March Madness

It's almost over. One more game to see if the Huskies or Bulldogs reign as champs this year in NCAA basketball. I'm pulling for Butler, though I admit I was too busy this year to even complete a bracket since my own (January through) March madness overwhelmed me. Thankfully, it's also coming to an end soon.

Looking back at March, I did have one good week of riding (March 14 - 18) when I covered half of the week's commutes on bicycle. Since then, the weather has been spotty and I haven't wanted to ride the the Long Haul Trucker until conditions improve a bit, but the coming week looks good, especially if rain washes the winter sand and grime off the streets and trails.

Saturday was one of the first truly bike-able days of the year, and it marked two milestones: the first time I have broken two chains in one day, and the first ride on the Drifter in 2011. I rode my Dunelt 3-speed to the closest bike shop (the Hub) to grab a new chain for the Trucker, but the chain snapped only blocks from my destination. This was caused more by the significant corrosion that had accumulated on the chain than my massive leg strength overpowering the steel rivets. To add to the irony, the shop was out of the size of chain I needed for the Dunelt so I "scootered" home on the bike.

After a few botched attempts to install the new chain on the Drifter (more on that later), I met up with a friend to wheel over to the opening of 2011 Minneapolis Artcrank, and break in the Drifter. This was my second time checking out the Artcrank event, and I actually thought this year featured a stronger selection of posters than the 2009 event. I walked away empty handed, yet again, primarily a function of the posters I liked not fitting any color schemes in our house. Here are my top three:

"Neighborhoods" - Adam Turman

"Twin Cities Cycling: Stone Arch Bridge" - Tim Kramer

"Twinfinite Cities" - Todd Zerger

Don't worry if you wanted to check out Artcrank but couldn't make it to opening night, it continues through May 22 but moves on to One on One Bike and then Art-a-Whirl. Check the website for details.

So how did the other chain break? On the return leg of the ride, the chain snapped right as I crossed Lake Street on Minnehaha Avenue, this time only one block from the Hub (which had been closed for an hour). As I mentioned before, I experienced a few mishaps installing it initially and forgot to properly weave it through both the front and rear derailleurs (not once, but twice). The final time breaking and reconnecting the chain was a little sloppy, and I wondered how well it would hold up. Not well it turns out. Two bikes, two rides, two broken chains.

I figured I needed a few minutes to simmer down, so I walked the bike home.

Week 36 (July 27-31)

Summary:

Monday - Bicycle
Tuesday - Bicycle
Wednesday - Bicycle
Thursday - Bicycle
Friday - Bicycle

This week was my Mark Buehrle moment: five days of work, five days of round-trip bicycle commuting.

I completed the wheel building class I signed up for on Saturday, spent some time working on the Greenspeed over the weekend, and completed all 10 legs of the week's commute on it. I'll save my assessment of the bike's positive and less desirable attributes for another post though.

Here's what I had to do to get the Greenspeed ready to roll by Monday morning:

1. Build a wheel - I guess this wasn't completely necessary since I already had a wheel on it, but I really wanted to switch to an actual single-speed. A few hours at Hiawatha Cyclery and I checked this off the list.

2. Mount tire and tube on rim - This is normally a quick process, but I didn't know what size tires the frame would handle with the new rim so I had to put it together and see how much space I had. I'd prefer a 700Cx32 for the rear wheel, but I happened to have a larger tire (700Cx35) in the garage so I opted for economy and resourcefulness, sparing a trip to the bike shop. Eventually I'll switch to 32s, but it might not be until I replace the front wheel.

3. Widen rear drop-outs - The link to the pics below will illustrate this a little better than I can explain, but the new axle was wider than the previous one. This kept the wheel from sliding into proper position, so I borrowed a neighbor's hand file to create some space.

4. Size the chain - When I originally cut the chain, it was an appropriate size for the 15 teeth cog and cassette. But the new cog had 17 teeth, so there wasn't enough room on the chain for the new wheel. Again, I wanted to save a trip and $10 so I spliced in three new links from the original chain to lengthen it.

5. Other maintenance - I had gone without the rear fender for awhile so I put it back on to give the bike a more complete look. I also popped off the stem to grease it and the stem wedge (sorry, I forgot to take pics on this one). A new stem sometime soon probably wouldn't be a bad idea.

Check out these pics to see the Greenspeed itself, as well as some visuals of what I've just tried to explain (Click on the white dialog box thing in the bottom left hand corner to display captions, or just click on the pics themselves to go larger copies)

Week 35 (July 20-24)

Summary:

Monday - Bicycle
Tuesday - Car (AM & PM Carpool)
Wednesday - Bicycle
Thursday - Bicycle & Bus (PM)
Friday - Bicycle

Thursday was interesting. As soon as I grabbed my bike off the rack for the return trip, I noticed a completely flat front tire. Not a good sign, but I thought there was a possibility that it was merely a slow leak that I could still ride home on. I peered through the mass of people waiting for their buses and saw a guy with a tall bike coming in my direction, and figured it was worth a shot

(Note to reader: do an image search on Google for "tall bike" to see what I'm talking about).

I think Matt was a bit surprised that I approached him asking for a favor. Here I was, a regular working stiff wearing a button-up shirt, ironed pants, and a bicycle helmet while he was clad in tattered leather boots up to his calves, tattoos all over his arms, and his long dreaded hair flowing freely.

Nevertheless, he pulled a pump out of his messenger bag, and when the slow leak theory was disproved, he produced a patch kit and wrench as well. He even did the work of patching the leak while I watched and made small talk.

With the wheel back on, I began the job of re-inflating the tire and got a little overzealous for a firmness and ended up popping the tube. Regardless, I thanked Matt profusely for his help and threw the bike on the bus to get home.

It might seem like it was all for naught, but I was actually glad to have run into Matt. I hope I see him again downtown and am somehow able to return the favor.