We kind of got off to a late start this morning,   We wanted to climb the Alpine Loop and didn’t want it to get too hot during the club.  It took us about 45 minutes from our home to the base of the main climb.  It was now in the upper 80’s as we started up. This climb is a long haul, over 8 miles.  It was the first time Anne had attempted the climb on her single bike, although we had gone up before on the tandem.  We made good time up the hill with Anne making the climb significantly faster than we have done it on the tandem.

We did make a stop on the way up for a photo op.

Heading down American Fork canyon we went cautiously.  After dropping 2,500 feet, we arrived at Mt. Timpanogas Cave National Monument, where we stopped at the snack bar.  As soon as Franz got off his bike, he could tell his rear wheel was not rotating completely free.  It was rubbing against the right chainstay.  That was odd and even after getting greasy hands and trying to take the wheel off and put it back on the bike, it kept rubbing and would not rotate freely.  It was as if the frame had become bent, which is not possible with a carbon fiber frame.  Franz then noticed that the connection betweent he metal dropout and the carbon fiber chain stay had started to seperate, which was forcing the wheel off center.  Yikes, what to do?

After making some adjustment, tightening the wheel and opening the rear brake, it was finally able to rotate freely.  We then headed down carefully, stopping a few times to make sure the seperation was not increasing because if it came apart it would be disastrous.  We decided to ride directly to the Trek bike store in American Fork.  There they confirmed that the frame was broken and advised against riding it even one mile.  They were kind enough to switch the pedals with Anne’s bike and Franz took it to ride the 12 miles back to the house to get the car, while Anne waited behind.  Anne offered to make the ride herself, but Franz couldn’t pass up a chance to get in more miles!

The Trek store will not send the frame into the factory where they will either do a repair or hopefully a replacement with a new frame.  It might be 3 weeks before we get the bike back.  It is a good thing that Franz brought both of his road bikes so John could use one for the race on the 22nd.  We are hoping we can get the one bike back from the factory before that date.  We are also glad that the whole thing did not come apart during the descent.  Franz had come down the same canyon road last week at a much faster speed.  We are lucky that Anne wanted to descend slowly today.  Sometimes in life it is smart to slow down.

Categories: Cycling
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