You can't fix stupid (Bicycle related)

[Douglas Robinson]

Ron White said that in his comedy routine, but it applies to me today. Although you might not be able to tell from meeting me, but I was abicycle road racer back in the day. I also have about 6 years as a bicycle mechanic.

Today I had to go pick up my wife's van at the dealer after servicing it. I decided to get my road racing bike out and ride on over. I pumped up the tires, but the front tube seemed to be flat. Instead of trying to find a new tube I just grabed another wheel. Just like woodworking tools, I have a large array of bike parts and tools.

While I am not ANYWHERE my racing weight I have lost over 40 lbs. in the last three months, so I thought this was a good idea. The dealership is within 5 miles of my house.

While I ran 4 miles this morning. I never expected the ride to be soooooo HARD! I was panting up small hills. When I got almost within sight of the dealership I decided to get off and walk. A sad concension indeed. As soon as I pushed the bike I could feel something was wrong. The back wheel is a tripoke wheel that as virtually indestructable. When I checked the front wheel guess what.....? Turns out the wheel was WAY out of true! The wheel was significantly rubbing gainst the brake pad! It was as if I had been riding with a brick tied to the back of the bike.

Now with all the experience I have this is something I should have thought of immediately, but no I assumed it was me. So I am tuning up the bike and will try to ride again. I felt really really dumb.

Doug

[TracyP]

That's kinda like putting a bookshelf together and realizing you only drilled one side of the shelf pin holes. DAMHIKT.
The second ride should be much easier without the extra drag.

[erasmussen]

Next ride might be easier, but you wont loose as much weight

[Trent Mason]

Ahhh..... no problem Doug. Just think of how easy it will be when the brake isn't holding you back.

[Mike Davis]

For three years (in my mid twenties) the only vehicle I owned was a bike. (long story, I gave away my van. If you have an hour sometime...)

I always checked out everything every time I rode. It only takes a minute after you get in the habit. Of course if I got on one now I doubt i would remember where the brake is much less how to adjust it.

[Trent Mason]

Originally Posted by Mike Davis

For three years (in my mid twenties) the only vehicle I owned was a bike. (long story, I gave away my van. If you have an hour sometime...)

Me too Mike, well for two years. That was the best shape I've ever been in. I kept it on the hardest gear and man, I would fly around on that thing. Only having a bike forces you to plan your day out a lot more, because commuting takes so much longer and in the summertime, you're always sweating bullets everywhere you go. Fun times.

[Douglas Robinson]

I was a road racer. My specialty was the 24 hour marathon. At 17 years old I road 415 miles in 24 hours and took third place out of 12,000 riders. It is the highlight of my athletic life to date. I spent A LOT of time in high school training (we're talking 1000's of miles. I remember it fondly now, but at the time a lot of it was misery. (Hope this doesn't sound boastful ) However it does make today's mistake look even dumber!

Doug

[Trent Mason]

Originally Posted by Douglas Robinson

I was a road racer. My specialty was the 24 hour marathon. At 17 years old I road 415 miles in 24 hours and took third place out of 12,000 riders. It is the highlight of my athletic life to date. I spent A LOT of time in high school training (we're talking 1000's of miles. I remember it fondly now, but at the time a lot of it was misery. (Hope this doesn't sound boastful ) However it does make today's mistake look even dumber!

Doug

24 hour marathon?! Man, you're hardcore!

[PeteQuad]

My butt hurt after riding the 250 miles to Atlanta by CAR, nevermind 24 hours on a bike . Cool achievement to think back to though

[Bas]

I've heard of power walking, but never of power biking! Hmmm, I suppose you could introduce a variety of exercise methods this way - sawing with a dull saw, planing with a dull iron....

I miss biking. Biking is much easier in Holland. The land is flat, there are bike lanes everywhere, and it doesn't get into the upper nineties for two months straight. On the down side, you get rained on a lot. And you can't carry sheets of plywood on your bike If I was back in Holland, I'd miss my car....

[NCPete]

Originally Posted by Douglas Robinson

I was a road racer. My specialty was the 24 hour marathon. At 17 years old I road 415 miles in 24 hours and took third place out of 12,000 riders. It is the highlight of my athletic life to date. I spent A LOT of time in high school training (we're talking 1000's of miles. I remember it fondly now, but at the time a lot of it was misery. (Hope this doesn't sound boastful ) However it does make today's mistake look even dumber!

Doug

Doug, many years ago, I worked as a bike mechanic to pay for my first road bike. I cannot imagine hitting 415 miles in one day!!! I, too, was a road racer of sorts, but again, not certifiable (read as totally mad!) as you were. I completed a century, and I don't think my legs stopped spinning for a few days. my races were mostly individual time trials, road races, and I tried a criterium (sp?)... once. I bear the scars of the pre-helmet days (tho USCF required them for sanctioned events, I rarely wore one when training ) I am sure that I had some months during the season when I didn't ride as much as you marathon-type-guys would do in one day!!!

Somewhere I have many of the old tools, a Parks stand, third hands, spoke tools, and spanners floating around. at least I hope I do. My 9 Y.O. son recently entered a drawing for a bike, with the intention of winning it for me.... and he did!!!! The guys at the place assembled it, and I can see that I will spend some time tuning the shifters and brakes.... BUT AT LEAST the wheels are true!

It has been at least three weeks since I last looked (longingly) at a Colorado Cyclist catalog, or a Specialized catalog. Hanging in my shop, is a slightly undersized Trek frame that I have given thought to building as a TT bike - but with a fixed gear set up, though I will probably wimp out and put brakes on it... the bosses are already there... and LOML has said that if I kill myself, she will make me live to regret it

I have noticed a development in the bikes I have test-ridden over the last few years... ALL the saddles are painfully uncomfortable now.... suppose 60 extra pounds has something to do with that?

[Shamrock]

Doug-
It's just good to hear your back on the bike. Now that you've had such a good workout just think how fast and smooth it's going to feel when you get everything running smooth.
I can make you fell better though. In college I borrowed may father-in-laws truck to move one semester, now up to this point my only 2 cars had been a Honda Accord and a Honda Prelude-both with the parking brakes on the console in between the two front seats. I also must mention that I hardly ever used the parking brake as this was Florida and there aint no hills in Florida! Soooo... I've got the truck backed up to my apt. (on a hill no less (a small one-really just a pile of dirt) and I put the parking brake on after much searching (its under the dash on trucks) I then load the truck up with all my crap and then get in and drive ~20 miles around town to my new apt. I get there and the 1st thing I say to my wife is "wow-something really smells like burnt rubber" and then I unload the truck and about 30 minutes later I get in and try and move it. It won't budge. Soooo.. I look around for a reason and you guessed it The parking brake was still on, and now the brake pad was melted to the drum. Ouch-just imagine that discussion with the father-in-law and pushing your bike up the hill doesn't seem so bad now-does it?


clamps-clamps-why do I never have enough clamps

[tjwitzig]

Michael:

That brings back baad memories of a trip my friend and I made to Ocean City after we graduated from high school. I was driving my (actually my father's) '62 Ford Galaxy 500 and the little red light on the dash had been on for a couple days. The car ran OK so I said what the ****. After getting lost in the wilds of New Jersey, the car quit. We carried the battery about 2 miles to a gas station (and had the acid burns to prove it) where they recharged it. Two miles back to the car and we just barely got rolling. We coasted in to a little cinder-block "repair" shop and the guy regaled us with "Found On Road Dead," "Fix Or Repair Daily" and other such Ford slurs. He then sent his flunkey down to the junk yard to remove a generator (yes, a generator) from an Edsel. The good part was he only charged me $25 and we were back on the road in a couple hours. We rolled in to our campground around 10 PM where my bud tried to pick pick up a couple college girls who just laughed at us. After trying to sleep in the mosquito-infested bog we were assigned because we got in too late to get a decent camp site we got to the beach the next day where I got the worst sunburn of my life. My friend is half-indian and the sun just made him look better! On the way back to the camp ground, with the back floor littered with empties, we got stopped by a speed trap. Being from out of town, the cop couldn't just let us go on our way, so he directed us to the state police barracks where, conveniently, a judge happened to be holding court and before whom I had to act as if I was reasonably sober. I still remember his quizzical look when I tried to respond intelligently to his questions. But, that was then (1970) and drunk driving was winked at so I got away with a $150 fine. I didn't have the money, so the bill was sent to my father, whose car it was. That was real interesting a week or so later, but that's another story. Later that night I got extremely sick from the sunburn, which ultimately broke open and bled (I have very pale skin). So, to get to the connection to your story, my legs were so badly burned my bud graciously offered to drive home. He complained all the way about the lousy acceleration and the lousy brakes, but I said he wouldn't know a good car if he had one. Lo and behold, we arrive home some 150 miles later and at the first stop light A CLOUD OF BRAKE SMOKE ENVELOPS US! He said it was my fault because he never uses the parking brake and I should have told him it was on. My father didn't entertain any questions about responsibility and I ended up being responsible for all the maintenance on that car from then forward.

Tom

[nblong]

Doug,

Where I think a fun weekend is wood stuff on Saturday and back-to-back NFL on Sunday, my BIL thinks a bike ride from Raleigh to Manteo is to die for. There's no accounting for taste I reckon.

BTW, congrats on the weight loss. I'd have to cut off a leg to lose 40 lbs.

Bruce