On Friday I used to be out for a protracted trip on my recumbent and I occurred to look down at my entrance wheel and seen a damaged spoke. The wheel appeared in adequate form, not too badly “out of true”, and was nonetheless ride-able. So I headed residence and switched bikes, finishing the trip on my upright. I later took take a look at the wheel and located it truly had 5 damaged spokes. All broke on the J-bend the place the spoke comes out of the hub. I used to be stunned as a result of I’d by no means damaged a couple of spoke earlier than and likewise normally there’s an audible ping. That is my entrance wheel with the electrical motor, so the spokes are subjected to torque from the motor in addition to influence, e.g. from potholes. It had carried out simply effective for effectively over a yr so I assume I should have hit one thing pretty massive lately. I ordered alternative spokes on Amazon, being happy to seek out out they arrive in customized lengths so I might order the precise measurement. I’ll repair the wheel after they are available in and get it again on the highway. I’ll attempt to remain on smoother roads sooner or later.

Within the meantime I can nonetheless trip my upright if I would like electrical help, and I’ve the unique wheel again on the recumbent. The timing is fortuitous. I hadn’t been using my upright sufficient since I recovered from my final bout of sciatica. So my butt was getting sore on longer rides on the upright. A got here throughout an amusing time period for this on an ultramarathon biking web site: “marshmallow butt”. I must toughen my butt again up, from “marshmallow” to “iron”, as a result of in Could I’m getting in a pal’s van right down to Paso Robles for a number of days of biking, and my recumbent gained’t match so I’ll be taking my upright. I’ll be sure to get extra saddle time in on the upright earlier than them.