A Little Catching Up: Part 4

A broken spoke I had recently.

 Well, as I continue to rehab the knee and get healthier, I have had an issue which I haven't experienced in a long, long time. A broken spoke!

It happened at about the best time something like this could happen- if there ever is a good time for a broken spoke - and that was at the end of my ride that particular day. 

I've been really trying to reel back in my desires to go out in the country and ride for a couple of hours. I don't want to over-stress this knee and end up worse off than I am. So this ride wasn't all that far from the house, but still.... It was nice not to have to nurse a rear wheel over several miles to get back to where I either had a ride waiting or back home. 

I knew what had happened without even looking. That distinctive sound is something any bicycle mechanic that's worked on bicycles a long time will know instinctively. The 'ting-tinging' on my frame tubing was my second clue. but still, I was surprised because I rarely ever break a spoke while riding. A couple of other things surprised me about this broken spoke as well.

First was that it broke in the middle of the spoke. That's very odd! Generally they break at the "J" bend, or at the nipple, like the last spoke I broke did. But right in the middle? I've seen that where spokes that are compromised by a chemical reaction, or that were previously bent in the middle somehow have broken this way, but this spoke didn't show signs of that.

The other thing was that this spoke was on my Irwin Cycles wheel, the aluminum pair I have, and those have been great wheels, so I am a bit puzzled by this broken spoke. When I get to repairing it, (yes - I have not done it yet. Gotta ride fat bikes now! See the rest of the story here), maybe then I'll get to see a clue as to why this happened. Anyway, a broken spoke for me is remarkable, so I get why you think this may be goofy! Especially if you've broken a ton of spokes!

First tracks in 8" of fresh snow at the nearby cemetery.

As I alluded to, it is now time to get back on fat bikes because we just got a dump of new snow over the weekend. This time we were more in the bulls-eye of the storm. We ended up with about 8" of new snow which is pretty good for riding on. Not that dried out, sandy type of snow which is dang near impossible to ride over or through. 

This stuff will make for some good trails and once it gets packed in it should last a while. We are going to get a couple of warm days, but only a hair over freezing, which actually should set this snow up well. Then I don't see anything but chilly weather for the next week, so I expect to get more fat biking in as January closes out. 

The ol' knee is coming along well. I think I might start doing a little longer rides now, but they will have to be easier rides for a bit, just to see how this comes along. The ride Saturday in the fresh stuff was punctuated by a half mile stretch of fresh, untrodden snow which I had to break trail through. My heart gave way before my legs, so that is a great sign. 

So, maybe I'll have some more ride reports coming in soon. And more news on the job front too. Stay tuned....