As many of you know, it was my desire to pedal the 23-mile Ashuelot Rail Trail from Hinsdale to Keene New Hampshire on August the Fifth, in the Year of Our Lord 2006. All good intentions, Peg and I drove up after breakfast, found a sign purporting to be the parking lot for said Ashuelot Rail Trail, and I geared up for the ride. A gallon or so of water, cell phone, walkie-talkie (well, I am a ham), camera, helmet, the whole nine yards. Peg takes off toward Keene\’s Colony Mill Marketplace. I head out on \”the trail\”. At least I hope it\’s a trail. It\’s little more than an overgrown cart path, but the wheel spacing is too narrow. Bristling with faith, I set out on my journey. About four or five kilometers into the 27 km trip, the left pedal started to feel oddly mushy. A quick investigation revealed that the bolt holding the left crankarm to the axle in the bottom bracket was loose, allowing the crankarm to flop around and deform so that it will never properly fit again. I didn\’t happen to have a 15mm thin-wall socket wrench with me, but over the course of the next six or eight kilometers, I would alternate pedalling for about 500m and retightening the bolt as best I could with my fingers. Once I had cellphone coverage (Cingular needs to put in more towers along the NH-VT border…), I called Peg. She had met up with my brother Griz, so handed him the keys to my truck, and sent him along to fetch my sorry ass while she continued to shop. I never said she was a stupid woman… Happy Trails.
