Linda’s plan was to stay at the hotel in Ashland on Sunday night and then leave Monday morning.  However, Phil was very tired and needed a rest day so we stayed Monday night as well.  Then we checked the weather report and saw a very bad weather system heading east from the mid-west.  The bad weather, once it arrived, would last until Wednesday night.  The next hundred miles or so are very sparse with minimal services at best and we could not be guaranteed indoor accommodations.  Although the weather was suitable for riding on Tuesday morning, Phil didn’t think we should take a chance.  We realized we needed to stay at the hotel until Thursday morning and updated our reservation accordingly.

Phil has been having problems shifting including the chain slipping for a long time now even after making proper adjustments to the cable using the barrel adjuster.  Since we had time to kill we took Phil’s bike a few blocks from our hotel to the Olde Towne Bicycles bike shop at 605 England Street, Ashland, VA 23005, Ph: 804-798-1711.  The owner, Dave, diagnosed Phil’s bike.  One of the parameters that he checked was “derailleur alignment”.  It turns out that the derailleur hanger was bent so it makes sense that adjusting the cable stretch did nothing to stop the shifting problems.  We both recalled that the only time Phil dropped his bike happened almost a year ago!  Thank you Dave!!!

We then went across the street to get some groceries for the next couple of days.