Saturday July 26 Rides

[mimitabby]

no, dear; it was more like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKGb0_4cBcc

[JLMitchell]

~ 28 miles with a group. I felt strong, but I still couldn't keep up with my usual subgroup for anything! We ran into a nice summer storm during the last half of the ride. It felt great, but the lightning got a little too close once. I was too far back to suggest stopping, but we rode through the rain and came out on the other side ok. I still wasn't going fast at all after being cooled off, even on flats. I come to find out that somewhere along the line I had broken a rear spoke and my brake was rubbing the wheel. I knew I was hearing something during the rain, but I didn't stop to investigate because I figured the bike was squeaking from being wet.

After the ride I also was informed that, in addition to riding with a broken spoke for miles and miles, I had been rolling on tires that were horribly dry-rotted and that they needed to be replaced before I rode another foot. I figured the LBS (to whom I immediately drove) that sold me the bike would have told me that. I didn't really know what to say, even though I bought the bike from them and they supposedly gave the bike a check up before they gave it to me. I just told them what was up and what I needed and didn't assume that they would take responsibility for it. I thank my lucky stars, my guardian angel, AND my fellow group riders for pointing those things out before I hopped back on.