Shake-down Ride #5 & Last

Photos
Left: My bike all dressed up for its journey into the unknown. Taken where the Hop River Trail is supposed to cross Route 316 and the junction of Route 6 in Andover, CT. Maybe the bridge will be in place in my lifetime. Ha! Don’t count on it.

Right: Hornets’ nest just three feet off the ground. I’ve never seen one that low. It was active.

Load 'em up
I loaded my bike, again, with what I would be taking on the Erie Canal ride. Still carrying 21 lbs. It seems that when I took some things out, I realized I had forgotten other things the first time so it evened out and remains 21 lbs. I decided to ride the Hop River Rail Trail from Vernon to Andover because it’s compact dirt covered with stone dust…just like the Erie Canal Pathway. One big difference, however, Hop River has long, 4 mile, up-grades. The grade is only about 1%, but after a couple miles you feel like it’s more than that. The EC Pathway is flat. The highest elevation is listed at 400 ft., but I don’t know where that is. I’m guessing one of the stretches on-road.

Move 'em out
I was surprised that riding fully loaded was no more difficult than riding with no load. I’ve ridden this trail many times (with no load) so I would have noticed any difference.

It was a beautiful day for a ride
There were a lot of people out on the trail biking, walking, running. I met a couple at the Fish Reclamation area near Bolton Notch. They were fun to talk to. Already I’ve forgotten their names, but they will email me later in September to get the web address of my Erie Canal Adventure on-line journal.

As I was taking pictures of the hornets’ nest, I stopped a fellow rider to show it to him. He told me bears had been sighted several times in that area (not too far north of Bolton Notch). Wow. I told him I hoped I could out run one on my bike…after getting a picture of course.

Smooth surface
I could not help but notice that the surface of the trail was not marred by the washboard effect of horses’ hoofs. That is one of my big pet peeves! However, today I notice a few hoof prints but they were off to the side of the trail (where they should be) and not all over the middle where bicycles travel. The indentations made by the horses make the surface feel like a washboard when they are all over the place. I should mention, too, that the only “piles” left by horses was in the tunnel, which made them hard to see, but at least they were not all over the trail as I have seen in the past.

All in all, I was very happy with today’s ride.

Shake-down Ride #4

Photos
Cool woods on a warm summer day.

Getting ready to go
OK. Everything I need for our nine-day ride is in two panniers. Because I have cut down on the numbers of certain items, I will have to rinse some things out at night. Which begs the question: how will everything dry? I have my clothesline but may have to leave the clothespins at home. If things don’t dry overnight, what will I do with damp clothing while I ride? If I could put tall thin poles on the front and back of my bike and string my line between them, I could be a mobile clothesline. Thank goodness that scenario won't happen.

I do have a mesh laundry bag that I can lay across my panniers and secure them with bungee cords. That way my damp laundry will be exposed to the (hoped for) sun and air (and everyone in the whole wide world!). Hmmm. Not sure what to do. I’ll figure it out.

Now for actually riding
So, how did the ride go with full panniers? Not bad. After I loaded them with the actual items on my packing list then weighed them, each one weighed 7 lbs, as did the rear rack pack. So I was carrying 21 lbs total.

I rode from Windsor Locks to Windsor center along Route 159 and went back a more circuitous route for a total of 14.52 miles. Time spent pedaling: 1 hr 28 min. Average speed: 9.95. Those figures are almost identical to yesterday’s ride with no load, and today’s route was more difficult because it had hills.

So, all in all, other than having very sore shoulders (after two days in a row of riding) I think today went well. However, I’m going to try and get rid of 4 to 6 lbs of non-clothing weight.

REI Outfitting Shake-down Ride #3

Photos
Coyotes!? During my ride yesterday I went through the industrial park. I needed to make some adjustments to my bike and my body so I was looking for a shady place with, hopefully, a picnic table. I found the perfect spot and stopped. While I was adjusting my sandals, I looked up and almost had a heart attack! There, not 20 feet away from me were two coyotes. Then relief! They were molded plastic. Scared the bejeepers out of me! I seen plastic cutouts of coyotes but never molded ones. If they looked that real to me can you imagine how they most look to geese? The animal on the right looks like it's experiencing distress of some kind. ☺☺ (click on photos to enlarge)

Shake down ride
In our last episode I was complaining (commenting!) that pedaling seemed hard. Well it was and I found out why Sunday morning. The rear brake pads were rubbing on the wheel. Not good. Paul came over to use my computer and, being a great mechanic, fixed my rear brakes. That was good.

I finally got my ride underway with two panniers in front and in back and the rear pack firmly tied down. It rode well. The rubbing brakes were, apparently, the problem and pedaling was smooth and relatively easy. Even with a head wind, the resistance offered by the panniers was hardly noticed.

The next ride will be with only two panniers. I want to see if I can fit everything into only two bags. Of course I’ll let you know what happens!

Frustration

Photos
This is the closest I can come to depicting Chaos…tangled bittersweet vines at different times of the year. At least in the fall there is beauty in the yellow/orange/red berries. My Chaos yesterday did not have much beauty, but I guess, perhaps, it was bittersweet. Why so many lessons about “being” lately? Maybe it’s because it’s so difficult for me to do?

What is going on?
Yesterday was the first day I had a chance to ride my bike since REI made all the upgrades. As I wheeled it over to my car I could not help but notice the back tire was flat. WHAT? It’s a brand new tire and tube! So much for my early morning ride. AND to heap insult upon injury, REI doesn’t open until 10 a.m.

So I wait (all the while reminding myself that “in chaos I can only be.”). At 10 a.m. I start dialing their number…over and over and over again. Finally at 10:19 someone answers. What’s with opening at 10? I never mentioned it because I need help and help usually does not come from people you’ve ticked off. Yes there is a mechanic on duty on Saturday. Here I come!

Hey! It’s Bill. The same one who finished up my bike last Wednesday night. He couldn’t believe I had a flat. When he took the tire apart he could see it had blown at the base of the valve stem. That was a new one for him. He put in a new tube and I was on my way after kidding about they need to offer roadside assistance.

So I go to East Hartford’s Great River Park (the river is way higher than it was 2 weeks ago), and begin my ride which I have now decided will be from East Hartford to South Windsor and back. I got ½ mile down the road and I heard it…poooofffffff. Yep. Flat. Roadside assistance where are you? (In chaos I can only be…repeat as often as necessary until the urge to smash things subsides.)

Back to REI. Bill is beside himself. The same problem. The tube blew right at the valve stem. In desperation Bill put in a new rim liner and a tube from a different manufacturer. I’m on my way again. I restricted my ride to all the side streets around REI. I’m not going to be very far away this time if it blows. So far so good. The tube held up.

As I was riding around I felt that pedaling was harder than with my old tires. Now the new ones have a good plain surface in the middle, which should give me effortless rolling. I don’t think today was a good test, so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I really need to ride fully loaded to see what it’s like. I know the panniers will offer more wind resistance, and I need to know how much.

Rain GO AWAY!!!!

Photo
On a recent morning, this Luna Moth was at the door where my daughter, Kathy, works. What a beautiful specimen! Job Applicant? Things are tough all over. Maybe it was looking for work. For more on the Luna, go to http://www.whatsthatbug.com/luna.html. If you want to look for other bugs, knock off the “luna.html” and go to whatsthatbug.com.

How to quickly end a picnic
Three friends and I took our picnic lunches to Great River Park in East Hartford yesterday. We walked part of the Lincoln sculpture trail before deciding we were hungry. As we spread out our lunches on the picnic table on the banks of the CT River we heard a rumble of thunder and observed the dark clouds to the north and west of Hartford, across the river.

I watched the clouds for a moment and declared they were heading away from us and, for the time being, we were OK. The weather report that morning said around noon to 1 p.m. the storms would start to come in. It was 12:26 when we first heard thunder. As we finished our lunch we heard the thunder to the south of us this time and all of us, almost simultaneously, suggested we adjourn! Just in the knick of time as the thick, widely spaced raindrops started to fall. The rest of the afternoon was spent sipping iced tea in the living room of one of the friends!

These storms were not too bad in northern CT, but along the shoreline there was a tornado warning issued. There was a lot of damage but the touchdown didn’t happen until the rotation reached Long Island Sound and became a waterspout.

Today. Similar scenario.
On the way home from an appointment with one of my mother’s doctors, we encountered a wicked storm. Low, black clouds; lightening all over the place; hail and blinding rain. We made it home in one piece and shortly thereafter…the rain came to an end.

Tomorrow and Sunday promise to be excellent bike riding days. Now that my bike has two new fenders and a new pannier rack in the front, I have to go on another shakedown cruise. The bike will handle differently with these additions. After I see how things are with a partial load, I will have to do a ride under simulated, full load, EC conditions to see if I can even pedal the darned bike! ☺☺

Countdown to EC ride: Four weeks from today.

That Lost Feeling

Photo
Snow from January this year. Do you feel cooler? Glad I could help.

I miss my bike!
I left my bike at REI yesterday to have stuff put on, stuff taken off, and stuff replaced. I feel lost without my bike. I can’t decide to go for a ride just because it’s such a gorgeous day. I can have it back on Thursday, the 7th, however.

Speaking of Thursday, a few of my friends and I will take our picnic lunches to the banks of the Connecticut River. After (or before) we eat, we will tour the Lincoln Statuary. After we have enjoyed the day, I will head for REI to get my bike. Maybe I can ride on Friday! Oh! Won’t that be wonderful?

The REI employee who was helping me yesterday, Dave, told me that Smartwool® makes a whole lot of biking clothing, not just socks. He told me that they make biking shirts that keep you warm or cool depending on what the weather situation is and, get this, he says you can wear one shirt (or any other article of clothing) made of Smartwool® for two weeks without washing it. He said they have an odor killing property as well as a wicking moisture away from your body. Makes for carrying lighter loads when bike touring. If I get such articles of clothing, who wants to take the next bike tour with me? You know I will have to test this!

Go out to their website www.rei.com and search for Smartwool then Smartwool for men or Smartwool for women. It’s not cheap, but…if it’s as good and lasts as long as they say it’s a good deal. AND, by the way, their return policy is excellent. If at any time you decide you don’t like something (and I’m guessing you would have to have the sales slip) you can bring it back. For instance, if I decide I don’t like the new tires they are putting on my bike (after I ride around on them), they will take them back. How’s that for a return policy?

When Will I Ever Learn?

Photos
Two views from the city of Hartford, CT, the old and the new.
Left: The old Capewell building. Long ago famous for manufacturing horseshoe nails and buggy whips. For the last 8 years the city has been trying to get someone, anyone, to take over the building and convert it into apartments. Every developer so far has failed to come up with the proper financing. And each year the building gets worse and worse. There is something in governmental bureaucracy that does not like beautiful history.

Right: Within walking distance of the Capewell Building, we have the new Science Center being built on the banks of the Connecticut River. As ugly (my opinion) as the Capewell building is beautiful. That "flying carpet" roof had to be re-engineered because of some error in load bearing calculations. The Science Center is so different looking from all the other buildings in downtown, it sticks out like a sore thumb (mayby a soaring thumb!).

If it's green, it's slime so pay attention!
Yesterday, Saturday, when I racked my bike for a morning ride, I noticed a small spot of green slime on the bracket that holds the kick stand. (For those of you not familiar with slime, it’s a product put into bike tubes to quick seal a puncture.)

I pinched the tires and they felt pretty good, but the rear tire not as hard as I would like. My first stop was at a gas station to put air in the rear tire and I was on my way. My plan was to ride 25 miles.

After 2 miles I was at the East Windsor Hill Post Office and decided to check if I had brought Balance bars and electrolyte solution with me (just in case). The back end of my bike was covered with slime, and, I could see a green spot on my rear tire. Darn! (or words to that effect)

I was able to ride back to my car. Thank goodness it was only 2 miles! I said some prayers, too, asking that I make it back to my car without having to walk the bike. My prayers were answered.

Since I’m taking my bike into REI tomorrow to complete the outfitting, I decided to wait on changing the tire. I’ll let them do it since I have decided on two new tires and tubes.

If it had dawned on me to begin with that any spot of slime is bad news (and I know that!) I would have saved myself a lot of angst.

And, of course, today was the most gorgeous of days. Comfortable temperature with low dew point. I could have ridden all day. What a waste! But, I guess everything has a reason. Maybe this reason is "Teaching a Lesson."

When will I ever learn? Hopefully I have.