Published: October 12, 2025 at 01:14 AM

Tags: blog, personal, bike, health, weight-loss, diet, life-updates, motivation

So… my bike broke down.

Not in the dramatic movie scene way where sparks fly and a wheel rolls off into traffic, but in the much more inconvenient real-life way.
The kind where everything seems fine one moment, and then suddenly something feels off, and you’re left muttering to yourself on the side of the road.

For a while now, the rear bearings have been loosening every so often. I’d tighten them, ride for a bit, then tighten them again. Annoying, but manageable. Until it wasn’t.

I was only a little ways from home when I felt it go loose again. So I stopped, pulled the rim off, tightened everything down, put it all back together, and climbed back on. I got, maybe, five or six pedal rotations before I heard a loud clunk.

That’s the kind of sound that instantly makes your stomach drop. I hit the brakes, hopped off, and grabbed the tire. It was sitting crooked like it had just given up on life. When I pushed on it, it wasn’t just loose—it was broken. The entire centre section of the rim had failed. Completely unridable.

Digging Into the Damage

Once I got home, I tore the wheel apart and could immediately see the problem: missing bearings and a broken cup. Basically, everything that could go wrong inside a hub seemed to have gone wrong.

The hunt for replacement parts was not encouraging. I couldn’t find an identical match anywhere online, but eventually I found a kit that looked close. Close enough that I figured it was worth trying. So I ordered it.

And then I discovered I’d need a special tool to remove the gear cassette, a tool I most definitely did not own. The only one I could find was shipping from China with a long estimated arrival window. But I ordered it anyway, thinking: “Well, this will be sitting in the shed for a while.”

Shockingly, that tool ended up showing up much earlier than expected. The replacement parts arrived first, and when I held everything up to the hub to try and eyeball the fit, it looked like it should work. Barely. There really isn’t much margin for error with this kind of thing.

The Part Where Everything Stops

Here’s the honest part:
Since getting the bike fully disassembled, having the tools in hand, and straightening a slightly bent section of the rim… I’ve just been sitting on it. I haven’t put it back together yet.

I keep telling myself it’s because I’m busy or tired or distracted, but the truth is probably simpler:
I’m afraid the part I ordered won’t hold, and I’ll go through all the effort only for it to fail on the first ride.

Some kind of mental block has settled in. Not logical, just human.

A Few More Areas That Need Tightening

The bike isn’t the only thing that’s drifted off track.

My diet has been slipping as well. I’ve slowly added more foods back in than I planned, loosened some rules, let some habits slide. My weight hasn’t gone up, but it certainly hasn’t gone down either. I think I need a strict reset, a week or two of tightening things up again to get my momentum back.

Funny how discipline in one area leaks into others. When I’m structured, everything goes smoother. When I get sloppy, everything loosens at once, kind of like those bearings.

One Small Step Forward

If nothing else, writing this post is my attempt to get moving again, to pick at the momentum a little, even if it’s not full speed. Sometimes you just need to do one thing to break the stall.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll actually grease the bearings and reassemble the wheel. Maybe tomorrow I’ll cook a proper meal again. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel more like myself.

But for tonight, this is enough. Thanks for reading.