Dry Run 2 - Electric Boogaloo

Greetings.

2nd weekend at Island Lake Recreation proved to be a positive one. This weekend Nicki and I decided to take on the yellow off-road trail, while Chris and Joe took on the paved trail. Although the blue trail is longer, I found the yellow trail to be harder. The weather was awesome. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, and this time we didn't get rained on. Despite all of this, I still managed to crash and fall off my bike two times and also "run in into the woods" two times.

I'm positive now that my breaks are crap and the reason I keep crashing is because I can't slow down enough on the down hill parts, then I end up having to make a split second decision, and if I hesitate I run into the woods, often being dismounted by varies branches and spiky shrubery. If I don't hesitate and end up making a wrong decision, I end up crashing. My two crashes involved me falling completely off my bike. The first crash, I ran into a tree, got thrown off, and landed on my back. The damage to the bike was bent front fork, which later I was able to beat into place with a hammer. The second crash was a little cleaner, but nonetheless hurtfull. I ended up going way too fast and I had to make a sudden turn. My front tire dug into some soft sand, sending me over the handlebars. No damage to the bike, but I suffered some superficial cuts.

Towards the end of the course I realized that there was a major problem with my rear wheel. While cranking on the pedals it sounded like the rear axle was rubbing something, and would make a dull squeak with every rotation. Also, with about a mile left on the course the rear gears busted completely out. I would literally pedal in place and not move forward. I thought I would have to walk the rest of the way, but I ended up getting bored and I tried all of the gears and I found one that had resistance to it, and I was able to pedal on that one. It was one of the weaker ones, so it took me a long time, but I did finish the course on the bike and not on my feet.

So what now? I've got about two more weeks before the Tour de Cure and my bike is completely messed up. I need a new wheel, or the gear cassette part anyway, probably a new hub. Should I spend some money and get this fixed? Should I just buy another Schwin knock off and hope for the best? Should I get a quality bike and risk breaking it while going off road? I have a lot to think about, but not a whole lot of time to finish. In the mean time I will be looking around for people setting out (throwing away) old bikes and perhaps I could salvage some rear wheel parts from those... but its not something I should rely on. No matter how hard I try to escape it, the drama gets me.

Nicki had some drama of her own. In mid course her handlebars came loose, and it was very hard for her to maintain control of her bike. Nicki and I got very lucky. We noticed that the yellow trail runs parallel to the entrance of the Island Lake Resort, so we decided to pit stop and call Joe and Chris to bring us some tools and some Power Aid. Once we fixed the handle bars, we were back in business. Other than this, Nicki had a great run, only getting a few small bruises.

Joe and Chris did about 3 miles on the paved trail. This is great because Chris has been struggling in the beginning, but now he's putting it all on the line. Its looking like we're getting to our personal goals and we'll be ready for the Tour.

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." - Japanese Proverb