After the debacle of Granogue Cross, I’ve been in a hurry to redeem myself in the eyes of the cyclocross gods. They have a couple more trials for me to endure first…

You may remember that I flatted at Granogue? Once home again I repair the cut tire and remount it. As I inflate it I underestimate the amount of pressure it will withstand and KABANGO! It blows right off the rim. It sounds like a gun went off, my ears are ringing, and a finely atomized spray of Stan’s sealant has coated everything in my garage, including me. Wow. I guess that was too much pressure. Mental note, back it down.

The next day The Lovely Annalisa and I decided to go for a ride over at Bellevue State Park. I haven’t gotten to the end of the driveway before I notice something is horribly wrong. My front wheel is wobbly, bent, and a lot. I don’t understand at all. How is a wheel that wasn’t bent when I got off the bike bent now?

In retrospect, it must have bent when the tire blew off during that over-pressurization mishap. How else? I just didn’t notice.

It is after dinner now and I am trying to fix the wheel by de-tensioning it, bending it back by hand, and re-tensioning it. I can get it fairly straight, certainly rideable, but it just bends right back once pressure is put in the tire. It is junk. I call Carol at Garrison’s Cyclery and order a new rim but I have to wait for it to arrive and and will miss the DCCofD cross practice this week.

The old wheel is destined to become a few ¢ents in my pocket… On its way to the recycling center.

Good only as a noisemaker or a few ¢ents of recycled aluminum