Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Auburn, California
April 16, 2011

It's often asking too much of my knees to ride twice in one week. Yet today, for the first time ever I got in two rides! Unfortunately it was not on purpose. Since I was riding solo I got on the road by 4:30 am and on the trail at Auburn before 7 am. It was shaping up to be a great day weather wise, I was feeling good, and I made a few things I'd never even tried before. But on some of the climbs I kept hearing a loud clunk, followed by some serious gear slippage. On a climb near the end of Mossyrock Trail a big clunk was followed by rapid spinning of the pedals and I almost fell off he bike. The freewheel was gone. Fortunately, I could mostly coast down a fire road back to my car with minimal walking. 

My phone revealed that Auburn Bike Works was pretty close, so I went there and waited for them to open. They were early and they immediately started working on the wheel. They didn't have any replacement parts, but after cleaning off a lot of mud they showed me that a prawl was damaged. But they suggested I might be able to get one more ride out of it. I felt they undercharged me for all the time they spent on it so I insisted on paying more. Great shop and great service!

I rarely do big group rides because my knees stiffen up pretty quickly if I stop for very long. Two hours had passed. But since I had driven so far I figured I'd try our old 24 mile route, up Clementine, out to FHDL and back via the Confluence. However, the knees never stopped hurting, so I turned around at the end of the Connector and headed back. I was hesitant to commit to FHDL anyway because it would be a very long walk back should the freewheel finally go out. At the top of Culvert I decided to continue up Fuel Break, cross the bridge and go down Manzanita and Stagecoach. It did indeed turn out to be a beautiful day. Too bad it was so painful though.

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