Broken Spoke

31 miles, 8.1 mph, 550' elevation gain
(Cass Lake to Bemidji, MN)


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Highlights: broke a spoke, walked 1.5 miles, got picked up by a good samaritan, saw Paul Bunyon & Babe the Blue Ox

Journal: Other than flat tires, the most common type of mechanical difficulty a bicycle traveler is told to expect is the occasional broken spoke. I suppose I was lucky on my 2003 bike ride, since I never had to deal with one. Well, now I have. Ever since yesterday morning, my bike has been feeling increasingly unstable (i.e. wobbly). When I got to the campground last night, I checked out the rear wheel and it looked very out-of-whack. Since the nearest bike shop was only 20 miles away (in Bemidji, "first city on the Mississippi"), I planned on riding the bike into town today and dealing with the problem then. As I got closer and closer to town, the bike became more difficult to control (especially at slow speeds) until eventually I heard the sound of my first spoke snapping off and hitting the pavement. At this point, I was only three miles from town, so I got off the bike and walked it about a mile before taking a break. I then attempted a rather foolish "fix" by tightening the remaining spokes, only to find out the rear wheel was now firmly afixed to the rear brake pad and the wheel wouldn't even turn! Eventually, I was able to loosen the spokes and get the tire turning again. As I resumed my slow march towards town, I was greeted by a local artist/sculptor who happily offered to bring me the rest of the way into town in her station wagon. I quickly accepted and was at the local bike shop in no time.

Fortunately, the problem wasn't as bad as I feared. (My fears were that I had damaged my rear wheel, and that I would be spending the next several days here in Bemidji waiting for a replacement to arrive). As it turned out, a single broken spoke will make a mess of the riding experience, but is easy to fix (if you know how). As for the cause of the broken spoke, there are two possibilities: either the spoke got bent out of shape when I loaded it onto the good samaritan's pick-up truck a few days ago (during the lightning storm), or my rear wheel is carrying too much weight. Regardless, I'm hoping this was just a quirky mechanical failure that I won't have to deal with again.

After leaving the bike shop, I took a test ride back to the place where I was picked up (about 5 miles round trip) and the bike felt great again. I then proceeded to the center of Bemidji and the famous statues of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. Paul was born in Bemidji and spent many years as a woodsman in the region with his faithful bovine locomotive Babe. According to Kodak, the statues of Paul & Babe were once ranked as the second most photographed man-made icons in America (behind Mount Rushmore). After taking the obligatory picture, I headed to the local Irish pub & eatery for some authentic shepherd's pie...only to discover that the Irish pub doesn't serve any Irish food! So I had a plate of spaghetti instead to go along with my Guinness!

Tomorrow I'll be heading westward to Lake Itasca State Park, home of the source of the Mississippi River.

Crossing the Mississippi for the 3rd time (15 miles east of Bemidji)

Me with Paul & Babe (Bemidji)