No one was moving very fast over these rocks. Doug and Jen both had racks mounted to the chain stay with a small bolt. Doug suspected this would be a fault point waiting to happen. Jen proved him right when her rack bolt sheared off but stayed in the eyelet preventing simply replacing it.

Doug claimed she was getting “big air.” Jen claimed she was just having fun. But a broken rack in the wilderness wasn’t funny. It could have ended our trip. Even in the high open area we couldn’t get a cell signal. We’d have been waiting sometime for a jeep to arrive to bring out Jen and her bike.

Scott and Doug McGyver Jen's bike

Fortunately Doug and Scott had anticipated problems. They produced an assortment of tools and clamps. Doug spoke of McGyvering that rack with some gusto. They made it serviceable after offloading most of Jen’s panniers onto Scott and Doug’s bikes.

Doug’s rack was easier when it also failed. They were able to put the original bolt back into service.

My wheel held but listed badly and needed frequent adjustments. Equipment problems looked to send us back to Jordan Valley on Saturday. When the cowboy rolls his eyes, you’d best take warning.

We figured we could drive back out and do a day ride to Silver City on Sunday, but none of us fancied a return to Jordan Valley two days early. It felt like a defeat and we knew the small community of Jordan Valley would have swollen to 3,000 drunken cowboys—rodeo weekend.

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