Thompson Falls, MT to Sandpoint, ID
90.24 miles
6:05.48 hrs
30.3 max
14.7 avg
What an interesting day! When I started the day out, about 10 min into my ride, as I was leaving the town of Thompson Falls, MT, I noticed an increased cyclic noise coming from my rear wheel. I noticed a lower decible cyclic noise the previous day but when I looked briefly at the wheel I did not notice anything significant. Today, the amplitude of the noise was 10 fold. I immediately stopped and thoroughly examined my wheel. I found that the seam of the wheel had fractured and the wall of the rim had peeled away from the tire like a corner of a sheet of paper being lifted off the surface of a table. I spent the majority of the morning trying to located a bike shop in the local area and with little luck I was told that the nearest shop was in Sandpoint, ID (90 miles away).
I got in touch with one of the bike shops in Sandpoint and had them order a new wheel. Of course it was going to take 2 days to get it in so I was forced to take a break in Sandpoint, ID. The bike shop told me that the wheel that I had should still be under warrenty and that Trek should replace it for free. Since I am on tour, this was not that easy and I opted to order a new wheel and lose one day versus waiting 2 weeks for Trek to send me a new wheel.
With little to lose (the wheel was already past repair) I changed the tire back to an old defective tire and performed ductape surgery on my rim. After placing the "fixed" wheel back on the bike I rode off with the rear brake unconnected.
Two broken spokes later I pulled into Sandpoint, ID with news that I passed my mom's cousin's house about 10 miles back. This was on purpose as nobody informed me that I had relatives in this area. After a phonecall from my mom I connected up with my mothers cousin Karen and she gave me a contact to stay with in Sandpoint while I waited for my wheel arrive.
No comments:
Post a Comment