Damn the luck!

This was one heck of a day. It started out wonderfully well. I had a good rockin' pace going early on in my ride. There was some shade, a cool yet light breeze, and then it all went downhill.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the headwind make such a difference. I lost my 15+mph pace very quickly when I started heading south on my route today. I thought that it was the hill (about 1 mile at a 25-30 degree incline) which has always given me trouble. However, I was still struggling to keep 13mph even on the back side of the hill. I thought that it was just severe fatigue until the road made a right hand turn and I went behind a clump of trees. Almost immediately I shot up to over 16mph! That is until I passed the trees. (and now to sound like a salesman...)

But wait, there's more!

The same thing held true when a delivery truck passed me and stayed in front of me for a little while. Riding in his wake, I was able to draft my way up an additional 3.5mph. Headwind really does make a phenomenal difference!

I did, however, stop at a truck stop about 10 miles into my ride. I got some more water and I bought a banana. That break was great, but I was also at the point I turned north. At that point I was riding uphill at over 15mph. It felt AWESOME!! I was cruising along and on the back stretch of the ride, which I always enjoy, until WHAM!!

I was heading downhill at about 25 mph when I hit an oversized bee squarely with chest. It hit so hard that it literally knocked my breath away. I think it was as much shock as anything else, but that did a number on me.

And then, when I was almost home (about 2 miles away) I heard two gunshots and my bike fishtailed a little. I took one look down, saw the wobble, and knew immediately what happened. I stopped to confirm: two broken spokes!! That sucks, because now I have to get someone to fix that for me; I can't do it myself. 

Now, I know that I need to replace the brake cables and brake housing on my Puch anyway, so I think I need to make a trip to a bike shop ASAP. I need to make sure that I get these 100 miles in this week. With my three rides so far I only have 39.6 done. Only 60.4 more to go, and no bike that I feel comfortable riding that far.

Oh what fun...