“Where do I begin?”

After that, things went down hill fast (pardon the pun). It seemed that things began to fall apart at the first SAG stop. I couldn't imagine where you were when we started up again. I felt so bad when I saw your road rash after you finally caught up.

You may very well have had something caught in your cleats that prevented an easy release from the pedals, but you may find it was the way you tried to get out of the pedals that is the culprit. Campy cleats are designed not to release during hard sprinting efforts (a sometimes serious problem for racers). As a result, Campy designed the release to work only when you are twisting your foot and lifting up. Should you twist your foot sidways while exerting a downward force, you may find that the pedals will not release. Maybe this was the problem? I didn't realize you had fallen a second time at the Quabbin gate until Jim told me. Not much fun, especially when it is such a long way down!

Regarding your brakes: I had no idea that you had zero stopping power. When you road up to me and applied your brakes, I thought you were only pressing one of the brake levers. When I took your faulty pad with me to find a spare nut someplace, I thought I was doing you a favor. I have heard of some terrible crashes caused by tire blowouts when a brake pad rubs against the sidewall and not the rim. Even after we discovered the missing nut, I still thought your back brakes worked fine. Believe me, I wouldn't have let you ride your bike had I known you couldn't stop. When I finally got to the Petersham Country Store, I went inside and opened a dozen or more packages of hardware looking for a nut that would fit your post. None fit as the threads were all different. I even went throught a "junk drawer" they had in the back room looking for something that might work. I asked several folks in the store whether they might have something in their truck, or could direct me to a place that might. The nearest gas station was 9 miles away, they said. When you got to Petersham, I was freezing and literally shivering. That's why I was in such a hurry to get going again. I hope you didn't think I was blowing you off. I wasn't tired of stopping, I just need to get warm. After reading your report, I'm feeling a bit guilty, but not as guilty as I would have felt had you crashed as a result of my poor brake job. I'm glad you are safe and sound.

Next time, lets hope for better weather. And finally, if it makes you feel any better, I rode in a worse century once. It was the Mt. Greylock Century in October of 2001. Similar circumstances whith the rain starting at about mile 20. Only difference was that it was snowing at the top of Mt. Greylock. That was cold and miserable.

Glad I don't ride for a living.

I'll look forward to our next ride.

Best,

Steve