Today we awoke under the giant wind turbine in downtown Crisfield, MD. We got everything together and retrieved our bikes from the downstairs room where the innkeeper let us store them overnight. As we pedaled a mile up the road to a McDonalds for breakfast, the local bank’s sign announced that it was 53° F. As my dad drank his morning coffee, we talked to a local; he said it needed to be about ten degrees cooler for the crabs to start coming in.
We made great time in the morning, winding back through different roads in some of the same area we saw coming down to Crisfield. Before I knew it, we had ridden thirty miles and were approaching the Virginia border. A sign said the road was under construction and marked a detour, but I wondered aloud, “Is it closed before that next turn-off? Before the state line? Is it closed closed or can we still bike it?” We decided these were the types of questions that needed to be answered and biked onwards to investigate.
The road directly beyond the line to Virginia was indeed completely closed as a crew of maybe 40 construction workers were busy rebuilding a bridge over the creek. The good news was that we only had to backtrack about a mile. The great news was that the detour forced us up onto the highway right before lunchtime and got us to stop at what turned out to be one of the only viable options we would see all day, a Royal Farms convenience store that boasted world famous chicken.
Around the thirty-five mile mark we again passed into Virginia and progressed right by the other side of the bridge construction. We were actively scouting a good place to stop and eat our chicken sandwiches when after a relatively small bump, my bike made a dreadful noise—a loud clang followed by the whining of something rubbing up against the tire as I came to an abrupt stop.
Was it a flat? It wouldn’t have made that kind of bang. And I could feel extra drag as everything groaned to a halt. I looked back and my entire rear rack including the rack trunk and both pannier bags had fallen back, dragging on the asphalt behind the rear wheel. Was this it—could this end our trip? We moved the bikes off the road and removed the bags from the rack. We decided to go ahead and eat lunch while we assessed the situation.
The rack had broken at a bracket that we used to tie the front of the rack to the seat stay. The steel had sheared off, and we had no replacement. Before I could finish my sandwich, Dad had reattached the front bracket using some plastic cable ties he dug out from his tool bag. We snugged the zip ties down tight to keep the joint from moving and added a few more to share the load. We might look for a different bracket if we pass by a hardware store, but I honestly think this fix could make it home.
The other cool thing about today was my first battery somehow made it 51.8 miles! I was definitely pedaling hard in the morning while trying to keep warm, and I must have really been conserving power because even without all the cargo, that is a record distance for these batteries.
Our destination for the evening of Onley, VA is a pretty small town. We checked into the Rodeway Inn which is marginal, but acceptable. We rode the bikes another mile over to the Walmart and grabbed a few essentials, and then back to a local Mexican restaurant after surveying all the options for dinner.
I’m tired. Good tired. I’m having fun. I miss my wife. I miss my kid. I miss them because I love them and love being around them. This is good. Tomorrow I will bike some more. Good night.
Ben Skott at 2:12 PM, May 26th, 2021
Royal Farms was one of my customers when I was at NCR. I remember spending a lot of time designing their food service receipts, and they were VERY, VERY proud of their chicken! Did you like it?