I feel good - the bike feels rubbish.

Sunday 11th March 2012

Cycling
03:12:37 - 45.63 (14.20 MPH / HR Zone 2 / 71% Max / Cadence 78rpm)

I felt brilliant on my ride today.  I was feeling strong on any of the hills or rolling countryside - average pace was great and I felt under no pressure at all.

If only everything else had gone as well as I was feeling.

I had my bike back to the shop yesterday to get the really annoying rattle looked at.  Rather disappointingly it turns out that the bearings on the hub on the rear wheel have gone and it is creating a lot of play in the rear wheel and causing the rattle.  As it is still under warranty I am sending it back in the hope of getting it fixed or replaced.
This has the downside of meaning that until I get it back, I will have to train on my other bike, the Bianchi.  It is a good bike but just not the same as my beloved Cube.

Anyway, that was a long way of explaining that on the ride today after coming down a nice hill at about 30 mph, I noticed that there was a bit of vibration and noise from the rear. (The bike not me!)
I stopped and the wheel was completely loose and had shaken the Quick Release mechanism open.  Not good at all and I am very lucky I didn't crash.
I got it tightened up but lost a bit of confidence in it.

Then . . another 10 miles up the road. PUNCTURE!  Balls!

It took me about 20 minutes to fix it at the roadside as the spare tube I carried had a short valve and it took forever to get the pump to fit and get some air in to it.  Unfortunately it would not inflate totally which meant that the rest of the rise was done with probably only about half of the  pressure I would normally have.

The delay in fixing he puncture meant that I had to cut down my route to get back home in time and typically I had to sop at 13 (Yes 13!)  sets of traffic lights in the last 8 miles home - that buggered up the average speed.

Despite everything I am pleased at how I felt on the ride and that I got myself sorted with the puncture in tricky circumstances.