Originally Posted by
lhbernhardt
It's usually not me, it's the bike. A bad ride is when the innertube explodes because the rim has been worn down enough by the brake pads that it cracks and bends, allowing the bead to pop loose. You then have no choice but to wait for the next bus (assuming your town has buses with bike racks on them), or to just ride home on a damaged rim and flat tire. Or when you puncture three times and you've only carried two spare tubes. Twice I've had the frame break during a ride, or the chain break. And another couple of times I've had the freewheel threads on the rear hub come separated from the rest of the hub (fixed gear). You learn to be pretty resourceful as a cyclist. Sometimes you just have to figure out if you can fix things enough to keep riding.
Luis
+1 The engine works pretty well with some variation due to fatigue, training and racing stress - sometimes it is easier to make power than others. However, occasionally, the mechanical equipment just fails and I take excellent car of my bikes. We had a not repairable (boots and dollar bills failed) sidewall cut last year on my wife's bike that ended the ride and we called a taxi. And there was a ride a few years back in the rain on our tandem where we had 3 flats but were able to make it home but changing the flats in the rain sucked. And finally, about 3 years ago, a stick lying on the side of the rode flipped into my rear wheel and broke off my rear der. I was on a training ride and we had van support so I had to ride in the team car the rest of the day with my bike in the back.