Listen to the Little Noises

Wow!  I learned something today.  But first, the ride report.

After what seemed like a very short night after a long day I was ready to get out with friends for Mosey Monday.  I arrived at the Rusty Bridge a minute or two later than usual on a comfortable winter morning.  There I waited, and waited, and saw no lights.  As 5:45 arrived and then went on past, I resolved to ride solo this fine morning.  I believe that too many stayed up to watch the Ravens beat the Steelers in Sunday Night Football.

I pushed off at 5:46, and made my way down the trail to the Ranger Station.  Soon I saw headlights in my rear view mirror, and I slowed to allow Scott to catch up.  He simply said he was running late.  A mile later, we encountered Chip and the three of us rode together.  None of us had stayed up to watch the game.

It was a nice ride with good conversation and a reasonable pace.  A deer ran along side the trail ahead of us, keeping us alert at one spot.  You never know when they are going to dart across the path.  Foot traffic was light on the trail, but car traffic on the roads was denser than usual.

We picked up the pace on our return down B&A Blvd back into Severna Park.  Pushing up Brandywine hill felt pretty good.

It was mid-ride that I noticed that occasionally my front tire was touching my brake pads.  Sometimes when I looked, I saw a little wobble.  Sometimes I didn’t.  I wondered about a broken spoke.  Then, as I wondered, it seemed to straighten out again.

After the ride, as I was putting away the bike, I decided to take a look.  I noticed that the wheel wobbled.  Had I forgotten to tighten the nuts holding the wheel on?  Everything was tight.  I took the wheel off and noticed that there was a little play in the hub.  A nut holding the hub into the wheel was loose!  A little judicious application of a wrench and the hub no longer wobbled and the wheel spun freely.  Pending disaster averted!

Moral of the story … attend to anything that seems different or unusual on the bike!  It is a signal something is wrong.

This Ride: 21.6 miles
Month: 354 miles
2012: 5,329.4 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 19,183 miles