John’s Ramblings

Today was STP preview day, version 2007.1.0. “The Plan” was to ride from Auburn to Rainier, double back to Yelm, hang a right and do some variation of a trip to Orting, then head home. 120 miles, give or take.

We executed the plan perfectly, for 12 miles. At that point, Donna announces that “you have a strange noise coming from your rear wheel”. [Stopping and inspection ensues] . The cause of said strange noise was a broken spoke on the rear wheel.

Having been told months before about Fiber Fix Spokes by the mighty Albert M., and having acted on said recommendation by ordering two spokes via the Internets, I donned my “readers” and inspected the blurry directions that come with the spoke. It turned out to be a fairly painless operation, and in about 20 minutes I had my rear wheel repaired, reasonably true, and we were rolling again.

We had to fight a pretty good headwind all the way down to Rainier, but we still made pretty good time. We did our 180 degree turn, then stopped at the Subway in Yelm for a sandwich.

When we left the Subway, the rain had started, and the winds gave it that “horizontal” quality. Fortunately the wind had not changed direction, so we had a nice tailwind for much of the home run.

Our luck changed at mile 75, when I had a second rear spoke let go while we climbed a small hill on Waller Road. The good news was I had bought two Fiber Fix spokes on the Internets. The bad news was, the second one was at home. I ended up loosening the two adjoining spokes and completely releasing the rear brake caliper cable in order to have enough clearance to roll the wheel without rubbing on brake or frame. We rode over the hill, and stopped a couple of miles or so down the road at a mini-mart, where we waited for rescue (Donna’s husband Chet saved the day).

I now have some serious doubts about my wheelset for the upcoming STP and RAW events, which will translate into a new set of wheels, waddaya bet?

78.6 miles on the day, 2,369 y-t-d.

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