The ride was going great and then after lunch the heavens opened up. The rest of my ride became very interesting.
About 10 miles north of Minneapolis I was direct on to a Trail. It was awesome, even in the cold rain. As I set my eyes toward the City I shifted up to easier gear to climb the Trail hills. Unfortunately as I shifted up my chain overshot the top ring. In the cold rain I had to stop, unload everything and try to get the chain back on to the cluster. It was really stuck! I had to tug really hard to get it unstuck. Because of that I knew I had stretched my chain really bad.
I got the chain back on so I loaded everything up and started again. I had to find a dry place to find and contact a bike shop on my maps program. I finally did so I was good to go. As I was being directed to downtown my phone died. As the Trail came to an end I rode into a neighborhood. The first house I found with an open garage door I stopped at and asked if I could use an outlet to charge my phone. A sweet Asian family agreed to do so. They even fed me!
After a bit I noticed my phone wasn't charging. Fortunately it had enough of charge for me to contact Joel and see if he could come get me and take me to the bike shop. He said he could as soon as his wife returned with the car.
Meanwhile the mom the family had talked with some local extended family who thought it was very strange that I was hanging out at in the garage. They came over, stirred everyone up and had me move everything down to the curb. The 2 daughters were very upset and crying. I assured them it was not a problem.
It wasn't long before Joel arrived and loaded me up. He took me to an awesome bike shop that stayed open late and was able to make all the repairs. Before going to the hotel I treated Joel to dinner. It was great to catch up on life, family and ministry.
He dropped me off at my hotel and I settled in for what would be a short night of sleep. All in all it was a great day.
