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Chain Stretch: Illustrated

Published July 14, 2012

While riding my single speed Salsa El Mariachi at River Bends this evening I dropped my chain. Since the dropouts hadn’t moved, this led me to thinking the chain had stretched. After getting home I measured it, and at 1/16″ of stretch over 12 links (12″) it met the fairly universal (and Sheldon Brown-blessed) definition of time-to-replace.

Shown above is a brand new SRAM PC-1 single speed / BMX chain hanging next to the worn chain. The tops of the chains were aligned and clamped in place, showing that just with gravity loading the chains there is almost 1/4 of a link of stretch over the length of the chain. This amount of stretch is enough to begin unevenly wearing teeth on the chainring and cog, which dramatically accelerates wear on these more costly parts. Thus, the chain shall be replaced.

ADDENDUM: I have been reminded that chain stretch isn’t actually stretching. So, for sake of clarity: stretch is actually elongation of the chain due to wearing of the plates and pins. During use the rollers and bushing also wear, but these don’t contribute to overall chain elongation. Roller and bushing wear will make chain measurement tools such as the Park Tool Chain Checker (CC-2) and Chain Wear Indicator (CC-3.2) provide false positive results, leading to premature chain replacement. This is covered in depth over here at pardo.net…

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A Place For Stinky Clothes

Published July 12, 2012

With a few minutes to spare at lunch today I tackled a problem that has been bothering Danielle (and me, to some degree) for a while: stinky bike clothes. After riding I’ll hang up my sweaty clothes in either the bathroom or basement so that they can dry. This keeps them from becoming too pungent, but even after drying they still have a lingering funk until they are washed.

Since the smell in the bathroom is a bit unpleasant and Danielle has been spending a fair bit of time in the basement on some weekdays (it’s darker and cooler down there), another place to hang the clothes was needed. The solution? Hang them up in the garage.

By purchasing $7 worth of shelving brackets from Home Depot and using some PVC pipe and fasteners that I had sitting around home I had everything needed. Now there is a 58″ long rack in the garage, right above where our bikes are kept, perfect for hanging up clothes. It’s also large enough that I’ll probably be able to use it for drying clothes and blankets after they are washed.

I think I may add a end cap on where the Headsweats cap is hanging and add a pair of hooks for the cap and my hydration pack. This’ll keep these out of the way and give them a place to hang and dry as well.

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Clinton River Park Trails MTB Map: Complete

Published July 11, 2012

This evening I wrapped up another mapping project; this one for Clinton River Park Trails in Sterling Heights. After getting a nice workflow nailed down this map was pretty easy to make, taking only around 30 hours to get it complete.

I can see a couple small changes coming down the line such as the addition of sponsor logos and a few tweaks as trail development continues, but for now it should be pretty set.

Click here if you’d like to view a copy of this map: CRAMBA_CRPT_MTB_Trail_Map_2012-Jul-10.pdf latest.pdf

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Hillbilly Fantasy

Published July 5, 2012

While heading out to Highland this morning I followed this van for a while. I appreciated the use of actual Helvetica (bold) for part of the “Hillbilly Fantasy” logo, but the other bumper sticker which reads “It’s A&R Thing You Spartan Fag’s Don’t Understand” was rather opaque to me.

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Coffee and Emergency Gatorade

Published July 1, 2012

I’m glad Gatorade bottles commonly available at gas stations are designed to fit in bicycle water bottle cages. On today’s ride out to Richmond and back for coffee, just after crossing the bridge over M-53 northeast of downtown Romeo I dropped my bottle and looked back to see it skittering off into the brush-filled ditch. After a few passes I failed to find it, so I headed to meet the rest of the group.

Thankfully Erik let me have a drink from his bottle, and that coupled with a gel, muffin and latte at the coffee shop, and the aforementioned bottle of fruit punch-flavor Gatorade kept me going for the rest of the ride. Lacking electrolytes my legs started to cramp up, and I was definitely behind on calories, but it still worked out.

This reas a really, really nice ride. The sun was bright, it was hot, and the lost bottle was disappointing, but it was still a great time. Total distance for me was 64.62 miles at a moving average of 15.1 MPH. Not bad for riding my old(er) Specialized, set up as a commuter with a rack and trunk bag.

Logged GPS data of the ride can be seen here on Garmin Connect.

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Excited Hefeweizen

Published June 29, 2012

After work yesterday I brewed a very simple hefeweizen and put it to ferment. This morning I found that it had blown out of the airlock, even though it’s not a particularly thick beer. Nor was the yeast pitched at a particularly high temperature (~75°F), so the yeast shouldn’t have gotten too excited.

The Activator pack did inflate quite quickly yesterday so maybe the yeast is particularly strong, but I still wouldn’t have expected this to happen. A blowoff tube has since been fitted so everything should be fine. Now I just need to wait for it to ferment.

The recipe I’m using is as follows, as told to me by Andy, the owner of Cap N Cork Home Brewing Supply:

· Six Pounds of Wheat Dried Malt Extract
· One Ounce of German Hallertau Hop Pellets (@ 60 Minutes)
· Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat Blend Yeast

Ferment for ~11 days in primary (until it’s done, plus a few more days), transfer directly to the keg, carbonate, and drink fresh.

I’ve got pretty high hopes for this beer. Much of what I’ve brewed lately has been reasonably complex (for extract brewing) so I’d like to have some simple, easier recipes like these tested and available.

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Improvised Lock Picking Tools

Published June 27, 2012

Walking out of the house to the Wednesday Night Stony Creek Ride I realized that I didn’t have my keys seconds after pulling the locked door shut behind me. After running through a number of ideas (most of which involved calling for help and missing the group ride) I ended up fashioning a half-diamond pick from a cable tie, then using it along with and using a plastic sword toothpick (as a tension wrench) to pick one of the house locks and get back inside.

I have a set of lock picks and while they were (unfortunately) locked in the house with the keys, experience playing with them in the past let these tools be used successfully. The white nylon pick was quite flexible and too thick to easily use, but I was still able to use it to rake the pins and open the lock in a couple of minutes. I then made it to the group ride on time.

This shows just how easy it is to pick the cheap house locks from Schlage, Kwikset, and the like.

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Almost-Lost Phone

Published June 24, 2012

Today I almost lost another phone. While heading out to Addison Oaks I set my phone on the top of the car, put something in the trunk, then apparently forgot the phone on the car before leaving. By the time I reached 23 Mile and Schoenherr I wasn’t sure where my phone was, and thinking I’d left it behind I turned back and looked around the house for it. Being unable to find it I called it, only to hear a ringing outside where my car was.

So, where was it? Just as seen above, sitting on the windshield of my car, down against the wiper, positioned just where I couldn’t see it. (Yes, I had a second camera handy, which is a good thing because I didn’t want to move my phone before I took a picture of it.) Apparently it slid down from the roof at some point, then stayed where it landed even in 50-55 MPH winds and through a couple of stop lights.

I’ve been feeling a bit out of it today and this seemed to be right in line with that. Even riding today just didn’t feel right…

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Broken Bell, Punctured Saddle

Published June 22, 2012

Tonight in lieu of a ride at Pontiac Lake I stopped off at River Bends on my way home. The ride itself was pretty good and uneventful, except for a sudden fall about 3.5 minutes into my ride, right at the original start of the single track. This is a somewhat loose corner where one has to weave around a tree while entering off of two track, and I did so wrongly, washed out my front wheel, and hit the tree.

I ended up hitting the handlebar with my thigh, breaking off the bell (as seen above), catching my ankle somewhere on the downtube, and landing on my hands/chest. Except for some bruises on my legs I’m just fine, but it was very frustrating. In the process of falling I also tore my (relatively new) saddle, turned the seatpost, and turned the stem a bit. Oh well, at least I’m okay.

Later on in that same ride I came across a deer with new, fuzzy antlers who wouldn’t move off the trail for me. I decided to turn back and go a different way, as I’d rather not have a deer decide it wants to make me move.

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