Monday, September 1, 2008

Spoke Blow Out

Since it is a holiday weekend I am feeling the pressure to be family oriented so I decided to forgo the group ride for a quick 40 miler in the area. Started out by riding some of the hills in the area and then heading out on the Tuesday Evening ride route. I added a couple of miles to the end of the route.

As I as making my way back along Middletown Road I broke a spoke on my rear wheel. I thought that I had picked up some junk from the road. This is one of the things I am not prepared to handle on the road. I was not that far from home but it would have been a long walk in road shoes. I made the call home to get a ride back. I still got 38 miles in for the day. It could have been worse and I could have been much further away. I have been carrying enough money to call a cab if I ever do need a ride back. I have to add the phone numbers for some of the local cab companies to my cell phone.

While I was waiting for my ride I made some calls around to the usual bike shops. Since I am unemployed I do not have enough money to buy a new set of wheels. I am a little concerned since I am afraid that some of the other spokes are ready to go as well.

I ended up taking my bike to Bike Haven. It looks like the Tarmac is going to be out of commission all week and I am going to be riding the Langster which has not seen the light of day since late spring.

The hilliest roads in the area are a little rough and I hit a pot hole hard last week so that may have been the root case. Cliff at Bike Haven as me how much I weighed. When I told him 180 lbs he said that I am about 10 lbs too heavy for bike riding. I have actually dropped some weight over the summer. I have been living on Muscle Milk and I am now consistently below 180. I am going to see if I can get below 170 but I am not sure if I can.

All the hurricane activity in the southern part of the US is creating some of the best weather we have had all summer. I should get the Langster out for a couple of good rides. I am even thinking of riding with the Tuesday night group on the single speed.

4 comments:

brettok said...

The Langster is abck in action!

Flametop59 said...

Yup. The Langster is back in action. Two rides this week with a third hopefully today. I forgot how much fun it is to ride. I keep reaching for the shift levers and find nothing but air.

Unknown said...

180 too heavy to ride! Haha I'm screwed. I'm 215 now and ride my heart out. I'll get to 200 easy soon but 170 is pretty aggressive!

Flametop59 said...

Hi Michael,

I probably will not be able to get down to 170. Especially since I am also a weight lifter.

Enjoy the Capo. I do a lot of hills on the Langster. In fact I usually climb faster than I do on my Tarmac since I have no choice but to get out of the saddle.