04/29/24 Liberia, for a while

April 29, 2024

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I had a mostly sleepless night, my two fans no match for the sweat box I found myself in. I know I slept because of the bizarre dreams but I certainly didn’t feel rested as I pedaled away, vowing to not repeat that mistake again.

Anyway, I got to Liberia and found the package with my new kickstand and old camera waiting for me at DHL, hurray! Unfortunately (or fortunately), while installing the kickstand I noticed my rear tire was starting to fail around the bead. Now I'm just a day away from the seismic station I used to work at and eager to continue, so I debated ignoring the issue. However, considering the tread was almost gone and the tire would need replacing soon anyway, it seemed more adult to address things now, on my own terms, rather than dealing with it on the side of the road later.

It took a couple of tries to find a shop that stocked decent 26 inch tires (so much for 26 being the “international standard”, it’s all 29 inch now), but I eventually found one with both tires and a good mechanic. He gave the bike a once over and discovered that one of my cranks had a crack and that is a real show stopper. These are new cranks, replaced just 3 months ago in Mexico, so it’s a mystery why that happened. Defective, is what Pinion concluded and they are shipping me free replacements which are supposed to arrive Friday. I found a cheap hotel (with A/C) and have settled down to wait.

It poured in the afternoon and I imagined myself on the road with a shattered crank, blown out tire and nowhere to shelter from the rain and felt really good about my predicament. I may see if there are any touristy things I can do while I’m here, mañana.

Try hard and maybe you can see the branches full of ripe mangoes falling into the river. I’m going to be so annoying once I’m back home and find myself in a grocery store looking at the mango prices

I had breakfast when I got to Liberia and the waiter is also a touring cyclist. He was appropriately impressed by my set up and brought his friends over to explain how cool it all was

It’s the little things you don’t appreciate until you don’t have them. Parking my bike without finding something to lean against is right up there

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 3,909 miles (6,291 km)

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Karen PoretGlad you are stopped for the unfortunate duration…Better days ahead!
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6 months ago

Rich FrasierGood call to wait for repairs!
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6 months ago