We had a little bit of excitement here over the weekend when we spent some time with one of the participants in the TransAmerica Bike Race (#TABR16).

It’s kind of funny (not so much in the ha ha way) that Amy Williams (@amyiscycling on Twitter and Instagram) ended up in Pueblo before the lead racers, since she was only here because she had to replace a bike that was stolen in Oregon, when she hadn’t even been racing for three days. Thankfully, Janet, the long-time mechanic at Great Divide Ski, Bike & Hike had a Specialized Ruby that she was selling, so Amy came down to Pueblo to pick it up before heading back to Wyoming to rejoin the race.

Angie became aware of Amy’s predicament because they have a mutual friend on Facebook, who had also reached out to Amy up in Oregon. We didn’t know what Amy’s plan was for coming to Pueblo, but Angie contacted her to see how we could provide some support. Angie determined that Amy was going to come down to pick up the bike, and then take a bus back to Denver. She would have some time to kill here on a VERY hot day so we offered her our services for lunch and any running around she needed.

After some back and forth messaging, a simple plan was hatched, to pick Amy up at Great Divide. That was about it.

When we met her, Amy mentioned that she needed to pick up a package she’d sent to herself that was at one of the post offices in town. Since post offices close at noon or one on Saturdays, we hot footed it over to the office in the Sunset neighborhood and Amy was able to secure her package. As she’d been left pretty much with only the clothes she stood up in and her phone, Amy was happy to get some of the supplies she’d sent to herself. It would have been a total pain for her to get to the post office from downtown without a car, so we were glad to be able to get her there quickly and before the post office closed.

Once her key mission was accomplished, we took Amy to the Shamrock Brewing Company, one of the few places we’ve really gotten to know for food in town, but also a place we could hang out in the cool for a while. Since our swamp cooler at home appeared to be malfunctioning, Angie and I were only too happy to spend some time there.

We hung out and chatted and ate until it was time for Amy to head to the bus station, where her bike was boxed up and waiting for her thanks to the kindness of the folks at Great Divide and the bus station manager, who was holding the bike in her office.

After she left us, Amy spent some more time getting kitted up to resume the race. She rejoined the route this morning in Rawlings, Wyoming. You can track Amy’s progress at http://transambikerace.com/2016-live-tracker/.

Amy has had to replace everything she lost, all at once, which is no small expense. Her sister started a gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/28bnftv8 if you want to support her resupply efforts.