This (plastic) cow looks about as happy as me right now. Within five minutes of Simone cycling off in the other direction, I heard a tangle of metal behind me. No prizes for guessing that another spoke on the back wheel had gone. Arghh!
I have tentatively arrived in Castell’Arquato, a place that anyone would love to spend at least an hour or so wandering around but I must still find some accommodation, because contrary to the iPhone App (wasn’t I singing it’s praises earlier?), there is no campsite anywhere near here. I could fork put on a hotel but don’t want to. On the positive side, the wheel is still functioning ok without any apparent wobble and there is a campsite (I hope) on the next town in the direction of Parma, a place called Salsomaggiore Terme. It’s only 5pm and even with some careful cycling I should be able to make it there by 6.30pm.
If anyone, especially you Italian speakers could do some research on the Internet and find out if there is a bike shop in Salsomaggiore Terme, or Fidenza or even Parma which is open on Monday, I would be eternally grateful. I’ll check the comments later to see if anyone has managed to find anything. Complete and utter buggeration!!
Categories: Cycling
Thanks to both of you – utterly brilliant news! Surely one of them must be open! Simone: is there a Decathlon in Parma just in case? You’ll both get a special mention in my next post!
Sorry, no Decathlons around you. The closest one is in S. Stefano di Magra, close to La Spezia, 112 km south of you.
But it seems ther are a lot of bike shops in Parma:
Del Sante, Borgo San Giuseppe, 8/A, Parma, tel: 0521 233168
Due Ruote, Via V.E. Orlando 23, tel: 0521 237907
Chierici & C., Via Botteri 15, tel: 0521 784841
Grossi, Via E. Casa 4, tel: 0521 229769
Cicli Villani, via La Spezia 53, tel: 0521 964333
Ciclo 2000, via Venezia 66/C tel: 0521 786496
City Bike, viale Mentana 8/A tel: 0521 235639
And others. I listed the more important ones (Yellow Pages’ opinion).
I thought that maybe the small branch you hit just outside Pavia may have caused a weakening of that spoke.
On a side note, looking for a Decathlon in Parma, I found a facebook group called “We want Decathlon in Parma too!”…
Did you find the campsite? It seems it’s slightly east of Salsmaggiore, in a place called Tabiano.
Good luck. If you need anything, feel free to contact me.
There is a new Decathlon opening in F…. – forgotten the name of the town I went to earlier today, they could do with your expertise! Why font you apply for a job there?
Fidenza, I think.
I tried to apply to the one in Pavia with no success. I’ll try Fidenza then ๐
As you noticed, all the cities along the via Emilia (basically from Piacenza to the Adriatic Sea) are quite bike-oriented cities, mainly because of the flatness of the area.
Oh no!
How was it possible?
Anywhere, there’s another one, it’s called “La bottega del Ciclo” Via Giovanni Pascoli, tel: 0524 584079, no opening hours, though.
I’m afraid that in this week most of the shops will be, ehm, closed, because the holidays.
But if you have no wobble, i suggest not to touch it, maybe you can revome the broken one unscrewing it from its nipple (the small screw like thing that keep the spokes on the rim). It’s possible that the nipple may move inside the rim, but it won’t be a problem but expect some rattling by the nipple moving in the rim.
I may suggest to move some of the weight in your rear panniers to the front ones, if you manage to.
I rode lots of bikes with wobbling wheels and I didn’t have much problems with them. If you notice some wobble, try to brake mainly with your front brake, because your front wheel is still true.
Good Luck!
(I’ll check of there’s some cycle co-op in the surroundings)
Yes there is andrew
it’s called. Bici shop snc
via dei gelsi 2/a/b
43039 salsomaggiore terme
tel no 0524 574634
the only thing missing is opening hours
good luck!