I wouldn’t do much for a Klondike bar, but I’d do some sketchy stuff for some tacos. (DNF, 2 broken spokes)

Alternative title: The ride where I fell down, went boom, and got some ouchies.

Riding home late Friday night I got to thinking about riding on Saturday. The more I thought about how late I was going to get home and how early I’d have to get up the more and more I didn’t want to ride. Then I thought about how I’d spent nearly the entire day riding on the wife and I’s anniversary and figured I should probably not ride on her birthday. Arriving home late, I let everyone know that I wouldn’t be riding on Saturday.

Saturday was spent hanging out with the wife while we ran all over town taking care of little errands. Nothing too crazy but a nice way to spend some time together.

Later that night Moose would hit me up asking about riding on Sunday. After some back and forth I figured it would be a welcome change to ride with the old Lifetime crew. Besides, I haven’t ridden with them in a very long time. Moose and I agreed on a rendezvous time around the M Casino and it was settled.

Late Friday night after sending out messages that I wouldn’t be riding on Saturday, Larry replied to let him know if I ended up with any plans for Sunday. Well, after Moose and I settled our Lifetime plans I shared the idea with Larry and he also agreed to meet up with Moose and I enroute to the gym.

I woke up to my watch saying that the outside temperature was 20 degrees! That immediately put me into a sour mood. I jumped on my phone, checked the local weather, and found a report of a marginally better 36 degrees. Seeing a temperature like that makes getting ready extremely difficult. I’m constantly battling my desire to climb back into bed and say “To hell with it.” Thankfully, ultimately, the other side of my brain wins and I get dressed up and hit the door.

Nothing much to write about the ride over to the gym. I got down to St. Rose and Gilespie and not seeing Moose straight away I decided to do a quick lap around the casino. The second time around I spotted him and we set off for Lifetime. A short time later, just past Costo, we caught up to Larry who had been soft pedaling while waiting for us. Altogether we went like gang busters to get to the gym on time. We just rolled up to Paseo Verde and Carnegie right as the group was approaching Paseo Verde on Carnegie. Damn near perfect timing.

The ride felt pretty tame until we made the turn onto Galleria. Even then it seems like the pace didn’t really pick up until Grand Cadence Dr. At that point I’d taken a couple pulls on the front and was feeling pretty good. After Water Street, Moose, some other rider, and I got off the front and just started pushing. We rotated a few times, and ultimately I took up the front as we approached the stop sign at Lake Las Vegas Pkwy.

After a quick regroup at the intersection of Galleria and Lake Las Vegas Pkwy we turned north to start a clockwise loop. Try as I might I wasn’t able to keep up with Tony once we started the climb in earnest. Despite my valiant effort, there is just no way I’m going to hold his wheel when he has me by at least 30 pounds. We finished up the loop and regrouped at Terrazza Park.

With all the heavy climbing out of the way, things seemed a little more subdued as we made our way south through Cadence. Despite that we still ended up dropping a couple folks which meant a mini regroup at Warm Springs.

We were making some good progress along Warm Springs when just before Gibson we heard someone call out a flat. Turning back found that it was Jack who had hit a decent sized bolt which he couldn’t avoid without either going into traffic or slamming into someone else. Almost immediately Mindy jumped into action helping get Jack squared away. I thought I was good at changing flats, but that girl is in an entirely different league of her own. I can’t believe how fast she had that tire stripped, tube replaced, and ready to be inflated. It was impressive to say the least.

Making the turn onto Gibson, I was ready to get the last climb out of the way. Before I could get started we hit the Kelso Dunes light. Then shortly after we got started again Mindy rolled up and asked to keep things chill so we didn’t dump a load of riders off the back. I told her “No problem” and just settled in next to her for the rest of the climb.

I’d reviewed the posted route the night before and thought we were continuing south to Las Palmas Entrada before working our way through the neighborhood to Paseo Verde. But as we approached American Pacific, I noticed Mindy started drifting into the right turn lane. I figured she was giving traffic a little extra breathing room to pass our decent sized group. Next thing I know I hear, “Right turn” and see her rear derailleur going into my front wheel.

We all know what happens to the person who loses their front wheel, so down I went. Fell kinda déjà vu ish to when I went down in Washington a few years back. As I tumbled, I caught the reflex to catch myself and did my best to let my arms fold, relax, and tumble. When I hit the ground I rolled and covered my head just waiting for the rest of the group to plow me over. Thankfully no one did and I slowly but surely rolled onto my back and let out a big sigh.

Everyone rushed over and insisted I don’t move, lay back and relax. All the things you typically say to someone who just went down. Going down at less than 17 MPH though I felt fine. Many asked what I wanted and all I could say was, “Shut my computer up before it messages my wife and she freaks out.” Unfortunately, no one could figure out my ancient 530, lol.

Anyway, I got up and walked over to the corner and pulled up a seat. Someone had gathered up Shadow and got him parked as well. Mindy came over and pulled up a seat next to me. She then apologized profusely and I did my best to assure her that it was no big deal. We had a nice little chat while I sent the all clear from the Garmin app on my phone as well as an additional personalized text to the wife as well. Having had enough sitting around I got up and said, “Let’s get rolling.”

As I swung a left over Shadow, I looked down at the front wheel and was crushed to see not one but two spokes flapping in the breeze. “Welp, I guess I’m done,” I proclaimed, but Mindy was having none of it. She asked if anyone had a rubber band, zip tie, or something anything to tie up those loose spokes. Someone came forward with some heaven sent duct tape. We taped up those two loose spokes, gave the wheel a spin to make sure it wasn’t going to rub, and called it good enough to get back to the gym.

And off we went. Of course the rest of the ride was a somber affair as they usually are after someone goes down. I hung out in the back with my front wheel dancing from side to side completely out of true, but rolling along nicely all things considered. Mindy hung back and she offered to give me a lift to the house so I wouldn’t have to ride the iffy wheel home. In addition, she would take that wheel into the shop, Swanny’s, the next day to get the spokes replaced and the wheel trued.

Back at the gym we said our goodbyes, and I loaded up Shadow on Mindy’s rack, jumped in, and she took me home.

Honestly overall it was a nice day on the bike. Things certainly started cold, but once we started putting in some work, especially along Galleria and the Lake Las Vegas climbs, I warmed up quite nicely.

As far as damage goes, Shadow is okay other than the front wheel. Hell sitting on the curb on the corner I was more worried about him than myself. Speaking of, I have four bits of road rash on my left side. Two thumb sized bits around the elbow, a nice baseball sized rash on the hip, and then two more thumb sized bits on my knee and ankle. I gave the helmet a thorough once over and I don’t think it even took a hit and looks flawless which is a relief considering it is only two weeks old. So, I’ll throw my touring front wheel on Shadow and we’ll rip to work first thing in the morning!

New bike fund: $120.97 (+$0.01), €1.52, ₱10.00, ֏10.00, CA$0.01
0.29 new miles — From Wandrer
267 total shifts, 12 front, 255 rear. 93.8% of the ride in the big ring, 6.2% in the small ring. Most time spent in 52×21, 21.9% — by di2stats
138 vehicles @ 3.5 per mile, 1.2 per minute, Speeds: 37.8 mph (avg), 58.3 mph (max)‍ — by MyBikeTraffic
Give your activities the names they deserve. — by Bandok
Sunny-Mostly sunny, 38°F-50°F, Feels like 40°F-56°F, Humidity 40%-26%, Wind W 3mph-NNW 2mph — by Klimat
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact™: 4.3%
Headwind: 47% @ 0.6 – 8.6 mph
Longest Headwind: 25m 25s
Air Speed: 16.5 mph
Temp: 31.0-47.7 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —