Great plans were made and commenced, today. Jon and I headed to Bald Mountain to meet with our friend, Brad. We were going to ride the Bald Mountain trails, then ride a couple of miles to Addison Oaks, a little trail system that I have been repeatedly told is lots of fun. Brad even said, “It’s a hoot.”
Notice that I used the word, “were.” Yes, we were going to do this great ride. We met Brad at Bald Mountain and got ready for our ride while we had a nice little chat. They guys were nice enough to let me set the pace, and I definitely hauled mucho butt – at least for me. Brad, who is a self-proclaimed “chicken on the downhills and hawk on the uphills,” even remarked on my ability to just let the bike do its thang when chasing gravity.
Bald Mountain has some uphills that are quite respectable. I made it up the first and third major uphills with proper shifting and lots of work. It was the second uphill, however, that got all three of us. Jon managed to lose his chain on his singlespeed while beginning the climb. I simply did not gear down enough. Brad spun out on the mud. Thank you, Brad. That made me feel good. 
After about three miles of riding, we started down one of the many long downhills, and I suddenly heard a horrible sound come from my bike. Think *tire rubbing on frame at a high speed.* Not a pretty sound. I got off of the bike and Jon noticed that the rear triangle had snapped. Yay. 
The rear triangle had broken clean through.
I took it well – until I started walking the bike off of the trail. Somewhat inappropriate verbiage started flying out of my mouth as I expressed my severe disappointment over and over, again. The bear was moaning.
I called Steve at The Bike Shop in Houghton, which is about 10 hours away. The Bike Shop sponsors my team, the Red Jackets. Steve and Caleb have always taken such good care of us. Today was no exception. I called Steve to see if he could find a Jamis dealer for me (I was at the trailhead and computerless). Steve suggested I email a picture of the frame wound to him and he would send the replacement to me. I loved that idea and went with it.
Fortunately for me, I am surrounded by wonderful people. At Jon’s suggestion (and Marty’s confirmation), I contacted another friend and asked him if he would accept a bottle of tequila as payment for replacing my rear triangle as soon as my warranty part came in. He agreed. I CAN’T WAIT to tell you that story. Hopefully, that will occur next week, and I will be sharing more of my tales from the trail with you.
Yikes!
Until the Jamis is restored to its natural splendor, Jake and I will head out for some excursions on the not-so-quiet country roads of lots of places. I am pretty sure that you will get a bit of a tour of Shiawassee County, the place where I grew up.
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What a bummer Di, was a good ride until that point too!
Just be glad you were able to deal with the locked up rear wheel when it let go. That would have launched some riders into supermanville.
Fortunately for me, the wheel didn’t lock up, but the tire was rubbing on the frame.