On the Road Again

just a sprinkling for the May Queen

It's been four years since I crash-landed on my elbows after my first day back at work after the pandemic shut-down. That was my worst bicycling mis-hap (so far), resulting in a trip to Urgent Care for a few stitches and some antibiotics. My Cannondale Synapse came through with only some torn handlebar tape, which I replaced with some cool zigzag patterned stuff. I took a few days off from riding but then, because bus service was still too limited for commuting, it was back to riding my old Northwest Drive route to and from work. 

Not long after, the Cannondale developed a wobble in the rear hub. This had been a recurring problem that began because the wheel apparently wasn't built right. Added to that, even though the bike was designed for pavement-riding only, during the summer I lived and worked on San Juan Island I had put on a rear rack & panniers and used it for grocery shopping and rail-trail riding. So the bike actually held up pretty well under my abuse. Anyhow, I stopped riding it for a while, in favor of the little Specialized TriCross consignment bike I bought near the end of the shut-down. This bike was designed for racks & panniers on gravel trails, but it's an extra-extra-small, which lately has begun to feel a little bit too small.

Finally I decided to take the Cannondale in to REI to see if they could fix the rear hub. I've explained the trouble with the wheel build before but this time the master mechanic saw the issue and seemed agreeable to fixing it. The work was more expensive than I expected and I'm still a little bothered that the REI shop wouldn't address the problem when I first brought it up after purchase several years ago. But the mech did a good job with it, and after all the hard use I've put the poor bike through I decided to just call it normal wear and tear. Last week, after removing the rear rack, I took it out for a pavement-only ride on the new wheel. The small-size Synapse definitely fits better than the XXS TriCross but I kept having to remind myself I couldn't turn off the pavement and take gravel trails through the parks. And I need to rig up some kind of handle-bar bag so I can carry a spare tube and some tools, and my wallet and keys. And without my heavy-duty cable & lock, I'll have to skip coffee-shop stops.

Which might be for the best, because during the recent spell of hot weather I was skipping bike rides while making daily coffee shop visits for an iced americano and pastry.