Cycle - 0.8 hours - 11/22/2008

A cracked rim brought this ride to rather abrupt end. The plan was for a steady four hour club ride through the North Downs but after 45 minutes it was over. First, a loud pop from my rear wheel followed almost immediately by the rim hitting the road through an already fully deflated tyre. A piece of the rim had come away and there was no way to continue.

Fortunately I was only on a slight decline, not going too fast and, most importantly, going in a straight line. We were about to turn off for a fast run down a hill and if this had happened then, the results would have been very different. My luck did not end there. As soon as I was off my bike two guys in a car stopped and offered to take me to the nearest station. In the end, an almost ideal outcome to a potentially catastrophic situation.

Jason at De Ver thinks he can build me a new wheel by Friday so I shouldn’t have to pull out of next weekend’s Hell of Ashdown recce.

It frustrates me that the wheel had only done 4,500 km so should have been fine. Our recent run of bad weather must have caused a little too much of the braking surface to be ground away. In fact, my last brake blocks only managed 360 km when I normally get at least 2,000 km out of them.

Hopefully my old rear wheel will get me through next week’s training plan:

Monday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Tuesday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Wednesday: Two hours with two sub threshold circuits of Richmond Park
Thursday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Friday: 90 minutes in two recovery paced commutes
Saturday: Six hours in a steady paced recce of the Hell of Ashdown route

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/22/2008
• Time: 08:30:00
• Total Time: 00:47:31.00
• Distance: 18.54 km
• Average Speed: 23.41 kmph
• Ascent: 280 m