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To Work and Back

Published June 8, 2010

With the weather forecast saying that rain shouldn’t start until after 7pm it seemed like a good weather day for bike riding. Despite having my car back I fitted the pannier setup to my bike, and set out for work. I set out just after 7am, arriving at work just over 1:06 later. As the day wore on and rain got closer, the forecast rapidly changed to having rain arrive sooner, so I left work a bit early, riding quick, hitting rush-hour traffic, and made it home in four minutes less than it took to head to work. After getting home I was then able to finish up work before heading off to the grocery store, then to Sherwood Brewing Company to meet some friends for dinner and beer.

Here’s a couple photos from today, all of them better than the weird, blurry, self-shot photo of me riding on the Clinton River Trail, somewhere between Hamlin and Adams:

· Riding down the Clinton River Trail, heading east, between Hamlin and Adams.
· My bike propped up against a column under Rochester Road along a branch of the Clinton River. I stopped here briefly while riding home from work.
· My bike outside of VGs on the bike rack which they installed after I asked them to fit one. I rode up to buy beer and bagels after riding home from work.

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Working Car!

Published June 8, 2010

This broken bolt is the reason for Sunday’s car failure. When it broke the serpentine belt tensioner came free, likely becoming lodged somewhere, and causing the car to cease working. Because the bolt broke off flush with the engine block and was in a particularly hard to reach place, the engine had to be lowered 2″, the bolt drilled, and then the bolt removed with an easy out / screw extractor.

As a result there was $187.54 in labor to fix the problem, with the bolt, new serpentine belt, and other misc parts only being $78.01. With the $100 for towing, this failure cost just under $400, which I guess isn’t too bad. It’s a bit frustrating that this comes only two weeks after paying my car off (early), but timing on this is really very random.

The guy at the shop (Shelby Tire) said they spent a while trying to figure out the cause of the broken bolt, but the AC compressor, power steering pump, and all other devices connected to the serpentine belt seemed fine, including the tensioner. The only cause he could figure was that the bolt was weak (or failing) and the AC kicked on just as the power steering kicked in, and the extra load on the belt snapped things. As I was turning a corner out of a parking lot having just turned the AC on when the problem happened, this makes sense. Hopefully it won’t happen again.

(This is also the first RAW photo that I’ve processed in the newly released / installed Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. One of its new features is markedly improved sharpening, and I must agree that it’s much better. After all, just check out those knurls on the screw head.)

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Failed Car!

Published June 6, 2010

Danielle and I took Roxie over to the Orion Oaks Dog Park today, where she got a bunch of exercise and lots of time to play in the lake, which was making for a very nice day. However, right as we pulled out of the lot, something went weird with my car and the engine came under lots of load, nearly stalling. I quickly made a U-turn, pulled back into the parking lot, and rolled into a space just as my car stalled.

A quick investigation under the hood while trying to start the car showed that something along the serpentine belt‘s path, as there are both visible metal shavings (small and glitter like) around the belt area, the belt was smoking slightly after the car ceased running, and an attempt to start the car made the engine jerk and rock as if there was an unreasonable load on it.

It didn’t take very long for the tow truck driver to arrive, and even more fortunately Bob and his wife Debbie came out to wait for the tow truck with us and then drive the three of us back to my area. Getting the car loaded on the truck was fun because there wasn’t enough space in the lot to directly align the truck with my car, so as the driver winched the vehicle on to the flat bed I hung out of the vehicle steering it (with no power steering) in reverse so it’d move straight on to the bed. Then, do to a slightly similar situation at Shelby Tire (my preferred local shop) I had to slowly roll it down the ramp and into a parking spot.

After getting the car situated at the shop and dropping the key in the slot and Roxie at my house the four of us set out for dinner at Azteca’s, a wonderful Mexican place located in a strip mall just north of M-59 on the west side of Mound. Note that this place is not to be confused with the much less good local chain Grand Azteca, but it is located very close to Erma’s Frozen Custard, the perfect place to head for dessert after eating.

Now everything is set and it’s just time to wait and figure out what it’ll take to put the car right again. Thankfully Danielle is here and I’ve got leftover biryani from Friday’s dinner, so I should be able to get a ride to and from work and have no need to go out for food. I considered biking in, but even with the new panniers I’ve yet to figure out an effective way to carry a laptop, without which I can’t do my job. Instead I think I’ll leave the laptop there tomorrow and try riding in on Tuesday.

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Bike for Commuting / Errands and Trails

Published June 5, 2010

This past Thursday I managed to get a great deal on some Ortleib Back Roller Classic panniers for my bike. I’d wanted some for a while, and the ~$120 sale price for them at REI couldn’t really be beat. Sure, I could have picked up cheaper ones, but these seem like they’ll be quite nice, will keep things dry, and will have a good resale value if I decide that I no longer want them.

Here they are fitted to my bike, along with a small Topeak trunk bag. I intend the trunk bag to hold bike tools, phone, and wallet while the panniers hold whatever else I need, be it work clothes, groceries, packages going to the post office, or whatever. The bike also has a NiteRider MiNewt USB light on the bar and two rear blinky lights and I’ve got a roll of black Scotchlite tape which I’ll be adding to the bike, along with a pack of firefighter’s reflective helmet strips which will be applied later. Between these I should have no difficulty being seen from multiple angles while riding at night.

I’ll probably also fit the bike with some smooth tires (Continental TravelContact?) to make for smoother rolling. However, the nicely worn Specialized The Captain Control tires aren’t terrible, and leaving them on keeps the bike multi-purpose, better for riding both paths and trails with a variety of surfaces.

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Bob’s New Black Sheep

Published June 4, 2010

Last night my friend Bob picked up his new bike (a 50th birthday present to himself) from the shop and brought it over. I adjusted a few little things to get it working nicely, then took some photos of it for him. Those photos can be seen here, in the Bob’s Black Sheep album.

This bike is currently outfitted as follows, although some parts (bars, tires, stem, seat post clamp) will likely change:

Frame: Black Sheep Bikes Stellar 29er (semi-Custom Geometry)
Seat Post: Black Sheep Bikes Infinity
Fork: Rock Shox Reba Race Team w/ Remote Lockout
Stem: Thomson Elite
Handlebar:Soma Clarence
Crankset: Truvativ Noir (Red)
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT
Rear Derailleur: SRAM X.0 Long Cage (Red)
Cassette: SRAM PG-990 (Red)
Shifters: SRAM X.0 (Red)
Chain: SRAM PC-991
Saddle: Brooks B17 Aged
Pedals: Crank Brothers Eggbeater SL (Red and Black)
Brakes: Avid Elixir CR
Wheels: Chris King Hubs, DT Swiss X 470 Rims
Skewers: Crank Brothers Split (Red and Natural)
Tires: Schwalbe Racing Ralph, 2.4″ Front, 2.25″ Rear
Bottle Cages: King Cage Stainless Steel
Grips: Ergon GP1
Stem Cap: Purely Custom, etched with “More Tortoise Than Hare”
Bar End Caps: Soma (Red)
Spacers: Toronto Cycles Carbon Fiber

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Baby Robin No More

Published June 3, 2010

The baby robin that Danielle was raising has flown away. On Memorial Day she took it home and right after being taken outside it flew up into a nearby cherry tree and stayed there. The photo above is one of the last photos I took of it, with it standing on my kitchen counter after slowly trying to eat a piece of nightcrawler. It kept making noise and trying to pick it up before Danielle fed it directly to the robin.

New photos of the rescued baby robin, all taken the day before it flew away, can be found at the bottom of this page and on this page.

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Ant Hill at Bald Mountain

Published May 31, 2010

Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, North Unit has some slightly less morose things to see too, such as quite-large ant hills like as the one above. These are a common site along the mountain bike / hiking trail, often found in slightly sunny sandy areas. Today I took a fast turn a little wrong and almost ended up hitting one, which would have been in no way good. (They are super-soft, likely to cause a crash, and filled with likely-to-be-angry ants.) Thankfully I avoided it and did not fall, continuing on my way.

This one here is found on the east side of connector from the orange loop to Predmore Road, between numbers 16 and 17. (Map) This connector is commonly used to avoid the low laying and frequently wet trail between the old ranger’s house and the lake. As the trail was mostly dry I rode that segment, but used this section to get back to Predmore and thus back to Addison Oaks where I had parked for today’s bike ride.

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Hash Browns for Dinner

Published May 30, 2010

After a nice bike ride I couldn’t think of what to have for dinner, and this is what resulted: hash browns, fried up in butter, with onion, roasted garlic, rosemary, spicy chicken sausage, and sweet corn, topped with mild cheddar. I’m eating this with a glass of Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout, a very nice, malty, licorice-y stout that goes wonderfully with savory food.

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Loose Horst Link Pivot

Published May 30, 2010

Today while washing my Titus Racer X 29er I found the rear drive-side Horst link screw loose. If this had come completely apart the bike would have gone very floppy, but not failed catastrophically.

Thankfully Titus publishes the Titus Racer X Torque Specs (mirror on nuxx.net) so I was able to reset this screw and check the rest. Everything else was spot-on already, save for the top of the rear shock which I’d previously undone (to route brake lines) and done by feel. That shock mount doesn’t matter much, though, as the bolt itself carries very little load.

Now, time to figure out a place for today’s riding…

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Schwalbe Racing Ralph

Published May 30, 2010

Starting last week when up at Big M and the NCT I’ve had a set of Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires on my bike. Thanks to a nice (and fair to all) deal worked out with a MMBA forum member and my friend Bob I ended up with a nice, fat 2.4″ tire on the front and a quite sufficient 2.25″ on the rear for $75. This is quite a good deal, as these tires are normally $70/ea in local shops.

These are definitely different feeling from the 2.0″ Specialized The Captain Control tires that I’d fitted earlier in the year. They both seem to roll faster and grip better when the bike is leaned way over, and their extra volume makes things feel a little bit more comfortable on trails. I’ve found the point at which they let go a few times, but haven’t fallen yet. The super-fat (for me) front tire also means that it floats over sand quite nicely, which was very helpful at Big M and Bald Mountain; both trails known for having unexpected patches of the typical Michigan pine forest sandy soil.

I think I’ll keep these on the bike for a while.

For what it’s worth these tires have plenty of clearance on my bike:

· Here is a photo of the clearance when a 2.4″ Schwalbe Racing Ralph is used on a Fox F29 RLC with a 23.9mm DT Swiss X470 rim.
· Here is the clearance of the 2.25″ Schwalbe Racing Ralph as the rear tire on a medium Titus Racer X 29er.

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