Leitchfield KY - Monday 10th May

The worst possible start to the day – once we’d finished packing up our kit, we discovered that yet another spoke had broken on Alex’s rear wheel; bringing our broken spokes count up above our puncture count. Spokes however are a much bigger problem than punctures, because to fix them, you need a tool (which we didn’t have) to take the cassette off (a cassette is what you call the thing where the cogs live on the back wheel).

We were well equipped, with spare spokes, but couldn’t put the spoke in, because we couldn’t get the cassette off. The really annoying thing was that before we worked that out, Alex had taken the air out of the tire, and the tire off the rim. Eventually we left at 11ish, far too late, and with a spoke still broken. Alex’s tire was wobbling away, so we had to unhook the back brake to stop it rubbing. We limped 60 miles into Leitchfield, KY to the nearest bike shop at very high speed – an average of 21kph, stopping only for short periods, eating leftover pizza from the night before.

The first bit of the day was tough – Alex constantly had the thought that every mile could be damaging his wheel, as well as the lack of a back brake to contend with and a not quite full tyre to slow him down. But, we made it through to Leitchfield at 5.20pm, having rung up the bike shop to ask them to close later if possible.

When we got to the bike shop, we were met by Rick, who was amazing. He fixed the spoke, and taught us how to, and gave us the tools we need, and some energy bars all for $20. Not content with that, he then told us that there were 20 cross-country cyclists meeting the local lions club of Leitchfield, and that they had put on a meal for them, and would happily have us too. We were extremely grateful to the Lions club for their help and the stacks of pizza. We are now camping in the fairground, beside the other cyclists. They are cycling the other way, and are supported by 3 vans. It’s amazing to see their incredible road bikes, and look at the logistics of their trip, all from the comparative sanity of our one day at a time routine. They are all medical students cycling to raise money for global health.

Time for bed – we will wake when they do, at 6.30!! Can you imagine... Then we will go as far as we can towards Evansville – which will be a mammoth 95 miles if we manage.