Walk or wait. . . What to do?

[bcipam]

Bikeless:

Good job really. Hill climbing and proper gearing is an art form. You really need to know your bike and you also have to be prepared and think ahead. Many a time I wasn't paying attention and I got caught short on a steep hill. Couldn't gear down with fear of dropping or sucking up the chain so I had to gut it out. No fun. If you are paying attention and the hill looks steep, drop down to granny (if you know you're going there anyway) and then gear back up if needed. That way, no chain droppage.

I remember on a particularly difficult century I was grinding slowly but steadily up a very steep road. Towards the top, it got very steep (probably around 10 -11%). I came up on this guy, with only a double, probably a 11-23, who attempted to swift down and dropped his chain. I yell "... DROPPED YOUR CHAIN!!!" Too late! Over he went. I would have stopped to help out but I was so close to the top and didn't want to lose my momentum. I made the top, turned around to see him getting back on the bike. Whew! 'cause I didn't want to go back downhill to help him out! Once was enough!

[Duck on Wheels]

I think I also need to adjust the gear wire. I noticed the chain was whirring and clicking back and forth between gears much of the time. I'll definitely get that checked before the Cindy.

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later

[Duck on Wheels]

bikeless in WI "I think I also need to adjust the gear wire."

yes, I'll take the bike to Chris and get the "gear wires" aka cables checked and more important, you're getting slicks.

You will thank me later

OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. Oh well. I'll keep looking. Meanwhile ... howdya like my new avatar?

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI "OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. Oh well. I'll keep looking."

a rule of thumb is "don't make major changes to the bike before a big ride" although I certainly violated that by getting my bike less than a month before ALC 3.

But I'm not sure we want to look for a whole new bike at this point. Also Craigs list? Not always the best place for bikes mostly because it takes effort to not only find the right bike (which is never easy to do) but avoid the bad karma of buying a "hot" bike.

How tall are you? 5'9-5'10? Stay tuned.

Looooove new avatar.

[Duck on Wheels]

bikeless in WI "OK. Thought I'd found a road bike on Craigslist that I could use here after. But it was already sold. Oh well. I'll keep looking."

a rule of thumb is "don't make major changes to the bike before a big ride" although I certainly violated that by getting my bike less than a month before ALC 3.

But I'm not sure we want to look for a whole new bike at this point. Also Craigs list? Not always the best place for bikes mostly because it takes effort to not only find the right bike (which is never easy to do) but avoid the bad karma of buying a "hot" bike.

How tall are you? 5'9-5'10? Stay tuned.

Looooove new avatar.

Well, thing is, either I have to take the bike back home with me as checked luggage Mar 26 (costs $80 and involves finding a box and packing it) or rent another bike here for May & June (costs about $150-200 and is likely to be another knobby-tired "urban jeep" type bike) or ... what? I can sell the one that's in Sonoma now, either here or there, or leave it at Mom's for recreational use on later visits. It's got good gears and fits nice, but I prob'ly won't ship it home come July. I already have a bike back home that's just as good. With slightly narrower tires. And a full diamond frame. So better. But if I come across a road or touring model for 100 or so then that would do for my last 2 months here, including a ride or two. Right? Then the Giant could stay at Mom's for training on later visits.

'Course, they do rent out old clunker road models here for I think $30 a year at Budget Bike. I could sign up for one'a those. I've seen 'em around. You can imagine. But I guess they roll. People use 'em. But yeah, I'm 5'9". The bike you've seen has a 19" frame, the one back home has a 20". I was looking for 19" when I bought it, but they said try it out anyway and it fit pretty well. So, thereabouts.

As for the avatar. Shall I stay with the Munch original version or switch to the Warhol version? I've finally got that one formatted so it should work. Colors are sharper. As a graphic artist, whaddaya think?

[Trek420]

Munch original version gets my vote