Another day at the office...

I had a rather full day today going to a shoot in Redondo Beach. The distance wasn't that far, but it took me through the rolling hills of Palos Verde, which on a road bike is moderately challenging and with a loaded cargo bike, is a real pain in the butt. It took me about 2 hours to travel 20 miles getting there.



Granted it wasn't all ride time. Just about when I was going to descend form PV to Redondo I heard the heart-sinking sound of a broken spoke! I looked down and the wheel was dancing side to side. I pulled over and sure enough, I had a spoke hanging out with nowhere to go. Problem was that I was nowhere near a bike shop. I had spare spokes, the tool to remove the lock ring from the cassette, but no chain whip.

My only choice was to tie off the loose spoke, and loosen the two opposite spokes so that the wheel would clear the brakes. I had never done this before but have read about people doing it. Well, it works. Not the most ideal circumstance, but it would have to hold until after the photo shoot (I was running a little behind at this point) and until I found a bike shop.





Fortunately it held. I completed my shoot and rolled down hill to eat at Joes, a local diner with some big plates! I stuffed myself on the John Wayne Special to refuel me for the ride back. Not too far away was a Tri-specific bike shop. All 700c wheels there, so it was good that I brought spokes for my 26 inch rear wheel. They were kind enough to let me use their chainwhip and truing stand.

After about 20 minutes, the bike was good to go and I hit the road and spun my way back to Long Beach.