318/Stone Arch Ride

Big Dave, Lunatic Biker, Sickboy, Jordan, Jimmer, Skibby, and Brain.

Jordan and I opted to meet Skibby and the boyz at the Stone Arch instead of driving all the way to Excelsior. Frye joined us enroute to make us 8 strong headed to Hopkins. Painman had quite a crew himself, Red Lantern, Kermish, Bernie, and Jesse Rients.

We cruised back into the city on the Greenway, and even crossed the new bridge over Hiawatha. I needed 27 miles today to beat last years record mileage for the year. I hit the milestone on West River Road, across from the U of MN. About 10 seconds later, my bike came apart. I broke a rear spoke, and it stuck out thwacking the frame as I rolled to a stop. I wrapped the spoke around another, and attempted to continue on, but my tire was completely out of true. I got a little ways and then bang, my tire blows. Turns out the wheel was so far out of true, my cantilever brake pad was rubbing on the tire, and actually wore through the sidewall, blowing the tire.

Now I'm walking. Luckily, we were only a couple miles from the Stone Arch Bridge, so Skibby went to get his truck to pick me up. The rest of the group went to Dunn Bros. while my faithful teammates Painman and Red Lantern kept me company while I walked.

I thought my ride was over, but Skibby kindly lent me his rear wheel, allowing Jordan and I to cruise back out to Hopkins again with the 318 crew.

We made it home at least 2 hours earlier than normal. We even stopped at the carwash to clean our bikes. When we pulled into the garage, Carla pokes her head out the door and says "You guys are back already?". Frye, this could be you some day.