Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

We managed a full weekend of roams last weekend, including a walk the length of the panhandle and the park, all the way to Ocean Beach – something I have only done once before that I can think of, but which typifies the appeal of San Francisco for me. It was a pleasant afternoon, but windy enough at the beach to make it feel a little wild.

And then, as the forecast predicted, we got hit by the tail end of a storm front that seemed to stretch up to Canada. Mostly it rained on Monday night, and as I got ready for work on Tuesday, the forecast said there was a 40% chance of lilght rain. Looking out of the window, it seemed more than that; I opted for BART rather than riding all the way to the ferry, but even in the fifteen minutes or so I was on my bike, it was a pretty solid downpour.

And then the wind blew and it turned warm and clear. By Friday it was up to 70 degrees. I cleaned the most recent rain grit off my bikes and then rode down to Ocean Beach in the afternoon, planning where I was going to ride over the weekend. Of course there was a sting in the tail there. I climbed up to the top of Golden Gate Heights on the way back, and then as I started to pedal on the downhill, I realised my gears weren’t engaging on the back wheel.

I paused and considered my options. Luckily I could coast about 80% of the way to American Cyclery where the mechanic diagnosed that the pieces connecting the wheel hub with the gear cassette had broken, which was not something that could be repaired. The cassette had probably been installed just a little loose, and then worn away over the past few years. I didn’t have my bikes serviced last year as I didn’t feel I had the disposable income for that kind of thing, though it would only be a few hundred dollars for each, and of course replacing these parts is going to work out to be more than that.

As I rolled home, again, thankfully mostly downhill, I wondered if the cheap wheels I had bought for my old bike (for when I finally get that rebuilt) would work in the meantime, but I suspect all the different tolerances won’t work.