Rules made to be broken

Monday, October 31st

My intention for this blogs was 1 ride = 1 post

I don't think a 1/4 mile test ride up and down the street in front of my house counts, so bang goes that rule!

Last post I had mentioned my 'derailler' problem. Not a derailler problem, a chain problem.

The last several miles of yesterday's ride were no fun. Harder to pedal then normal, and noisy.
So this morning, I hauled the trike out into the middle of the garage, took the seat off, and proceeded to squint and mumble.

Well, look at that! My chain was not passing between the retaining tab and the chain roller anymore. How'd that happen?

There was no way I could stuff the chain back in without taking the chain apart. So I did. 

And while it was apart, I decided to double check the length of my chain (it was fine).

While stuffing the chain back through the chain tubes, I had a suddenly difficult time. Lo and behold, while fumbling around with the chain, I found this.

One of these things is not like the other.

A side view

Ouch.


So I got out my chain tool and dug up a piece of unused chain, counted twice, cut once, and stuck the new section of chain on.

Threaded everything back together. Took my machine for a spin.

Bliss.

I think that maybe it is time for a new chain roller. I shall consult with the gurus on the online forum.

Next ride is my mini-tour: overnight to a nearby campground and then home again.

Elementary error

Ride #63
Thursday, April 14th
21.5 miles on the El Dorado Trail

The parts of this trail that are paved are great.

All kinds of excitement today: wildlife, traffic, hills, repairs, human powered towing.

My triking friend and I headed out once again from the Missouri Flat Rd. trailhead of the El Dorado Trail. We worked our way up the grade, figured out a shortcut from our usual route, zoomed down Main Street in Placerville, over the nifty twisty bridge, and this time did NOT get lost picking up the trail again at Clay St.

Double Trike Madness? Enough flags, you think?

With two trikes and bright clothing and multiple flags. OH, and lights, we felt OK to take the lane and control the traffic behind us on the Forni Rd. downgrade. We decided not to take that shortcut on the way back since we would be in very low gears and there is no bike lane, no shoulder, and limited sightlines. And we wanted to stop at the local bike store later. But flying down that road was fun.

In Placerville

After we picked up the trail again at Clay St., we climbed steadily up the old rail road grade. We were loafing and chatting and generally in no hurry, so our speed to our turnaround point was a lousy 5.3 mph average. We saw a deer turn around and bail off the trail.

Yes, I know those are not deer.

We got to the end of the paved segment and decided to do a little dirt riding.

Since my trike has suspension all around, I came down hill on that dirt faster than my friend did. And I had many more mud-splatters on me then she did.

We made our way back to Placerville, this time skipping the curly bridge and just using Main Street. It is downhill in that direction through Placerville, so we had no trouble at all staying with the traffic through town. My friend was feeling bold, so we used the left turn lane to get onto Ray Lawyer drive and start up our last big hill.

Our left turn lane is at the left of the frame.

We were almost at the top of the hill when my friend's chain snapped! So close to the trailhead where we had parked this morning!
So we had a little chain-tool smackdown (my chain tool lost), and she successfully removed the bent link and reattached her chain. She has reusable rivets on her chain. Mine are not resuable so I would use a special replacement link in her situation. HOWEVER, we did not double double check the chain path before reattaching the link (we were too entranced with our mad chain-breaking abilities) and we crossed her chain.

Blah. Trike no go.

We did not want to mess with the chain again (I suppose we should have, but we did not, why I do not know. I figure we did not want to tempt the chain-tool-gods again) and we decided to go on anyway: coasting on the mostly downhill route. I gave her a towing assist on the flats, and she walked up the two short hills. We did a lot of unseemly giggling.

Try shooting straight over your shoulder. Obviously, I failed! We are on a trestle bridge, that's the wood platform. She's got a grip on the back of my trike's rear rack. Figures she'd be grinning.

Ooooh! A Tunnel!

Not in the flat land anymore

Bridge over US 50

Today's route. Dig that elevation profile!

Clean shiny lungs

Ride #57
Saturday, April 2nd
30 miles with the usual suspects, from Folsom to William Pond and back again, American River Bike Trail and Nimbus trail.

Time once again for the 1st Saturday ride with the recumbent folks. I am getting faster although my average speed is up by just half a mile. BUT (and this is a big but - kind of like mine. Urk. Nevermind) today I managed an average speed for 8 miles of 13mph. Whoo! What does this mean? That I could see ahead of me the rest of the group. Like a carrot dangling ahead of me. AND that I was huffing and puffing like nobody's business. AND that I was pretty sure I'd die. But I did not. I do have well exercised lungs. Of course after that I was all tuckered out.

The turkeys were tuckered as well since all the toms were in display mode.

They did deign to move. Eventually.

Turkeys are about eye-level on a recumbent. Interesting and a little creepy. Do I want to know that much about turkeys? Maybe not.

Boaters out as well today.

Today's ride officially starts and ends at Wm. Pond (Discovery Park is still flooded from spring rains (a normal thing) so we've been going to Folsom the last few months. I decided today to START in Folsom and meet the group at Wm. Pond. It worked out OK since I was warmed up when the pack took off at about 15mph.
So this means I parked in Folsom. In the parking structure (yes, there is only one structure in Folsom). It was very full, as full as I've seen it yet, so I got to park at the very top level. And ride down down down and around around around to the exit. Going up was fun also. Normally I won't do that, but ... it was fun.

It turns out the Sacramento Fit folks were out in force today: they decided to come down to my neck of the woods to run/powerwalk around Lake Natomas, a nice 12 mile route. And that's why the structure was full! So there were packs of peds and aid stations and everything. They are a really nice and well organized bunch of people.

On Thursday I took off my chain, cleaned it, added a section to make it a little longer, and moved my boom out 1/2 an inch. My knees were happier than the last time I rode but still tired today. I'll take it easy for a few days and see how they do.

I had another incident of my chain dropping between the rings when shifting. Everybody tells me "that shouldn't happen, the chainrings should be close enough together to prevent that". Duh. Well, folks. It does. Comes of swapping out parts here and there. But it happens ONLY when I am not paying attention and this is ONLY the third time. The first time I had no clue how to fix it and had to spend 15 minutes scratching my head. Today it took longer to get my latex gloves on then it did to move the chain. So I ain't gonna worry 'bout it right now.

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!