This is Simon's JOGLE last entry - Disaster

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So having come back from the ride of my life, and being in Wigan to pick up Richard, and going for my first 10K run in about 4 years, I wanted to go for a bike ride...

So the sunday after my JOGLE ride, I signed up for a 100 mile ride in Gloucestershire, yet another up and down in the Cotswolds...The JOLE Rider Cotsworld Sportive from Westonbirt school.

It was a great morning - early start, lot of mist, lovely school grounds at Westonbirt to start from and then the ride started with some good climbs.

I was getting more tired than usual?

At about 40 miles there was a long hard climb...

I could hardly move the bike up the hill... it was as if somebody was pulling me back.

It got to the point where I could just not get up the incline...

I stopped and got off the bike.

I could not push the bike - the back wheel had jammed.

On closer inspection the rear wheel was buckled and was rubbing hard against the brake blocks.

I adjusted, centered the wheel, released the brake mechanism but still could hardly move the bike.

I carried the bike to the top of the hill, out of the way of other riders.

On examining the wheel, I noticed something odd on the rim.

My ride was over - catastrophic rim failure. The spokes were breaking through the rim. Phoned the support vehicle to take me back to base. My day was done.

Strange - 1,000s of miles of training. 1,000 miles JOGLE ride. Bike all OK. The very next time I ride - my bike fails. Strange - but hey, I guess I won't be needing it for a while as my cycling is done. (For now.)

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