Last Monday I only rode 8 miles because my right pedal started having issues again. Tuesday through Thursday I had to be into work early so I could teach early classes. Over the weekend I thought I was able to correct the issue with the pedal, but this morning it proved to not be the case. Within three turns of the crank the issue was back. Looks like I need a new crank arm as the threads for the pedal are shot on this one.
What sucks about this is first, the bike is only 2 months old. Secondly, there is apparently no way to order one online, which means I have to find an authorized dealer and get them to order it for me. There are several dealers around, including Sport Chalet, its just the hassle of having to actually go in there that I dislike. I've tried going to the Diamondback Corporate site, but their focus is on selling bikes and not on service.
The third part that sucks is that since I self assembled the bike, any warranty is null and void. Apparently it doesn't matter that I bought the bike online and had it shipped to me directly, I was still supposed to take it to one of their dealers and pay them $80 to assemble the bike. Based upon the wheel issues, the pedal/warranty issues and my overall feeling of abandonment by the company, I will not be buying another Diamondback bicycle, nor will I recommend them to anyone else.
So, now I'm probably down for at least another week while I get to a dealer and have them order the part for me. My goal of 2012 in 2012 just got significantly harder to obtain, but we'll make it.
Not only am I going to get the crank arm for the Diamondback, I'm also going to see about getting the crank bearings taken care of on the Univega so I have a back-up steed as well.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Weekly goal met
I met my weekly goal of riding 6 of 7 days this week. If I hadn't set the goal for myself I probably would not have ridden this morning, but I am glad I did! My stats are:
Weekly Miles ridden: 72.55 miles
Time for week: 5 hours 38 minutes
Monthly miles: 102 miles
YTD miles: 388 Miles
Miles to go to hit 2012: 1624 miles
I am slightly behind on my pace of 56 miles per week, but it did improve with this week's miles.
On the calorie front I will be over my weekly total for allowed calories. I never made up last Sunday's extra calories and was even over a bit yesterday with a trip to CiCi's pizza buffet.
I've read so many inspiring stories from the 100 miles of Nowhere and Fatty's Race report this week. People truly suffering on their bikes for a good cause that I am motivated to keep pushing myself and improving. I will ride that event next year.
I also watched my all time favorite movie again yesterday: Meet The Robinsons. I can't help but get a little choked up every time I see it because it is all about the importance of family and has the best motto: KEEP MOVING FORWARD. No matter what life throws at you, just keep moving forward. Seems like some great advice.
Dan
Weekly Miles ridden: 72.55 miles
Time for week: 5 hours 38 minutes
Monthly miles: 102 miles
YTD miles: 388 Miles
Miles to go to hit 2012: 1624 miles
I am slightly behind on my pace of 56 miles per week, but it did improve with this week's miles.
On the calorie front I will be over my weekly total for allowed calories. I never made up last Sunday's extra calories and was even over a bit yesterday with a trip to CiCi's pizza buffet.
I've read so many inspiring stories from the 100 miles of Nowhere and Fatty's Race report this week. People truly suffering on their bikes for a good cause that I am motivated to keep pushing myself and improving. I will ride that event next year.
I also watched my all time favorite movie again yesterday: Meet The Robinsons. I can't help but get a little choked up every time I see it because it is all about the importance of family and has the best motto: KEEP MOVING FORWARD. No matter what life throws at you, just keep moving forward. Seems like some great advice.
Dan
Monday, June 11, 2012
I'm getting addicted...
..to this thing called cycling. I'm starting to slightly obsess about it and am thinking about it often.
Brian, in his post over at Mid Life in the Fast Lane, said it very well. He mentioned how it starts out as a thought that maybe I can just do this a little better. Then you progress to adding a little distance and the next thing you know you are contemplating doing a century ride.
I must be addicted since I've gotten some gear, I keep pushing myself to go faster and/or farther, and yes I'm starting to think about a Century ride. I'm not ready for it as yet, but I know that if I keep pushing myself and actually putting in the miles I can do it.
Yesterday I rode the farthest I have in almost 2 years - 18.3 miles. I wasn't fast, with an average of 11.4 mph, but the fact is, I probably could have gone farther. When I got home I wasn't worn out. I could walk up the stairs with no more issue than normal. I didn't even feel especially tired. That all combines to tell me I could have gone farther.
One area that was tender though was the saddle area. When you are placing the amount of weight that I am, on that concentrated of a region, it tends to get sore fairly quickly. I'm finding that I start to get sore about 7 or 8 miles into my rides. This has improved, though. I was getting sore about 3 miles in, so progress is being made in this area. :)
In the weight department, I have to confess that I haven't been nearly as disciplined or made near enough of the right choices to move in a positive direction. I haven't gained (at least not since my one week binge following the final weigh in of the Biggest winner) but I haven't lost either. I have a feeling its definitely time to buckle down and stop eating over 3000 calories a day. Sure if I take into consideration what I've been burning with my riding I'm "allowed" these calories, but if I want to lose some of this fat, I need to start eating less calories on a daily basis.
So my goal for this week is to ride 6 out of 7 days for a total of at least 60 miles and to limit my total calorie intake for the week to 2500/day for a total of 17,500 calories consumed for the week. I'll have to closely watch what I eat since we had Mexican food and Ice Cream yesterday for a daily total of 3,389 calories, (with a burn of 1858 calories from yesterday's ride but I'm not counting net calories here). So far today I've had 1,165 calories. If I were to try and balance yesterday's choices, I would only have 446 calories left for today. I think I might spread the deficit across a couple of days :)
Brian, in his post over at Mid Life in the Fast Lane, said it very well. He mentioned how it starts out as a thought that maybe I can just do this a little better. Then you progress to adding a little distance and the next thing you know you are contemplating doing a century ride.
I must be addicted since I've gotten some gear, I keep pushing myself to go faster and/or farther, and yes I'm starting to think about a Century ride. I'm not ready for it as yet, but I know that if I keep pushing myself and actually putting in the miles I can do it.
Yesterday I rode the farthest I have in almost 2 years - 18.3 miles. I wasn't fast, with an average of 11.4 mph, but the fact is, I probably could have gone farther. When I got home I wasn't worn out. I could walk up the stairs with no more issue than normal. I didn't even feel especially tired. That all combines to tell me I could have gone farther.
One area that was tender though was the saddle area. When you are placing the amount of weight that I am, on that concentrated of a region, it tends to get sore fairly quickly. I'm finding that I start to get sore about 7 or 8 miles into my rides. This has improved, though. I was getting sore about 3 miles in, so progress is being made in this area. :)
In the weight department, I have to confess that I haven't been nearly as disciplined or made near enough of the right choices to move in a positive direction. I haven't gained (at least not since my one week binge following the final weigh in of the Biggest winner) but I haven't lost either. I have a feeling its definitely time to buckle down and stop eating over 3000 calories a day. Sure if I take into consideration what I've been burning with my riding I'm "allowed" these calories, but if I want to lose some of this fat, I need to start eating less calories on a daily basis.
So my goal for this week is to ride 6 out of 7 days for a total of at least 60 miles and to limit my total calorie intake for the week to 2500/day for a total of 17,500 calories consumed for the week. I'll have to closely watch what I eat since we had Mexican food and Ice Cream yesterday for a daily total of 3,389 calories, (with a burn of 1858 calories from yesterday's ride but I'm not counting net calories here). So far today I've had 1,165 calories. If I were to try and balance yesterday's choices, I would only have 446 calories left for today. I think I might spread the deficit across a couple of days :)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Glass was not the problem
The good news is that the glass on the road was not the problem last week. I took the wheel off and inspected the tire, expecting to see glass sticking out of it. I found nary a piece embedded in it. I then removed the tire and tube from the wheel to continue with the inspection. Again, I did an inspection of the tire, this time on the inside both visually and by gently running my fingers around the tire. Still no glass.
At this point I was wondering if there was some other reason for the failure of the tube, so I turned my attention to the tube itself. I didn't see anything wrong, focusing on the outer part of the tube so I decided to add some air. As I pumped I felt the air leaking from a hole on the inner part of the tube about 3 inches from the valve. I was confused as to how this could be the case, until I noticed that my new wheel was missing the rim strip.
It seems that when they moved the tire and tube from the old wheel to the new, they failed to realize that there was no rim strip on the new wheel and the sharp edge of one of the holes in the secondary wall of the wheel had punctured the tube. This was actually a relief in that it meant the Kevlar tire were actually doing their job in protecting the tubes form the hazards on the road.
I took the wheel, tire and tube to the LBS where I had purchased the wheel and they replaced the tube since the missing rim strip was their fault (Thank you Broken Spoke).
Unfortunately this took place on Friday. Since my wife and I had planned a weekend of relaxing and doing very little, I didn't get another ride in until this morning. The good news is that I Rode 9+ miles this morning with no issues. I do have to make a slight adjustment to my handlebars as they are slightly off center from the crash on Thursday. The interesting this was that I felt slow this morning, yet my Garmin and Strava indicated that I had ridden my best time yet on my training loop. Go figure!
So, I'm on a working machine again and I expect to hit my 5 of 7 goal easily this week, baring any further issues, of which I hope there are none!
At this point I was wondering if there was some other reason for the failure of the tube, so I turned my attention to the tube itself. I didn't see anything wrong, focusing on the outer part of the tube so I decided to add some air. As I pumped I felt the air leaking from a hole on the inner part of the tube about 3 inches from the valve. I was confused as to how this could be the case, until I noticed that my new wheel was missing the rim strip.
It seems that when they moved the tire and tube from the old wheel to the new, they failed to realize that there was no rim strip on the new wheel and the sharp edge of one of the holes in the secondary wall of the wheel had punctured the tube. This was actually a relief in that it meant the Kevlar tire were actually doing their job in protecting the tubes form the hazards on the road.
I took the wheel, tire and tube to the LBS where I had purchased the wheel and they replaced the tube since the missing rim strip was their fault (Thank you Broken Spoke).
Unfortunately this took place on Friday. Since my wife and I had planned a weekend of relaxing and doing very little, I didn't get another ride in until this morning. The good news is that I Rode 9+ miles this morning with no issues. I do have to make a slight adjustment to my handlebars as they are slightly off center from the crash on Thursday. The interesting this was that I felt slow this morning, yet my Garmin and Strava indicated that I had ridden my best time yet on my training loop. Go figure!
So, I'm on a working machine again and I expect to hit my 5 of 7 goal easily this week, baring any further issues, of which I hope there are none!
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