Day 38: The THIRD Broken Spoke

88.81 mi max 29.0 5:03.44 avg 17.5 mph!!!

I'm so excited to go to Cleveland! Alice, Mark, Charlie & I got 2 rooms...it will be fun. Plus, we'll only have about 40 miles or so to Burton on our rest day - the humidity will be down, so it will be a walk in the park - so to speak.

Today's ride went soooooo fast. Look at my stats - I've NEVER had that kind of average, especially over 88 miles. Hello tailwind! And, actually, my average was 17.8 up until my group lost me. I started out with Mark...then we picked up Sean, Will, Dominic, and Kim. We were flying at 20 mph or so, with Dom & Mark taking turns pulling. It was actually kind of scary being in a group that big. At one point, we all pulled into a church parking lot to change over our maps. The turn was sudden, and I don't remember who was leading. Anyway, there was a lot of gravel between the road and the pavement of the parking lot, and I almost hit it...and didn't have time to tell Will behind me that there was gravel up. He hit the ground, but amazingly, was unscathed.

After the first water stop, our group split up and I went with Dom & Kim until the second water stop. I took a little extra time at Anna Marie's stop, so Dom & Kim went on ahead. I'd been with other people a lot these past few days (since the discovery that I can go fast with other riders), and didn't mind going on my own.

Bad decision. About a mile and a half after the water stop, I was reading my DRG as I rode...and noticed that it said something about really bad tracks....thu-dum-bum-bump. Yep, I found 'em the hard way. That moment of not paying attention cost me another spoke. Rider-Mark was not long behind me, so he stayed with me...although neither of us could do much because the spoke was, again, on the drive-train side of the rear wheel. This makes a spoke replacement more difficult, because it's necessary to remove the rear cassette (all the gear thingies on the rear wheel.) This requires a special tool called a chain whip...which is big and heavy, and I don't have one.

Fortunately, Moon was right behind us, because he has the capability to fix a spoke - he has a travel version of a chain whip. The bike store from which I'd bought my spokes before I left home had given me the wrong size in the rear - previously, Alan had had to cut down my spokes in order to put them on the bike. (A short spoke won't reach the rim of the wheel, and a spoke that's too long will poke through the rim and tear a hole in the tube.) Mark saved the day, though, because he had a spoke that fit my wheel. Alan's timing couldn't have been better - Moon had everything finished up just as Alan pulled up in his van.

After that little episode, Larry, Moon, Mark, and I hauled it to Sandusky. Most of the time it was 21-22 miles per hour, with a very stiff tailwind. It was awesome. Mark pulled really hard, too, around 23 mph, so when it was my turn, I was already tired and couldn't go in front for very long...but I did what I could.I lost them just before town because of a stoplight. Then I really got stuck when a train went through, with about 100 trailers (for tractor trailers).

Finally, tonight was Cedar Point, which was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great roller coaster rides. We could have spent more time there, but we have to ride tomorrow. I guess the Ride used to stay in Sandusky, but now it's in Exciting Burton. Mark, Anna, Debbie, and I hung out at the park. The best one was the Millenium, at the very end - Mark and I were the only ones to go on that ride. It was wild...I love getting lifted up out of my seat :-)