7/7/09: Part of segment 44 and 45; http://www.4thehealthofit.net/segment_htmls/Segment44.html http://www.4thehealthofit.net/segment_htmls/Segment45.html Nipigon, Ontario to Terrace Bay, Ontario; 66 miles.
I ended up going into the Subway again last eve, bringing back a foot long with some chocolate chip cookies and a bag of chips. I could still hear the gang inside of Crow’s house yelling and partying till my eyes closed last night. And it rained until I went to sleep. I was darned near sure we would wake to more rain and cold temps.
But……Got up at 7am, and it wasn’t raining. Now I slept with all my gear on just so I wouldn’t wake up and have to put on cold gear. Stinky poo for sure, but in this game, you do what you have to do to make it through the day and night. I flew through my packing procedure inside the tent this morning, getting everything inside my big yak dry bag, and then hauling it outside to the sidewalk along Crow’s house. It was soaking wet out, having rained darned near the whole night. So I wanted my gear to stay dry as I was repacking it. Then used a backpacking towel to wipe down the tent. There’s the Felix in me – I just hate to unroll a wet tent the next day and then have to wipe down the whole inside floor. I must have squeezed about a half a bucket of water off of the top of the tent, and then half as much from the condensation on the inside of the fly.
Go that done and then packed er up. Went inside Crow’s for a restroom break and saw dozens of beer bottles on the counter and in boxes, and then I saw John sleeping sitting up in an easy chair. Must have been a HARD night of partying for these folks! We rode over to a café, the owners of which Ryan met last evening while playing pool with Crow. She makes her own bakery, and I’ll tell you, those sticky buns are the best I’ve ever had. She heated those up for us, cut them in half and put butter on them. Wow. That, and some coffee and we were ready to roll. She comped us the meal and wished us a great trip. And off we went, with the clouds opening up just enough to give us some hope that today would be much better than yesterday. Plus…….I felt awesome with a full night’s sleep and no indigestion problems. So we hit 17 east and on we rolled to our destination of Terrace Bay.
Now we hit a big climb right out of the gate, and I stopped at the top to take pics of the landscape and of Ryan coming up. When he caught up to me he asked me what was wrong with my rear wheel. I looked down at it and it had a good wobble to it. First thing I thought was broken spoke. So I stopped a bit up the road and got off to look. I checked the tension on all the spokes and they were good. Then I looked closer, spoke by spoke, and there it was……..a crack in the rim radiating perpendicular from a single spoke towards the adjacent spokes. THAT freaked me out. Not good for sure, as we were over 300 miles from Sault Ste. Marie. And the wobble was not small. Thought for a minute, and really, there was nothing I could do but to ride on it.
I did not want to loosen it for fear that the adjacent spokes would then take more stress and hasten the crack to spread. So I got back on and had a million things going through my head: would it boink and totally blow the rim up; would it last long enough to make the Soo; would it boink but could I tighten the adjacent spokes enough to make it last 300; would I have to do what Ryan’s had to – hitchhike to the nearest place for parts; could I get a person to put an aluminum weld on the crack; could I have a new wheel shipped to me up here from the Soo if it blows, and how long would that take? One thing’s for sure……this rim is junk. All these things are going through my head. Enough to ruin what was turning out to be a great day, what with the sun coming out and the temps going up.
So I just decided then and there to let happen what happens. No big worries. I’d deal with it as it came and just enjoy the day. So I decided to run the thing and see if it can get me to the Soo. No bike shops up here at all, so I’ve really no choice. I have to: not stomp on big gears on climbs, so as to not put more stress on the spoke and wheel; and I have to brake much more on the descents so as to not have the higher speeds cause the wobble to shake that spoke and rim looser. Control climbing in little cookie, and control descending by going slower. Maybe I can get it to the Soo. And NO chuckholes. One hole will kill this rim. Period!
So I just do that, took it very easy in the little cookie on the climbs, and most of these climbs you had to use the little cookie, as they are now on the 10-30 min end of the spectrum in climbing time. And I braked a lot on all of the descents. So sights today were spectacular as we rode along the north shore of Superior. The climbs would take us up to these beautiful vistas, through giant rock cuts, and then back down to the shoreline again. One, two, three, four, five of these climbs today. All the while I could feel the wobble of the back wheel, especially on the descents and on the flats. So I constantly tried to keep my speed on the lower end and not hammer.
I finally got to Rossport, and decided to wait for Ryan for a bit, but after 15 min I was getting antsy, and decided to just forego the coke and candy bar and shoot for the destination. I felt completely good from that lone sticky bun we had for breakfast, coupled with the fact that Terrace Bay was only another 18 miles away. So I figured that Ryan may stop at Rossport, or just shine it as I did and go for the home run. Went through the town of Schreiber, which had full amenities, but again, I felt good, and just wanted to lay it down all the way to Terrace Bay……..especially when I saw a Subway sign for Terrace Bay!! Settled – next stop Subway.
So I rode up this final fifth climb, and close to the top I hear this sound coming from my back wheel, and I’m figuring that it’s bad news, and the spoke has come completely off of the rim. So I stop, get off, and spin the wheel around to find the crack and the spoke. And it’s not changed. So I spin the wheel, now looking for something else to have gone to hell. And I see this nail in my wheel. Well, thankfully it was not a nail, but a tack. And I’m thinking, “I pull this tack and air will come whistling out of the tire.” But I cannot leave it in there. So I pull it (this is when I discover it’s just a tack and not a nail), and no sound of air. I put a dab of spit on the hole. Nothing. Wow, what a stroke of luck on an unlucky day.
I continued up the climb and did a pretty easy final 10 miles into the town of Terrace Bay. I checked the information center and the library for wifi, and found that the info center does have a computer, but the library has wifi. The gal at the info center told me no bike shops between here and the Soo. Not good. And I asked about a person who could weld aluminum. She didn’t know. Told me to check the Canadian Tire at the next big town – Marathon – as they may know what to do. So went straight to Subway and got my usual. Ryan rolled in about 30 min later and got his order going. And I came here to the library to check emails and do this blog.
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