PGT Day 20 - Riding My Own Wheel

Towards the end of my last ride yesterday afternoon, an hour or so after cycling through "the deluge", I began to notice a metallic sound coming from the front end of the bike. Having stopped and adjusted mudguards, checked for broken spokes and ruled out anything else being loose I concluded that the noise was under-lubed bearings "popping" over one another in my Mirage hub. A quick consultation with Steve Williams at Fred's confirmed that this was indeed the diagnosis, and that although the situation might rectify itself as the hub dries out it would probably need re-greasing and may simply be knackered. Fortunately I had a solution at hand, a beautiful and brand new Mirage hub set in the centre of 32 spokes and an Open Pro rim, a shiny new wheel that I had built myself last year. After spinning the old wheel this morning to confirm that the waterlogged hub was still rattling, I fitted some new, cloth rim tape to my wheel and switched the tyre and tube from the old.

Half an hour later I was dressed and rolling out onto an out and back commute (medium size again - this is the tail end of a Grand Tour you know), looking down at the wheel and feeling a little tentative about it. Initial nerves (aka lack of faith in my own handiwork) dissipated very quickly and I was soon far more concerned with the rain, wind and soaking wet roads than any non existent wheel issues. In fact it wasn't until I'd been at work for a few minutes that I suddenly welled with pride and considered that I'd just ridden on a wheel I built myself.

Neither workward or homeward journeys were particularly pleasant, it being the kind of day you might not ride under normal circumstances, but the People's Grand Tour generates the drive to say "sod the weather, let's rock 'n' roll". In fact I might even thank the weather if I manage to ride all 23 days of this PGT as I would have been unable to do that had we not decided to cancel a Mid Welsh camping trip booked from today until Sunday due to the awful forecast. An overnight stay in an Aberystwyth bunk house tomorrow night could still scupper me on Saturday, but with the virtual Champs Elysee in sight I shall strain every sinew to get a one hour ride in on that day. Watch this space.

Ride data