BDOB means Bad Day on The Bike! Well I look happy don't I? It was not a fully bad day on the bike, it was really just a bad moment...and I did learn some valuable lessons about bike mechanicals and bike checks pre-ride.
This is my friend Christine. She and I were both happy at this moment.
I was riding along just fine until about 3/4 through the ride when my back wheel started to fish tail and rub my back brakes. I was unable to turn the pedals over. My bike was shifting itself without any help from me and we were in huge traffic and having to cross about 4 lanes of traffic. Once stopped at the traffic light, I tried to ride though the intersection when the light turned green, but I could not turn the pedals over and I could not get any momentum. I did not know what was wrong and thought it was just operator error. As we left the meet up spot, and started to climb back up, it became more and more obvious that I had a serious problem and the whole team left me in the dust and I could not get my bike to pedal and it was shifting itself like crazy.
Luckily Coach Ed was behind me and was telling me how I should proceed. He was watching what was going on with my bike. We pulled over and he made one fix. We started off again and the same problem...dovetailing, wobbling and shifting itself. We pulled over again and I got off the bike and he took an even closer look. Well glory be! My rear wheel was not tightened down by the quick release. The wheel was flipping and flopping in the hub and it had caused my brakes to engage! It was an easy fix and then we smoothly sailed up hill the rest of the way back to the finish!
The moral of the story? Give your bike a serious check up before you ride it each time. Check all the parts that could potentially cause you trouble! I take the front wheel off and never take the rear off...so I always check the front quick release and never the rear. Big mistake!
Another life lesson learned!
I am off to have my car serviced now!
Cece
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