Some rides you think are not going to happen, other rides let you know that it will not happen. Todays 4 hour ride started at 10am at the Starbucks in Broadmead. I hadn't been on my winter bike for 2 weeks and had forgotten that I needed a new rear cassette (my new chain wasn't meshing well with the old worn down cassette). I rode it like this 2 weeks ago and promised myself after that ride that I was going to deal with it before I needed to ride this bike again. Since I didn't take care of it and I wasn't about to bring a different bike into the wet winter conditions I knew that I could ride in a couple of gears and be fine as long as it wasn't a hilly route or a tempo effort. Yeah, the route was going to be hilly (this is Victoria after all). Sure enough every time I go uphill my chain is dancing around the cassette but is still allowing me to make forward movement through the group. About an hour into the ride I get a flat tire. I fix the flat and fumble with the CO2 cartridge and I way under-inflate it. I decided to get going to catch the group waiting for me. The tire feels good, a little sloppy but hey I already can't shift so whats a little low pressure going to do to me? I find the group waiting for me and one minute into the pace I blew a spoke (same rear wheel). Yep, that was it! Ride was over and I U-turned and rode home very slowly.
It was just one of those rides!
Since then I have swapped a wheelset and tires around and replaced my worn cassette with a new one (8-speed is so cheap compared to 10-speed parts). That rear wheel is in the shop and will become a backup wheel when I pick it up next week.
I hope tomorrows run goes ok. I better check my shoes.
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