John’s Ramblings

I rode Monday afternoon with some old-and-new friends; a group loosely associated with the gym where I do my winter spinning. This is the group that I trained with for my first RSVP in 2005, and from whom I re-caught the cycling bug. We did just under 30 miles through the valley at a brisk pace. I took them on a variant of the Green River/Interurban Trail loop, crossing the river at West Valley Hwy. in order to ride up the sparsely trafficked Frager Road.

Wednesday I joined the same group (in a slightly different configuration) for another run through the valley. We started from the Supermall in Auburn and headed north on the Interurban Trail toward Kent and Tukwila. At 3.5 miles, a loud crunch could be heard and Jim’s bike skidded to a halt. I’m not sure what the exact progression of events was, but the end result was that his back wheel was locked due to the rear derailleur having sheared off, and it was now wedged in the spokes and between the chainstays.

One link of the chain was half-broken, and it required the use of a chain tool to untangle the mess. Jim was not shifting at the time that the hanger gave way, so either it just failed, or a spoke broke and the resultant un-true wheel just caught the derailleur. We were cooking along at 20 mph, so the damage was swift and complete. We’re just lucky Jim did not go down in the process.

Once we had his bike able to roll (sans drive train), Jim got back on and Ty offered to ride alongside and push him the 3.5 miles back to the cars. Ty is what you would call a very strong rider.

Jim’s bike will be paying a visit to the dealer this morning for assessment of the damage and a review of the warranty on a 1 year old Specialized Roubaix.

2,451 miles ytd.

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