Turns out that Red Meadow Lake is essentially at the top of 6 miles of fun down hill to meet Glend at Upper Whitefish Lake. Much steeper heading down, picking my path but cruising at 15 to 20 mph. I start to hear an unusual sound from bike as I slow down over water bars. At first I think it just my back tire skidding. But alas, that theory is quickly debunked. Inspection reveal that one of the fine rack mounting bolts has sheared clean off. Bummer, big bummer actually, as removing a sheared bolt from a the bike frame brazeon would be tricky at home with all of my tools available. Could be a major challenge or even change for the trip. I am only 4 miles from Glenda, net down hill, so I decide to nurse it and limp back. After limping a bit, I decide to strap the loose point to the frame to limit the motion. I also remove the pannier and hang them from the handle bars to reduce weight on the rack. I toodle down the road the couple of miles, arriving not a little dejected. Thinking an expensive trip the local Whitefish bike shop is now on the agenda. Sigh....
I did pack replacements for the affected bolt, and inspection shows while sheared off flush on the outside, rack side of brazeon, there is some bolt extending beyond on the inside, enough for my handy-dandy needle nose vice grips I happen to carry on the bike. After some significant disassembly, I extract the remnant, and put it back together. Unfortunatle one of the lower struts is now bent and prevents the mounting bolt to go in true, and i essentially have to dissasseble the rack to do it right, and not wreck tbe braxeon.
While I did avail myself to my bike mechanics toolbox allen wrenches, I am confident I could have done the repair in the backcountry. Not how intended to spend my stay at this lake, but i feel much better with sympathetic support from Glenda, (and a beer of course)
That said, my confidence it how robust the rack and panniers as been shattered. I am triaging gear to reduce weight on rack, in will probably take it easy on down hills. Re thinking a large bikepacking saddle bag to move some weight off the rack too. That might trigger replacing my dropper post while touring...
I guess a trip to the bikeshop is in order after all. Whitefish is only 20 easy miles away.
Repair item #2.
Well, we have found a major leak in the camper drain plumbing. Staight enough to replace broken abs drain traps, but don't really have the tools. May need to look into this a bit when we get back to civilization (aka whitefish
/Kalispell )
Repair item #3
Adjustment really, the odometer is closer. Maybe only 1 to 1.5% off now, I should really tweak the settings a bit more, as the difference is causing me to 2nd guess my location more than I would like. No wrong or missed turns yets, and want to keep it that way, even at the end of a long day in the saddle (especially then)
