I wrote a post last Friday, but evidently never hit 'post' so I'm going to recount a couple of days of woes.

Last Friday my ride was shaping up to be particularly good. I had just had the derailleurs adjusted, to eliminate some rubbing that was annoying me (serious rubbing when I was in the middle ring and any of the 3 smallest cogs). All was well until I heard a sound as though I had dropped or run over something metallic. I slowed and turned to look at what it might have been when I heard a second, similar noise, only louder. I then felt some interference at the rear wheel. It was then that I realized I had popped two spokes, one through the rim. I was able to remove the spokes, and nurse the bike the rest of the way to the office, but I decided that it would be prudent to leave early and take metro home, rather than risk riding 20 more miles with two missing spokes. I really don't know what caused the breakage -- they both broke near the 'middle' - say where they cross over each other? I guess it could be that the chain rode up into the spokes, but it seemed way too 'high' for that. Either way, I'll be going over my drivetrain before I ride again to assure myself that there's no interference there.

This week, my riding has consisted of one ride (Monday) along one of my shorter routes (8.7 miles each way) on my backup MTB, and two really short rides to and from metro (yesterday and today). I should have my new wheel tomorrow (crosses finger!) so I'll be able to ride the whole way again on Friday. I guess if the wheel doesn't show up, I could ride the road bike in, but it also needs some tuning, and I don't necessarily love the idea of having to wear the loaded backpack for the 20 mile ride each way.