JUNE 25: Lewistown, Ill. No mileage (except on Mark’s Chevy truck).

Yes, it was an adventure. But in the end, thanks to Mark, it was mission accomplished. On schedule, he picked us up here at the Cottonwood Motel at 9 and drove us more than an hour to Springfield.

The first shop, Ace Bicycles, had plenty of new Giant bikes, but no derailleur hanger for Ben’s 2008 OCR 1. A second Giant dealer in nearby Chatham, Wheel Fast, said the part was in stock and we threw the bike in the back of Mark’s truck and headed out.

(Here a word about hangers: They are the gizmos with which the derailleur, which changes the rear gears, is secured to the bike frame. It is something we never knew about until Ben’s first hanger broke back in New Jersey. Now we’ve heard more about hangers than we ever wanted to know. Scores are made and vary by model and make. The idea of creating a universal hanger for all bikes apparently never occurred to the industry. “It’s almost funny until your own hanger breaks, then it’s not funny anymore,” said a guy at the first bike shop).

Not laughing, we arrived at the second bike shop, where the hanger, derailleur and chain were replaced and the rear wheel trued. Ben was good to go – tomorrow. We’re spending another night in Lewistown, hoping the local thunderstorms roll through and we have a shot at the Mississippi tomorrow.

When Mark dropped us off at the motel, he had driven us more than 100 miles and spent most of the day saving us from untold delays. Yeah, we bought him lunch and a half tank of gas for his Silverado, but it was nothing compared to the trouble he saved us.

“Listen,” Mark concluded. “If you run into any trouble between here and Quincy, just call me.”

Derailleur permitting, it’s a call we’ll never make.