Thank You Mount Holly Bicycles

Every bicycle ride is an adventure and some more so than others. This past Saturday I headed to the pinelands with Herb and Mike M for a long but flat ride. I have been doing a lot of hills lately and wanted to do something flat to work on endurance.

For the most part I do my own maintenance on my bike and try to detect problems before they occur. During my normal quick check of my bike before loading it in the car I saw that the sidewall of my front tire had a small bubble in it. It might have been fine for the 60 mile ride that I had planned but I grabbed my spare tire and threw it in the car. When I got to Bordentown where the ride started I quickly changed the tire and we all went on our way.

Everything was going great until about 15 miles into the ride. I went to start pedaling after stopping for a light and the TOP of my speedplay pedal fell on the ground. Speedplay pedals are the ones that look like lollipops The bottom of the pedal was no where to be found and neither were the two screws that held it together. About a half mile before the light I remember hearing something bounce off my bike. I thought it was just a rock but it must have been the bottom of the pedal.

Mike and I go back and find the bottom half, the metal plate the cleat clicks into and 1 screw. We can't put the pedal back together because we are missing the other metal plate for the top of the pedal and the other screw. Although I have lost a pedal I still have a spindle so I can ride but not real fast and I don't want to ride that way for too long.

At this point we have two choices. We can find a way to fix the pedal or we head slowly back to the start. Mike pulls out his Blackberry, hits the web and looks for a bike shop (Sometimes it pays to have a smart phone). He finds one about 4 miles away. So we head out pass Smithville then ride along Rt 38 to Mount Holly Bicycles.

When I walk in the door the shop owner ask what I need and I point to the pedal. He doesn't have any speedplay pedals or replacement parts but goes in the back to grab a few screws to see if he can jury rig something. I'm figuring worst case I have to buy a pair of SPDs. As I'm walking around the shop a metal plate pops off my shoe. It was the missing plate from my pedal and was stuck in my cleat. With the times I was off walking around looking for the other pieces of the pedal I'm amazed that it managed to stay there until I in the bike shop.

It was a lucky break because now with both pieces of the pedal, both metal plates, and one screw Steve at the bike shop was able to put the pedal back together. He found another screw that fit but was long and stuck out of the pedal on one side but this was OK. Now at least I had a working pedal with the only problem being I could only use one side of it. No big deal.

The guys at the bike shop were really nice and friendly, they didn't even want anything for the repair so all I could do was to thank them and head out back to the ride. The rest of the ride was uneventful. We had a good stop at Nixon's down in Tabernacle and then made our way back to Bordentown.

The incident reminds me that bike shops aren't like a lot of other business. Yes bike shop owners want to run a successful business and make money but most of them love biking and are very knowledgeable and helpful. That's why it is always a good idea to get to know your local bike shop and if you are in the Mount Holly area may I recommend Mount Holly Bicycles.

One other thing I would like to point out is that being able to use Mike's Blackberry to find a bike shop was a great thing and saved the day but what if you don't have a web enabled phone or are not in an area where you can get a web connection. Well the answer is GOOG-411. It's a service that allows you to call an 800 number and do a google search. All you have to do is call 1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411 and then you will be asked for the city, state and type of business. After that you will get a listing of the closest businesses of the type you want and be able to connect to them or have a text message sent to your phone with their address and phone number. The service is free and is a good number to have in your phone in case you loose a pedal and need to find the nearest bike shop.

Hill Training

For the past couple of weekends I have been working on hills and improving my climbing. Last weekend I did my Lambertville Cruise which has a couple of moderate climbs up the Sourlands. This weekend I headed to Frenchtown to do Michael's ride to Bloomsbury. When you head to Bloomsbury you have to expect at least one tough climb on the way in or out.

Michael took it easy on us and headed up the Delaware and took the easy way into Bloomsbury. There were a few climbs on the way there but nothing major. On the way out of Bloomsbury we had the big climb up Turkey Hill. This is a 500 foot climb over a couple of miles. There are no really steep parts but it is one of those hills that just doesn't want to end. At the top of the hill I actually felt pretty good so I guess the hills and intervals that I have been doing are paying off. I still want to improve a little for some of the rides I want to do in July but I am close to being in good hills shape.

The best part of climbing out of Bloomsbury is the down hill afterwards. After Turkey Hill we head down Sweet Hollow which is one of the best downhills in NJ. It is a 3 mile downhill that follows a winding stream through a rural forest. At the bottom of Sweet Hollow we headed back up the ridge above Frenchtown.

We were a little short of the planned 50 miles so Michael decided a to add another climb to the ride. We ended up going up Hickory Corner Rd which I hadn't been on before. It was 340 ft shallow climb that we grinded our way up. From there we made a couple right turns and headed back down hill on Woolf Rd. This was another road that I hadn't been on before but it will definitely be one that I will do again. It is a screamer downhill that lasts for a while and made the climb up Hickory Corner worth it.

About halfway the way down the hill a kamikaze squirrel ran under Laura's bike. It went under her back wheel but luckily she only ran over its tail so it was able scamper away into the woods.

By the time we got back to Frenchtown we only had 43 miles and although it was a hilly ride it was actually easier than the usually ride lead by Michael. Its was a nice route. I have posted the ridesheet here if you want to check it out. This was a nice way to continue to build up my climbing ability.