Published on September 21, 2025
So today was my best day riding as I was able to get off my bike by 2:15 pm. My foot cages on my pedals were giving me issues the last couple of days so I tried to see if there was a bike store in Columbia open on sunday that had the pedals with foot cages I needed. I called Outspokin and spoke to Max. He said they had what I needed and that they were on sale too! They close at 4:00 pm on sunday so I went over there straight away. When I got there Max was away for a bit but one of the other guys got the new pedals with cages and installed them along with adding air to my tires so I would be all set for Day 8. Max came back as I was leaving and he was interested in the Tour de five guys after I told him about it on the phone and why I needed help today before they closed. He checked out my jersey and took some pictures of it as I struggled to put my phone back on my new quad lock holder on my handlebears. He showed me some tricks to snap it into place and realized I needed help stabilizing the actual holder on the handlebars. He got a better allen wrench tool that could really tighten it down and another issue I had been dealing with since Day 1 was sorted. A lot of this technology did not exist when I was 27 years old riding across America so I am just getting used to it. Max went that extra mile with his customer service and the rest of my tour de five guys will benefit because of that. A little extra kindness and customer service goes a long way. As a thank you to Max I invited him to join me for my daily meal at five guys and he gladly accepted. Max as it turns out was on a streak of bad luck and challenges in his personal life and just the offer to get him dinner lifted his spirits and indicated to him that things may be turning around. Max is a nice young man who is interested in becoming a teacher so I encouraged him to look into the programs where they help you to get an education degree in return for a committment to teach for a number of years! Thanks again Max for getting me fixed up!
