Triple Threat!

Ride #26
Thursday, December 30th.

7.9 lovely sunny miles in Folsom. Almost the same route as the last trip, but a little further and with a loop put back in.

My sweetheart came along AND his son (visiting from college for the winter break), so the three of us meandered along the trails, with me acting as sheepdog from the rear. The kid used my old Trek bike (which needs some derailer work, since he was stuck on the littlest chain ring) and he also used my helmet, so I rode helmetless for the first time since highschool! I wore my Tigers baseball cap to ward off the sun. I'll keep an eye out for a cheap 3rd helmet, just in case.

We saw quail and blackbirds and geese and ducks and children and other cyclists and moms and strollers and families and dogs. But not a single fringed surrey.

Our average speed was 9.1 mph, Himself just chugged along - staying on the middle chainring most of the time. HIS front derailer needs some work (I think the cable has stretched a little). So looks like I'll be playing wrench a little bit later this week. I'm getting some practice at this...

As a consequence of my tumble earlier this month, I had a bad link in my chain.
Which I did not find during my post-ejection inspection.
That bad link messed up my shifting (and induced chain suck - oh no! ) so I did not end up going on the 30 mile road ride last weekend, but went home and fixed my chain instead.
OK, so I did not do all the work since I don't have a chain tool. Yet.
I headed over to Bicycle Planet in Folsom (great folks there) with my Very Long chain in hand, and they were kind enough to pop the bad link out and shorten my chain by one link. I bought a whole (regular length) chain and they've ordered a small but functional chain tool for me. When the tool arrives, I'll be practicing on the new spare chain and I'll have lots of links for future repairs.

The chain on my trike is put together with a SRAM master link, so it was relatively easy to take apart. I had to try two different pliers but I got it done. Bifocals don't help.

I did video the chain placement with my new camera before I took it off, and that did help me get it back on and working well. I had to adjust my rear derailer cable again, but it shifted like a dream today. So all is well in trike-land.

On Saturday, 40 insane people (members of the cycling club I belong to) are going to do laps on a local famously steep hill (1.5 miles of climbing). I'm not climbing that hill, but I'll tootle over on my trike and play photographer. It will be fun! So I suppose this is my last ride of 2010 and Saturday will start the New Year off right, with a trike ride and photography fun!