I've been hanging out this week at a summer camp for middle and high school students. It's been a fun change of pace from the hectic world of coffee (just in the mornings!) But the weather has been a bit unpredictable.
Yesterday I suited up and took the bike out for a few miles winding through some backroads somewhere in Stark County. I should've known that the nice tailwind and descents I was experiencing the first ten miles would mean pain and struggle on the return trip. Unfortunately, as I got past a tiny little town called Alliance, one of my back spokes popped again. The little silver "nipple" which attaches the spoke to the outer rim fractured and broke in two. The same thing happened on the ride across Indiana a couple of weeks ago.
So I pulled out the spoke (fortunately my wheel has 23 more besides that one) and rode the bike a few hundred yards to a little hometown auto shop. A nice gentleman there loaned me some allen wrenches as he suspiciously eyed my spandex outfit! I had to remove the rear brakes and ride the ten miles back uphill and into a terrible headwind. Then the lightning started flashing and ended up with a nice little thunder shower for the last mile.
Life is always interesting when you put yourself out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment