Parts for your car

The fair weather appears to have finally gone away.  It was good enjoying Indian Summer.  I told Moso-Man on our last ride that I did more miles in the 2 weeks of November than I did the entire month of August, what with TLK’s sister getting married and us moving, August was not a month for the record books, but November…

Moso-Man and I did another spirited ride in the Valley last Saturday. We covered 96 miles in 4 hours 24.  About mile 30, my 14-year-old Ritchey TCR Aero rim that had been wobbling a bit began to wobble a LOT.  I had just taken Moso-Man down a mile long stretch of brick pavement on Congress St in Ottawa at about 25 per.  After we got off the pave, I had to open up the calipers because the rim was rubbing the brake pads.  We did the climb up to Buffalo Rock State Park overlooking the IL River and stopped for some refreshments.  It was mile 38 of the ride.  Moso-Man, being the wheel building guru was checking out the spokes and noticed that the spokes weren’t loose so much as the rim had a nasty crack and the spoke head was pulling through.  That will tend to make a wheel wobble then won’t it?

Not being one to make like an Alaska Governor and quit, I decided to ferry on with the  broken wheel and after looking at the Bison in the Park, we took off and finished a great ride.  The wheel further deteriorated as the ride got longer so Mos0-Man in repayment for the punishment I inflicted on him the previous week kept amping the pace, knowing that any time I got to 23 mph, the wheel would hit the brakes on every rotation through.  Nice…

Oh yeah…Before we got started we saw a pack of wild mountain bikers on the I&M Canal Path.  These guys were chatting and obviously over dressed.  As they passed the parking lot where Moso-Man and I were getting out stuff together for our ride I noticed an Amgen kit.  Figuring it wasn’t Turbo or The Rhino I hollered “Hey Doughty!”  Tom was supposed to be riding with Moso-Man and me but he had some time constraints so went out with the MTB guys early from Joliet.  Tschampa, Jim Scott, Maylath, Hickman, World track silver medalist Host and Doughty were out for a cruise.  Good to see those guys.  They were in thermal gear wtih full finger gloves and leg warmers.  Moso-Man and I, being cool with not starting rides at the crack of dawn were debating whether or not we needed arm warmers. It was close to 70 degrees.

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