Heading over Jefferson to the start of the ride, we’re in a bit of a rush leaving a tad late, and we get held up by a huge moving van trying to make a sharp turn? Not like any way to get around it! Fortunately Colin didn’t realize the ride starts at EXACTLY 7:45am so didn’t give us a bad time for being 40 seconds late.

Cold? Yeah, down to 33 and never really warmed up. Climbing is getting weird for me; if I follow wheels, I feel like I’m going to get dropped. But no problem if I do intervals, flying off the front for a minute then wait for Kevin and Colin to catch up. Doesn’t make sense. But, this is still 2020 after all.

So what was that rattling from the rear wheel? Stopped a couple times to try and figure it out; definitely coming from the disc brake. A bit of extra friction but I need the workout right? And it wasn’t me holding us back on Kings; Kevin’s knee is still an issue.

But we kept on moving on, thankfully dressed reasonably well for a wet cold day (38 degrees on Skyline).

It wasn’t until descending 84 that things went seriously south. Heard (and felt) a loud bang from the rear of my bike, the kind of sound you’d expect if your frame cracked in half. But they wasn’t it. Looking over the bike I discovered the rear brake pads were completely missing. But the pin that holds them in place was still there!

Nothing we could do about it but keep on heading down the hill. You know, a wet descent, one of those occasions where the rules about primarily using the front brake don’t apply because you could lose traction in a corner and lock up the wheel.

But this was my time to prove fear of front brakes is unfounded; we descended 84 probably faster than 80% of our customers, me using just a front brake, on a wet road.

Kids, don’t try this at home. 🙂