August 19 Ride Reports

[Susan Otcenas]

(note: armadillo tire users - be sure to read the last paragraph!)
_____

So, the Vine Ride http://www.vineride.com/ is going great. Pleasant morning temps,
plenty of food at rest stops, fabulous company (Don, Lynne, co-workers Molly &
Renata from TE, along with their better halves) and we're cruising
right along on the tandem. Jeff & I are feeling pretty good,
especially given our relatively low mileage season.

Renata & her partner Jeff had been having fun sprinting for the city &
county limit signs. Coming into Amity @ mile 51, the approach to the
city limit sign is on a slight downhill grade (an advantage for the
tandem), so I say to my Jeff, "let's go for it, we can take 'em on this
one". And we proceed to stomp on it on the approach to the sign.

This is where things went very wrong....

Our synch chain (the left/front chain that tethers the captain & stoker
together) snapped in the middle of our sprint. It took me a moment to
realize what had happened (since I still had plenty of resistance on my
pedals), but Jeff was instantly free spinning and knew we had a
problem. We coasted to the right and Renata rode back to recover our
chain.

The chain, of course, was not long enough to simply reconnect, as we'd
lost a link and rivet. After some discussion, we decided to break the
drive chain, scavenge two links, and use them to repair the synch
chain. (The alternate was for the stoker to propel the bike the 8
miles back to Perrydale, with Jeff & I taking turns stoking.) Renata &
Jeff stayed back to help, while Lynne & Don soldiered on towards the
next rest stop. Jeff & Jeff did most of the work, then we urged Renata
& Jeff to go on ahead. There was again some discussion as to whether
or not we should go back the 8 flat miles to the Perrydale rest stop
for 2 new chains (since now both were weak), or forge on ahead with the
800ft climb (aka the Amity Hill Horror) between us and the next stop in
Dayton. Also factoring into this decision was our discovery that our
rear tire was dangerously bald. Jeff & I decided to keep going,
figuring that we'd rather get closer to the end than farther away.

We cruised through Amity, then approached the big hill. The drive
chain was skipping a bit, and we made a few derailleur adjustments.
Down in the small chain ring... fingers crossed... and SNAP!! The
drive chain broke at the point we'd removed the links.

So, we started walking. The new plan was to walk to the top, coast to
the bottom of the other side, then find another shady spot to repair
the drive chain again. After about 15-20 minutes of walking, I flagged
down a pickup truck and asked the driver to take us to the top. I felt
bad as we passed a half dozen or so riders sweating it out in the sun,
but I sure was happy to not be walking any longer. Cycling shoes are
not meant for long-distance walking!

At the top, we kick-biked along the flat bits until we got some
momentum, then we coasted down the other side very slowly (fearing
blowing out our bald back tire), dismounting once mid-descent for a
smallish bump that we lacked eough momentum to coast over, and once
more to cool the rims, which were dangerously hot from all the braking
we had to do.

Once back down to Lafayette Highway, we again repaired the drive
chain. With 4 links now missing, we had no big chain ring, and were
afraid to shift too far up or down the cassette fearing that it would
skip off in one direction or the other. So, we had about 4 gears for
the 8 miles between there and Dayton. I called Renata & Lynne, who
alerted the mechanic in Dayton that we would be limping in, needing his
assistance.

When we got there, we found the place nearly deserted, but the mechanic
had stayed. There we discovered that the synch chain was on the verge
of snapping again, as only one side of the rivet was holding the whole
thing together at that point. Turns out the synch chain is a 7 speed,
the drive chain in a 9, and the mechanic was rather impressed we'd
managed to get the 9 speed links to even work with the 7 speed chain.
Ignorance is bliss, I guess, because it didn't even occur to us not to
try! He replaced our drive chain, repaired the synch chain, and
installed a new back tire.

After all that fussing, it was 2:30 and we were only at mile 68! It
was nice to get back on the road with a reasonably functioning bike,
and we managed to finish the rest of the 100 mile ride uneventfully.

Lessons learned:
1) Carry a few extras links. Tandems put a lot of torque on chains,
and it would suck to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no support,
especially in bad weather.

2) Do a better job looking over the bike pre-ride (meaning one or two
days before, not an hour before). We should NOT have been out on that
back tire. NOTE TO ARMADILLO TIRE USERS: What happened to this tire
was that the rubber delaminated from the casing. According to the
mechanic, that is a pretty common problem on the armadillos, and often
happens before the tire looks very worn. He said that a sure sign is
that you can hear a shooshing or whispering sound from the tire. I can
totally confirm this, as I started hearing this sound on our previous
ride on the tandem, and spent some time, unsuccessfully, trying to
figure out what was causing it (I suspected the tire was slightly
rubbing on the fender, but now I know better!) As soon as it delams,
it will wear very fast.

3) Sure was glad I had my cell phone with me.

Susan

[alpinerabbit]

After 3 weeks of rainy weather, we rode the 45 mile course that my SO will ride October 1st as a "race".

we got on alright, I notice I have improved from 18 kph a year ago when I started this cycling thing to 22 kph; I gave it all I could; I felt ok, however, I was DEAD an hour after coming home. That's what not training for 3 weeks does to you.

Boyfriend ran 20 k for the first time in his life today, so it did not kill him as much as it did me.

Overall it felt wonderful to be out again after the rainy spell. That round is really nice because it is mostly no significant traffic.

I also caught a tick during the biobreak. I had already scratched off the back part during the night, but the head needed minor surgery to pry out. Will be watching for erythema chronicum migrans (bull's eye rash) in case it had borrelia. Those space-alien like critters freak me out.