2.06.2011
Garbage.
Today did not go well to say the least. Good thing I went to church before posting this. It all started upon departing when I lost my balance d!cking around with the Garmin...in the garage. Foot slipped and BOOM, man down. Wow, this is going to be great. I went right out to the rail trail to ride it like last time, however the snow was slushier and there was more of it. Almost wiped out right at the start and I was weaving all over the place. No traction, no balance, slow speed. It was terrible. Gave up .1 into that, got off the bike and walked through knee-high snow to get to a nearby parking lot. Continued my trek. About 2 miles in, I realized...HEY, idiot, you have nothing to drink. Forgot the water bottle. Great. I could eat some snow if worse came to worse, but there is not exactly ANY clean snow within reach anywhere. So I just kept riding knowing that now I was going to have to cut the trip short. Was hoping for 10-12 miles today. About 4 miles from home the chain and gears start bouncing all over the place. About every 10th pedal stroke is dead, chain skipping gears, then later changing gears up and down whenever they wanted. Thought it was just cable stretch, since they're all new, but only 10 miles on new cables seems a bit premature for that. Either way, just kept riding, tinkering with barrel adjusters hoping to get something out of it anyways. I just started expecting each heavy stroke to just mash down to the bottom with no meat to it. The higher the cadence, the worse the problem, so I had to pedal hard and slow to keep it from hopping all over the place. Finally near home, fly through a main intersection, gazzing it now, 'cause I'm pissed. Get to the last turn and I stroke it hard to turn in front of an oncoming vehicle...CHAIN FAIL. I heard (and felt) the break, then nothing. Gone. Stop at the gaz station, I want to throw the bike into a snow bank, but decide that I guess I could have been farther from home. Good thing it was Sunday morning, no traffic so I could stroll out into the intersection to get the blowed out chain. So I walked home the last .3 miles, bike in one hand, limp chain in the other. Hey, at least my feet warmed up a bit. Sunofab!tch.
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So the fresh rebuild isn't quite dialed in yet?
ReplyDeleteHA HA...I guess not! Took care of it tonight though I think.
ReplyDeleteDamn it Tony. I wouldn't feel so bad for you if I hadn't seen the previous posts and how much time, work, and money you threw into it. I think the pre-church version would have been a funnier read. When you fell down in the garage, were you on the bike or just free standing? Lucky you didn't have to get a hip replaced.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a while to get it dialed in. I think it was cable stretch.
ReplyDeleteHeath, I was clipped in and ready to charge off out of the garage and my planted foot slipped with the bike did and I couldn't torque my other foot out quick enough after over-compensating. Fell down with the bike right on top of me. Still clipped in. Dang pedals are good! Looked around the neighborhood to see if anyone saw and booked it out of there ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThat's a hilarious image Tony. I ride with clips here and I'm always worried I'm going to topple over at a stop light in front of traffic. I've only come off once when this lady pulled out in front of me while I was doing 30K. I braked but slammed into her front panel, tumbling over her hood, auto-ejecting from my clips, and somehow landing on my feet. I hope I'm that lucky next time.
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