Xmas turned out to be problematic bike-wise. I’d decided to ride out to Hawaii Kai for Xmas dinner instead of busing it or taking my moped. The ride itself was fine as far as it went…that was the problem actually, “as far as it went.”
I stopped at one of the Starbucks in Hawaii Kai because I’d gotten there early and I really hadn’t had my coffee yet though it was after noon. While enjoying my book, Louis L’Amour’s “The Walking Drum.” I like a good historical novel and this one fits the bill. Too bad he never got to write the planned second and third novels of the series.
In any case I looked over at my bike and noticed something amiss on the rear wheel. Sure enough I had a broken spoke. These are hand built wheels and I’d not had any trouble in the thirteen months and thousands of miles they’ve been on my Quickbeam. I’m definitely not complaining about the wheel. It did mean I had to take it easy for the last mile to my aunt’s place though.
When I got there I realized I really couldn’t ride home another fifteen miles. I’d been lucky and no other spokes had broken by the wheel was slightly out of true and I expected it would get far worse had I tried to continue. That meant a ride on TheBus or, as I like to call it, TheSagWag. 🙂
Sunday I dragged my beater bike out, pumped up the tires, and took my wheel in to get a new spoke. I’d forgotten how much I actually like riding the beater (it’s a great bike to ride and looks like hell for the most part so I can park it in places I might not want to leave a Riv for long).
Since it looks like more rain coming in, I expect I’ll keep it out for a few more days before getting back on the Riv. Mind you the Riv is fine in the rain. It’s got full fenders and I’ve ridden rain before, but as long as I’ve got my beater out…well it deserves to be ridden too.
Here’s a screen capture of the impending rain…
Slower, cheaper, less useful…