Taco, anyone? (AKA breaking the chain and more)

Last Friday looked like it was going to be a great day. First of all, it was Friday. Hard to complain about that. It was also the day some of my coworkers were throwing a baby shower for me at work... there's only about a month left now until I become a dad. So, naturally I was excited about that, too.

Otherwise, it was a day like any other weekday I've had for the last three years or so. I loaded up my panniers in the morning in preparation for my regular bike commute to work. It's a nice seven or seven and a half mile ride to the office, and it's always one of the highlights of my day. About two miles into my ride, two of the bike paths along my route intersect. This is where things got interesting last Friday.

There's a small incline up from Four Mile Run to the Mount Vernon Trail. I stood on the pedals to ride up it. In a matter of a split second, I was lying on the ground on my right side, my bike still between my legs, but obviously no longer upright. My feet had come unclipped from my pedals, so getting up was pretty easy, and the adrenaline masked the pain of the cuts and bruises that were already forming.

A cyclist behind who had been riding close behind me and obviously saw me fall stopped and made sure I was okay. After I assured her that I was fine, she pedaled on, and I began to look over the condition of my bike to try to figure out why I had fallen do suddenly and what damage, if any, had resulted. This is what I saw.

My wheel had gone from a nice straight, true wheel to an item of Mexican food, severely tacoed. The only other damage to the bike was a broken chain. The only hypothesis I can come up with to explain what happened is that the chain gave way and somehow whipped it's way into and among the spokes in such a way as to compromise the wheel, damage it irreparably, and bring me and my bike crashing to the ground. I'm still not sure how even that could have wreaked such havoc, but I am at a loss for all other possible explanations. (I do, by the way, clean and lubricate the drive train fairly regularly, so I'm not quite sure even what caused the chain to go...) Remarkably, the fork and rack seem unscathed.

So, I had to make the dreaded call of shame, have my poor pregnant wife get out of bed earlier than I know she would have liked, and ask her to pick me up at the nearest convenient road for me to walk my wounded bike and body to so I could throw my bike in the back of the car and get a ride to work. Thanks again for coming to my rescue, babe!

Not how I had hoped that Friday would go. And my bike wasn't all that was damaged, as you can well imagine. I had a couple bumps and bruises, largely not too visible, except for this, the back of my right leg. 

This picture was after two or three days of healing. I'm pretty well healed  up now, though.

It's been a long week without bike commuting. I've had to readjust to taking the metro this week, a bit of a painful process since it almost doubles my commute time and makes me susceptible to crap like this, which is what I had to contend with for the commute home/to class on Monday. Took me nearly an hour at the station just to to get myself on a train that day. When Belna's (my bike) in working order, I can more or less make a round trip to the office and back in that same hour.

I have placed an order for a new front wheel and chain, which I should have in my possession by early next week. So, my bike and I will be back up and at 'em soon, once again able to relish the joy that is my bike commute.

Oh, and the wheel's a special one, so more to come for sure about it here, but for those who want the inside scoop in the meantime, it's got a Shimano Alfine generator hub. Very exciting...

What a stud!

Last things first... I have lots of catching up to do, but I thought I'd start with news from today.

I was pleasantly surprised last night to see that OPM had already announced a two hour delay for this Monday morning due to anticipated icy conditions on the roadways thanks to freezing rain and drizzle overnight.

So, I gladly slept a little longer this morning (I'm not a morning person), and then mounted my studded Nokian bike tires first thing after getting dressed.

They're Nokian Suomi Ice Speed tires (700 x 35) with 100 studs per tire. They were easy to install and fit very nicely on my wheels.

I'd never ridden studded tires before so I didn't know exactly what to expect in terms of ride quality, etc.

Off I rolled for work mid-morning. The streets were actually in really good shape. None of the big patches if ice anywhere I'd been led to expect by local forecaster scare tactics. But knowing that if I went over a patch of black ice that happene d just to look like wet pavement gave me serious peace of mind.

The ride on the tires was not bad at all. Sidewalls recommended 49-72 PSI. I went with 65 since I'm a heavier rider and knew I didn't need it real low. The tires are knobby, so they ride like MTB tires, but the studs make for a noisy ride. I noticed people on the sidewalk looking over like, "What the heck is all that racket?"

I did encounter a couple overpasses and bridges along my route where the tires were of great benefit. It was slushy ice by the time I went through after ten o'clock, but the added grip of the studs was noticeable.

I like the new tires. I used to dread reports of possible snow and ice because it meant I would possibly have to ditch my bike in favor of taking the train, especially some trails don't always get the same anti-ice treatment that roads get.

Of course the forecast calls for much warmer weather the rest of the week so they'll probably come off as quickly as they went on. But I thank the weather gods for a little extra sleep this morning and a chance to try out the new tires!

Here are a couple quick pics I took at lunch of the new tires on my bike.

Sample size limited, but so far two thumbs up for my new Nokians!

VéloCity to Relocate: They Need Your Help!

I came across this this morning. This is the bike co-op that organizes the pedicab operation I pedaled for last summer, where I built up my lovely Surly Long Haul Trucker with the help of the volunteers, and where I've done too little volunteering myself. It's a great outfit, a great group of people, and a worthy cause. They've been in a great spot along Union Street near the water and right along the on-street portion of the Mount Vernon Trail in Old Town Alexandria. I know I have limited readership (to say the least) but if anyone sees this post and has any ideas, please help out Velocity Bike Co-op!

From their website:

Our warehouse home at 204 S. Union St. in Old Town has been sold, and we must move out by the end of January.

We have limited time, and need a short list of viable locations so that we can review options, make a decision, negotiate a lease, and relocate.  We can use your skills, knowledge, contacts, and ideas to help us find and finance a new location in Alexandria, Arlington, or DC that has:Close access to a bicycle trail or high-volume bicycle route

800+ square feet of open ground floor space

Bathroom and heat

Please spread the word; communityengagement and participation are what make this cooperative successful, and we are committed to our mission to support a vibrant and inclusive bicycling culture in the community!

Please direct suggestions/information/questions to: spokeperson@velocitycoop.org

Oh What a Difference a Lube Makes

I admit it. I was mildly negligent of my bike the last several weeks. Apart from putting air back in the tires, I hadn't really done much of anything in terms of maintenance or cleaning. In some ways that's a good thing. It means everything's running trouble-free. But neglect things for too long and that is no longer the case.

One of the things that I try to do with a little more regularity than I have of late is cleaning the drivetrain (chain, chainrings, cassette, derailleurs). I'd given them a good cleaning about a month and a half ago before I went on my overnight bike trip out to Harpers Ferry and back. But I hadn't really touched it since then. Part of this was just that it had been dry and the chain hadn't really had an opportunity to pick up much nasty sand, grit, dirt, etc. (Last week's heavy rain and some trips through muddy puddles changed that.) The other part of it was a combination of laziness and being otherwise busy.

I got out of class a little early last night, so when I got home, I took advantage of the extra few minutes in my schedule to clean up my bike's neglected drivetrain, especially since the shifting was getting a little less responsive and there was some visible build up of gunk on the rear derailleur in particular. I mixed up a weak solution of Simple Green and ran the chain through a rag soaked in the solution. I then took my Park Tools brush, and with the bristles wet with the same Simple Green solution, spun the pedals backward using the brush to scrub off the rest of the gunk that had built up on the chain, the cogs of the rear derailleur, as well as the rear cassette and chainrings. I ran the chain again through a dry part of the rag to dry off the chain. Finally, I applied a drop of Finish Line wet lube to each link of the chain and tweaked the shifting with a small turn of the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur. Voila! All done. The whole process, from making the solution to cleaning up and putting everything away, took maybe ten or fifteen minutes.

It's easy to forget about cleaning and maintenance items like this when everything's working the way it should. It's even easier to miss small changes in performance or to ignore some of those small, barely perceptible noises that start when you haven't properly cleaned everything for a while. On this morning's commute I was reminded of how much a difference a few minutes of work can make, though. The bike was as quiet as a mouse. Little noises I'd started the hear the last few times I'd ridden vanished. Shifting was smooth and precise. I think the bike was happier for it. I know I was. And my wallet will be, too, since proper cleaning and maintenance of the drivetrain can help to extend the life of the chain and the cassette.

So, one of these days, before you just get on your bike and ride, think about a little preventative cleaning and maintenance. It can really go a long way!

(Sorry about the lack of illustration of the process. I didn't think to take any before pictures when I started, but I may add some demonstrative pictures of the process and some after shots here in the next couple days if I get a chance. Stay tuned.)

On naming a bicycle

If you’re like me, you like to give names to certain inanimate objects and possessions in your life. In my life, I think it started with my parents’ habit of giving nicknames to their cars… Nina and Bertha being more recent examples.

So, when I first got (back) into cycling a few years ago, I had a challenge: to name my new bike. Fortunately, inspiration didn’t take long to strike with that first bike. She was Winnie. I had no doubt it was a girl, and the name (derived from the brand name Schwinn) rolled off the tongue just the right way.

My Schwinn is no more, and I am now the proud owner of a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I’ve been struggling with a nickname for this bike for months, though. I’ve had no shortage of ideas. These have included Orson and Napoleon (pigs in Garfield and Animal Farm respectively, based on the fact that the headset on my bike is FSA’s “The Pig”); Bubba (a classic trucker name); Bessie; and Dorothy AKA “Dot”. Yet none of these seemed to have that certain something.

Perhaps coming up with or committing to a name this time is more difficult because I hope to have my Surly for years decades to come. Maybe there has been something else keeping the creative juices from flowing. I don’t know. In any case, I’d been struggling to come up with a name for some time. Feeling stuck, I turned to the all-knowing Internet for inspiration and ideas.

Recently, I came across a site full of random name generators. It’s actually fairly entertaining and good for killing a few minutes if you’re interested. I tried the trucker name generator  there. It seemed logical, given the model name of my new bicycle. One trucker name stuck with me a little: Thunder. I got that by entering my own first name into the trucker name generator and entering sex as a male. Thunder happens to be the name of the dog I had when I was a kid. He had a lot of black fur (my bike is black), and was a faithful companion in the life (just as I am sure my bike will be). So, in some ways it seemed a good match, but still, it just didn’t grab me like I wanted a name to. I wanted something new and unique.

Last week, I got nerdy with the name generator site and excitedly clicked on the link to the Vulcan name generator. Yes, that's right... as in Star Trek planet Vulcan, birthplace of Spock. I typed in Long Haul Trucker, chose female, and got the name “Belna”. According to the name generator, Belna is Vulcan for “strong maiden”. Such a fitting description of my Surly, given the nature of an ideal touring bike... strong and sturdy, carrying a cyclist, full panniers, a tent, and who knows what else on its back. The name is really growing on me the more I think about it. And I'm becoming increasingly certain that my bike is indeed a she.

So, I’m going to give it a couple more days to make sure it really sticks, but I think I many finally have a name for my Surly… Belna. That’s Belle for short, because she’s a beauty.