The roads were wet from rain and snow melt and the wind was howling, but it was almost 60 degrees and there was no doubt in my mind as to what Lance would do, so I geared up to ride outside.
I
headed north for my Gates Mills course and as usual, found a wind at my back as
I rode along SOM Center. It was blowing
hard and I was feeling strong, so I shifted into a speed gear and was cruising
along close to 35 mph before turning into the North Chagrin Reservation. I shifted down to deal with the new
conditions when I felt the gear shift go soft and felt the cable snap. My derailleur defaulted my chain to the
hardest gear where it would stay until the cable was repaired. I pulled into the Ranger Station to see if
there was any hope, but there wasn’t.
Rain had begun to fall…hard…and I was 6 miles from home and facing a
gale wind for the return ride. Bollocks.
I
turned out of the park and headed south on SOM with the wind and rain blowing
in my face so hard that my contacts were drying out and making it hard to keep
my eyes open. I was stuck in the
hardest gear, which was making for a wonderful workout but pissing me off at
the same time. I was disappointed that
the ride would have to be cut short and that I’d need to go to the bike store
for repairs. UB Express needed a winter
tune-up though, and with a cold freeze coming in tomorrow, I told myself the
timing was right. I rode home,
struggling against the conditions and arrived with 35 minutes of riding to my
credit. Not enough, but a good
start. I decided to finish the ride with
more time on the trainer, taking it 45 minutes.
So…back
to bad luck riding. Two of the last
three attempts have been met with some kind of mechanical failure. I’m hard on my equipment putting on lots of
miles and blanketing them in sweat. It
comes with the territory and I’m thankful for having the backup bike on the
trainer.
Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart
Rate: 120 bpm.Calories burned during workout: 850.
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