Father of Six

Ugh! I’ve had a semi-disaster with my bike.

I’ve been having trouble with my rear wheel spokes. Before yesterday, I’d broken and had replaced three (3) spokes. The bike shop has told me that this is highly unusual, and that the entire wheel probably needs to be replaced. This would be covered under warranty, since the bike is less than six months old.

On my ride home yesterday a fourth (4th!) spoke broke. This time was much worse, as the spoke flew into and lodged in my rear derailleur. The derailleur wrenched itself into a mangle mass, and broke from the hanger. The chain subsequently came off and was wrapped around the rear hub. This action locked up the rear wheel and I laid a strip of rubber down on the pavement about six feet long.

There was no way I could repair this problem so I called Tami and had her come pick me up at the visitors entrance to Chatfield. I had to walk and carry my bike back to this location, which sucked too.

The bike shop is going to contact the manufacturer today and get all the broken components replaced under warranty. I have no idea when I’ll get the bike back.

Meanwhile, I got my old road bike set up on my trainer and will get a few workouts in. I don’t want to use this bike out on the road because it really isn’t suitable for much. It’s a ’70’s era bike, heavier that hell, old and dry-rotted tires, and not very reliable.

I’ve be nervous all along about not being fit to ride the MS 150. This was to be my last full week of training and preparation. I can still get some training in, and hopefully my bike will be fixed by week end.