The Fate Of My Bike (June 29th Update)

There haven’t been too many days where I haven’t written a daily update … that’s why they’re called “Daily Updates”. However, yesterday wasn’t a particularly noteworthy day with the only real activity being my third distillery tour. As such I’ve decided to make this a two-day entry. And, now that I’ve mentioned the distillery tour the Caol Ila distillery, that officially concludes the update for June 28th. Just to be clear, that’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the Caol Ila tour. I did. And I added another glass to my collection. That’s two glasses from three tours. I’m REALLY wishing I kept the Kilchoman glass now. Oh well, as the songs goes, “Two out of three ain’t bad”.

With yesterday now behind me (yesterdays always seem to be that way), the focus for today was to finally get to Oban to get a second opinion on the status of my bike.

The ferry wasn’t scheduled to leave until shortly after 10:00 AM but I arrived at the terminal much before that. Not because I thought it would speed up the process at all but rather because I knew there would at least be minor things to see and/or do there. The same couldn’t really be said for my wild camping location.

Despite the potential gloomy news about my bike, the morning was not at all gloomy. The sun was shining and the winds were calm. It would’ve been a nice day for a ride. But I digress.

The ferry crossing from Port Askaig to Oban is actually a two stage affair. The first leg of the journey was about an hour and went from Port Askaig to Colonsay – another small island. From there the ferry continued its way over to Oban. We were scheduled to arrive shortly after 2:00 PM and, much like all the other ferry crossings thus far, it was right on time.

As the ferry approached Oban, it was clear that it was the biggest town I had seen since leaving the Glasgow area. There was a lot of activity to be seen and it is clearly a hub for tourists disembarking for the many attractions within a relatively short distance of town.

Despite the activity in the area, I headed directly from the ferry to Oban Cycles – a mere five minutes away. I should point out that while this is the biggest town I’ve seen in a while it’s still a small town and pretty much everything is about five minutes away by bike.

I wheeled my bike into Oban Cycles where I first met Christina, and then Mark. I explained my situation and Mark took a quick look a my bike – a long look really wasn’t necessary as the issue is pretty obvious. Anyway, they both were very friendly and helpful and were rather sympathetic when Mark informed me it would be ill-advised to continue using my bike to finish my ride – a ride which had only just barely begun.

That said, Mark proceeded to make a very concerted effort to come up with a solution. He looked into new frames, new forks, old frames, old forks, anything that might be available locally. Sadly, that didn’t lead anywhere. I’m not going to lie, my gut was telling me to take a chance and simply ride away on my bike and hope for the best – very much in keeping with Gabriela’s Guest Book post from the end of last year’s ride, “Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming … WOW! What a ride!”.

As tempting as that was, I reluctantly conceded that choosing that course of action may not be the smartest decision – especially considering that the front wheel significantly clips my toes when I make anything more than a mild turn. With many kilometres, many hills, and many turns between here and Amsterdam, it was time to find a new solution.

With the fate of my beloved bike determined, Mark set out to find a replacement. In the end he found a bike in my size and for a reasonable price. Obviously, “reasonable” is relative since I hadn’t budgeted for buying a new bike on this tour … or anytime soon for that matter. That said, given the circumstances, Mark was able to offer me said bike at a reduced rate. For that I was very appreciative. The downside is that I won’t be able to get the bike until Tuesday (best case scenario) which means I’ll be spending even more time not cycling on this tour – that seems to be the theme of this year’s “ride”. Apparently I’m making up for the lack of crises during last year’s tour.

As for my current bike, whether or not the frame can be repaired, there is still value to most of its components – gears, derailleurs, cables, handlebars, etc … So, now I’m also faced with the challenge of finding the most cost-effective way to return my bike back to North America. So far I haven’t found anything remotely acceptable. If anyone has any insight or connections re: overseas deliveries, well … I’d be MORE than happy to hear about it. Seriously. Help!

The only thing left to do now is wait. And maybe mourn. Christina suggested that the Oban Chocolate Company might be a good place to do that. It turns out, it was.