Thursday, May 25, 2006

Broke a spoke



My morning commute was kind of difficult today. I had purchased this can of corned beef hash for breakfast the night before. It is kind of like dog food. You fry it in a pan and when it is browned then you kind of scramble an egg in with it. And then I put hot sauce on it. I like to put Tapatio on it. It is very unhealthy but I like it.

I had a flat the day before on my regular road bike and It looked like it would be a nice ride to work as there was an overcast sky and no wind. So I decided to ride my single speed bike. It is a track bike with only one gear. The kind of thing bicycle messengers use. Here is a photo. I like the simplicity of it, I't fits me really well, and it was inexpensive.

But when I finally got all packed up and ready to go, the wind had come up. None the less I took off on my single speed. I had underestimated the weather. It became really windy and cold. Probably in the low 50s and with the wind chill it was cold. But it is only 4 miles to work so no big deal. I can suffer for that long. I went down wind for the first mile or so but then I had to turn into the wind and it was really a pull to push that gear into it for 3 miles. Plus I didn't want to be late for work.

At noon I rode home without my pack and made a quick lunch and then took the other bike back to work, but this time I brought my arm warmers with me. It was raining after work. Just a drizzle, but it was nice to have the arm warmers. They are just these spandex thingst that cover your arms, and it was just the thing to be comfortable.

I got home and was drinking a beer and watching the news on TV and I hear this loud pop. It came from the direction of the track bike. My cat jumped to attention. I thought about it for a moment and realized that it must be a spoke. And sure enough one of the spokes had broken on the rear wheel of the track bike. So I'll go to the bike shop and get another.

In the last two days I've had a flat and broken a spoke. These things don't happen too often.

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