11 Feb: Blocked in Breukelen

I'm still waiting for pedals for my new bike, so today's ride was on my old touring bike. I lined up a nice 80km ride that went down the canals and over to Hilversum, going through some spots I've never visited before.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1029379552?share_token=avD72xAOhwibE1GrOHYAFW8OORvNRH1a3AtytfM1X9Vfzagjez&ref=wtd

Ended up leaving about 1300, after a bit of faffing about getting Komoot to share my live location. This time I'm taking my own bananas, I don't want another to end up doing more hungry shopping. I'd like to say I noticed a broken spoke in the back wheel but didn't think anything of it, to foreshadow the upcoming drama, but sadly that wouldn't actually be true.

The first southwest part follows a canal down to near Uithoorn. Canal paths are good for cycling - light traffic and a good view.

Getting a photo that includes the headset while cycling is tough. ;)
It’s a good day for it - cold but not too cold - and the route is good so I’m making good time, 20km/h. This is a bit more than the 18km/h I got last week; let’s imagine the training is paying off!

There’s some fun architecture around, but I didn’t want to stop to take photos except for this one:

It’s at https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2152558,4.874994,196m/data=!3m1!1e3

In Breukelen I stop to bin a banana peel and check the route, and notice the back wheel is not turning freely: the wheel is woefully out of shape. I’d heard a spoke or two fail earlier… guess it was more serious than I thought. (They fail with a nice little “splung” noise, btw.)

But the wheel is now rubbing against the pads so hard that it’s difficult to turn. The workout’s going to a whole new difficulty level!

Or not. I Google for “bike shop”, there’s one around the corner - this is not unusual in the Netherlands - and I get over there. They’re nearly closed and the wheel is in awful shape so they can’t fix it now. How about I just unhook the back brake? That fixes the rubbing, but leaves me with just the front brake so it’d prudent to head home directly. I don’t like being prudent … but I can be, if I try. Although I am disappointed I’m not going to see the long causeway to Hilversum.

Here’s the state of the wheel:

Here’s a selfie from the trip home, I guess I’m not smiling because I’m being prudent and that needs a lot of concentration.