Category: cycling

This previous post about what I carry while riding got some interesting comments with people surprised that I carry so much, with one of the more commented on items being nitrile gloves. This evening while riding back home from Metro Beach I’d just passed a guy roller blading and when I stood to take off there was a POINK sound and my cranks just spun, dispensing the chain on to the ground. I’d been having a weird feeling when pedaling that almost felt like the freehub not cleanly engaging, but this answered what it was.

This was a simple break where an outer plate separated from a pin, tearing the chain open, and thus easily mended with a SRAM PowerLink. However, twenty minutes later when stopping at Metro Beach I’d relubed my chain because it was making a slight squeaking sound and I thought that maybe the odd feeling could be a slightly stuck link. Being out and about I wasn’t able to wipe the excess off and thus the chain was wet with lube and grit. This exact situation is why I carry nitrile gloves.

After putting them on I was able to fix the chain and get the bike back to working so I could finish my ride, all without ending up with dirty hands. With the chain parts then tucked away in inside out gloves and everything put away I set off and had a great rest of the ride.

End result today was a smidge over 52 miles in 3:22:59 of moving time. I got no heart rate data because the sensor’s battery appears to be failing, as it was reporting ~190 BPM while pedaling out of my driveway. I took it off and shut off the sensor monitoring, which did weird things to the Garmin data itself (such as reporting 87 kcal consumed).

Here is a photo of the actual broken chain hanging off the derailleur, if you’re interested.

Today’s unseasonably nice weather found me home with time to get in a bike ride before the sun set. Not long after setting out I realized why my legs were more sore than normal after Sunday’s ride: my seat was too low. I stopped, move it up about 1cm, and it was like a whole new world. I’d suspected it was a bit off, and my legs were sore in the way that a too-low seat makes them, but it hadn’t really felt bad. Apparently it’d slid down a bit over time and I didn’t outright notice it. After fixing the height I simply felt faster and my legs felt better. It’s amazing what a difference such things make.

While out and about I ended up poking around various neighborhoods and took the back way into River Bends. The trails were surprisingly sold, with the vast majority of it being completely ridable. There’s a few unpleasantly muddy bits, but overall a few more dry days will have it ready to go. With luck this spring won’t be nearly as wet as the last and there will be lots of dirt road and dry trail riding happening soon. I also hope that we’ll be able to route around or fix some of the muddy spots at River Bends so they won’t be problematic in the future.

It appears that someone has been trying to live out in the woods at River Bends. Way back off of the Seasonal Loops I found a makeshift shelter (photo) that someone had assembled out of deadfall, recently cut smaller trees, and tarps. No one was around, but there were some large metal cans inside and the shelter had quite a smell coming from it.

This February’s bizarre weather has made for some really nice riding. After a hectic (but good) day working I was able to get out a little early and go for a ride. Trails are still too squishy to ride, but almost all of the pavement was dry, the sun was out, and the air was warm enough that I could wear knickers, toe covers, a base layer, and a light wind jacket.

During this ride I explored a few neighborhoods that I’d yet to pass through, finding a new (to me) connector to the MOT near 24 Mile and a route through an undeveloped neighborhood, up a small rock retaining wall, and into another neighborhood that I frequently pass through. While I didn’t venture into it (because of the aforementioned soft ground and my relatively skinny tires) I also came across a sane entrance to this path-filled yet apparently abandoned area which might be a nice place to take a break and eat. More and more of this area is starting to come together mentally, and I’m getting even more ideas for long path/residential/dirt road rides.

The full route / GPS data for the ride can be seen here if you’re interested.

This afternoon, in lieu of a lengthy dirt road ride^†, a few folks and I met up at River Bends to ride some snow covered trails. This was quite a bit of fun and I managed to get in just under an hour and a half of moving time. Some of the trails were a bit iffy on the current tires on the Mukluk (particularly the Endomorph on the rear), but it was still a good time. I may want something a bit knobbier next year, but for now I’ll stick with what I have.

The photo above shows James (with the mohawk, who didn’t originally plan to meet up with us but just happened along as we were in the parking lot), Bob, and Nick as they are queued up to cross a stream in River Bends’ Seasonal Loops by walking on a very makeshift bridge. I’d already passed, as did Carlos who was standing a few feet behind me. This ended up being a pretty nice ride, and hopefully I’ll be able to get out for a few more rides this winter. Maybe tomorrow… We’ll see…

^† Mostly due to the 30MPH+ wind gusts and negative-digit-Fahrenheit wind chill.