Funny how fate has its way to creep up on you. Last Saturday, we had our Mt. Diablo Hill Challenge, and before even getting out of the parking lot, I lost balance and fell like a doofus. Other than some scrapes, bumps and bruises, my bike was otherwise okay, and went on with the hill climb. On the descent, I felt the pedal strokes to be a bit twitchy, and thought maybe my chain was skipping. Didn’t think much of it, and decided to go straight home. The following day, I did a ride up OLH. I did feel it switching gears on me, and my first reaction was one of annoyance.
Since this was Sunday, and Cupertino Bikes won’t open till Tuesday, I had to call them to arrange to bring my bike in. I figured I should let them take a look at it. Something simple, just figure out why it’s skipping, and shifting on its own. So they took it out for a test ride, and they immediately felt something odd going on. At first thought, it might be the rear hub, and second, the spokes seem awfully loose. Then, as we looked at the rear wheel a little morek, we saw something … something really horrid!
Yup, that’s a crack, right by the spoke nipple. Damn, there goes the rim. The problem is I am leading a ride the weekend after this. The shop owner says most likely, he won’t get a replacement rim in until after that ride. Dang, what to do. Well, they had some Easton rims on sale, and I started thinking … I’m gonna shell out some good $$$ to replace this single Ksyrium … since I’m going this far, why don’t I just replace the pair. Uh oh … impulse buy. So I decided to splurge, and get a pair of Easton rims.
Oh, and to add to this, one of the chain links nearly came out. I guess I was really lucky that I brought this bike into the shop when I did. The one thing I don’t know is if the crack was there while I was climbing Diablo, or if it has just seaped in during OLH ride, or a little after. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t go climbing Montebello on Tuesday like I was going to. Geez, come to think of it, I rode this to work on Monday. Wow, talk about living on the edge.
Then, my friend Henry hits a really big pothole, and his rim is toast too. Good thing he’s okay. Then, later on that night, Mateo tweets in, that his Williams wheels are toast too. Wow, this is really bad karma … bad day for rims. This day must be cursed … 7/30/2009. But you know, the most ironic thing about all of this … I didn’t even ride today!
During all of this, Marco is putting the final touches on their tandem. I just hope all this news for today doesn’t put a curse on them. I’m a little jealous that I won’t be able to see them on their new Calfee tandem, but maybe I’ll see them on my Hicks ride next weekend.
After seeing the crack on my rim, I just started to think how lucky I really am. Yes, I have been in some accidents, and hit pavement a number of times, but imagine if I had been going down a hill at 40+ mph on the cracked rim, and what kind of accident I could have been in? All I can say is, I am glad I have new rims on my bike.
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