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Archives for December 2008

Bowling and biking don’t mix

12.13.2008 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Went to a Happy Hour with my wife last night — one of the groups she belongs to had a holiday get together at local bowling alley.

I haven’t bowled in more than 15 years, and didn’t intend to last night, but things happen, and the next thing I knew, I was wriggling into some rental bowling shoes and picking a nicked and gouged ball off the rack.

When I was a little kid, I bowled a lot. My grandparents were bowling fanatics, and Grampa taught me a five-step approach to the line. Those five steps are short, mincing little steps, and as a grownup, I feel like an idiot when I roll a ball that way, so I decided three long steps would be the way to go.

I picked the spot on the lane where I intended to roll the ball, and began my approach. Left, right, left — rightleft! That five-step move I had learned so long ago wouldn’t go away! The additional two steps automatically happened. I sailed the ball down the lane as I tried to catch my left foot from crossing the foul line. BRAAP! The foul alarm blared. The newfangled electronic scoring thingy flashed FOUL! in big red letters. And I grabbed my left hamstring.

Holy cripes, did it hurt. I pulled something back there. The combination of trying to check the two added steps plus rolling a 16-pound ball and trying to look graceful while doing it (Who am I kidding? I never look graceful at anything) put my leg in an awkward position and caused the muscle pull.

It was still sore this morning when I got up.  Mrs. Noob wanted to go for a ride, so after some chores around the house, we saddled up for a jaunt to the Veloway.  Not too bad, except for a stiff wind that almost knocked us off our bikes a time or two.

At the Veloway, I took off for some quick laps.  Pat held back, fighting the wind.  I could feel the hamstring, but besides a little soreness, it seemed okay.  No doubt the exercise was warming the muscle and making it feel better.

Pat decided to do only one lap, and I caught up to her after I finished two.  We headed home with the wind mostly at our backs this time.  I stretched and showered, and wow! does that hamstring hurt.

I’m walking around the house like an old man, kind of hobbling.  I know it’ll work itself out in another day or two, but I really can do without this kind of strain.  I think I’ll avoid bowling from here on out.

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // soreness

Joining a cycling club — virtually

12.11.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

The Internet has changed the way a lot of us work, and spend our free time, and it even changes the way we have to think.

Recently, I became a “virtual” member of a cycling club.

I had no idea how to cycle “virtually,” unless it was spinning in front of a Tour de France video. But it turns out that the president of a cycling club saw one of my posts that mentioned Bike Journal, the online ride logging site. He e-mailed me, and invited me to join the club. Now, this club is actually in my area. It’s centered about 10 miles from where I live. ccrcc1But I’m not really keen on driving to a bike ride, and that’s not something I’d care to do on a weekly basis. Besides, I’m already in a club — the Circle C Ranch Cycling Club (CCRCC) — right in my neighborhood, so when we have club rides, they start about a mile from my house. It’s an easy pedal over there. So I told him that while I appreciated the invite, I didn’t think I’d take him up on it.

That’s when he came up with the notion of the “virtual” membership. Bike Journal has a section for clubs to log their members’ combined miles, and if I joined his club, my miles could be added to the club’s total. That’s an additional 2,500 miles for them. All I had to do was log onto Bike Journal and add my name to his club. I mulled it over. There wouldn’t be a conflict of interest with CCRCC, since they don’t participate in Bike Journal’s club totals. Soooo…

ltcTa da! I’m now a virtual member of Lake Travis Cycling. They’re pushing for over 60,000 miles on Bike Journal this year. They’re almost there.

The beauty of it is, I still might be able to do some real — not virtual — rides with them. Some of their routes come east, near my part of town, and the club president said he’d let me know when they’ll be in the area. Heck, despite my earlier comment, I might even put my bike on the car and drive out there for a ride or two in the coming year.

Anybody else out there a “virtual” member of a cycling club? How about more than one “real” club? Why?

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Categories // clubs, Community Tags // clubs

Seating a balky tire

12.09.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

I’ve gotten pretty good at fixing flats, especially in light of the rash of them I’ve had lately.

The other day, I was itching to do a ride, but the tire had gone flat the day before, so I had to fix it before getting out. No problem. I found the puncture and marked it so I could patch the tube, I found the teeny tiny shard of glass in the tire tread that caused the flat (probably all of 1/16th inch long) and got that out. Put the new tube in the tire, mounted it on the rim, and started to pump ‘er up.

I’ve learned my lesson about checking to make sure the tire is seated correctly — that the tube isn’t pinched between the rim and the tire bead. After a few pumps of air, I pulled the tire off the pump to check it. Problem. The bead was not seated correctly near the valve.

I let out all the air and re-seated the tire. Pumped it a little again, and checked.

Hm. This is getting old.

tirebead1

That tire refused to seat itself. The tell-tale “witness line” doesn’t lie — I still had a problem.

Let the air out again, reseat the tire again. Pumped it up — slowly and with less air than before. Worked the sidewall with my fingers. This time, it looked like it might be okay. I pumped it up to about 2/3rds of my preferred pressure.

Yeah, the third time’s the charm. I put it on the bike and pumped it up the rest of the way. Raised the wheel off the ground and gave it a spin. Everything seemed copacetic. But there was only one way to find out.

I patched the punctured tube and put it in my seatbag, got on my cycling clothes, and headed out. The day was a great one for a ride, sunny, temps in the mid to upper 60s. Wind light from the north.

I survived a 20-mile trip on roads that seemed to have more broken glass than usual, with no mishaps. Another flat, another successful repair — but I’m not sure why the bead didn’t want to cooperate.

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Categories // Maintenance Tags // flat tire, tube

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