Heat Stroke, Pedal Stroke and Warped Wheels

I had to work 4 hours away this last weekend but one of my riding buddies, we'll call him "Doug" mentioned that he was riding on Sunday so I asked if he could wait until around 4. After driving that long I was ready to get out and tear up the road.

I didn't think much about how hot it was Sunday. I was so used to high winds and some chilly air, I thought this might be an easier day.

Doug lives 2 miles away and I always ride up that way for a little warm up. I noticed when I got my bike out that the wheel kept rubbing the break at a particular point. I had this problem before and Steve at Wood-n-Wave took a wrench or whatever it was to the spokes and straightened the wheel out. I firgured Doug must have one of these tools so I decided to ride on over. On the way I noticed my wheel was really moving side to side. When I got to Doug's house he noticed I was missing a spoke. No idea how this happened.

I wasn't prepared to be bummed out by it and decided to go on anyway. We loosened one side of the brake and went on. Doug followed for about a mile too make sure it was ok. Once he gave the go ahead we picked up the pace.

Back to the heat. . I got about 8 miles into this thing and I started feeling like crap. I was huffing and puffing like I had never rode before. At about mile 11 it wasn't much better. I did have signs of brilliance but that was always at the spot where the massive attack dog I wrote about earlier lives. Doug joked that I needed to have the sounds of the dog behind me the whole time.

By the time we reached about mile 17 I didn't think I had anything left. Doug motivated me just enough to attack the last hill and when I got to the top I was sure I was done. Doug talked me into letting him drive me home in his truck. He had to got to the grocery which was by my house so you know. . . .didn't want to make him drive that alone :)

By the way, my sluggish performance was all about the wheel, at least thats my story and I'm sticking with it!