Category Archives: Cycling

First Ride to Sausalito

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If you want to get something done, gotta do it yourself.  Lucy’s first ride was a failed attempt to get to Sausalito.  Late start and good day hanging out with friends, but not a great ride.  Woke up early after a night of drinking and thought the best way to start off Saturday was a ride to Sausalito.

Beautiful day.  First sign of trouble was outside the Exploratorium ~5mi mark.  I tried to pass two girls and my right calf  just seized up.   All sorts of nasty, so I kept going and tried to stretch it out.   Eventually eased up a little and ran into a bit of traffic outside Ghirardelli Square.  Special Olympics run of some sort.

By the time I made it to Crissy Field and stopped to take a picture of the bridge, both legs were starting to twitch and ache.  Probably from dehydration.  And I hadn’t even started the climbs yet.

But on the climb, I started to figure out what was wrong – my right pedal was crooked.  I stopped on the far side to take a picture.

Definitely coming out.  But none of my tools could do anything about it, so I just left it alone.

Down to the water and back up over the hill to Sausalito, I missed the Ferry terminal and went little bit too far.  When I stopped to pull my phone out to see where the terminal was, my back started to twitch.   Turning around and riding back to the ferry was awful.  Right calf was screaming and left back was entirely stitched up.   Stubbornly rode through it until I got to the terminal.

Success, made it to the terminal in Sausalito and took the ferry back to Pier 39.

Unfortunately, my neglect of Lucy turned out to be a really bad decision.  Pedal continued to work it’s way out and then it stripped the crank.  Had to walk it to the Bike Kitchen.  Fortunately, $5 got me a matching set of replacement cranks.   And since I replaced both of them, I was able to determine that my old cranks were not a set – one was 170 the other was 175.   Might explain why things were so unbalanced.   Lucy is just a little bit better now.

2014 Bicycle Project

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Another day mucking about with the rear derailleur.   Mildly frustrating day without too much progress.   Spent a bunch of time hunting for a new shifter and replacement cables.   Eventually just gave up and bought 2 lengths of shifter cable housing in an attempt to eliminate possible shifting problems.

By the end of the day, the bike was rideable.  It was possible to get into and stay in all the gears, even if it wasn’t all that smooth.  Gave it a second thought to take it home for the weekend, but figured it was still rather sketchy.   I should clean up at home so that there is a place to put the thing too.

Hoping to have a functional bike soon!

2014 Bicycle Project – Days 4 – Seat, Tire and Brakes

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Day 4 – Seat, Front Tire and Brakes

Since the seat I had claimed earlier was rather bent, I swapped it out for another one.    Can’t say I’m a big fan of the mounting system for seats.   Keeps them adjustable but rather difficult to work with.

And now that there was actually stuff on it, I was told to put a tire/tube on it before I damaged the rim.  Done!

And with the wheel on, I could tell that my front brakes were really bent out of shape.  Spent some time finding a matching set that seemed functional.   The rest of the evening was spent looking for parts to make the brakes work.  The frame I had did not quite support the brakes – no centering mounts.   Plenty of time was spent digging in the back room to find something suitable for work the next day.

2014 Bicycle Project Day 3

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Another bike evening!   In an attempt to get a good chunk of work in, I went directly from the Potrero and 18th stop to the Bike Kitchen.  The timing’s not bad, get there just as they’re opening up.  Volunteers get organized and then they check people in.   Not super strict on time, but it helps with the relaxed atmosphere.  I set up away from the back corner this time.  Much nicer, less foot traffic going past me.  But it was still close to the door and rather chilly.

The goal for the day was to get the drivetrain running.  Picked up a few pieces of chain, strung them together to figure out how much chain I needed.  The volunteer pointed out that my front sprocket was actually fairly worn out and if I was going to the trouble of finding a chain anyway, I might as well choose a better one first.   Some discussion on ring size, but since I was sticking to a single gear up front for now, middle of the road and I ended up with a 48.

Putting it all back together, I managed to pick a length of chain that actually fit on the first try!  Put it on with a loose fit before checking things with a chain tool.  Handy little thing to check if the bushings inside the chain have worn out without actually having to measure it.  It’s nice to have access to their tools.

After that, I didn’t manage to get anymore help.  So I decided to keep myself busy with adjusting and putting on things that were less complicated than putting on a shifter.  So I tried adjusting the brake pads to fit the 700 wheel.  Back one adjusted just fine, but the front brakes were rather bent.  Had to try a few before finding one that fit properly.

I also repurposed a bolt for handlebar and I also track down some brake levers that didn’t look too bent and mounted those as well.

Looking more and more like a bike!   But it was a rather chilly night and I was getting hungry so I took off a little after 8pm.  I think it also helps to avoid the cleanup rush. But next time I think I’ll want to pack a beat up old hoody and some of my own tools.