patching the patch kit and a related story

I've been carrying around a little patch kit, inner tube repair kit, for a while now, maybe a year or two - I've pretty much always carried a patch kit, actually, but that's how long this particular kit has been in my seat bag. I haven't needed to use it much. I haven't had a flat tire in about a year. I can say that without being superstitious because there actually was a flat incident a couple weeks ago but I'm not counting it as a flat tire because when you're hopping a curb on your road bike to avoid a crash and your rear wheel doesn't quite lift up high enough and so smashes into the curb and snake bites the inner tube along with tweaking and gouging the rim, well, I can't count that as a flat tire, you know, I mean, you've got to have reasonable expectations of what your equipment is capable of withstanding beyond which failing is not really failing but just misuse. So I haven't used that patch kit. But it's been in that seat bag getting smashed and crammed around long enough that the little plastic box it came nicely fitted into has now shattered on one end - right wear the allen wrench set butts up against it. Two slips of duct tape later and it's fine for another years-long ride. 

There's this wheeled cart I've been pushing around for about a year, goes by the name B.O.B. I never thought I'd have to fix a flat on a goddamned stroller! but that's just what my life has come to. Somehow we managed to roll home with three holes in one tube! So I've been doing a lot of patchwork in the garage. And yes, I got out that little crushed up patch kit I mentioned earlier. But I didn't want to use up its nice little orange-and-black patches - I wanted to save them so that I could carry them around under my seat for another few years and never end up using them. But I'd heard that you can cut up pieces of old inner tubes and use them as patches. I tried this and it works okay. You have to be a little more careful with the whole process of patching the tube. Some say it's best to cut the old tube patches into circles although I didn't find that to be particularly helpful and have decided that a rectangle works just as well and/or perhaps better. Of course, as always, you'll want to shave off any ridges or irregularities on the tube and the patch. And I do mean shave. Most people say sand using that tiny little piece of sandpaper supplied with the patch kit. But a small knife blade shaves those seems of really well. And wipe off that inner dust from the old inner tube/patch. And for icing you can take a scrap of plastic bag or something to apply on top of the patch and vulcanizing fluid. This will keep your hands a little cleaner/healthier (carcinogenic?) and keep the inner tube from bonding with the tire when you've got it set back inside.  

mindful picnic

bicycle bracelet

I found this bracelet hanging on my brake lever last night. 

A little gift, a blessing for the bicycle.

Peace&Love&Bicycles…

always run downhill

This is a little mantra or reminder I've been using for about a year now when I'm running. It started when I was out running in the mountains with a friend of mine who had a gps watch. Actually I think it was the first time I'd run with him. He was visiting from out of town and had never been up on a trail run before but had done a lot of road running. When we got back down from the trail he was amazed at how fast we had descended. Mentioning something like 6-minute/mile pace or something. Minutes per mile pacing numbers never really make any real sense to me so they become pretty meaningless numbers in my head. But the point is, we were going fast - faster than he would generally go. Which, of course, makes perfect sense because we were running downhill! It's easy to run fast downhill. You just let yourself drop. It's free gravity. The earth does all the work. 

But there's also a certain stride that develops going downhill that lends itself to speed. And once you've run that stride a lot on the downhill you can start to replicate it on flat ground and even uphills to some degree. You'll have to just try it for yourself. I don't think I can really explain it outright. But essentially it's about keeping a nice balanced body position and leading with your front foot. See what I mean? Impossible to describe. I mean, is there any other way to run? But it works. Or at least it helps to think that it works. Let your body just drop through every stride. Every step is a free-fall. Drop, drop, drop, drop, drop… 

This, I think, is how one can run forever…

message snippet...

Also, whiskey travels better by bicycle than beer - it's those pesky bubbles...

And, I want to mtb ride to Mt Lowe area up from Millard sometime. It's paved for quite a while but I don't know for how far. It's steep so mtb gearing will be important. And we'll have to bring lots of water (and whiskey!). Some day...

t-shirt inspiration

(I found these photos in Draft Posts from 2 years ago. I can't remember if I ever posted a version of it so here it is again.)

a place I ran track a long long time ago

my first 5K

run from the heart
goes well with the necklace

upsidedown mtb

I read recently that storing your mountain bike upside down helps keep the seals on the shocks from drying out and/or cracking and/or malfunctioning. So since I've had so many issues with my shocks in the past couple years I decided to try it. So Humble Horse is upside down. I haven't even ridden her in months but I saw a friend up on the mountain last weekend. I was on foot, he on bike. And I realized that even though I've been rather against all the mtb'ers up there on the mountain recently, I do still miss it. And I'm really only against the mtb'ers that don't understand that it's a place of nature, a place of friendly camaraderie - not a dirt track for bikes - a place to yield passage to pedestrians and horses. It's gotten frustratingly ridiculous up there. But I have noticed a few bikers that still understand - and I appreciate their reserve. So maybe if I can add one more to the number of respectful riders than that could be a good example. So maybe after a few days of soaking upside down H.H. and I will go up on the mountain again…

Speedplay

We all knew it'd come to this. I've been through so many pedals now we might as well stop counting. But here we are, one more pair (for now). And after only about 9 months with the 105's! Which is strange because I really liked those pedals. I liked their wide platform and what felt like solid power transfer. But since they're limited to only 6 degrees of float I found myself (my ankle and knee and hip joints, actually) craving more freedom, float. 

The search actually started a couple of months ago. The difficulty is that these pedals are rather expensive and since I'd never actually tried them before it was a tough jump to make. But eventually I found a reasonable price and was glad to see that if I don't like them their used sale value remains quite high. 

So now they're on. On Masi (The Purple People Eater). And I don't really care that much that the pedal color is a light blue that clashes with the bike frame color (purple) because that's pretty much what the rest of my "kit" does anyway. Too many shades of blue fading into purple never quite works. Better, though, in my mind, than any kind of "sponsorship" jersey.

I haven't been out on a thorough test ride yet. We went out for 3 miles today. And there is no doubt that the Speedplay pedals have a lot of float. More than enough. I ended up with what they call the Light Action pedals, although, to be honest, I had a really hard time understanding the differences in the various pedal models they offer. 

The cleats for these pedals were slightly harder to instal. Still relatively intuitive but just a bit more to deal with. Still, fine - once they're on there. Also, since the cleats are all metal I decided for safety/slippy sake today that I'd get a pair of "leave-on" cleat covers. Again, too pricey, but better than breaking your tail bone at the pub, I guess. 

Given all that, I really don't have much to report yet but I just wanted to get the word out there. I think I like them. I hope I'll like them. Because if I don't then I'm going to start wearing Birkenstocks with toe-clips on my road bike and that won't be pretty! 

dirt road ride

lead the way, deer…

A few pieces of sleep patched together… Then up before the early alarm… For a date with my mountain. Just me and Brown Mountain again today. Rode Mindful Mule to the trailhead, of course,  then afoot from there. Forecast was for heat so the early start helped - it also kept a lot of the mountain bikers away - only one all the way up!  Nearing the top, a big, dark brown deer jumped in front of me on the trail for several powerful, prancing hops and then bolted right, up and over the near vertical trail cut and into the tall chaparral along the mountain side - off trail at its best - what's up there, out there, beyond that small fraction of land, earth accessible by the trail - where was she going? I bet it's beautiful, her secret little glen hideaway, and cool, with a little creek and shade and green munchies and a soft place to nap… 

I had a hard time getting up and out this morning… perhaps this encounter, these thoughts are why I've come… why I'll return…

follow the rabbit

A counter clockwise circumambulation of the Tungsten Hills outside of Bishop, California, Eastern Sierra Nevada, The Range of Light. Never does one sleep well before an event like this. Not really an event. A pilgrimage. A spiritual return to the land, the sacred. A repetitive perfect foot placement on the earth meditation. A circular prayer. Hands touch together at the heart in awe of mountains. Making up mantras along the way: follow the rabbit, balance and glide, follow the rabbit… Always does one sleep well after an event like this. 

keep your feet under you

Or, stay above your feet. It sounds like obvious knowledge for runners and walkers and ambulators of all kinds but although it's basic it needs repeated practice. And the more I think about foot placement while I'm running the more I come back to this same beginning. Whether it's running in conventional running shoes, fluorescent minimalist trend-setters, barefoot, or dress shoes… it's all the same starting point. Feet under and equal - if they're way out in front then way out in back but better yet just short and quick turn over without over trying - the feet, the legs the body knows what to do if you just get out of its way. The perfect stride lies somewhere between practice and instinct, effort and glide, one foot and the other, one foot and the other… A decade of running practice and I'm still practicing the first lesson… always practicing the first lesson. 

one less rain ride

I had a chance to get in one last rain ride for the season last night. I passed. I got in the car and rode home with "the ladies." It was a bit of a downpour. Unexpected. I could have just waited about several minutes and it would have mostly passed, leaving me to glide through scattered drops between bisected rosy and turbulent dusk skies. Might have been nice. A memory I'll never have but probably dream about. So today I'll run up and retrieve the Mule from one of its very rare nights away from the shed (she spent the night in luxury - dry and warm and safe) and ride back down the hill. 

1 cm up

Three handlebars went up one centimeter today - MM, T80's, and Masi. 

7 to 9

The Mule is undergoing a transition, a metamorphosis. She hasn't been able to shift gears in the back for a few years now. Finally, now that her rider is getting old, it's time to ease the pain and downshift on those hills and hauls. I don't care much about 9-speed in the rear exactly but I found a good 9-speed shifter and as 7-speed shifters have become increasingly rare I figured it was time to make the jump - not "the leap," though, as I've stuck with Shimano. I've been stockpiling parts for the operation for a few weeks now. 

I finally got around to going forward with the project the other day. It included: the newer right-side shifter/brake lever combo; a new brake cable and housing - the old housing was so shot; new 9-speed cassette - the hub was already 9-speed since we got the new rims a couple years ago - been running a spacer behind the 7-speed cassette; newer 9-speed chain - the one off the road bike after it got a new chain.  

Everything went on mostly smoothly. On the test ride, though, I realized that the middle chainring was not really grasping the chain as it went around the bottom. After further inspection I noticed that the chainring has become very sharky. Sharp, jagged teeth. So I'm working on getting lined up with a replacement for that too. In the meantime I can ride fairly smoothly on the Granny or Big ring. 

I didn't change the rear derailleur. I wasn't sure if it would work with the new setup. It does - almost. It won't shift into the largest/lowest gear so really it's only an 8-speed. Pretty good, though. Maybe I'll replace that someday, too. 

Man! That's the most work Mindful Mule has ever had done on her. She sure is getting expensive in her old age. But worth every penny. My Kingdom for a Mule…

SoCal boy terrified of 34 degree morning ride

I'm one of those cyclist that has chronically frozen feet at pretty much any temperature below 64 degrees and sunny. So I'm basically [doomed]. Because I'm going to Solvang for a cold all day ride this weekend (why is it so cold up there?). Now, to be honest, it's just the low that's forecast at 34 but we are planning a very early start and the first 30 miles or so appear to be mostly downhill. So my idea is to dress warmly (good thinking!). And just suck up carrying the extra layers all day as it warms up to low sixties. Does humidity help or hurt me in a situation like this? It's going to be pretty wet/coastal and windy most of the day. So like I said… Here's my secret voodoo. Let me know if you approve. A liner sock with an inside out wool sock over it. Why inside out? Hmm, well, because I figure all those nice little nooks and crannies for air pockets will be better as insulation just off the skin. And I figure inside-out-ed-ness must attract some sympathy from the gods. My backup plan is a few shots of something warm in my jersey pocket… 

currently reading

Off the Map: Bicycling Across Siberia
by Mark Jenkins, 1992.

don't you sit on my blue (faux) suede saddle

Mindful Mule has a new saddle. "It's a small world" or more specifically it's a "Mundialita." Just like the old one but blue which means Mindful is now officially the bluest mule around - exhibiting just about every blue shade in the spectrum. Kinda like Paul Bunion's Ox, I suppose... 

Unbalanced

I rode about five miles the other night with no seat or seat post… and it was rather enlightening. Most notable was that without a seat a bicycle, or my bicycle, anyway, feels extremely unbalanced. This is primarily due to the method that I use to carry my stuff - all in a right side basket. And on that night I was heavily loaded. But that's not unusual. I regularly ride around for dozens of miles with heavy right-sided loads. But I've rarely noticed this sensation… Now, though, the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, and, even though "a" seat is back on, I can't help but notice this imbalance almost constantly, even when unloaded. It took me a while to figure out what my original seat height was, though, and I, at first, installed it too low, but as it got higher and higher the perception of balance slowly returned. So, I guess, the seat really does a lot more than just providing a place to set your butt - it also seems to act as a, what would you call it? a rudder, I suppose. Soon we'll be hammering away again as usual and this whole "incident" will be forgotten…

all day bike path

Although I don't do a lot of bike path riding I spent most of the day yesterday on a path following two rivers through the area. It was particularly nice to just spin and spin and spin for long periods of time without having to stop for cross traffic or deal with cars in any way. It really allows you to cover a lot of ground with significantly less effort than riding on the street. And even though these rivers have long ago been cemented into their chutes it was great to follow their waters all the way to the sea and then look back and see the distant snow capped peaks providing the flow from far off in the hazy sky.