This is the question I keep asking myself. 'Will it actually happen?' What, you may wonder, am I talking about? The Fun Ride at the Viva Bike Vegas Ride coming up in less than 3 weeks on September 13. I keep checking the site, looking for the registration information and for the last 4 weeks or so it has said check back mid August. Well, we are now into late August and the form still is not there.
I even emailed the event coordinators and their response was the same - it will be there soon and they will even email me a copy of it when it is available. They said there was an issue with the start/finish line and as soon as the new arrangements were confirmed the form would be posted.
I really hope this does happen as we will have the full crew taking part. Every one of us - all 7, will be riding in the event. Because of this I think we will ride the 5 mile instead of the 10 mile route. This is something I really want to do - have all of us ride together! I hope they do get it all straightened out and we can do this ride.
A note posted on the site over the weekend indicates that the finish line for all the rides has been moved to the RTC building in downtown Las Vegas. The maps have not been updated to reflect this change as yet.
In order for us to all ride I have to get to work on putting some bikes together. Right now I have the first one about 90% done. The wheels are trued, the handlebars are adjusted and the brakes are working. The last piece to work on is the shifting. Right now it shifts through about half of the gears. Time, patience and adjustments are needed. As for the other bikes, unfortunately one is lacking usable sifters as the grip shifters are broken, completely. Another may have a bent derailieur. Its time to dig in and work on them.
Get on your bikes and ride.
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2014
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Back at it
I'm back on the bike and loving it.
Last Saturday I did my longest ride so far this year, over 16 miles. Now by many standards that's not a long ride, but it was an accomplishment for me. The good news is I felt good and probably could have gone farther. The bad news is as I mentioned before, I had 3 broken spokes.
Monday I took the bike into Broken Spoke, a newer bike shop here in the Las Vegas area. When I dropped it off, the gentleman said it should be done the next day. Unfortunately when I called on Tuesday afternoon, there were still 2 bikes ahead of mine. That meant the soonest it would be done is on Wednesday. I wasn't thrilled, but could understand that delays happen.
My 2 concerns were that it be done right and it be done quickly since I hadn't ridden since Saturday. I called Wednesday about lunch time and was told there was a problem. Apparently they didn't have the right length spokes in stock and it would be another 2 days to order them. I was obviously upset and wondered why this was when they had the spokes in stock when I dropped it off. As the mechanic was looking t the order, he noticed that there were 2 different spoke lengths written, one with 2 of the numbers transposed. He said he would do some investigation and call me back.
The next thing I know, I got a call that the bike was ready to be picked up. To say the least I was very happy. It meant I could ride Thursday morning, the first ride in 5 days. I stopped by the shop on the way home from work and picked it up and all was well.
This morning 4:00 am rolled around and I got up and went for a ride. I was feeling strong and very happy to be rolling again. I had missed it over the last 5 days. In fact, I felt so strong that I decided to try something I had not previously done - ride my entire morning loop with out down shifting on the incline. Now its not a very steep incline, but it does add extra work, especially at my size. I made it up to the highest point and started on the downhill and was feeling good. I rounded the next to corners and carried a decent amount of speed into the ascent (OK slight uphill grade). I made it to the middle of the grade and was still going strong, I kept pumping and made it all the way up and I wasn't worn out. I couldn't believe it.
I was feeling strong and said to myself "you made it once, let's try it again." i did and I made it the second time, then the third. Then the fourth. In fact I made it through 8 laps without downshifting. Unfortunately at right about the 9 mile made I heard a thunk and noticed a wobble in the rear wheel. I took it easy the last .3 miles home and looked to see that I had broken another spoke. I was not happy. First because I had planned on at least another mile this morning, and second I had another issue with the bike.
I pulled the wheel as I was headed out the door to work and headed to the bike shop on my lunch hour. When I walked in I talked to who i think was the owner/mechanic (wish I was better with names to give him his proper credit). He let me know that he had hoped to catch me when I picked up the bike. The diamondback comes with single walled wheels and for someone my size, with the larger wheels, a double walled wheel would be a better option.
My thought was maybe just replacing all the spokes might be a good option. The information about the wheel flexing made me think twice about that option. Besides that Broken Spoke said they weren't capable of doing the re-spoking. The other shops in town changed at least $40 for labor plus the cost of the spokes which were between $1.25 and $1.50 each or 36 spokes. I was looking at around $100 to get that done. Broken spoke had a stiffer, double-walled wheel for $80. That made a lot of sense. So I pulled the trigger and in 10 minutes was out the door with my tire mounted on my new rear wheel.
I won't make 5 of 7 days this week but I will ride 3 for 3 with a working bike!
Last Saturday I did my longest ride so far this year, over 16 miles. Now by many standards that's not a long ride, but it was an accomplishment for me. The good news is I felt good and probably could have gone farther. The bad news is as I mentioned before, I had 3 broken spokes.
Monday I took the bike into Broken Spoke, a newer bike shop here in the Las Vegas area. When I dropped it off, the gentleman said it should be done the next day. Unfortunately when I called on Tuesday afternoon, there were still 2 bikes ahead of mine. That meant the soonest it would be done is on Wednesday. I wasn't thrilled, but could understand that delays happen.
My 2 concerns were that it be done right and it be done quickly since I hadn't ridden since Saturday. I called Wednesday about lunch time and was told there was a problem. Apparently they didn't have the right length spokes in stock and it would be another 2 days to order them. I was obviously upset and wondered why this was when they had the spokes in stock when I dropped it off. As the mechanic was looking t the order, he noticed that there were 2 different spoke lengths written, one with 2 of the numbers transposed. He said he would do some investigation and call me back.
The next thing I know, I got a call that the bike was ready to be picked up. To say the least I was very happy. It meant I could ride Thursday morning, the first ride in 5 days. I stopped by the shop on the way home from work and picked it up and all was well.
This morning 4:00 am rolled around and I got up and went for a ride. I was feeling strong and very happy to be rolling again. I had missed it over the last 5 days. In fact, I felt so strong that I decided to try something I had not previously done - ride my entire morning loop with out down shifting on the incline. Now its not a very steep incline, but it does add extra work, especially at my size. I made it up to the highest point and started on the downhill and was feeling good. I rounded the next to corners and carried a decent amount of speed into the ascent (OK slight uphill grade). I made it to the middle of the grade and was still going strong, I kept pumping and made it all the way up and I wasn't worn out. I couldn't believe it.
I was feeling strong and said to myself "you made it once, let's try it again." i did and I made it the second time, then the third. Then the fourth. In fact I made it through 8 laps without downshifting. Unfortunately at right about the 9 mile made I heard a thunk and noticed a wobble in the rear wheel. I took it easy the last .3 miles home and looked to see that I had broken another spoke. I was not happy. First because I had planned on at least another mile this morning, and second I had another issue with the bike.
I pulled the wheel as I was headed out the door to work and headed to the bike shop on my lunch hour. When I walked in I talked to who i think was the owner/mechanic (wish I was better with names to give him his proper credit). He let me know that he had hoped to catch me when I picked up the bike. The diamondback comes with single walled wheels and for someone my size, with the larger wheels, a double walled wheel would be a better option.
My thought was maybe just replacing all the spokes might be a good option. The information about the wheel flexing made me think twice about that option. Besides that Broken Spoke said they weren't capable of doing the re-spoking. The other shops in town changed at least $40 for labor plus the cost of the spokes which were between $1.25 and $1.50 each or 36 spokes. I was looking at around $100 to get that done. Broken spoke had a stiffer, double-walled wheel for $80. That made a lot of sense. So I pulled the trigger and in 10 minutes was out the door with my tire mounted on my new rear wheel.
I won't make 5 of 7 days this week but I will ride 3 for 3 with a working bike!
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