2021 mileage: 3088.1
I had hoped to ride a round trip to Matthei Botanical Gardens today for the second straight day ... but instead was sidelined with a Saturday surprise.
I set off at 6:15, under 57° clear skies, and the early part of the ride went very smoothly. I got this picture just under a mile into it, at 6:20, near the intersection of Lohr Rd. and Ellsworth Rd., looking to the east.
Then as I neared Matthei, when I was about a mile from my turnaround point, it seemed to me to be riding harder than usual. I looked down, and the left wheel seemed to me to be badly out of true—that is, a wheel that is out of true (usually caused by spokes with incorrect tension) will become deformed and lose its perfect roundness, manifesting in a wobble as it rolls rather than a smooth roll.
When I have had a wheel out of true in the past, cycling-savvy friends have cautioned me against riding on it. So when I got to Matthei, I texted Michelle to briefly explain my dilemma and ask if she could pick me up. I hated to do this, at a bit past 8:00, knowing that she'd still be asleep. She was, however, a trooper, and threw on some clothes and came for me immediately.
Once we got her back home so she could return to bed, I put the rack on the car and went back to pick up the trike and take it on to the dealer in Dearborn. The technician who spoke with me emitted a WOW when he saw it, and told me that it would probably be Monday before they could even look at it, but just from a cursory glance he could tell that it was quite bad, and might not be able to be trued, but might need a whole new wheel. When I typed out a note to ask what would cause that, he said he couldn't be sure exactly, but it looked as if I might have hit something hard. However, this has not occurred.
The one thing that occurs to me is that Michelle has asked me to keep my riding off the road, and some of the walks near us are in quite ghastly shape, so I wonder whether the repeated jostling there may have caused a problem. But it is curious to me that it was fine through my long ride yesterday, and during the early part of today. Anyway, in the end, I'm grateful that things came out as well as they did.
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