Waking Up in the Boathouse
We woke up in the morning having planned to head out early. Being out of gas, we couldn’t heat water so I packed up and pedaled to the village. The man at the local café kindly provided me with hot water and after the addition of instant coffee, all was right with the world once again.
Cycling from Uğurlu to Cide
After a quicker-than-usual breakfast, we took off towards Cide. There wasn’t a whole lot on the path so we stopped at the only café we came across for a tea break.
Bike Chain Problems
For the second time in a week, Selim’s chain broke. His chain, which wasn’t the best quality to start off with, was pretty worn out. (Chains only last 3,000-8,000 km so it had hit its limit. As chains wear, they elongate from link to link. The elongation makes the metal weaker and eventually the metal fatigues completely.)
This time, the master link popped off and we weren’t able to find it again. Without the master link or a chain breaker (I talk about chain tools more in this post), there was nothing we could do. Selim would have to walk his bike for the remaining distance to Cide. Cide was a bit of a bigger city so we were sure we could find a bike shop there.
Walking our Bikes to Cide
It wasn’t too far, perhaps 7 kilometers maximum remaining to Cide, so we walked our bikes together while berry-hunting.
Repairing Selim’s Chain
Finally, we arrived to Cide and saw a A101. We enjoyed some cold beverages and snacks while planning our next move. Selim attempted to ask a man about a bike repair shop but the one he recommended was more than 10 kilometers away. We then saw a couple of young kids on bikes pull into the parking lot. They agreed to take us to a nearby bike repair shop, which was about a 15 minute walk.
We cycled (and walked) through the streets of Cide behind two very patient eleven-year old twins. Upon arriving at the bike shop, it was closed and locked but there was a sign on the door with a phone number to call. I can’t tell you how many times we arrived to a store to find a similar scenario! This doesn’t happen very often in the United States so it was always a bit of a surprise. Oftentimes, it turned out that the individual had just stepped out for a bit to go pray. We called the number just as a man pulled up on a motorcycle. It was the owner, fantastic! Selim explained the problem and they got to work. It turned out that the man had learned a bit of Arabic in the past and was keen to practice. He enjoyed talking to Selim and using some of his phrases.
They used a chain breaker to fix the chain. It got the bike into working shape but now, the chain was unfortunately too short to shift to all of the cogs. This meant that his bike couldn’t shift into the lowest gear which is what he would want to use on some of the steep uphills we were taking on. That would be a problem for another day. It was getting towards the end of our bike journey so there wasn’t pressure to buy any new components. We would just finish our trip with what we had.
Spending Time in Cide
After the chain was repaired, it was time to take care of some other chores. We washed off and headed to Aygaz to purchase a new canister of gas for our stove. Once we stocked up on groceries and took out some cash, it was time to relax. We headed to a café to enjoy some americanos and downtime.
Camping
After a few hours in the café, we headed to the beach to camp. Lucky for Selim, it was a sand beach. We weren’t alone as there were several families in RVs camping out, as well. We made dinner, befriended the local dogs, and called it a night.
