5 more under the bridge

So today’s ride actually went off without a hitch. I rode the 5 mile loop, it's shorter, still in civilization, and I don't quite trust the Centurion yet. That being said it was a good ride. For the first time since the break I took for a month or so before Christmas I'm not really tired. It just feels good to have gotten the exercise. On thing, it was FRIGGIN' COLD! I stopped momentarily to investigate the rear wheel and make sure things were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Leaving my feet in the clips I reached out and grabbed a sign post. It immediately struck me as cold. When I let go and started moving my fingers sort of stuck, looking around at the yards in the neighborhood I was in they all had frost. It was good to get out.

Roll Cat

So the weather was beautiful today. So it was a ride day. I lounged around the house for a while and drank coffee, and then geared up. I put some air in the new tires of Centurion and off I went. I had decided that the 8 mile loop was a necessity. It had been to long since I had ridden it, and I know on the skinny tires of the Centurion I could get some real speed on the back side when the road drops into the canyon that is on the other side of the ridge line behind my place. Pedal hard wondering if I'm going to be able to make a clean ride of the hill (The first hill is about 1.5 miles of a pretty good grade). I start the hill. I'm about two miles into my ride when the back of the bike suddenly feels squirrelly. Like I've bent the rim really badly (I know what that feels like because I've done it on my mountain bike). So I stop on the side of the road and assess the bike. I notice that the tire bead has pulled away from the rim and the inner tube is bulging out. Before I can unscrew the cap and let pressure out KA-BOOM the inner tube fails. No problem I think. In my tool bag I have a patch kit, tire levers, and a couple of co2 cartridges and a nozzle to fill the tire. I flip the bike and prepare to get to work when it dawns on me. The wheel is bolted on. I have no wrench. I begin to walk the bike back home. After about 100 yards or so the tire has pulled it's self so far off the rim it is tangling in the brakes every revolution of the wheel. I pick it up and carry it. In two miles carrying my (about) 30 lbs. bike my right arm got very tired, and the cable guide for the read brake cable managed to cut my shoulder. I got home and pulled things apart. The tube was a total goner. It was missing a patch of rubber the size of a dime. Even if I had had the wrench I would not have been able to patch it. I get one of the spare tubes and put it all back together. I decide that since my hands were already greasy I might as well re pack the bearings in the front hub. This turned out to be much simpler than I had anticipated. About 45 minutes later everything was back together and I decided to ride the 5 mile loop. I flip the bike up right and... the back tire is flat. Hrmmm... I think, I could have sworn I put 70 psi in there, oh well. Pump it up, put the pump away, and then comeback and feel the tire. It's defiantly softer than it was 2 minutes ago. Crap. I must have pinched the tub when I used a tire lever to get the last bit of the tire back on. Off the wheel comes. Off the tire comes. (And let me tell you, the narrower rims are much harder to do this than on my mountain bike. On the Trek I almost don't even need the levers) I fill the sink with water and search for the hole. Sure enough I can tell I pinched the tube. I patch it, put it back on the wheel, this time avoiding using the levers until the very last bit and pump it up. After all that it was 5:00 and I no longer wanted to ride. I'll go tomorrow morning.

The Wild Rover

I hauled the mountain bike out to Wilder Ranch today. Many many trails there I've yet to explore. I rode out on the bluffs trail, then cut back and under the freeway up onto the hills. After about 5 miles (3 on the bluffs, 2 hill climbing) I was beat. I lay the bike down on the end of the trail and lay in the grass for about 15 minutes to rest. The ride back down rocked. It was a sweeping downhill, not very technical, so I let out the brakes and bombed down. The posted speed limit for the trails is 15 MPH, I think I exceeded that :) It was great to ride on the dirt again. It had been to long.

SLACKER!!!!

OK I've been slacking for a few days. I had to replace those tires. But of course there was a catch. I pulled the tire off and immediately noticed two things. First, the existing inner tube had bonded with the existing tire (Fortunately I had anticipated as much and bought new tubes as well) . Second, the rubber rim tape (The strip that goes between the rim and the tube so the heads of the spoke nipples don't cut the tube) had bonded to the tube and shredded when I tried to separate the two. Not a huge issue, easy to fix, but I needed to get the wheels to a bike shop and get them taped. MY intent for today was to do that, and then ride, but I had an eye exam this morning, and they put drops in to dilate my pupils. Which of course made me incredible sensitive to light. Joy. So in my apartment, with the blinds all pulled, I worked like a gnome and got the tires on and everything ready. I'll ride tomorrow I think.

Hmm... That's not good.

Well I went for my typical 5 mile after work ride on the Centurion today. About 3 miles in I start hearing "Tick.. Tick.. Tick.. Tick" coming from down by the peddles. The bottom bracket going? I think to myself, sparing as much time to look down as I could. Didn't feel like it. At about 4 miles the noise has evolved into "Viiiip.. Viiiip.. Viiiip.. Viiiip.." What the hell is that? It sounds like when I bent the rear rim on my mountain bike, but there is no increased peddle resistance, not to mention the complete lack of knobbies on the tire. By 4.5 miles "Viiip-Tick.. Viiip-Tick.. Viiip-Tick.. Viiip-Tick.." with the Viiip coming from low and the tick coming from up front. I finally get home and look really close at the bike. The tires, which might be close in age to myself, are coming apart. The threads in the side wall had ripped and were hitting the frame, and thus producing that noise. Tomorrow I need to go past the bike shop on the way home and pick up a new set of tires as well as a few cone wrenches so I can get into those bearings.

1 Bicycle, 2 bicycle, Red Bycycle, Blue Bycicle

I rode to the store this afternoon. Not far. Round trip, 3/4 of a mile or so. I rode my "New-Old" bike. A 70' era "Centurion: LeMans." My folks found it for a steal at a thift shop. I'd been looking for a road bike on the cheap to ride during the week. The mountain bike (An 04 Trek 6700 Disc) is a fine bike, but it never felt right on the pavement. I had to peddle much harder to make it half as far. With the huge knobby tires it just didn't roll well on pavement. You could hear that tractor tire hum when I got going fast. The Centurion is a little small for me, but it will do for now. I need to take the hubs and bottom bracket apart and clean and grease the bearings. I suspect they haven’t been taken apart since they were manufactured. I can imagine the grease has glazed with age by now and I'll need some solvent to get everything shiny. If it is I'm just going to buy new bearing, they are to cheap to spent the effort cleaning and likely pitted any way. Looks like the weather is going to be good for a while. Maybe the trails will be dry enough to ride this weekend (Or at the very least dry enough that I can carry the bike over the boggy bits to prevent erosion with out walking the entire time). I should go for a ride after work tomorrow. I'll do the 5 mile loop I think. I just transferred the lights over to the Centurion, since it’ll be starting to get dark.

Huh? Wha...?

So this is a blog to keep track of my cycling activity. Read and be thrilled.