Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Safety biketalk this Friday & great riding this weekend

This Friday I'll have a short session on bike safety. Tips and lessons learned, and a quick review of my favorite safety gear. Noon at the racks and I'll have lunch there anyway.

Had a great weekend of riding and I realize it's the first time I've felt good since my 3 falls last summer. Made an effort to get out for at least an hour Saturday, and had a great time, got in 15 miles, and all of it was bumming around doing errands to "not the closest bank", the dollar store, barber shop, ran by the office, picked up some valentine things.

Felt real strong and did it again Sunday ending up with 26 miles, the weather was cool to start, but with light layers, I first peeled vest, then long sleeve jersey, then long pants and ended up with wicking undershirt and baggy shorts, perfect for the sunny 60 whatever degrees. Put on a short sleeve jersey for the afternoon 2nd ride because the 3 back pockets are very handy for  phone, keys, money, cap, power bar, etc. Sunday the traffic on colonial and at the mall was crazy everyone getting last minute valentines shopping in. Not for me... when the traffic stops it's easy to cut across, and parking right near the front door is helpful (I bring a u-lock and cable lock and look for disabled parking near the doors, always lock to those poles now, it's visible and no other bikes around). Bags full from both trips I snuck it in for the big day.

Had a little problem with my rear derailer, not sure what's the deal (it's a campy chorus and I've been to all the bike shops before mostly they don't really deal with them much or say yeah you should probably replace it after 20,000 miles). One of the pulley wheels was not locked up but real hard to turn... I took them off and a little rivet piece fell down, and I couldn't discover what from! Cleaned off the pulley wheels and put it all back together it's working great though the shifting is a little slurred... probably should replace the cables. I looked up a  replacement derailer on the web they start about $165-$250.. so  nah I'll live with a sloppy shift  for a while... more fun ridin than fixin anyway.

From the people I'm corresponding with in the Netherlands they say don't bring a bike they have plenty over there... but they all ride beaters that no one will steal for the most part. I'm takin the Bilenky and I'll ride Victor's around Lisse  but for my daily 2-3 hour  (vacation tradition, I get up early and ride til 10ish when the girls get up and about) touring about I'll have the nice bike to cover some distances. Hoping to take the train to France and see 1 or 2 Tour stages.

I'm not sweating doing a lot of updates lately so see you in a week or two!

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