Maintenance and Repair

Schwalbe Marathon Racer





Time for New Tires



Need Mirror and Grips 




New Marathon Racer



New Mirrycle Mirror and Grips

New Sram 970 cassette and KMC Z 9 Chain

It has been a great cycling year with a record 5354 miles.  Add Bike Florida with 3 days of rain and it has taken it's toll on parts.  Time to change out some basic components like chain, cassette, mirror, grips and tires.  Some cables and housing were done on BikeFL.  I had received the parts ordered and decided to make repairs on Tuesday.  It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get things done quickly.  I got a 35 mile ride in to see how things faired.  At first everything was great.  Then about 1 mile into the ride I noticed problems with the 4th gear.  It was not smooth and tended to slip and skip.  I made frequent adjustments on the ride, but, just couldn't fix it.  I decided to wait until I got home and could place it on my stand.  No matter how hard I tried, the problem remained.  I decided to put back the old cassette and low and behold the problem was gone.  I realized my new Sram 970 cassette had a defective 4th cog.  I boxed and returned to seller at no charge.  I am now looking for a new cassette.
I have been a big fan of my inexpensive Tioga Comp Pool Tires.  Unfortunately, they are no longer manufactured.  I did much research and finally called UtahTrikes and asked their opinion.  They recommended the Scwalbe Marathon Racer.  They also run a perpetual sale on these tires at $25.  I am quite pleased with the ride quality and I feel no difference than with my old Tioga tires.
I am also looking into changing the drivechain to Sram 1:1 Actuation as it is smoother shifting with little maintenance.
KEEP RIDING!!!

Back From Bike Florida

On My Way



 

Home

Tent City





Goats





New ICE Sprint Full Suspension




Some Tour Easys





Catrike Expeditions.  Cool Paint





Rest Stop





Moss On Tree





More Bents





Couple from Missouri On Catrike Roads




Band at Rest Stop




One of Florida's Beautiful Bike Paths






Diane on Left friend from Home.  Linda on right new friend from North Carolina
High End Riders
 

 


One of Florida's Beautiful Springs




My Buddies for the week after the ride



Bike Florida was quite an adventure.  Unfortunately, I road for 5 days instead of the full 7 days.  I arrived on Saturday and had registered and had my tent set up by noon.  The weather was hot in the mid 80's.  I did the 35 miler which turned out to be more like 45 for the day.  Sunday was again sunny and hot and I did the longer route for another 58 miles.  Monday the weather changed and I got caught in some severe rain after the 1st rest stop.  My new rain jacket and the fairing made riding in the rain fun.  I decided to go for the longer route and did about 70 miles.  The rain and clouds continued on Tuesday.  I decided not to press my luck and did the short route for 40 miles.  Wednesday the weather was again bad and they only allowed us to do the short route for 38 miles.  I got back just in time to get the tent set up before it started to thunder, lightening and rain as depicted in the video.  It was quite a storm.  Thursday the weather was so severe they did not let us ride at all.  3 Tornado's touched down and there were reports of hail.  They arranged bus transportation back to your car or to the next overnight.  Since my things were so soggy and it would be only a 31 miler the next day I decided to end the ride and pick up my car.  I still managed to get in about 251 total miles.
There were many recumbents including, Tour Easy, Longbike Slipstream, Vision, HP Street Machine, many Catrikes and a few ICE Trikes.  Most riders were fast spandex types on their sub 20lb bikes, but there were many on hybrids too.  The roads were mostly flat and rural and we went on some beautiful paved bike paths.  Rest stops were spaced out about every 10-12 miles and were well stocked with PBnJ sandwiches, oranges, grapefruits, candy, water and Gatorade along with other items.  The BikeFL staff was excellent.
I met some old friends from previous rides and more importantly made new friends.  It doesn't matter what you ride, were you are from, what you do, or how old you are.  We are all the same and love cycling.
If you have never done one of these type of events, I would highly recommend it.  Where else can you wake up at 5 am, wait on line to do your business in a Porta-Jon, wait on another line to wash up, ride 50 plus miles in all kinds of weather, come back and set your tent up in the heat or rain, and wait again on line for a shower.  Do this for 5-7 days and come home and say. 
WHAT A GREAT TIME I HAD.

KEEP RIDING!!!

Heading South

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I am heading south to BikeFlorida tomorrow. You can see by the photo that winter is still as stubborn as ever and refuses to leave. I have checked the weather in Gainesville and highs should be in the 80's with lows in the 50's. Looks like mostly sunshine but you never know in Florida. Shorts, sandals and wicking tees should cover me, but have added a few other items for early morning chill and possible rain.

I am especially looking forward to this trip and will report back on my return.

KEEP RIDING!!!

1 ST Leader Led Club Ride

My bicycle club, Central Jersey Bike Club, has been going through a transition. New leadership, new innovative thinking to help increase membership but most importantly getting people excited about cycling. They sponsor 3 great events. The Farmlands Flat, Hillier than Thou and The Longest Day, a 200+ mile ride from the northern tip of NJ to the southern tip. They have a new on line news letter and have added their own forum for discussions. One of my favorite new creations is the addition of AD-HOC Rides. Instead of having to commit to leading rides 1-2 months in advance you can now add a ride in 1-2 days. Not wanting to ride alone today, I posted a ride the last minute yesterday. I got a couple of responses and we had a great 37 miler ride. This was not only my 1st leader led ride for 2011 but also for many years. CJBC is reinventing themselves and I hope to play a part.

Rocket Update

After all the recent rain and flooding, I thought it best to take the Rocket for today's ride. To my surprise things dried up pretty well around here. There were just a few puddles and not the soggy soaked streets I expected. I am still experimenting with the Rocket. I find I do not use the 62 massive chainring much. I seem to stay more on the middle 52t ring and occasionally on steep climbs drop down to the small 42t ring. Rans actually took a double crankset and added spacers and a third chainring. I am thinking of moving the 52 ring to the outside and replacing the 42t with a 38t in the middle and returning it to a double. I believe the derailer will handle it and it will give me all the gears I need. I am really no faster on the Rocket than my Trike. I guess my initial speed increase was a result of my excitement of my new bike. The Rocket does offer height and portability which comes in handy at times. The seat height is a bit high for those vertically challenged and I find myself on my tippy toes at stops. Changing out the the seat to a Euromesh would greatly help, but it is not as much to my liking as the original Rans seat. It's a fun bike to play around with and has great potential. It will be interesting to see how and if it evolves.
KEEP RIDING!!!

Happy Belated Birthday

For the past 9 years, I have been riding my age around my birthday. Being born in January makes this challenging in the northeast. Unfortunately, this January was covered in snow making it unsafe to ride. I always say, I will have to go to Florida next year to accomplish my goal. This year I opted to do BikeFlorida, a week long cycling tour at the end of this month instead. I bowed to the weather and let go of my birthday mileage goal. Today, 2 months later, I decided to go for it. The weather was not as expected. When I left for the ride, the sun went in, the winds intensified, and the temperatures dropped. Seemed like a typical January ride to me. With 15+ mph headwinds on the second half of the ride, I managed to make my 59 mile goal.
Happy Belated Birthday
KEEP RIDING!!!

Back From Vacation

I just returned from a much needed vacation in the warm sunny Caribbean. 7 days of beautiful sunshine was a special delight after all our snow even without cycling. Yesterday it rained making it a non cycling day. Today was in the 40's with gusting winds over 20 mph. I managed to run a few errands by bike and got in 10 miles. More of a delight was playing with my grandson and pulling him along in my trailer. Picture and sound quality are from my phone. I will have to get these bent legs back in shape as I am heading to BikeFL at the end of the month.

KEEP RIDING!!!