Bike The Lake Day 5 - Watertown To Walcott

Day 5 brought on the turning point of our trip as we were past the half way point and starting to head in a Westerly direction!  Of course that also meant we would most likely be dealing with a West head wind and that is exactly what we got.

The morning started off sunny but cool,  at around 15 C,  and as soon as we got on the roads the head wind was pretty intense.  Our first 30 km was straight West into the wind,  which was probably blowing about 20 to 30+ km/hr.  We soon started trading pulling into the wind, with each of us taking a turn at front for 2 km and then switching it around to get the draft.  This helped a lot, and we knocked off the km's at a decent pace (for us).

Around 40 km I heard the tell tale "pop" from my rear wheel and knew I broke a spoke! We stopped and took the damage spoke out so it would let get stuck in anything.   I actually thought about bring spare spokes... but I didn't, oops.  So I get on the phone and look for a bike shop in the area (which was really in the middle of no where at this point).

Google said there was a shop called Cornell's Pedal and Paddle about 18 km away, close to Pulaski, so off we went.  There wasn't much to do but ride with it so I opened up my rear brake so the wheel wouldn't rub, it was pretty out of true after the spoke broke.  The bike worked pretty well and didn't seem to affected.

So we roll up to Cornell's and the sign says going out of business sale and the shop is all closed up! No one home!  Not very helpful.

It was close to lunch so we pulled out the Subway sandwiches we bought earlier  and had a little break.  After some food,  I took the rear wheel off and had a look at it, couldn't do much but I loosened a few spokes off beside the one that broke so they wouldn't be in so much tension. Got the phone out again and found a bike shop in Oswego, another 25 km away,  along out route. So off we went again. This one looked more promising.

We didn't get very far though before I had another problem with my rear tire, it was going flat! Not sure why or what caused the slow leak but had to take off the panniers again,  pull off the wheel and change the tube. Checked for cut or holes in the tire but didn't find any so I put  a new tube in and got it all back together and we took off for Oswego.

At this point I was a bit nervous about my bike situation, would I break another spoke of flat another tire! 

We rode so big hills getting to Oswego but my bike held together, now would the bike shop be able to help fix it? We found Murdock's Bicycles and Sports easily and went to talk to the mechanic. He said,  sure I can fix that and I wheeled my bike in.

So Kochi and I hung around in the shop and about 5 minutes later the mechanic, Chris I think his name was, says he doesn't have a spoke the right size but he's going to make me one that will fit!  How's that for service, willing to help me out right away and make me a spoke when he didn't have one, awesome!

After about 30 minutes he had it all back together and working good! I asked him what I owed him and get this, he say,  $1.95... for the spoke, that's all. I said what about the labour, for your time, and he tells me they don't charge labour to cyclists that need help while on touring rides.  Needless to say I was really impressed with this shop and them being so willing to help me for almost nothing! The cycling community can be awesome like that, I love it.  

So bike finally all back together, it was time for the other half of my subway sandwich and then we headed for Wolcott. By this time it was about 3pm and we had another 40 km to go yet.

I hadn't mentioned it but the roads and scenery were really nice today too.   The road had a huge paved shoulder almost the entire day with lots of rolling countryside and nice views.

Now once we left Oswego we encountered so many hills, it was ridiculous and amazing at the same time.  The terrain map of the area is speckled with hills all over the place,  it really is pretty cool,  but a bit tiring on the bike, especially after 100 km of riding.  We battled on and both really enjoyed the hills and cool views and great road!

Around 5:30 pm we finally rolled into Wolcott.  it wasn't hard to find our hotel in the small one street village. I had to go to the bar to check in, amongst the patrons drinking and smoking, while I'm in my full lycra cycling gear!

Now this hotel is your typical small town bar / hotel with the rooms above the bar and main street. Our room is on the third floor and to get up there was two narrow stair cases and a bunch of doors, lots of fun.  The floors in this place are crazy angled and slopped and I amazed the place is still standing. But it has two beds and a decent shower so we're happy.

So that was our day, full of adventure, adversity and some of the best cycling I've ever done! Love it!

Total was just under 130 km.