Friday, January 1, 2010

Great Night Ride


Wednesday night presented me with an opportunity to go out for a nice Winter night ride, so naturally I jumped on a bike and took off on my usual route. Conditions were perfect, about 25 degrees, fresh snow to the tune of about 2 inches, and a slight wind from the North/Northwest at about 10mph. Just enough to give me some boost on the way home, but not enough to really chill me on the way up.
I was also interested in testing out a couple of Goodwill apparel finds. I love Goodwill. It's so interesting to stroll through there and see what others have decided they don't need anymore. If you are patient, and a little creative, you can find some stuff that you will actually use. I snagged a pair of Thinsulate booties for a buck forty nine, and a Cabela's fleece lined, polyester shelled cap, for $.79! Still had the tags on both! The rest of my layering and outer shells always works pretty well, so these "new" elements needed a shakedown cruise. Both pieces worked out quite well. I rarely wear a helmet, so the hat was a great fit and is multi-adjustable for wind buffering capabilities. The booties were a little snug with thin socks on, so next ride I'll probably just go with the booties inside of my boots.
So, onward through the night, I rode the 10 miles up to my first turn, sat up to coast around the corner, and my rear wheel crunched and the cassette came loose from the freewheel body! Not Good Sauceman! Have you ever been 10 miles from home, in the middle of nowhere Iowa, in spitting snow, only one other person in the world knows where you are (and they were happy to get rid of you for a couple hours,) and your wheel craps the bed on you?! I stood there in disbelief for a few minutes, then thought of a way to MacGuyver the situation well enough to get back home. (No cell phone bailouts in my world:) I took a couple of zip ties out of my M.U.L.E. and a boot lace out of my left boot, and wrapped the lace around the outside of the cassette, between it and the drop out. A couple of zip ties to hold it in place. One more zip tie to close up the boot and I was moving again. I walked 2 hills just so as not to stretch my luck too thin, but rode all the way up to the point that seems to always hang me up when I really want to get back home, the UP main line crossing at the end of the Boone Yard!
Rolled home in a little over 2 hours and 15 minutes, thumbs up for the new riding wear, and a confidence boost for thinking and solving, without any panic ,for the mechanical issue. Gotta love it! Later! P.S. Northwestern just made the best comeback of any bowl game I've seen in the last several years!

5 comments:

Travel Gravel said...

Too bad they ended up losing.

MrDaveyGie said...

Good thinking on the repair. I ride up a valley trail so for the most part no cell phone service. Various mechanical malfunctions results in some interesting "repairs"
I just invested in a light system so now I can extend my riding hours.
Have good rides.
Dave

djdau@walnutel.net said...

Zip ties...don't leave home without 'em! The front bumper fascia and various other connected parts on my old Saturn wagon (now daughter owned) are completely held on by zip ties. I drove up onto a high curb several years ago and as I was pulling away I heard the sickening 'oh shit' scraping, tearing, crunching noise of breaking car components. I was greeted with the sight of plastic parts hanging off the front of the car. However, with a bit of elbow grease and about two dozen zip ties, all pieces were securely re-fastened to the car...years later, they're still there!

I believe the QBF also has several zip ties holding fenders, reflectors, etc..as well. Zip ties, gotta love 'em!

Still haven't taken the QBF and Nokians out yet...waiting for a tolerable +25 degree day (as opposed to -10!!)

Travel Gravel said...

Releasable zip ties, they have a little tongue on the head, are ideal. Zip ties made of duct tape, now there's an idea!

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