good grief

Day one sorta postponed again.
We got to Yorktown and took the obligatory ocean + monument shot, but about 8 miles in, my dad's front hub got messed up, and we started hearing a clicking noise (not a good one, either). 13 miles in, we realized that the clicking noise was coming not from the hub, but from a break in my dad's frame (right next to the drivetrain). Luckily (?), the REI folk had a newer model of the Randonee that fit my dad up in DC, so we've switched bikes out (which took all day).


On the awesome side of things, we did meet several other people starting the trail, including Fabian from Portland and Lisa and Ted from Hawaii. They were super nice, offering tools and conversation as far as we could make it.



Unfortunately, when I was putting on sunscreen at the Yorktown visitors center, I forgot to put my bike gloves back on and ended up losing one. The REI trip did turn out to be an excellent way to get a replacement pair.

Stats:
13 miles for the day
11ish mph (slow) average
20ish mph high speed
3 annoying problems


It's probably a good thing that we did have to stop, though. Dad was not doing so hot. Apparently he hasn't biked in two weeks, hasn't biked at all fully loaded, and has been tired and antsy for the past two weeks as well. Granted, I've been stressed and nervous, but I still figured he'd be doing better than 7mph up small hills. I hope he gets into the swing of things soon, cause it was a little draining for me to balance my bike at the slower speeds. He also isn't doing very well at telling me how he is. We'll work on that. Anyhoo...

For the record, when my dad's frame broke, I talked in materials terms about it for the next 10 minutes. Thankfully, my dad is also a dork, so he completely understood.

Dad and I are determined to get closer to Mechanicsville tomorrow.