Sunday, November 20, 2011

Slam Warp!

On many Sunday mornings I look forward to my short jaunt to the Hess Station for a copy of the Sunday Times. The ride is shy of one mile. This morning, as I turned into the station and leaned into my final turn, my rear wheel suddenly slipped from underneath me. My right foot immediately went to the ground to prevent a fall. Somehow the rear wheel came off the ground (perhaps because I pivoted the bike off my foot) and then slammed back onto it. I recovered without falling, and rolled another 20 feet to park and buy the paper. When I returned to the bike and walked it a few feet from the wall I usually lean it on, I noticed the rear wheel scraping the brakes. Then I noticed loose spokes! And then the worst: my rear wheel is completely warped! Alas, I don't believe it can be trued and a new wheel is going to be necessary. With 20 years of spinning round, and carrying me so many places, I believe it doesn't owe me anything...

4 comments:

adventure! said...

Dang! Glad to hear that you saved yourself from falling. Eating it isn't fun, as I can so recently attest. Twenty years is a good life on a wheel.

josetteplank.com said...

20 years! Yeah...time to retire.

Oh...wow...no pun intended, but it kinda worked.

Mark said...

Had rear wheel earlier this year create an awful wobble on me while riding to work only to find out there were a few loose spokes. Rode slow to work and then back home. It was a cheap wheel.

Ben said...

Just picked up bike...new wheel in place. Looking nice! Rolling nice!