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Cutting It Short

12.07.2014 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

With the end of the semester rapidly approaching, I’m spending more time at the university, putting out fires that flare up regularly as students realize they haven’t done enough to get that A they so covet. And with standard time bringing about darkness earlier than before, I’m not getting in a lot of riding at the moment. So when the weekend comes, I’m ready to saddle up and hit the road.

But this past weekend didn’t pan out the way I expected. On Saturday, I set out to do about 25 miles, just on roads in my immediate area. It’s easy to rack up the miles without straying too far from home, and that would keep me close to get back for the Christmas shopping my wife had planned for the afternoon.

But as I set out Saturday morning, I had a vague sense of unease — that something wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it right away, and I headed for the part of my route that would take me farthest from the house.

And then I realized what it was. I had an inordinate amount of flatulence. So much so, that I finally decided to pack it in. I headed back to the house, and attended to the problem. Then I tried to figure out what I had been eating that brought this situation on. Never did figure it out — my diet over the last two days wasn’t really any different than it normally is. Oh, well. Sixteen miles still isn’t that bad — at least I got in an hour’s worth of pedaling. It would get better Sunday, right?

Sunday’s weather was similar to Saturdays: chilly and overcast, but with a dampness in the air that led me to add leg warmers to my wardrobe. There wasn’t much in the way of wind, so that was a plus. The bike seemed to be rolling all right — a little snik-snik-snik noise coming from the wheel, but that wasn’t anything important.

I climbed the nice hill on Blazyk Drive, and hit 32 mph roaring back down. Then, I clattered over the chip seal on nearby Zyle Road for a few miles. Out along State Highway 45, the newly-resurfaced shoulder made for a fast section. On the return leg, I turned into a nice residential neighborhood to take advantage of a smooth asphalt loop where the houses haven’t been built yet.

But the snik-snik-snik was getting louder, and when I glanced down at my rear wheel, my heart sank. It was out of true, and wobbling noticeably. I pulled over to the curb, got off the bike, and spun the wheel. Sure enough, it was still clearing the brake pads, but it wasn’t good. I put my spread fingers across the spokes, and immediately found a broken one. On further checking, it was the only broken spoke on the wheel, so I thought I could get the bike home if I went directly, and didn’t continue on my planned route.

The homeward-bound trip was made without incident, although I pedaled more slowly than I normally would. Instead of 30 miles plus, that I had planned for the morning, I wound up with 19. Again, not a bad ride, but that was two weekend rides in a row I had to cut short. I need to make up for lost time on the bike, especially in view of my total mileage in November that came in at less than 200.

The bike will spend some time at the mechanic’s this week, and I’ll have it overhauled in addition to the work on the wheel. By the time the really cold weather gets here, I should be ready to roll. I just hope the rain will hold off.

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Categories // Maintenance Tags // spokes, wheels

Tone Deaf

06.26.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

A few days ago, I posted about a ride I took that tired me out much quicker than it should have. I thought it was because I had had too little sleep the night before. Wrong-o.

The next morning, as I rolled the bike out of the garage to put it in my car for a trip to the bike shop, I noticed the rear wheel was binding a bit. At one point in its rotation, a definite drag could be felt. I examined the brake, and saw that the right side of the rear brake rubbed the wheel at that spot. Ah ha! With that drag on the wheel, it was no wonder I was tired trying to keep up.

Later, I rolled the bike into the bike shop. “I need a new chain,” I told one of the mechanics. “And this brake is binding a little.”

“Let me see that,” said the owner of the shop, as he came out from behind the service counter. He took the bike and put it up on a stand.

“Yep, you’ve got a broken spoke,” he said.

“What?” I exclaimed. I went back to the service area.

“Yeah, here, and here — and here’s a third one,” he said. “That caused the brake problem.”

I told him about the ride.

“Well, one spoke breaks, and that puts extra tension on the others, and they can fail, too,” he said.

I told him I’d pick the bike up later in the week.

“Want me to give the drive train a good cleaning, too?” he asked. “This bike has been…uh…well used.”

Thanks. I told him to go ahead, and stewed in my car the rest of the way home. Thinking back to the ride, I remembered one spot in particular. We had slowed to look at some birds along the road, when I heard an odd sound — like a ping — come from the rear wheel. I thought it was odd, and it was a sound I’d never heard before. But I didn’t think anything of it, and we resumed our ride.

Trouble was, at that point we were still about 15 miles from home. And we still had some rollers to ride, as well as two good-sized hills.

Despite my tiredness, I managed to keep up most of the way home, until the last mile when Maggie pulled well ahead of me. I must really be tired, I thought.

Stupid me. That ping I heard was the first spoke letting go. I didn’t do anything about it, because I wasn’t curious enough to check on where such an odd sound could come from in the bike. I wonder how many spokes had broken by the time we took our rest stop with eight miles to go. I wonder how long it would have taken for the whole wheel to collapse.

Oh, and I have to give my bike a good cleaning, too.

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Categories // Maintenance Tags // spokes, wheels

My New Wheel

08.04.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.

It took longer than I was hoping for, but I got my new wheel last Tuesday, and have had a chance to ride it several times since then. I must say I’m very pleased.

My choice was a Mavic Open Sport. Now, this wheel has been around for awhile. It’s one of Mavic’s “Open” series of wheels, with the Open Pro probably the better-known one among cyclists. The Open Sport, like the Open Pro, is a box styled rim — old school, a lot of cyclists would say, in this day of carbon fiber and deep dish wheels. But I made the choice for several reasons.

First, I was fed up with the long wait for the wheel I had originally ordered, a Mavic Aksium. Second, since I was making the purchase from a Performance gift card, I felt obligated to buy from Performance, so I was limited to what they had in stock. Third, the Open Sport has some features I like: 32 spokes, which gives me confidence that the wheel will hold up under my Clydesdale body type, and a low profile, which makes it somewhat easier to mount tires. Finally, it’s a popular rim with a good reputation.

One side benefit was that it was less expensive than the Aksium, so I’ve got some more money on the gift card for future purchases, if I want.

So, how is it?

Smooth. I mentioned in the last post that my bike is utterly silent now. In fact, on our Sunday club ride, several members mentioned in passing that they weren’t hearing any odd noises coming from the bike. When other cyclists comment on your noisy bike, you know you’ve got problems.

We headed out on a round trip to Creedmoor, about a 35-mile jaunt. The day was warm and very humid. I set the pace from time to time, and felt (imagined?) that there was less drag on the rear wheel. When we reached our turnaround point, I had averaged 15.1 mph for the16-miles. Not bad.

Two weeks ago, on that same trip, I had been left far behind by my co-riders. I thought it might have been because I had ridden hard the day before, but now I’m not so sure. I rode hard yesterday, too, but felt that I could keep up with other B-level riders today. I think that lack of drag may have something to do with how I felt.

On the other hand, just as a clean car always run better, my new wheel and cassette could also have teamed up to make my bike run better (or is it all in my head?).

As it stands now, I have mismatched wheels on my bike, since I only bought the rear. My front is fine. But it’s one of those deep dish wheels, and looks a little odd paired with the old school rim. That’s okay. I’ve ridden mismatched wheels before, and I can’t see replacing a perfectly good wheel just so my bike is cosmetically sound.

Things are back to normal now in Bike Noob land.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // wheels

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