A Slip and A Loose Quick Release
I surpassed my August goal riding to Huffman today. As I turned onto Fairlake Drive from FM1960 my Garmin 510 showed 17.17 miles, enough to hit 845 miles. I now have a few more days to add to that total. The total miles for today was 32.64 at a 15.4 mph average speed. August miles now total 861.59. With 2 rides so far this week I have 65.45 miles. Year to date I biked 5074 miles.
The heat did not feel so intense today even though the ride began at 11:20 and finished at 2:04. It was 92 and 93 when I finished. The wind may have played a part in this coming from the NE at 15 mph with 18 mph gusts. When I rode into the wind I bogged down which accounts for the lower average speed. Partly cloudy skies shielded me from the sun some. Sun screen is still necessary. When I stopped at the Huffman Chevron it felt cooler sitting in the shade, almost fall like.
An unusual thing happened when I turned from Old Atascocita Road onto FM2100. I ran over the round metal blade from a screwdriver (the handle portion was gone) and my rear wheel slipped as I moved forward. I didn’t think too much about it until I got to FM2100 where I had to wait for a slow freight train to pass. Because of the traffic backup I turned right onto FM1960, went a couple of hundred yards and then made a u-turn to go west. The traffic light was red and when it changed I started pedaling but the rear wheel started rubbing the frame and I couldn’t go very fast. I slowly rode to the Chevron station and pulled up to one of the pumps. Reaching down to the rear tire it was loose in the dropouts. I checked the quick release and it was very loose. I tightened the quick release and everything was okay. My theory is the rear wheel slipping on the round metal some how caused the quick release to loosen. No problems riding home from there.
With the slow freight train passing through Huffman I figured the Tuesday Amtrak train to New Orleans would take a different route but at 1:11 I heard the distinctive whistle of the Amtrak engines and 6 or 7 cars passed while I was taking a break at the Chevron station.
Going west the wind was much more helpful. I kept a 20+ speed over Lake Houston which helped make some of the time I lost battling the wind earlier. I slowed some riding on Atascocita Shores Drive. That street is pretty rough and uneven for being concrete. It has been patched numerous times and the seams make for an uncomfortable ride if I forget to raise up from the saddle when I go over them.
After today’s ride the Stradalli RP-14 has been ridden 4039 miles. While I was biking I decided it was time to clean the chain and apply the WD40 Dry Chain Lube I bought at the HH100 expo. The Chain-L No. 5 is a good lubricant but it is very messy. It must have carbon black in or something. If I touch or get near the chain I get a black smudge and the frame has a number of black marks from the Chain-L too. I got home and pulled out the Simple Green cleaner knowing it would take some strong degreaser to get rid of the Chain-L. I want to test the WD40 chain lube before I replace the chain in the next few days. My usual lube is hot paraffin wax. Maybe the WD40 dry lube will be as good or better.
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