Death Valley 2012 - I hope this isn't a sign...

We're off to a rather shaky start. Made it to Death Valley National Park alright, but the bikes weren't so lucky. They arrived earlier this week, but not as intact as we would have liked. We're using our new BIKND (I think that's how it's spelled) bike carriers, which were expensive and seemed to be a clever, sturdy design. We trusted our bikes to them.

That was a mistake. I was anxious to see my Bianchi, and the first thing I noticed when the bike bags were brought up to us was that the inflatable sides didn't seem to be so inflated, and one of the carrier's wheels had sheared off. I was afraid to open it up, but nothing was seriously wrong with the bike. But when Dave put it together, the derailleur wasn't functioning properly. It looks as though it may have been bent, but we don't have the tools to fix it well enough to hold up to a week of intense riding.

I was 'helping' Dave put the bikes together by staying out of his way.

Dave's Cannondale fared worse. His derailleur also appears to be slightly off-kilter, but he couldn't really know for sure since the derailleur hanger was completely sheared off.

Yikes! NOW what do we do??

So instead of a leisurely, pre-AdventureCorps ride tomorrow, we'll be driving back into Vegas, to our favorite bike store there (McGhies) to get our bikes repaired. I'm not shipping my Bianchi home in that piece of shit BIKND, either. I won't trust my bike to that thing, especially since we're shipping and not flying with the cases.

Only in Vegas would it be appropriate to wear a helmet like this!

Top view, same helmet.

Oh - and the wind gusts are expected to reach 40+ mph  tonight. And rain tomorrow...but I know not to be surprised. You have to always expect extremes here in Death Valley. I just hope that this first day isn't some ominous sign...