I don't know whether to laugh, cry or scream today. For the past month a lot of things just haven't been going my way it seems; from work, to home to cycling, little (and some fairly big) things just keep happening and adding up from minor annoyances to to long lasting headaches and worse.
Last night I rode the Rosaryville night ride with probably the largest group of riders I've ever done a trail ride with (aside from races). We broke into two groups quickly as the lead set a fairly blistering, but managable pace on the front. I hung on about 4th wheel until my singleator lossened and had to be retightened and tensioned. No big deal; I apologized but no one seemed to mind the quick break while I reset it. We quickly got going again, this time with a slightly higher pace as a new leader had taken over.
We rolled quickly along and at some point a new "leader" took over and then took off. Out of sight entirely with no desire to let up. I only wish I could ride that fast. I'm definitely finding myself limited here by my own abilities but unfortunately (or fortunately) it's not my fitness but my technical skill, or lack there of. I also REALLY need to get a better light as I'm still taping the light to my helmet and last night it shifted and was basically aimed straight down right in front of my wheel. I pushed the helmet back on my head (certainly not proper helmet usage) and threw my head back as far as I could when I need it but most of the time I tried to key off the guy in front of me and the light coming from behind.
So, as we're cruising through the final section of the trail; probably got about 500 yeards to go to the trail head and slip, I'm spinning out and going no where. Apparently I stripped the free wheel and I'm walking/coasting/flinstoning my way back to the parking lot with a broken bike... again.
The list goes on, dada dum da dum dumb.
I wish I'd held out and then picked up a GF Paragon this fall. My Trek 6500 ran perfectly for around 10 years, and it had Shimano Alivio or something like that and basic mid-entry level bontragor parts.
2 comments:
That is some crazy stuff, what kind of wheels are you using? A buddy of mine Sid stripped/broke that freewheel too! Well at least he broke the one from the test Jamis that CityBikes had last year. As soon as I am feeling better we will do a early(daylight) ride at Rosey.
Yeah, it looks like it was an ACS freewheel which I've heard are fairly crappy. I've got some prospects on a White Industries freewheel from a MORE member so hopefully that'll eliminate that problem.
The wheels are the stock WTB Laserdisc rims laced to "unnamed" hubs... I need to upgrade, but that just costs too much damn money!
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