Almost Everything Broke – February 26th Bike Ride
After two days not biking because of cool weather today I got back on the mountain bike. Well, almost. I went out to the garage to get the mountain bike and walking to the door I noticed the rear tire sounded flat. It was. I turned the tire around to spot the problem and this piece of wire stuck out of the tire near a nub of tread. If the wire moved 1/8″ it would have been in the nub and not in the low spot and into the tube. So I removed the wheel and set it down. Going into the garage I got a folding lawn chair (one of those that comes in a bag) and opened it up to work on the tire. As I sat down I noticed one corner of the chair did not look right, the pin broke and the corner sagged but I could sit in it. Next I started to remove the tire from the rim but it would not budge so I went for some tire tools instead of the QuickStik. Finally I got the tire loose from the rim (this is the first flat on my Motobecane 700HT MTB). Getting the patch kit out of the seat bag I found the glue tube hard as a rock. Back to my road bike for another patch kit and a new tube of glue. I patched the tire, put it back on the rim and aired it up. I noticed the rim and spokes were dirty from my recent chain lube application so I got a rag and started wiping the rim and spokes off. After a few spokes I came upon one that moved way too much. So I went to my tool box for the spoke wrenches. Tightening the spoke put everything back the way it should be. Finally I could start the ride.
Overcast sky, 67 degrees and 13 mph southeast wind were the fare for today’s ride. Trying to alter my trail route some I chose a different starting route and then moved to the usual trails. It has been several days since we got rain but places on the trails still are under water. Other places the water receded leaving a lot of mud. My aversion to mud slowed my speed to a crawl which probably accounts for the rather low average speed of 11.2 mph. The route ended up at 13.47 miles. Max speed of 17.8 mph and average cadence of 76.2 RPM. Overall this week I rode 121.68 miles, over five days. February miles stand at 306.55 and YTD totals 573.80 miles. February total biking time: 22:08:28.
Tomorrow’s weather looks biking friendly.
2-26-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map
2-26-2012 Home Weather Station End