Miracle at Brewfest

Packing a Bier stein on a 4,000 mile bike tour is impractical, but it sure would have been nice to have at the Lander Brewfest. Instead I’m deduced to admiring the off-white porcelain mug with a intricate pewter top of a Lander local.
He asks where mine is, and I explain my situation to which he introduces me to Mike Lowham. With an extensive touring resume of his own, Mike is also the founder and former owner of Laramie, Wyoming’s most devout bike shop, the Pedal House.

“During the Winter of 1989-90 my brother Doug called and asked if I would like to open a bike shop. One of Laramie’s existing shops had finished its ride and we figured we would get rich doing what we loved. We have not got rich, but we are still doing what we love-fixing bikes; selling bikes to new and old riders; building bikes for ourselves, friends and family; and of course most important still riding bikes!”

For the past week, a broken shift lever on Cali’s bike has demanded we manually shift her gears, reducing us to a debilitating speed on the rolling hills of central Wyoming. “It’ll be a miracle if we find a bar end shifter here,” I tell Cali.

The rain-soaked brewfest on the Lander High School soccer fields turns out to be a place where miracles happen, as Mike invites us over to his home workshop. Light dances around the full wall of bike parts Mike’s collected over the years while the old wood stove dries our pruned fingers. We drink and share stories as Mike drunkenly fidgets with an old bar-end shifter. He files, twists, pushes and pulls, but clouds of smoke and cold beers interrupt his concentration. He hesitates to throw in the tall and continue in the morning, knowing full well the incomplete project will dance around with heavy feet in his conscious all night.

Last night’s gravitational pull keeps me wrapped up in my sleeping bag till 11 a.m. the following morning. By the time we pick up donuts and find our way back to Mike’s house, Cali’s bike hangs in the bike stand, shifting perfectly. Mike won’t accept any money in return, he’s been in our situation before, and the satisfaction of getting us back on the road is payment enough.