Kitsap State Park
Miles Today: 60
Miles Done: 167
Miles Left: 1660
Today was a rough day. As mentioned in the title, my bike did not do me proud today.
The day started out, after a cold night, as a cool overcast morning. I got up, ate, and packed. I headed down to the bath house to shower before I headed out. After I was done showering and was putting the final touches on my packing the troubles began. In the morning I am in the habit of giving my bike a once over, feeling for the tire pressure and assessing the truesness of the wheels. As I was doing this I noticed a flaw in my tire, a small hole in the sidewall where the tube was starting to squeeze through. I knew that as I rode the tube would squeeze out the small hole forming a boil of sorts until the tube rubbed against something or thinned to the point of popping. I pulled off my rear wheel and started to go to work. I carry a spare tire to replaced worn out ones and mounted that. Since the tire was new it had yet to streatch out and mounting was a pinful and slow experiance. I kept the tube as it was still holding air when I pulled it off before. Then I pumped it up and got it pressure. As I pulled off the pump from the valve I heard the tel-tale sound of escaping air but not from the pump. I pulled the tire off again and examined the tube. Normaly I can patch any sort of hole up to about a centimeter in size. However this hole as where the value joined the tube. There is no way to patch that as it not smooth and not all made of rubber. As a result I had to throw that tube out and put a spare on. However that was the last spare I had oweing to the fact that I had lost my other spare due to another failure near the valve. Also my spare was a tube I replaced earlier because it has a very slow leak, one that takes 2-3 hours to notice.
All assembled I finally hit the road but I was worried. I now had no spare tires or tubes. It was Sunday so if another vale failure occurred I would have to wait until I could find an open bikes shop. To compound this Monday is Labor Day meaning I might have to wait two days.
After these two valve failures in a short period I am starting to think my bike tubes didn't like the long storage durung last year. Normally I replace all my tubes every year or two from normal wear and tear. I guess I should replace them regardless of their wear.
I got started with my ride for the day. As I rode I noticed my crank was lose and so I stopped to tighten that up. In a short while I made it to a ferry crossing. The schedule had boats coming and going every 45 minutes or so. After I paid my fare I wandered off to a nearby restaurant. Sitting in the parking lot I found a open access point and just picked up my email when I saw the boat coming in. I hurried by to the dock and loaded my bike. Helpfully the boat had ropes to lash my bike to banister so the it wouldn't get thrown on the waves. At the end of the ride I arrived in Port Townsend, a perfect little tourist town. I checked the bike shop and found closed for the holiday as expected. I did find a store that sold small backpacks. These are one of those very light weight bags that pack down to nothing but can hold a few books once you unpack from it's small pouch. It will releive me from the annoyance of hauling a bike pannier with my laptop, cash, maps, etc every time I want to got into a shop.
I started out of Port Townsend in the clear warm day along the shore of the bay. Then an irritating click on my drive train started bugging me. I had heard it yesterday and I assumed it was something like a piece of gunck knocking things out of alignment and ignored it as it was in gears I wasn't using much. Now it was constant as it was in the gear I needed. I stopped just out of town and put my bike in the grass to investigate. After a couple minutes I discovered the cause, a bent tooth on a front chain ring. Chain ring is the name to gears attached to the right pedal of a bike. I had to partially disassemble my front drive train to permit my pliers access to the bent tooth. The metal they are made of is very brittle and so when I tried to correct the bend and it broke off I was not surprised. Fortunately a missing tooth of few won't cause any problems on bike. I put everything back together I was back on my way.
I have not written much about what I have looking at along the way. It was not my intention but like hikers who complain they only see the trail as a biker I have generally only seen the road. I do look up from time but rarely I have seen much remarkable. The terrain is mostly rural feilds with small towns and occasinially limited views of a bay.
The day ended with a crossing of the Hood Bridge, a narrow affair with no shoulders, only two lanes, and fast traffic. I lie, in some spots there was room for a bike but for a sizable section I had to walk along narrow curb while I walked my bike in the road. Fortunately I made it and about 45 minutes later I was hanging my hammock.
After finishing "All the President's Men" (thumbs up) I am now listening to a book called "Scourge" which is a book detailing the history of small-pox. It is mostly a historical account of the disese's impact on the world but that is more fascinating than I have ever imagined.
Miles Today: 60
Miles Done: 167
Miles Left: 1660
Today was a rough day. As mentioned in the title, my bike did not do me proud today.
The day started out, after a cold night, as a cool overcast morning. I got up, ate, and packed. I headed down to the bath house to shower before I headed out. After I was done showering and was putting the final touches on my packing the troubles began. In the morning I am in the habit of giving my bike a once over, feeling for the tire pressure and assessing the truesness of the wheels. As I was doing this I noticed a flaw in my tire, a small hole in the sidewall where the tube was starting to squeeze through. I knew that as I rode the tube would squeeze out the small hole forming a boil of sorts until the tube rubbed against something or thinned to the point of popping. I pulled off my rear wheel and started to go to work. I carry a spare tire to replaced worn out ones and mounted that. Since the tire was new it had yet to streatch out and mounting was a pinful and slow experiance. I kept the tube as it was still holding air when I pulled it off before. Then I pumped it up and got it pressure. As I pulled off the pump from the valve I heard the tel-tale sound of escaping air but not from the pump. I pulled the tire off again and examined the tube. Normaly I can patch any sort of hole up to about a centimeter in size. However this hole as where the value joined the tube. There is no way to patch that as it not smooth and not all made of rubber. As a result I had to throw that tube out and put a spare on. However that was the last spare I had oweing to the fact that I had lost my other spare due to another failure near the valve. Also my spare was a tube I replaced earlier because it has a very slow leak, one that takes 2-3 hours to notice.
All assembled I finally hit the road but I was worried. I now had no spare tires or tubes. It was Sunday so if another vale failure occurred I would have to wait until I could find an open bikes shop. To compound this Monday is Labor Day meaning I might have to wait two days.
After these two valve failures in a short period I am starting to think my bike tubes didn't like the long storage durung last year. Normally I replace all my tubes every year or two from normal wear and tear. I guess I should replace them regardless of their wear.
I got started with my ride for the day. As I rode I noticed my crank was lose and so I stopped to tighten that up. In a short while I made it to a ferry crossing. The schedule had boats coming and going every 45 minutes or so. After I paid my fare I wandered off to a nearby restaurant. Sitting in the parking lot I found a open access point and just picked up my email when I saw the boat coming in. I hurried by to the dock and loaded my bike. Helpfully the boat had ropes to lash my bike to banister so the it wouldn't get thrown on the waves. At the end of the ride I arrived in Port Townsend, a perfect little tourist town. I checked the bike shop and found closed for the holiday as expected. I did find a store that sold small backpacks. These are one of those very light weight bags that pack down to nothing but can hold a few books once you unpack from it's small pouch. It will releive me from the annoyance of hauling a bike pannier with my laptop, cash, maps, etc every time I want to got into a shop.
I started out of Port Townsend in the clear warm day along the shore of the bay. Then an irritating click on my drive train started bugging me. I had heard it yesterday and I assumed it was something like a piece of gunck knocking things out of alignment and ignored it as it was in gears I wasn't using much. Now it was constant as it was in the gear I needed. I stopped just out of town and put my bike in the grass to investigate. After a couple minutes I discovered the cause, a bent tooth on a front chain ring. Chain ring is the name to gears attached to the right pedal of a bike. I had to partially disassemble my front drive train to permit my pliers access to the bent tooth. The metal they are made of is very brittle and so when I tried to correct the bend and it broke off I was not surprised. Fortunately a missing tooth of few won't cause any problems on bike. I put everything back together I was back on my way.
I have not written much about what I have looking at along the way. It was not my intention but like hikers who complain they only see the trail as a biker I have generally only seen the road. I do look up from time but rarely I have seen much remarkable. The terrain is mostly rural feilds with small towns and occasinially limited views of a bay.
The day ended with a crossing of the Hood Bridge, a narrow affair with no shoulders, only two lanes, and fast traffic. I lie, in some spots there was room for a bike but for a sizable section I had to walk along narrow curb while I walked my bike in the road. Fortunately I made it and about 45 minutes later I was hanging my hammock.
After finishing "All the President's Men" (thumbs up) I am now listening to a book called "Scourge" which is a book detailing the history of small-pox. It is mostly a historical account of the disese's impact on the world but that is more fascinating than I have ever imagined.
No comments:
Post a Comment