Scenic Route

I’m still not any closer to fixing the gallery and posting pics from Canada and Colorado. Nor am I any closer to writing up the ride reports. It’s still pretty busy around there.

But I took some time this morning to freshen the look here, rearranging and updating things in the sidebar, and adding an image rotator of selected shots of my ugly mug.

Part of the goal was to highlight a change at BikeJournal, where members now have a blog option. I’m using it.

Here’s the link to my BikeJournal blog.

I’m not sure how I’m going to use two blogs, especially when there’s no easy way to integrate content between the two. Although, maybe that’s a good thing. Too early to tell.

Dodged a bullet

Riding the Portland on the way to the weekly Wednesday RBC ride starting in Mendon Ponds Park, my rear dérailleur (RD) overshifted on a climb, and dumped the chain off between the spokes and the cassette. This can be very bad. A similar thing happened to Howard in Colorado (who helped me on the Mt. Evans climb) Saturday, and it destroyed his frame and RD.

I was luckier. I broke two spokes, damaged at least five more (there are only 12 on that side of the wheel) and ruined the chain. Fortunately, I have that second wheelset, and I had a new chain in-stock at home, and while I was at it, I re-cabled the RD before adjusting it. Then I had Steve at Full Moon Vista double-check my work. I don’t think the bike has ever shifted as nice as it does now.

I can’t say what caused Howard’s problem, but there were two things working in concert to cause mine. It’s the third time this has happened, and it finally occurred to me that the L screw might not be properly adjusted. It sets the limit of RD travel towards the spokes. Duh!

Second, that loop of cable housing back at the RD gets worn pretty easily. When that happens, the major symptom is sluggish shifting in both directions, despite making adjustments with the barrel adjuster on the RD. (It starts as being able to get good shifting in one direction only.) This has been happening since I got back from Colorado. I simply deferred maintenance and lived with it. Sort of like the “Can’t fix the roof when it’s raining, and don’t have to when it’s not” school of building maintenance.

I’d have been in real trouble if the Portland’s RD had snagged in the spokes like Howard’s did. Although, being aluminum instead of carbon fiber, the Portland’s frame may have fared better than Howard’s Scattante CFR Elite did. I’m glad I didn’t have to find out. I’m not in a position where I can afford a new RD, let alone a new frame.

And I’m certainly not going to defer that maintenance again. Which reminds me, Yellow Bike could use the same work… There. I’ve gotten the parts out to remind me to replace Yellow Bike’s RD cable too.

Parts is parts

In any event, I’m trying something new. When I last stocked the spare parts bin—when all my spares had been stolen along with the Giant—I got Teflon-coated cables to see if they really work smoother than regular stainless-steel ones. I had also gotten a grease injector needle a while back. Ordinarily, one dribbles chain lube through the cable housing before installing it. I injected it full of Pedro’s Syngrease synthetic grease. Boy that RD works smooth now.

Back when I had the Giant and was first buying parts to rebuild Yellow Bike, I bough some chains for them from Nashbar. Cheap was the reason. Eight-speed chains were $20 at the bike shop, and just $6 at Nashbar, or even free when you buy one of their 8-speed cassettes.

I found the chains to be every bit as good as the big names. When I had to buy a spare for the Portland, I figured I’d try a Nashbar. At not quite $30 on sale, their 10-speed chains aren’t quite the bargain as their 8-speed ones, but they’re still cheaper than Shimano 105 chains.

I’d tried a Shimano Ultegra chain in there too, but found it to be noisier than the 105 and there was no noticeable improvement in shifting. (In fact, it was the Ultegra chain I trashed back in May when it overshifted and dropped between the cassette and the spokes.)

Well, this Nashbar 10-speed chain, besides having nice, shiny, nickel-plated outer links, is both smoother-shifting and quieter than either Shimano’s 105 or Ultegra 10-speed chains. It’s early days, of course—I have less than 100 miles on it—but I think it’s a keeper. I like it well enough that I’ll restock the spare parts bin with another one.

Goal report

At the end of August, I have 3,761 miles for the year.

I’m 311 miles ahead of target for the year-to-date, and 989 miles from my goal for the whole year at 4,750. Not only am I going to hit that, I stand a real good chance of hitting the 5,200 mile challenge goal, which is just 1,439 miles away. Considering I was just 50 miles shy of that many in July and August combined, I’m feeling pretty confident about the challenge goal.

Breaking it out by bike, 3,168 miles have rolled under the Portland’s wheels, and Yellow Bike has racked up 593, or 15.77% of the total.

I’m presently ranked 725 of 7,502 riders at BikeJournal putting me at 9.66%, within my goal of the top 10%. and the top 1,000. I rank 15 out of all 201 riders in New York State, and 9 out of 38 NY State men in the 50-59 age bracket.

Finally, I have my first 10,000 miles behind me, with 10,907 since I began logging on Bike Journal in May 2006.

My anniversary with the Portland is coming up in three weeks. So far, we have 4,262 miles together. That’s kinda interesting, since that’s 87 miles a week on average. Add in another 15% on Yellow Bike, and you’re at 5,200 for a year.

No matter. the big thing is that I’m still smitten with the Portland, especially now that it’s shifting perfectly again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 10:17 pm EDT and is filed under Bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.