Days 8 & 9: If at First You Don't Succeed...Try Something Else

During the night we heard some pretty crazy sounds - some whooping and hollering of what was probably a group of waterfowl? - in addition to some pretty raucous neighbors (drunken sing-a-long). We woke up early to break camp, and started on our way out towards Damariscotta. We planned on picking up the supplies we needed to try  and extract our seat post (ammonia and some eye droppers), which we found at the local supermarket.

We tried dripping ammonia down the bike post to eat away the corrosion that was likely the cause of our issue, but it was incredibly slow going and we weren't seeing much in the way of results. We figured we would need to invert the bike, take out the crank at the bottom, and pour the ammonia in from there to soak the post inside. We took a break at a McDonalds and had some coffee and side salads, where we had a great chat with Walter, the old Head Chairman of Damariscotta. He was sympathetic to our issue and offered a lot of assistance, recommending the bike shop in Woolwich that we were hoping to hit.

(They love to see us smile, right?)

The post still stuck, we rode to our final stop at Edgecomb. We stopped at a post office to pick up a delivery of food though, and it was like Christmas morning when we opened the box. So much to eat!!

(At the post office)

This morning we headed off to Woolwich, where we stopped at Bath Cycle and Ski, the shop we were looking for. Unfortunately, we are still here. They weren't able to get the post out, and ended up cutting part of it off after they had attempted to remove it with a vice (we would have preferred that they asked us beforehand, but once it was cut there's no going back). We've got a makeshift solution with a smaller post inserted into the old stuck post, but now the rear handlebars won't go up (uncomfortable for Erin). 

(Attempting to remove the post)

Although we're bummed the post wouldn't come out, we do super appreciate how much time and effort Bath Cycles and Ski put into this whole issue. They were super considerate and really wanted to get us going. They also didn't gouge us on the price, even though they spent all day struggling with this mess. They were awesome for coming up with a solution and we really owe them.

We did learn that other shops had reasembled our bike incorrectly, which likely contributed to/caused our problem in the first place...Once we get it all put back together, we're heading to Brunswick. Should be an easy ride.