Who you gonna call?

When you are out on a ride and about as far from home as you could possibly be on the ride, most people you know are already out riding (and they are riding in the opposite direction) and you break your spoke? This was a first for me and while I do carry tools and can fix most things that happen on a ride I have never replaced a spoke and don't carry spare spokes around 'just in case'.

So, back to the start. My mission that I set myself for today since I am on an easy week was to tackle reverse short bays, I've never done it before, I've always been a little scared of that climb up from Governors Bay and my legs are often a bit fried on a Sunday after a long run on Saturday. This week I only had an hour run for Saturday and it was a flat run so I knew I would have reasonably fresh legs for the task at hand. Met Geoff's friend Nathan in Sumner around 11, he was keen to ride as well but not early due to an intake of beer last night! Headed off up Evans, blimey it was warm up there today and poor Nathan I thought he had been up there before, but no when him and Geoff did reverse bays they went up to the Kiwi and along the Summit Rd before dropping down into Lyttleton, that just sounds mean if you want a nasty ride! So Nathan was a little unimpressed with the climb, I promised him it got better after the hairpin which seemed to keep him going. Quick stop at the top to strip of my arm warmers as I was now pretty toasty, at this point Nathan tells me he doesn't reckon he will make it up Gov Bay! Hmm, I told him of course he would and give myself a mental note to give him a pep talk just before we got there. We were having a nice round around the bays, there were masses of people out riding today, I had seen a steady stream of folk heading the other way pretty much from when I left home, its amazing how many people get out and about when we have a nice day! We were nicely cruising down into Rapaki and I heard a ping like a stone hitting my wheel, grrr I thought, more dings! But no, I looked down and saw my front wheel wobbling all over the place so stopped to see what had happened, I thought for a sec that maybe I hadn't done my quick release up properly and since she is Italian she doesn't have those safety notches that other bikes do! But no, I had broken a spoke! Now thats never happened before! I had heard that you could wrap the broken spoke around another spoke and you will be able to keep riding bit after Nathan and I had a bit of a look at my wheel and how wonky it seemed we decided that it wouldn't be very smart to try that especially given the big climb we still had to do and there was no way I wanted to descend from the Kiwi with a wonky wheel like that! So it was time to make a damsel in distress phone call! Thats something I haven't ever had to do before!! I was going to call Geoff's mum but she has done a bit of running around for me lately so that didn't seem fair so I had a quick think about who was riding where and worked out that Dave from Chain Reaction would have likely done his ride by now, I invited him to come with me but he wasn't keen so fingers crossed that he was done and bless him he was and he agreed to come and rescue me, I did tell him he could say no if he wanted but he is too nice and said he would be there soon. Once I was sorted Nathan decided he would keep riding since I was about to get picked up and driven home, I suggested that he now had a good reason not to climb Gov Bay but he figured it was quicker than biking back the way he had come so he headed off while I made myself at home doing some sun-bathing by the bus shelter at Rapaki. Eventually I get a text from Dave asking where I was, my response was right here where I said I was, I hadn't moved. Turns out we had our wires crossed and he was at Rapaki on the ChCh side. All good, I was entertaining myself in the sun and waving to the passing cyclists, only 2 of who actually asked if I was ok, I must have looked competent or something! It was very interesting to see how differently everyone attacks the descent and climb into and out of Rapaki! So Dave turns up and bang goes my idea of a nice drive home, I had even planned to buy him coffee/lunch to say thanks! Dave had put his bike in the van knowing that it would fit me and offered me his bike to ride, hmm now I had a dilemma, go fave the demons of Gov Bay or a nice cushy ride home?? Aarghh!! That wasn't in the plan! Luckily the spoke hadn't damaged my bike so I opted for borrowing his front wheel and finishing my ride after he reassured me that the climb wasn't that much worse than Evans and was only about the same distance of about 3km. And he is taking my wheel into the shop to have it fixed so on my way to spin this week I just have to pop in and swap wheels and I'll be all sorted! So the moral of the story is, be careful who you call for help cos when you call a bike mechanic they may well turn up to fix/lend a bike rather than just give you a ride home!

So after about an hour on the side of the road I resumed my ride, thanking my lucky stars that I had packed more nutrition than I needed as I had eaten my Powerbar but had a couple of gels in my pocket so downed one of those on the way to Gov Bay. I think I was pleasantly surprised with the climb, I had built it up in my head to be this really evil climb and while it certainly isn't an easy climb I didn't want to stop at all which was good. In the past I have kept climbing out of fear, my fear being that I won't get going again if I stop on a hill. I didn't feel that this time, I just knew that I would make it up there. Although when I looked up and could see the top from a long way back and saw the steepness of it I had a wee moment of panic but calmed myself down knowing that the only really bad part is right near the top and tell you what once you can see the signs at the intersection at the top there is no stopping ya! I think I may have found my new favourite ride, although not one I would recommend with tired legs! Trundled off home from the bottom of the hill and yes I did stop for a wee breather at the Sign of the Kiwi! Bit of a nasty head wind heading down Tennyson St so thought best I be good and use my aerobars to make life easier, I'm never sure how much of a difference they make so this time I looked at my speedo while up on the hoods and then checked it again when I was on my bars, so with no noticeable extra effort and just a change in position I was comfortably doing 2-3kph faster than before! Thats huge, I knew there was a difference but never realised how much before! Back home, change of shoes, put a lead on the dog and off out for a 20min run which is about how long it takes to do the loop around Horseshoe Lake Reserve. I let the mad dog off once we were alongside the river and he took off chasing dogs and running circles around the wee kids that were feeding the ducks. Once in the reserve he felt the need to play in every little bit of mud! So he has rather muddy paws now but he is smiling in his sleep so it is all worthwhile!

Quote for the Day:

For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather, every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.

- George Gissing