the specific location, pick up the fork, and bring it back to the shop. This proved very difficult as it was hard to get real people on the phone for UPS on a Saturday morning. Plan C - Then we considered purchasing a new road bike and continue on our way until Randy's bike can be repaired and shipped to a forward address along our route. This is not the most desirable plan because riding 80+ miles, approximately 8-9 hours, a day on a bike that may not be best configured for your unique body type could cause a lot of unnecessary pains and discomforts. Plan D - Lastly we discussed the schedule impacts if we waited until Tuesday. This was really out of the question. So, it appeared our only option was Plan C to buy a bike, swap parts from Randy's current bike, then hit the road.

As we gathered our stuff and headed to the front desk to check out, Karen got a call from Kyle. Kyle had been doing some research and found the specifications for the new fork, still in UPS land, was similar to the specifications of a Fuji bike fork they had on the show floor. He offered to try to make it work but he needed Randy's current bike. Fortunately, Randy's aunt and uncle insisted on staying with us until we had the bike back on the road. So, Uncle Bill, Aunt Gig, Karen, and Randy were off to Bicycle World where we had dropped off the bike initially, pick it up, and deliver it to Kyle at Bicycle Outfitters.

Now I realize this may be a bit confusing when I talk about the bike shops so I'll try to clear things up a little. We have had two bike shops helping us with the fork repair. The first is Bicycle World. On the day of the accident they thought they had the needed repair parts so we went there with Randy's broken bike. Then, we discovered they did not have the needed repair parts, and, the fork replacement may be a warranty repair. So, with the advice of Bicycle World we contacted the second bike shop, Bicycle Outfitters, who was a Trek authorized dealer, and ask their opinion. Kyle, at Bicycle Outfitters, agreed and kindly offered to process the repair parts needed through his Trek contacts. In the end none of us were sure who would be doing the repairs once the fork arrived, but both shops agreed to cooperate and do whatever we needed.

Alright, now back to using a Fuji fork on Randy's Trek bike. It worked! After an hour or so of disassembly, slight modifications, then, reassembly the fork was on. Although the not a matching color, and using a slightly inferior front brake assembly, all is together and functional. Now, it was time to hit the road once more.

The red Trek with a blue Fuji fork.

One of our rest stops along Route 66 on our way to Peach Springs.

Happy to be on the road again.