All Skewed Up

After 25 years I still love my Feather bike. The titanium frame is still comfortable to ride. It shifts well corners better than any bike I have ever ridden. I don't have any plans of replacing it anytime soon. The only complaint I have with the bike is the rear dropouts.

 

They face forward. Not sure why they designed it this way but if I put too much torque on the rear wheel by stamping hard on the pedals in a high gear then some times the rear wheel get pulled out of the dropouts and jams against the frame. Usually this only happens after I change the rear wheel. Because this is a polished titanium frame the drop outs are very smooth so the quick release skewers don't have a lot to grip on. Eventually after a few rides enough dirt builds on on the dropout and I don't have a problem with the rear wheel pulling out. (I have tried using rubber washers or some other material between the skewers and the frame to improve grip but nothing seems to help)

After this past Wednesday ride I had a flat tire on the rear wheel so had to change it out. I then knew on Saturdays ride that the rear wheel would probably pull out a few times before I could get it locked in. About a mile into the ride while going up the hill out of Allentown the rear wheel pull out. I went to tight the skewer after I put the wheel back in place but when I did the cam on the skewer broke. Luckily Neil was with us who carries more spare bike parts than small a bike shop(okay that's a bit of an exaggeration but not by much). The one part he doesn't carry any more is a spare skewer.

I sent the group on with Jim as the lead and slowly made my way back to my car. I was going to put the bike back in the car and head home but I realized that I had plenty of spare skewers in my car. Since my bike rack holds the bike in by the front fork I actually have a few skewers in the rack and even a few more in the car in case the bikes I need to carry have different fork sizes. I even have skewers for thru axle bikes now.

It took me a few minutes to find one that worked and test it out by riding around the parking lot. Eric was in the parking lot doing a ride with another group. I consider going with him but then decided that I could probably take a more direct route to the planned rest stop (Emery's) and meet my group there. 

I headed straight to New Egypt and then on to Cookstown where I join the original route and got to Emery's about 5 minutes before they did. I haven't been to Emery's in a while. They have good muffins and cookies so it's not a bad stop. I think my only complaint is that there is no where to sit. 

Because I missed the first part of the ride with the group I missed the required bridge out. It turns out I don't need to actually lead a ride for there to be a bridge out I just need to plan it. I actually knew the bridge was out because Neil told me the road was closed but as people who ride with me know I don't let a road closed stop me unless it is unsafe. The truth is the crew working on a closed road or bridge out usually needs a way to get along the road or bridge so although a road is closed for car traffic it is usually passable for a bike. 

At the end of the ride I put in a known dirt road. It was only a small stretch and may have surprised the one non regular rider on my ride but it checked off the requirements of a Tom ride.

I fished with about 8 less miles with the group but the replacement skewer held for the entire ride. It's got a different cam design which seems to give it more grip. It was a good temporary fix but I need to get a better one that fits the titanium frame better. If I'm lucky I might be able to find one that looks good and has better grip so it will fix the one main flaw with the Feather.

CLOSED

I am the king of closed roads. On almost every ride I lead there is usually a closed road or bridge out. Usually this isn't a problem as we find a way around or through the closed road. I don't know if this has anything to do with me or just the fact that most of my rides are in New Jersey and there is always a lot of construction going on on the roads. 

On Wednesday I ran into two road closed in the first mile of my ride and I wasn't even out of my neighborhood. I couldn't get by either closure so had to add a couple miles to my ride which I didn't mind as it was perfect weather for a ride.

On Saturday I listed a ride out of MCP to Blawenburg. I only have a few people on the ride as half the posse is away on an epic journey in Nova Scotia on the Cabot Trail. 

Although it was cloudy and a bit humid it was in the 70s so not a bad day to do a mildly hilly ride. The roads were pretty empty as we made our way to and across Rt1. On the way out of Rocky Hill I saw a white blob pass in front of my face and down between my legs. I wasn't sure what it was until I looked at my bag on my top tube and saw a white spot and realized it must have been bird shit. I guess I'm lucky it hit the bag and not me. 

The rest stop for the ride was the Blawenburg Bistro. Although the website said they were open on Saturday there was a sign indicating that they were on vacation. Luckily we all had food with us and didn't need water so we ate what we had and then continued the ride. 

During the last 10 miles there were a few sprites of rain but nothing hard or continuous so it wasn't a problem. 

Closed roads, rest stops and other obstacles are always a possibilities on bike rides but these are things we just need roll with and enjoy the ride.

Pushing it to the Limit

I think I broke a few members of the posse with my Saturday ride. It has been unusually hot and humid this summer making it hard to do some of the longer and hillier rides I normally do. Last weekend was the exception as it was just cool enough to do a 60 mile ride. This weekend the heat humidity and possibility of rain came back. I could have done a short flat ride but I'm tired of giving into the weather and felt good enough to push myself. It probably wasn't the best idea to do a moderately hilly ride in extreme humidity and almost 90 degree temperatures but I got most of the insane posse to join me because well, they're insane.

We did this route which is not the hardest route I do and under normal conditions it might have been a pleasant ride. As long as we were moving I felt okay but when we stopped for a moment you could feel how hot and humid it really was. My main concern when the ride started was whether we would get back before the predicted rain. However the expected clouds did not appear and it was actually mostly sunny so that made if feel even hotter. 

As we made it up and over the Sourlands I could feel the heat and hills wearing on me but was able to push through it. We stopped at Luminary in Lambertville for a welcome break. After that we have to climb up out of New Hope. Even though garmin didn't think going 300+ feet in a few miles was a climb I can tell you my legs felt it. There were a couple of more hills garmin didn't think were there on the way back. And the increasing temperature made it hard to breath but luckily we were headed downhill and finished the ride along the river. Some of the posse took off once we got to the flats but I slowed it down as I didn't feel the need to push it. 

Even through some of us are getting old and have some issues we all made it back which should be celebrated because this is not a ride most people could do. Of course none of us felt great at the end of the ride. Some felt worst than others and wished they had passed on the ride but again they are the insane posse so we do things that are hard then complain about it. I was amazed that I did not cramp in this heat with all the hills we did. I definitely didn't have anything left at the end of the ride but was happy I was able to do it. Now that we are in August I hope the weather will soon turn a little cooler and less humid so each ride I do doesn't feel like a death march into hell.