Hitchhiking to Istanbul

[Originally posted Oct 5, 2014]

There was a bit of anxiety in the air as we departed Thessaloniki yesterday morning.  It was our second attempt at departing the city - our first attempt sent us back to the bike shop to try and figure out why our freehub on our rear wheel is having such problems.  As we climbed up and out of Thessaloniki we knew that at any moment that all-too-familiar clunkity rhythmic scraping sound might return, warning us of the impending death of our rear wheel.  The first 10km or so went fine, but then we heard it.  In as polite of a voice as I could muster, I asked Katy to get off the bike while I proceeded to ride up and down the nearby hill for a half hour or so (why? because for some reason our rear wheel problem is never evident at the beginning of the day and only rears its ugly head in our face after a good hour or so).  Up and down and up and down and up and down.  All seemed okay.  I grabbed Katy from the small cafe, finished her hot chocolate, and we were back on the road - hoping that what we heard was just a fluke.  A phantom.

But then it happened.  Crughshghus.  We tried coasting - clunkity, clunk clunk clunk.  Without  saying a word we pulled over to the side of the road and sat on a cement barrier about 8 meters apart from each other.  Complete silence.  We both knew what this meant but didn't dare say anything to each other (it's been a source of contention the last couple days).

Then, something interesting happened.  The mood changed.  No longer was the thought, Oh man, I sure hope our bike is okay? but it had changed to, Our bike needs a replacement part that won't arrive for at least a week, we can't do anything about it, now what?  It was a comforting change of perspective.  No more anxiety about whether or not our bike would be okay, but confronting the problem, a long sigh of "well that sucks" and then - well, what should we do now.  In the moment it's a real set back.  Taking a step back and looking at the problem from a broader perspective, things weren't really that bad.   (I often joke that if our bike was rendered completely useless we would have to, unfortunately, spend the next 6 months wandering the Himalayas and sipping Pina Coladas from a beach in Thailand.  The worst thing that could happen really isn't that bad).

We decided going back to Thessaloniki wasn't an option, so we pressed on.  At first coasting was problematic, then even pedaling elicited a wretched sound.  Finally we pulled off at a "thermal hot springs" sign.  Katy negotiated a guesthouse for 15€ and we hunkered down for the last two nights, enjoyed watching LDS General Conference, cooked some pasta, planned the next 5 or 6 months of our trip etc.  We've got a great lineup - this trip is just starting to warm up.

So, what's next?  The part that appears to be not working correctly is only made by a US company, so we've ordered the part and it is being shipped to Istanbul (to a WS host).  Now, we've just got to meet it there.  Tomorrow morning, after a day and a half of hanging out in our guesthouse, we will pack up our bike, walk out to the main road, stick out our thumbs (well I will hide behind a bush, Katy will stick out her thumb) and we will head east to Istanbul.  It's only 600km.