8/17 Ride reports

[makbike]

The club hosted a 110 mile ride today that was suppose to be very hilly. I decided to join in the fun and spend the day with some of my cycling buddies. I have been having problems with my RD and have had the bike back to the shop twice. Yesterday they worked on it and told me the cable was loose and that it should be fine today. At the first climb it was evident all was not well with the RD and things got worse as the first hour passed. At the twenty mile mark I could not longer shift in the back. I pulled off the road and several people stopped to offer assistance. I was very evident the cable was the culprit. Another rider had a cable and gave it to me. Two guys offered to work on my bike and I quickly accepted their generous offer. The new cable was installed and it still would not shift. It was decided after several adjustments that the cable head on the old cable had broken off and was stuck somewhere in the shifter keeping it from working. The big decision now was what to do. I was given my choice of which cog I wanted the chain put on so the cable could be adjusted. I quickly went from having thirty gears to three in a blink of an eye. I had them place the chain on the fourth cog down and kept my fingers crossed I had made the right choice for I knew the next 90 miles were tough ones and my ride had just become very challenging. Club members stayed with me throughout the day checking on me and offering words of encouragement along the way. It appears my 43, 55, 71 gear inch choice was a good one for I was able to climb and I was able to maintain a pretty smooth cadence throughout the day. Toward the end each hill sucked a bit more out of my legs and by the time we arrived back at our cars I was beat. However, I really did have a good day on the bike. I ride with some great people and I knew if my spirits or legs started to falter they would be there to encourage me. The weather was great and I felt very lucky that today was only in the mid-80's with low humidity not typical Ohio Valley weather for August. I also realized how blessed I am to have strong legs and a strong will - both came in handy today. So in the end I rode 109.8 miles and had a respectable average speed of 15.4 mph. Life is good!

P.S. I also got stung by some insect who flew into my jersey and planted its stinger in my left beast. What a day!