Week 38 - Day Three: Mechanical Failure

BIKE: Mike
TIME THERE: 27 min.
TIME BACK: n/a
WEATHER: a few clouds, 17C, no wind there; cloudy, 17C, 20 km/hr winds later in the day.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, t-shirt, zip-up hoodie
NOTES:

One thing I noticed this morning was the dense moisture in the air after a hot summery day yesterday culminated in a thunderstorm last night. The lightning and rain moved on, but this morning it left in its wake the oppressive humidity that felt like a very mild version of Toronto summers. It brought me back to those days, running to catch a bus, slogging through a day of work, doing my grocery shopping in air that was sometimes so thick with moisture it felt like I couldn't breathe. Water would cling to my skin and make me feel sweaty even moments after drying off after a shower. There was something about that heat that I truly loved - the perpetual feeling of a warm hug, for instance - and there were other parts that weren't so charming - like always being sticky with sweat and moisture so I could never really feel clean.

Another thing I noticed this morning was the clankity-clank emanating from my back tire. I've heard this on and off for a few days, but I checked my spokes a little while ago and nothing was broken, and there seemed to be no other reason for that noise. Today it got especially loud and persistent, so I pulled over (hence the long ride into work this morning) and tried to figure out what was the matter. One of the spokes was broken and bent, clanking against the frame of the bike with every rotation of the wheel. I tried to unscrew it from the tire, but I couldn't get it to budge, so I did my best to tuck the bent spoke into place so it wouldn't clankity-clank the whole way there, and I figured I'd just have to fix it later.

After work, I ended up getting a ride home from a friend with my broken bike shoved inelegantly into her trunk. I figured it was probably bad news that I'd already ridden most of the way to work with a broken spoke, so for the structural integrity of the rim I should avoid riding on it again until it's fixed. So I got to be lazy! Which isn't so bad, especially considering that it was spitting rain here and there at the time we headed home. Still, it got me thinking: I'm going to have to make a decision about the fate of this bike. Should I fix the spoke, along with the broken teeth on the freewheel and get a new chain (all things I've needed to do for some time)? Or, should I ride Eastwood for now as I shop for a new bike, given that I was planning on getting a new and better bike at the end of the summer?

Hmm . . . decisions, decisions . . .