I’ve been commuting everyday in the 90 deg. weather, but I had not ridden any trails since Colorado. I took the M2 out to Rock Bridge with Eric (on his Pisgah). Everything was going as well as it could considering the temperature and misbehaving front and rear derailleurs. On a climb about twenty minutes into the ride my chain broke, and I hit the ground. Luckily, my back tire and a large rock broke my fall. One of the chainlinks exploded (not the PowerLink), the crankset (not just the chainrings) is bent, and the rear wheel is a lot bent. To be fair, the crankset was already a little tweaked. To top things off the SID is acting up. So lets see what needs to be repaired/replaced:

• Rear Wheel (very bent)
• Rear Tire (cut sidewall)
• Chain (busted)
• Crankset (bent)
• Fork (dead)

On the bright side, I replaced the Kool Stop pads with XTR pads and the incessant squealing is completely gone.

I’ve been busy. A weekend in Ohio, a few days in DC, back to Missouri for a day, and now I’m in Colorado. I missed the last week and a half of riding in June, but July is off to a good start.

June Summary
Total distance (June): 183.07 miles
Total distance (Cumulative): 685.43 miles
Total time (Cumulative): 57 hours, 31 minutes

Eric and I have ridden the last three days on several trails around Denver, CO. Some of the trails we have ridden so far have been the Colorado Trail (via Waterton Canyon), the Bear Creek Trail, and a few laps on the Betasso Preserve Loop. We may ride tomorrow (the 4th), but we’ll see. The total for this trip is about 43 miles and four and a half hours.

For a more entertaining account of the trip check out Eric’s blog.

Eric, Dad and I went to Castlewood for a quick ride on Father’s Day. The ride started of dry, but some rain storms come through and made things very muddy. After getting a good thick coating of mud on everything we found a swollen creek. Guess what? My M2 and Eric’s Pisgah both float! I don’t remember if Dad’s Trek 970 did. Good info to have, I guess. I also discovered that it is very difficult to ride a bike when the handlebars are underwater. I’ll be overhauling the M2 soon, or will I be finishing the single speed instead???