June 10, 2018
Day 7 - Puichéric to Limoux
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Our last day. And a day of equipment failures. We were incredibly lucky this time - we got home!
We left the chateau after a lovely breakfast provided by Monsieur and struck out along the canal. This was the day to see if it was really as bad as I had heard.
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Well, it's not super-bad. But it's not easy either. Lots of double-track with tall weeds. No asphalt/tarmac. It takes a lot of pilot concentration to stay out of the canal. Robin just hung on and hoped. She was unusually quiet!
The scenery was great - typical canal scenery with boats and lock houses. Nice old bridges, too.
Eventually, tired and dusty, we got to Trebes and stopped for a break at the big lock. This is another place we know well because it's so close to home.
We rode into Carcassonne and blew by the front of the Cité, which has been turned into an art project this year. Much noises of disapproval from Robin. We stopped for a water and cookie break.
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It was about here that I should have realized that something was wrong. I thought I was just tired, but the bike just seemed sluggish and heavy. Every hill seemed like way too much work.
We got almost to Pomas, about 10k from home, when Robin noticed that the back wheel was rubbing. So that's what was going on?
We took the bags off and turned the bike upside down to figure out what was wrong. That's when I found a broken spoke. I have no idea when it happened. This was about the time we started hearing thunderclaps in the distance. We debated calling our friend Doug for a bail-out ride home.
Ah, but pride won out. I loosened the brakes so we could ride and we wobbled off down the road. I fully expected the wheel to break so I took it really easy. It helped that we were on roads we know very very well. After an careful, uneventful ride, listening to the thunder get closer, we gratefully rolled into our driveway.
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It sounds like fiction, but the raindrops started as I rolled the bike into the garage!
We unloaded the bike and hauled the first 2 bags into the house. We came back out for the rest of the bags and Robin said "Did you let all the air out of the tire?". I looked down and the rear tire was flat!
Not only that but there were 2 additional broken spokes!
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If it hadn't been Sunday, I would have headed out immediately to buy a lottery ticket! This is a level of luck we had no right to expect.
We broke everything down, made some coffee, and watched the spring rain fall on our garden. It was nice to be home.
Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 307 km (191 miles)
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