Category: cycling

Lots of Driving

Published July 8, 2008

These last two days have found me driving to Lansing each day to work towards sorting some work stuff out. It was about 240 miles each day, and thankfully that’ll be reimbursed.

Today when I got home I ended up going on a 15-16 mile bike ride, just to get out and about a do something. Unfortunately, after the 55 mile ride and today, I’ve found that the spokes in the new wheels are creaking a bit, and some of them are quite loose. I think I will need to take them to someone who can properly tension / readjust them. I’d do them myself, but the tool is $55, and I’m still without a truing stand.

Now that I’ve finished replying to email and balancing my checkbook I think I’ll relax for a bit, then get some sleep. I’ll probably need it.

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Work is 15.4 Miles Away via Bike

Published July 4, 2008

On the Fourth of July I rode to work, then up to Lake Orion, then back home. Total of about 56.5 miles. Since Google Earth would only save this as a blank black image I had to take a screenshot instead.

I’ve been curious how far it is to work via the safe route (no riding on high speed roads), so today I tried it and found out: 15.4 miles.

After getting to work I used the bathroom, refilled one water bottle, ate a food bar, then rode up Squirrel to Tienken, down to the Paint Creek Trail, up to Lake Orion, then back home. Google Earth (even the latest version as of today) wouldn’t save the displayed route out as an image, so what you see above is a screenshot.

If you’d like to see this route for yourself, here is 04-Jul-2008.kmz and here it is in Google Maps. There is an odd mis-track there, which I don’t quite understand, but it seems that my GPS occasionally figures itself to be somewhere it isn’t.

Total food consumed before and during the ride was:

· 1 each GU Energy Gel in Chocolate Outrage and Lemon Sublime flavors. The Chocolate Outrage and Vanilla Bean (both with 100mg caffeine) are my preferred flavors of these.
· Approx. 1 cup of mixed golden raisins and raw almonds.
· Vegan Organic Food Bar (These are very, very good. Sort of like a nut and fruit smoothie paste in a bar.)
· Four hard boiled egg whites, some overly salty hot smoked salmon, vanilla yogurt with granola, an english muffin with olive oil and black pepper, and a pint of coffee (this was the before-ride breakfast).

The stats for today’s ride are, per the bike computer:

Total Distance: 56.55 Miles
Moving Average Speed: 13.3 MPH
Maximum Speed: 25.9 MPH
Moving Time: 4:13’54

This is the longest ride I’ve been on, particularly if one figures during my last 50 mile ride I stopped at home, ate a pile of leftover Thai food, packed some stuff up for shipping at the post office, then set out again. The only time I stopped for a period of time today was at work (~10 minutes) and to sit in downtown Lake Orion in a park and eat nuts and raisins (~15 minutes).

Now to shower, eat something, and figure out where I’m going to end up this evening. Party invitations are three deep, and all sound very good. I’ll consult with Danielle (who is at her house at one of the parties) first.

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33 Miles == Working Brakes

Published July 3, 2008

After riding 33 miles this afternoon the new brakes seem to be working great. The intermitant creaking sound still has to be worked out, but I’ll try to do that tomorrow when double-checking torques before riding.

I ended up riding down to Dodge Park, through there, up to Riverbends, then I wound my way around some neighborhoods there and back to my house. Part of this included two runs through the 5km hiking trail. All in all, a nice ride.

Tomorrow I’m going to try and do a long ride. Hopefully that’ll go well.

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My Bike Works Again

Published July 1, 2008

The Wheel Master 365-MACVXT5 wheels as shipped, built with Mavic XC 717 Disc rims and Shimano Deore XT HB-M756 six-hole disc hubs.

I’m very happy, my bike works again. Today I received a package containing the new wheels and front brake and got everything installed and working. The delivery was supposed to come yesterday, but at 8:30pm UPS changed the status to indicate that it would be delayed and delivered today.

When the box arrived the label on it indicated that it was a Wheel Master 365-MAVXT5 set, consisting of Mavic XC717 Disc rims, 32 hole, in black, with matching Shimano M756 hubs and black DT spokes. I’ve been unable to locate any info on Wheel Master online, but it appears that they assemble wheels in the US for sale through other shops. I’m quite happy with these wheels, as they were almost perfectly true when received, reasonably well packed, and cheap. There was no rim tape, prompting a quick run out to REI to pick up some 17mm Velox rim tape. It also seems that the rims are painted (or powder coated) black, so there is the risk of scratching them and exposing metal beneath. Hopefully this won’t happen.

I had a bit of difficulty making the rim tape stick, but hopefully it’ll get better as it sits under pressure from the tube. Mounting the disc brake rotor was trivial, and it was particularly easy to fit the tires on to the rim. The size of the rim seems just perfect, and my normally-difficult Continental TravelContact tires seated automatically, without the need for glass cleaner as a lubricant.

The Avid BB7 brake received was listed as a 07 version, but it was manufactured in 2008 and doesn’t match my rear brake dated late 2006. They don’t match, but they do both work. Part of me is considering returning the one from REI and getting a new rear BB7 to match, but it’s probably not worth it

Everything else with reassembling the bike went great, and I took it for a ~8.5 mile test ride in the dark (with lights, of course) after everything was done. There is a slight creaking-ish sound coming from the bike, but I can’t tie it to any particular effort or movement, so I think that it may either be a brake cable housing rubbing against a cable tie or possibly the seat post. I’ll try and sort it out tomorrow.

The brakes themselves are working better than they were when I first left on the ride, but they still aren’t properly broken in. I’m not able to lock up the rear brake yet, and squeezing hard on the front brake while pushing the front end along by hand still allows the wheel to turn, albeit with quite a bit of effort. I imagine that with another 10-20 miles and some more good hard stops the brakes will start wearing nicely and they’ll stop like my BB5s did.

Overall I’m quite happy with things. The wheels are lighter and the bike seems to move better than it did before, and having nice, true, non-flat-side wheels makes everything seem like it rolls by better. Hopefully soon I’ll get to go on a nice, much longer ride; maybe this weekend.

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Rear Wheel Grease

Published June 27, 2008

Even though I have new bike wheels on the way, I figure I should try and make the old ones work as good as possible for spare / winter use. Part of this involved disassembling the rear hub, cleaning it, and just generally being sure it’s okay. It was a bit sticky and wasn’t turning very smoothly, so I figured that maybe it had a bearing and/or race problem like the front wheel did.

After opening up the rear bearings I found that there was nearly a tablespoon of grease around the balls and sitting lumpily on the axel, with lots of it in places where it just wouldn’t do much beyond compacting and gumming up the works. Tomorrow (or maybe Sunday) after I get a properly sized cone wrench I’ll put the wheel back together and see how it works. The freewheel itself currently seems fine so I don’t need to touch that, but the wheel bearings themselves were definitely needing some work.

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Clean, Clean Feet

Published June 26, 2008

There is something surprisingly satisfying about washing one’s feet (and thus hands) after working a bunch.

After another very sleepy class today I stopped at Sears and picked up a small scale (inch pounds) torque wrench (the same as borrowed earlier) along with some bits. I then cleaned up parts from my bike a bit, confirmed the torque on parts like the cranks, hand grips, and a few other things. Come Monday (I believe) I’ll be able to reassemble it with the new wheels and brakes, and the torque wrench should make it lots easier.

Sweeping, cleaning, and lots of wandering around had turned the bottoms of my feet deep gray, so it was into the bath tub to wash them off. They feel really nice now.

I think now I’ll run out to Sears and return the bits, as is going to facilitate my acquisition of an adapter which will make them useless. Then I’ll grab some food, come back here, and probably start reading the Official (ISC)²® Guide to the CISSP® CBK® which I received in class today. I strongly suspect it’ll be more useful than the training materials I’ve been given thus far.

For what it’s worth, I’m taking the New Horizons Training for CISSP Certification. It isn’t a formal CISSP class and I’m finding it a bit strange. The instructor seems okay, but he’s living up to the stereotypes of someone who would teach an “ethical hacking” class, which he does. It’s a bit bothersome, particularly in the way which he’s made some direct, but inaccurate statements about technical issues. For example: no matter what it’s always possible to hack into a service listening on a port, DSL uses the unused phone wires coming into your house, an SMTP packet won’t contain a TCP header, and a few other things which I’ve forgotten.

The class is very pointedly designed to teach only the things known to be on the test. I would prefer a much faster paced class, but I think it’ll be useful as I’m now feeling reasonably confidant that I can pass the CISSP exam. I guess it’s a good thing I’ve worked doing what I do at EDS for so long; it means I have the paper / job qualifications to get the cert too.

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Fixed Front Wheel

Published June 25, 2008

After class today I swung by Fraser Cycle and Fitness with the bad cone so I could get a replacement. Talking to one of the guys there he told me to put the wheel back together and then bring it in, and they’d sort it out under warranty.

I went home, put the wheel back together, returned to the store, and fifteen minutes later (or so) I was handed back my wheel and it’s now far better than it was. I think the wheel was also trued and spoke tension checked, because it’s practically as good as it ever was. Just in time for me to receive the new set of wheels which I ordered. Whoops.

Now to relax for a few then try to get my TiVo and UPS fixed.

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No Biking For A While

Published June 23, 2008

Well, I won’t be riding my bike for a while. In light of the aforementioned bearing problem and the ongoing bent wheel issue I decided to order a new set of wheels, and a front brake to match the Avid BB7 fitted last night.

I ended up ordering this Shimano XT M756 / Mavic XC 717 wheelset which was $239.98, and a 160mm Front version of the 2007 Avid BB7 for $54.98.

So, now I just wait. It’ll probably be a week or so before I get the brake and wheels, and I’ll only have a usable bike after I put all of that together. Unfortunately I’m already antsy to ride more.

Even if I were to put what I have back together the front bearing would require some special wrenches and lots of time to adjust the bearings, and they’d be really questionable.

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Worn Cone

Published June 23, 2008

Wear in the bearing race on one of the cones on the front wheel of my bike. This explains the poor rolling. I think it's time for new wheels.

I don’t know much about bearings, but I do know that’s not how a bearing race should look.

As I mentioned yesterday, the front wheel on my bike wasn’t turning right, moving slowly and stopping almost as if it was indexed or notched. When I took it off yesterday to look at it I found that one of the lock nuts were very loose, so today after work I pulled the bearings apart and cleaned them up. After cleaning things up I found that one of the cones (the loose one) has this damage to it, which would definitely explain the weird motion.

I’m not sure how this came loose, but it definitely wasn’t a problem before Saturday’s amusing ride. Now to decide if i want to get a new cone nut and try and rebuild the hub on the fairly damaged wheel, or just toss it and finally get a new set.

Right now I’m leaning towards the latter.

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2007 Avid BB7

Published June 22, 2008

As yesterday’s collision left me with a not-safely-rideable bike, I’m stuck at home during reasonably nice weather. Since Danielle and I were heading out to Zingerman’s Deli for lunch, I figured I’d check out some bike shops along the way to Ann Arbor and see if I could find a suitable replacement for the now-damaged BB5.

Calling around to a few bike shops (Tree Fort Bikes, who has an asinine policy regarding online^† vs. in store prices and Trails Edge who was very friendly but out of stock) and stopping by Wheels In Motion (who seemed quite nice) I was unable to locate a rear set of Avid BB7 brakes for my bike. After eating a rather nice BLT, we began heading back towards my house when I thought of stopping off at REI in Northville. Thankfully we did, because sitting in the clearance bin was a brand new 2007 Avid BB7 rear disc brake set for mountain bikes, clearance priced at $49.83, which is even cheaper than Price Point sells it for.

After stopping at ‘s place to borrow his inch-pound torque wrench (to be sure everything is right) and visiting my Mom (Dad was at work) Danielle and I headed back to my house, where I spent a while fitting the brake and getting it nicely adjusted. While I haven’t ridden on it yet, I can say that this brake is so much nicer to adjust that I may very well order the matching front version from PricePoint and install it in place of the current BB5.

While looking over my bike I found that there’s a good bit of water in the frame (some ran out when I removed the rear rack to fit the rear brake), so I think tomorrow I’ll pull the bottom bracket apart and see if any more water runs out. I also found that the front wheel is not turning very well, and investigating that showed that the cone nuts (or they may just be lock nuts if they are cartridge bearing) on the front end are loose, so tomorrow I’ll look into fixing that bit up as well.

At least now I’m on my way to having a nicely rideable bike again. Maybe I will be able to make next weekend’s charity ride.

^† Tree Fort Bikes lists the Avid BB7 brakes as ~$52 each on line, so I called and asked if I could come by and get them for that price. I was told that they are out of stock, but if they were in stock that the price would be higher because one has to pay for the lights and buildings and such. However, the person I talked to informed me that if I ordered online and set things up for in-store pickup, I could get the online price. This doesn’t make sense to me, as I don’t see how in-store pickup for an in-stock item should be any more expensive than in-store pickup for a special order item.

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