By By Chris Whitaker / staff writer
June 12, 2002
Shortly after Andy Armstrong left Linz, Germany, on Tuesday, he suffered his first bicycle problem: A spoke broke on his back wheel.
So Andy and his grandson, Eric, returned to the city to find a place that would repair the bike. Andy met a lady from Toronto, Canada, who gave him the name of a bike shop.
Andy bought a spoke wrench and fixed it himself. After Andy completed the job about 1:30 p.m., he and Eric were back on their way through Germany.
The bike repair was one of several highlights from the 12th day of Andy and Eric's European bike trip. Andy, 58, and his grandson, 15, began their journey nearly two weeks ago.
Tuesday began at 7:30 a.m., when Andy and Eric left Mondof, Germany. Early that morning, Andy said a prayer asking for someone to point them in the right direction; his prayer was quickly answered.
Andy and Eric continued to follow the Rhine River through Germany.
When they arrived in Linz around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Andy heard a band playing and he wanted to check it out.
On their way out of town, Andy noticed his broken spoke a problem that took three hours to repair. Consequently, Andy said, he and Eric didn't travel as far as they had planned.
They biked about 40 miles and planned to stop in Koblenz.