The Fragile Alma

Ok…I like my bike. I sold my Epic and I DECIDED to keep the Alama 29er because of A)funner, big wheels, fast, turns are alive, etc. B)Performance-Weight and hardtail = good climbing and responsive and C)I already have too many bikes and I needed to sell one. Now, with that being said, I had my Epic for about two years with VERY little problems and I trashed it constantly. I have noted before that the Alma is like a race car and is nice for racing but maybe not for adventure race type of expeditions when you need a comfy, dependable ride.

On Saturday we went for another little ride with the SSFTA and we had David staying with us so I was stoked to have him see some of the trials out by our house. In less than two miles into the ride my Alma decides to suck up my rear derailleur into the spokes as my FOURTH derailleur hanger broke. Four in about 6 months time! Knowing it was a problem I was packing a spare hanger (much to everyone’s surprise) and we were up and running in a few minutes.

However, what I didn’t know was that this time my rear derailleur got bent and a few minutes later ended up snapped too shortly after my chain did. Nice. What could make the day better? Well, I didn’t crash and hurt myself so the bike could be fixed… It only took about 10 more minutes for me to crash. I had my toe and Monique was pulling me back to the car when I took a few high speed diggers.. Monique’s got power and I have a sprained wrist and beef jerky all up my leg and arm. It was a day of testing patience and my bike and unfortunately we both failed.

We did have plenty of time with Dave at Barns and Noble and I a found a sweet book about swimming that I will be diving into over the next few weeks. Maybe a good read for Italy? Hopefully I can get my ride ready for VQ and figure out how to make it last…