Ah, well I chickened out yesterday. I wanted to go and even got all ready, but then I wasn't sure if I was going to end up getting too hot or too cold, so I just didn't even try. I was a bit irritated with myself, but I planned a nice ride for today to make up for it.
Decked out in my cozy bib tights, a thermal compression shirt, jacket, full-fingered gloves, and a skullcap, I was ready to go out in 32F this morning. I was doing well, too. In fact, I had to take off the jacket because I was getting too warm. I made it up my usual trails then entered onto the roads, going through some country roads tha are frequented by other cyclists. Then I got a flat! I didn't feel like trying to change the tire along the shoulder, so I called my wife to come rescue me. I had about a mile's walk left to get to the small city I was meeting her at, and along the way, plenty of other cyclists passed me, but at least three actually slowed to ask me if I was okay. One was concerned that I might be hurt, and then another wanted to make sure that I had what I needed to fix it, to which I thanked them and said I had a call out for rescue. I'm always amazed at how friendly most cyclists are! I am also very happy that I put my car rack on my car but ended up just biking from my house, so my wife had the car with the rack to come rescue me!
For better or worse, I'm getting quicker with the tire change, and I kept the old tube (after patching it) as a back-up...it ended up being a goat's head bur....
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
October 2, 2011
Well, I was about to take the little one out in the trailer on Wednesday, but when I moved my bike, lo!, the back tire was flat. Thank YouTube for having instructional videos for repairing and replacing the tube. I ran to Walmart and got the parts I needed, and I spent the evening getting the bike up and running. I can now say I've replaced a tube, which was punctured by a thorn or a bur of some sort. It also prompted me to get a bike-mounted hand pump with a patch kit.
Thursday proved to be a nice trip to Baskin Robins with the little one, my wife and the baby meeting us there via the car. The toddler seemed to enjoy herself, though she wanted to go with mommy to pick the dog up from my parents rather than ride with me, so I spent the first part of the trip back with her screaming at me.
Saturday saw me going out again for the longer ride. I did meet my wife and kids at the farmers' market again, then we went on to Le Peep's (me biking to meet them). Then as I resumed my ride and headed toward adding a new leg to my ride, I realized the bike computer hadn't registered any mileage since the farmers' market, and no matter how I angled it, I couldn't get it to work for more than a few minutes until I was heading home. Thankfully, the new one came and was easily installed. I wanted to test it out that night, but I had to wait.
So, today, I went out with my new cyclocomputer, which worked great. I made my usual first stops (Walmart then Safeway, where I get a newspaper). I then headed on toward the usual greenway path. Yesterday, I actually tried a new route that required less backtracking, so I went that way again today, turning into the parking lot that serves as one of the entrances. I crossed the bridge then noticed a strange noise. I slowed, and it kept going. I looked down: the back tire was flat again! CRAP! I went back to the parking lot and leaned the bike up against a picnic table and called my wife. Thankfully, I had that hand pump and patch kit. The new tube is a presta valve, and I had a terrible time getting the adapter out, and as I talked to my wife on the cell (her first reaction was to think of who could rescue me), she watched YouTube on a how-to of patching a tire. Pulling it off was easy, and the offending shard of glass fell right now, so the slash was easy to find. I put the glueless patch on right away, not sure what to do with the silver disk. Then my wife told me what I was supposed to do with that dang disk: score the surface where the patch would go. Thankfully, I had two patches and did it correctly the second time. I then got the tire all pumped up (Wow! 70 psi using a hand pump is not easy!), but re-installing it wasn't so easy.
After getting the wheel pumped and ready to go, I spent far too long trying to get it back onto the bike. I just couldn't seem to get the stupid thing on so that it the chain and derailleur were all back in place. Several other cyclists parked and went on, but not one asked if I needed any help. Finally, after 45 minutes, I got the wheel back onto the bike and resumed the ride, feeling at first that the back wheel was going to fall off at any moment. Finally, I focused on other things and just kept on my usual path, planning a repeat of yesterday (minus the farmers' market and Le Peep's) so I'd know about how far I went.
Both days, I ended up getting passed quite a bit by the serious cyclists, who tend to frequent the road I've added as part of the new leg of the ride. There were a lot out both days, and there's no way I'm keeping up with them quite yet. I'm becoming more confident and capable on the bike to the point of being able to take my water off, get a drink, and put it back. But these people can take their hands off the handlebars and remain steadily at over 20mph. I was relieved to see that quite a few of the men do not shave their legs. That's not to say that many did, but there were a couple that looked like they were hiding Chewbacca under their spandex shorts.
In the end, the ride was about 33 miles today, so I'm guess about 35 yesterday with the added locations, so I'm okay with a two-day total of 68-70 miles! Now I'm trying to decide if I want to try to bike to work one day next week....
Thursday proved to be a nice trip to Baskin Robins with the little one, my wife and the baby meeting us there via the car. The toddler seemed to enjoy herself, though she wanted to go with mommy to pick the dog up from my parents rather than ride with me, so I spent the first part of the trip back with her screaming at me.
Saturday saw me going out again for the longer ride. I did meet my wife and kids at the farmers' market again, then we went on to Le Peep's (me biking to meet them). Then as I resumed my ride and headed toward adding a new leg to my ride, I realized the bike computer hadn't registered any mileage since the farmers' market, and no matter how I angled it, I couldn't get it to work for more than a few minutes until I was heading home. Thankfully, the new one came and was easily installed. I wanted to test it out that night, but I had to wait.
So, today, I went out with my new cyclocomputer, which worked great. I made my usual first stops (Walmart then Safeway, where I get a newspaper). I then headed on toward the usual greenway path. Yesterday, I actually tried a new route that required less backtracking, so I went that way again today, turning into the parking lot that serves as one of the entrances. I crossed the bridge then noticed a strange noise. I slowed, and it kept going. I looked down: the back tire was flat again! CRAP! I went back to the parking lot and leaned the bike up against a picnic table and called my wife. Thankfully, I had that hand pump and patch kit. The new tube is a presta valve, and I had a terrible time getting the adapter out, and as I talked to my wife on the cell (her first reaction was to think of who could rescue me), she watched YouTube on a how-to of patching a tire. Pulling it off was easy, and the offending shard of glass fell right now, so the slash was easy to find. I put the glueless patch on right away, not sure what to do with the silver disk. Then my wife told me what I was supposed to do with that dang disk: score the surface where the patch would go. Thankfully, I had two patches and did it correctly the second time. I then got the tire all pumped up (Wow! 70 psi using a hand pump is not easy!), but re-installing it wasn't so easy.
After getting the wheel pumped and ready to go, I spent far too long trying to get it back onto the bike. I just couldn't seem to get the stupid thing on so that it the chain and derailleur were all back in place. Several other cyclists parked and went on, but not one asked if I needed any help. Finally, after 45 minutes, I got the wheel back onto the bike and resumed the ride, feeling at first that the back wheel was going to fall off at any moment. Finally, I focused on other things and just kept on my usual path, planning a repeat of yesterday (minus the farmers' market and Le Peep's) so I'd know about how far I went.
Both days, I ended up getting passed quite a bit by the serious cyclists, who tend to frequent the road I've added as part of the new leg of the ride. There were a lot out both days, and there's no way I'm keeping up with them quite yet. I'm becoming more confident and capable on the bike to the point of being able to take my water off, get a drink, and put it back. But these people can take their hands off the handlebars and remain steadily at over 20mph. I was relieved to see that quite a few of the men do not shave their legs. That's not to say that many did, but there were a couple that looked like they were hiding Chewbacca under their spandex shorts.
In the end, the ride was about 33 miles today, so I'm guess about 35 yesterday with the added locations, so I'm okay with a two-day total of 68-70 miles! Now I'm trying to decide if I want to try to bike to work one day next week....
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