S'OK I've been lubing my chain wrong all these years too. I'll just go over yonder and cry quietly in the corner. M
Now, let me get this straight... Should the motor oil be synthetic? Anybody wanna share a gallon of chain lube I'm mixing up? Might get a couple orders of fries done while I'm at it.oser On to more important things, I'm riding in a couple hours. Soon as I fight through this Friday get home, get outta town, southern California traffic that I believe started about three hours ago. Maybe ten minutes after the morning rush hour ended; that was at full chat at 5:00AM. Yeah, they do it right round these parts, full service 24 hour frustration. So, anyway things came up last night so I didn't get to ride. Tonight "things" will be ignored until after the ride. Probably be hell to pay, but what is credit for anyway? Then Saturday we'll see how the on-shore limits our ability at making headway toward the coast. I'm hoping for a couple of good long days. Of course all this talk about riding the bicycle has the Adventure feeling jealous so it has gone and thrown it's version of a tantrum, by first scrambling the settings on the BBoC, (Techlusion, (Tech illusion Black Box of Confusion)), and then if that were not enough to fiddle with the oil filler cap fitting O-ring shit the bed. So that is puking oil over the top of the valve cover. That means I need to ride to Pomona on the filthy thing and get a replacement. Which I will measure and go off in search of a real solution. Something maybe that likes heat cycling and oil. Could be worse I guess. Nice design though, use one simple seal for maybe twenty years in a design with a dip stick, then change to one that has three seals and five parts rather than two. BMW bring a whole new paradigm to the art and science of design. What a bunch of asshats. And yet the damned bike is still so much fun to ride. I guess I need to remember to wear old shoes and pants.
Opinions vary on this one. Some swear by Mobil 1, some by RotellaT, and some heathens just dump in whatever they have extra from their cars. I'd say yes, but USPS would have a cow about shipping it to me here in VA. (and yes I know you're kidding. Just think how much you could make! Little 4oz bottles for $10? ) Yay riding! I miss being able to (legally ) lane share. Makes oh so much sense. M
Short, sweet, and to the point. Couldn't have said it better myself To a person, everybody passing me today was courteous. Living out in the sticks, riding after rush hour helps, but there's almost always one yahoo. M
Pedaled to work today and didn't die. Mostly cool. Cut off by a Prius at a 4-way stop (dude, if we're both stopped at the same time and YOU'RE turning ((without a signal by the way)), you need to YIELD to me.) and buzzed by a phone-drunk driver. Oh, and the right-turning woman who cut me off twice and nearly put me into the side of a stopped bus in about 50'. Par for the course, really, and I don't need coffee when I get to work.
Mine shit the bed on a trip,about 600 miles in to a 3k trip .puked oil all over my pretty new stitch Blue in color . I never got it clean.
Last night a little over an hour spin. The hill was almost no problem. Felt great. Today did 3:38 at an average of nearly 17 mph. Beat myself good I did. On the out, almost no headwind only a bit of a crosswind once I get close to the beach. On the way back I was catching and dropping groups of riders. Then I caught a kid mashing the big ring at about 23 mph, hung on, then passed and took over the pace until he fried. Hit 24 mph for about a mile of course by now we had a good wind pushing us inland. Then an old guy mashing a big gear came by, I hung on for a bit, but his 22 mph speed he picked up to was more than I could get from the engine room. "Warp factor six Mr. Scott." "Cap'n, I canna give 'er anymore, she'll blow." And we nearly did, then a couple of big guys spinning I'd passed earlier came by. These guys I could stay on. Half mile later we parted ways. I went to the LBS, picked up some Vanilla-Ornage Gu, and got more for next time. A couple miles later, I was back to spinning the 20 mph. Good stuff. The final hill cooked me good. I am done for a good while now. Think I'll make another round of searching the stashes in the garage for an o-ring. I don't feel like a long hot motorcycle ride through stupid traffic. Maybe spackle it with some plumbers putty for a while.
3:28 today. Came up a bottle of water short. That last 30min or so were teh suck. Still. Felt good to get out on that loop. Haven't done it for a while. M
Woke up to thunder at 5:30 AM, then pouring rain. That let up, then re-started. No great need to go ride in the wet yet. Lazy fat guy. I guess. Spent the morning researching a new phone. Kool-aid to follow.
This is one of those posts that I put up in seriousness, knowing that I will get a whole bunch of "I hate/you're an asshole/I hope you get a flat tire responses." And to that I say, "fine". I want to take this: and go riding in Switzerland/France/ Dolomites. All Mountain with big ups, and big downs, and beautiful scenery. and beer. I'm working in Milan until Friday and then I have a month off. The Dolomites/Alps are at my doorstep, but I have never ridden in Europe. I'm hoping for one of those miraculous ADVrider moments, where someone says, "Sure, I'm from XXXX and you should mountain bike in XXXX and you can stay at my chalet and my gorgeous blond daughter will massage you tenderly after a long day of riding." Because that happens. So, oh great depths of ADV knowledge, instruct me in the ways of mountain biking in Europe. And send me your daughters.
I wanna go!! Sorry, that's all I really have to add for your trip. Never been, but it's on my cycling bucket list. Enjoy, take lots of pics (daughters first... mtns second). May you only get a flat tire at the top of the Alpe de'Huez.
Believe it or not, there weren't many churches on my route yesterday. 3 of em. 1 that I passed twice (beginning and end) The rest of the time I was out in the farms and such. Spent most of the day Sat working on the mower deck then the Buell. I think that the Buell needs a fuel pump. The injectors *seem* clear. M
Just got off Ragbrai with one of my closest friends... a very trying week, even though it was my second time. Have been struggling with an acute allergy or asthma all spring, still not figured out. Fell over on day 2 due to loosing a bolt in a cleat. Endo'd on day 4 bunny hopping over a curb, still feel a bit beat up crazy hot all week and broke the carbon rails on the 2mo old fizik seat and oddly enough it was probbably still the second best vacation i've ever had
The wife and I are 99% on for next year's run. Perhaps we need to have an ADV meet and brew somewhere along the route?
I am originally from Atlantic (first overnight town). Wish I could've gone this year.... Glad you had a good time. It's hard not to on that ride
We will have to do that. I was born in Boone. Spent a lot of time at my great uncles farm that used to be across and around the Lincoln Cemetery at highway 415 and that bridge across the middle of Saylorville. I may be riding with a team from a local winery there in Iowa, just up the road from my brother's farm outside Madrid.
Home from Ragbrai at 5 pm today. Great trip with Bill the Duck - a great friend to travel with! We left on the 21st (Thursday) at 5:30 AM (I think) and made it to Oklahoma City for a late dinner with Snoid. From there, we drove all night to Davenport to meet our charter. After a quick bus ride on Saturday across the state, reality greeted us in the form of excessive heat and humidity. I've been to the Amazon twice now and on Saturday, the Amazon had nothing on Glenwood in terms of heat and humidity. I've *never* had cramps on a bicycle but that first day, I experienced them and my legs locked up as I made the final turn into Atlantic! I recovered easily that night and had no real issues the rest of the week. The worst day for me was the shortest day - only 56 miles but there was something like 61 hills and a lot of headwinds to contend with during the northern part of the route. I hit a new personal high speed - 48.3 mph on one particular hill. As I found out, my recumbent is faster downhill than the typical diamond-framed bike. I think I surprised a lot of riders on Ragbrai going downhill and occasionally uphill. The rollers were a blast - go aggressively downhill and spin up the upside. I also had the pleasure of riding with a group of three ultra-marathoners on the trip - a typical 24-hour event for them covers more than 450 miles. They shoved me into their paceline about 4 miles outside of one town and we were moving 24-25 mph. I got the feeling that they were taking it easy for me. I also witnessed a bit of bad behavior from pacelines on Ragbrai but most of the lines were very, very cool and most slower riders understood they needed to stay to the right. The bad behavior was one group in particular whose lead rider was screaming at people to get out of the way.... when no one was really in their way. 99% of the riders on the trip were wonderful though. It's easy to congratulate myself for finishing the ride with no issues but the real hero's on the ride were the hand-cyclists and those who are overweight and on what most of us would consider inadequate equipment. Those riders displayed a lot of courage and tenacity to complete the journey and absolutely have my respect. We rode 454 miles (actually, a bit more due to the camp locations), drove 3400 miles and really enjoyed ourselves! Will I do it again? Maybe - time will tell. BTW, I loved Iowa and the people there were simply wonderful.
