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Category: cycling

In The Face!

Published August 24, 2009

Please excuse the poor quality photo, but it’s hard to take a macro photo of one’s own lip.

Today while riding back towards Rochester along the Paint Creek Trail with Bob, Erik, and Kristi, just before getting to the Tienken Road crossing I crossed paths with a large insect. While hitting, inhaling, or simply swallowing bugs is pretty common during late-summer riding, this was different. As soon as the bug hit my face I instinctively closed my mouth, which apparently trapped it between my lips.

In between that time and when I was able to pull it off my face (seconds, really) three quick bites or stings were applied to my lip. I’m not completely sure what it was, but the spindly, leggy feeling between my fingers and multiple punctures in such a short time leads me to believe that it was a wasp. It could have been a black fly or deer fly but I’ve never known them to bite so quickly.

At first the pain was like a sharp, stabbing cut, bothersome enough that I needed to stop for a few moments. After that it went down a bit, and now is sting a deep ache, similar to both the pain of split open chapped lips and having bit one’s lip quite hard.

At least the ride tonight was really nice. We started out at Rochester Mills, then headed up Bald Mountain South Unit, rode most of the mountain bike trails, then (due to my misdirection) didn’t quite find the connector to the Lake Orion High School mountain bike trails before sunset threatened.

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Damaged Inner Plate on SRAM PG870

Published August 22, 2009

I’m really unsure how this happened, but this is why the aformentioned chain link is stuck. It seems that the very end of one of the steel inner plates had some metal torn away from it, and this metal was then pushed between it and a roller, wedging the roller and link in place.

As this is the very end of a plate, it couldn’t have happened from hitting something. I can only figure that either a manufacturing defect which left a bit of metal flashing sticking out was finally hammered down into place, or maybe a rock or piece of metal or something got on one of the teeth and during a sudden/hard pedal stroke it cut the plate. While the cassette is steel and may have been strong enough to do this, the chainrings are aluminum and likely couldn’t make this happen. I’ve also looked over all of the teeth and they all appear to be in good shape without any exceptional burrs or dented spots.

Later tonight after eating dinner I’ll try to get the bit of metal out, in hopes of salvaging the chain. If this doesn’t work I imagine that tomorrow will also include a quick run to REI for a new chain.

UPDATE: Removing the offending link and dropping in a spare (which I’d forgotten that I had) seems to have sorted it all out.

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Stuck Link!

Published August 22, 2009

Today I took a ride from my house up to Stony Creek, around the trails, into Downtown Rochester, then over to Bloomer. Bloomer is a bit convoluted, and the only trails that I could find are the rather intimidating ridge trails, which are a bit riskier than I prefer to ride. (See this photo, which shows where I stopped riding as I prefer to not duck around chest-height trees on off camber bench cut trails with steep drop-offs.)

Right as I began heading towards my house, something wasn’t going right in the drivetrain. Every couple pedal strokes or so I was getting a bit of ghost shifting, particularly when in physically smaller gears. A quick look showed that it was likely a stiff link on the chain, so I headed back towards home. En route to home things became worse and worse, to the point where I could only ride in the big ring and somewhere above the middle of the rear cassette. Regular ka-chunk sounds were heard as the derailleur jumped around a bit.

By the time I got home there were 34.37 miles on the odometer, in just about 2:49. I was rather wanting to ride more, but the chain was saying otherwise. This is a pretty new chain, and prior to this ride (at about the 120 mile mark) the factory lube still seemed to be doing its job. Everything was moving very smoothly, there was no noise from the chain, and everything was shifting well. Right now I’ve got the chain soaking in degreaser, and then post-cleaning I’ll give it a bunch of (physical) attention to try and loosen up the link. At least a new chain isn’t particularly expensive if that doesn’t work.

(The bandage is from cutting a good slice mostly off of my finger tip yesterday while slicing limes with a bent, dull knife. Doing this made me very mad at myself.)

UPDATE: Problem found! It’s a damaged inner plate.

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Bob’s Tour-de-Addison

Published August 15, 2009

Wanting to show some people around Addison Oaks, Bob set up a group ride, the Tour-de-Addision, for there today.
This morphed a bit, with some of us riding up from Rochester Mills.

This was a really great ride, totaling somewhere around 40-42 miles. We rode up to Addison Oaks via the Paint Creek Trail and some dirt roads, two laps around the park’s single track loop, through Bald Mountain, then out to the PCT again. On the way back the three people I was with (Nick, Jon, and Erik) were really pushing each other, holding a solid 22MPH for the roughly 8.5 miles from Lake Orion to Rochester. I was able to hang on behind them for a while, but once they got up near 25MPH I was lost.

After making it back to Rochester we all had food and beer at the Mills, then Erik, Kristi, and I walked over to Bean & Leaf for coffee. Unfortuntely my stupid-in-retrospect choice of espresso pushed me over the edge, and I ended up with a good bit of heat exhaustion. By the time I got home the feeling of a migraine was coming, I was really sleepy, and nausea was coming on. With this being signs of heat exhaustion and/or dehydration the AC was turned on, and I went to lay in the basement while sipping cool water. After mixed napping and drinking of cold beverages for three hours I’m feeling better, but I still haven’t had to urinate. Hopefully soon.

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Broken Crank Puller Cap on Race Face Deus XC Crankset

Published August 13, 2009

Tonight I went to pull the crankset off my bike so I could change the chainring bolts and this happened. That bottom flat piece of metal is supposed to be a taller cap, known as the crank puller cap (see crankset instructions here). It sits on the outside of the crank bolt, and as one undoes the crankset bolt it pushes against the cap, which pulls the drive-side crank off. Instead of doing that it just came apart, breaking off at the first ring of threads. This is not supposed to happen. Not much force was needed to break the part and the splines of the crank were well greased when I reassembled everything a few weeks ago, so I figure the cap simply failed.

While I can get another cap, there is a relatively thin cylindrical threaded piece of aluminum stuck in the crankset. I’m not completely sure how to get it out. I also can’t wholly disassemble the crankset until this piece of metal has been pulled and a new cap acquired. A very large easy out may work, but I might end up having to make something which digs into the remains of the cap and can unscrew it. It’s not very tight, but its not moving.

UPDATE: After a bunch of effort I was able to get the cap out and use a crank puller to remove the crank.

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Bus Pirate v2.go LEDs (and other Moblog Photos)

Published August 7, 2009

Today I finally got to poking around with the Hack A Day Bus Pirate v2.go. It’s a a nice little debugging tool which shows up as a 115.2k serial terminal via USB, and allows one to send and receive a bunch of different serial protocols to devices for testing. However, the LEDs on it are far, far, far brighter than they need to be. At my normally-lit desk in a normally-lit office, they are glaring. I’m going to consider replacing them next time I place an order from Mouser or Digi-Key.

Here’s some other recent moblog photos:

· Toadstools on the mountain bike trails at Bald Mountain South Unit.
· This morning’s coffee is made in a moka.
· Bloody nose pickings wiped on the mounting bracket for a urinal partition in one of the bathrooms at work.
· My sister’s dog Molly laying on the back porch at my parent’s house.
· Joy’s mom’s fruit Extra Easy Fruit Cobbler recipe.

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Tour de Suburbs

Published August 1, 2009

Having to run to the bank and wanting to go for a bike ride, I left my house with the intention of poking around the unmarked single track in River Bends for a while, then likely heading home. Instead I ended up visiting the following places:

· 5/3 Bank at 23 Mile and Schoenherr
· New (to me) single track in River Bends park.
· A car show in Downtown Utica, where I ended up talking with someone who described to me the town’s plans for a non-motorized path through the area. (Note that this is one of the few missing links in a complete regional trail system.)
· Erma’s for mint chocolate chip frozen custard.
· Through Clinton River Park and the (very muddy) single track to Dodge Park and around Sterlingfest.
· Down 16 Mile / Metro Parkway to Metro Beach and back.
· Along Schoenherr and Hayes to Sherwood Brewing Company where I had two pints (Green Rover IPA and Mistress Jades Hemp Ale) and a small pizza. Danielle met me there and we split a very large order of cheese bread.
· Finally, back home.

Total was 55.73 miles, which is definitely a nice jaunt for a Saturday afternoon. There’s also something which feels very civilized about being able to bike to a pub for a pint, or more specifically in this case, stop off at the pub on the way back from a ride for a couple pints and some good food.

Hmm. It seems that I’ve made it back just before some rain is due to hit. I guess it’s time for a shower and a shave, and time to throw the bike clothes in the wash. All of today’s sweat has made them quite stiff.

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New Bridge at Bald Mountain North Unit

Published July 30, 2009

Needing to clear my head and relax a bit after work, I headed out to Bald Mountain North Unit and Addison Oaks for some bike riding. One lap of each, a bit of the connecting dirt road, and a quick jaunt up to Lake Orion to watch the ducks in the park while eating some fruit/nut mix added up to just over 25 miles.

One really nice surprise in Bald Moutain was this brand new bridge over a previously muddy spot, which is located just after the Conklin Road entrance. That image there (and above) is looking back at it, after crossing over. Here is how it looks as you approach it. I’m not sure who did it, but I suspect one of the Team MARVIN (currently unemployed) MMBA members who have been doing loads of wonderful summer trail maintenance all throughout the area.

This ride, and last night at Stony Creek with the usual group, was also a chance to try out the new fork on trails that I know well. Thus far I’m really, really happy with the fork. In short, hard bumps don’t feel as severe, my front wheel sticks more solidly to the ground, and it’s noticeably lighter.

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Fox 32 F100 RLC on 2008 Specialized Rockhopper M4 Frame

Published July 28, 2009

While Danielle was off with two of the other people on her Breast Cancer 3-Day team walking ~16 miles, I spent most of Sunday working on my bike. After the very muddy Tree Farm Relay the day before my bike needed to be washed, and I had a new fork to fit.

For the first time I actually disassembled the entire bike, removing everything except for the bottom bracket, front derailleur, and derailleur hanger. Everything was then thoroughly cleaned, greased as needed, and put back together. At the same time as this a Cane Creek S-3 headset and the new-to-me Fox 32 F100 RLC fork were installed.

The undamaged Avid Clean Sweep G2 rotor (from leftover from the replacement of the brakes post-comically bad ride) was also fitted to the front in place of the roundagon that came with the BB7 and I’d fitted in July of last year. I’ve heard that they tend to stop better than the smoother roundagons, and after some brake clogging problems during the race, I figure it’s worth trying.

The steerer tube on the new fork was just a little bit longer than my old one, but I figured it was best to leave it be and just throw a spacer on top of the stem. As seen here it’s really not too bad looking, even with the particularly tall Niner YAWYD stem cap. I’m not sure I care for the carbon fiber look either, but I don’t think it’s terribly noticeable. Still, I can only hope that in a few years the Asian manufactures will do the world a favor and start using opaque epoxies when working with CF.

The shifter cables were replaced, time was spent adjusting the fork to both factory defaults and a reasonable sag for my weight (100psi, for reference), and a few test rides around the neighborhood were taken. Now to get out and do some single track riding and test it out. Hopefully this will happen tomorrow.

Here’s all of the pictures taken of my bike today, in case you want to see how it now looks:

· My bike, a once-was 2008 Specialized Rockhopper Disc, after being cleaned up and fitted with a 2008 Fox RLC fork and Cane Creek S3 headset. (Note the terrible crank / downtube positioning. This is awful composition.)
· Detail of the Cane Creek S3 headset and carbon fiber spacers. Since the steerer tube is a bit long and I didn’t want to cut it, the top cap sticks up a bit.
· 2008 Fox 32 F100 RLC fork and Cane Creek S3 headset installed on my 2008 Rockhopper Disc.
· Clean rear drivetrain after disassembly and chain replacement. The mud from the Tree Farm Relay required that everything receive particular attention.

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