Shredded Tire, Pedal Woes, and RAGBRAI

Last weekend was my first on the Eastern Shore in a month.  Kathy and I rode together on Saturday, doing our standard Oxford/Island Creek/Trappe loop.  My IF hadn't made it back from RAGBRAI, so I rode the Basso for the 35 miles.  The Basso is a great ride, particularly on the flats of the Eastern Shore -- silky smooth and responsive.  This probably was the longest ride I'd ever done on the Basso.

I planned to ride on Sunday as well, but when I was getting ready to pump the front, I noticed that the tread was completely shredded -- something I'd never seen in all my years of cycling.  I knew the tires were old -- they came with the vintage Campy wheels -- but the front obviously has been on the brink for a while.  I tried to switch out Susan's front wheel, but she's got a larger tire that wouldn't fit the Basso's (nice chrome) fork.  So no Sunday ride.  I brought both wheels back to Takoma Park, where I figured I'd replace both old tires with some new rubber.  Shouldn't be a problem, right?  Over the years, I've changed too many tires to count.

WRONG!!  I snapped two tire levers, replaced them, and pinched FOUR tubes before doing something I haven't done in 40 some odd years of serious bike riding:  on Saturday I took the wheels to a bike shop and paid to have the tires changes.  The wrench at Bike Doctors said that the shape of the rims -- '70s era -- and the tight bead on the new tires made it tough.  He used a special mountain bike tire tool -- looked like a regular head screw driver, with a 1 1/2" spread -- and got them done.  So that should mean a nice Sunday morning ride, right?

WRONG!!  About two miles from the house, my left pedal became disengaged from the crank.  At first I thought the pedal spindle cracked -- which shouldn't happen on modern Ultegra pedals -- but that wasn't it.  The pedal simply came unscrewed.  I couldn't get a bight without a pedal wrench, so I did a "single leg drill" home, pedaling with my right leg.

The frustration continued when I got home -- it looks like the thread in the crank has been stripped a bit, and I couldn't get the pedal back on.  So, although I spend a bunch of time with my bike this weekend, I rode only about four mile.

But enough complaining.  Here are some quick notes on RAGBRAI, which was the last full week of July.  Seven days of riding with Team Joy Ride, about 540 miles -- the projection was off by a solid hundred miles.  Started in Sioux City and ended in Dubuque.  I jotted these down on my iPhone notepad, which kept erasing things.  So these are pretty random.  Note that the average speeds reflect time spent rolling slowly through towns and walking the bike.  This is a ride, not a race.

• Sunday, 73 miles, 14.6 avg, some climbing out of the Missouri River valley.  Brad & Darla our hosts on Storm Lake.  Cheap tequila and Tom, the Jedi, taking them for team team.  Boat ride on a sweet Donzi.  "What kind of engine have you got?"  "A black one."
• Monday, 105 miles, 16.9 avg, with the Karras Loop.  Rode fast, all day with Greg.  Pancakes for breakfast, German Chocolate cake for dinner dessert.  Algona with the 'BRAI veterans-- "the best years were 1985 to 1992."
• Tuesday, 66 miles, 14.9 avg, windy and hot (THI 105, they say), and then "cobbles."  Rode with Gail, Phyllis, and Suzanne.  Spent the night in Clear Lake at Lori's place -- she delivered phone books to earn some cash.  Fresh salad with dinner.  Spin Doctors and Buddy Holly Boulevard. 
• Wednesday, 55 miles, 15.6 avg.  Solo day.  Kelly's Pie, berries supreme and blueberry.  Fresh salad for dinner two days in a row -- this is RAGBRAI???  Charles City, at Jack's farm -- 80 years old and still a long haul trucker, 15,000 miles a month, with a tricked out Harley Soft Tail.  Pygmy donkeys and goats.
• Thursday, 88 miles, mostly with Greg.  Waterloo -- suburbs.  Saw Jason from TJR 2, finishing med school at Iowa.  Dinner at a real restaurant -- great piece of fish.
• Friday, 66 miles, mostly with Gail in the morning and Greg in the afternoon.  Heavy rain in the morning, waited most of it out at McDonalds with Gail, Phyllis and Suzanne.  Lots of nice town folks happy to see us.  Gail and I rode for about 20 miles in the rain, then the sun came out and the wind picked up.  Best pie on RAGBRAI:  Reformed Baptist Church, strawberry rhubarb (of course).  
• Saturday, 54 miles, hilly -- Potter Hill, a mile long with grades between 6% and 12%.  Most people walked it, I didn't but it wasn't pretty.  Some big hills after that, with some screaming descents.  Then it's "Take Me to the River" and back to St. Louis.

Catching Up

Well, it certainly has been a while.  Finally made it out to Easton the weekend of July 10, after being on the western shore for several weeks.  That doesn't mean I wasn't cycling -- far from it.  June 26/27 was Bike Virginia, or at least the first two days of it, out of Staunton (pronounced, as I was repeatedly reminded, "Stanton") with Christine, Art, Alison, and Alison's 72 year old dad, Phil (who KICKED our butts).  Two days of "Triple H" riding -- hazy, hot, and HILLY.  Day 1 was 58 miles west of town, in the foothills along Skyline Drive -- absolutely beautiful terrain, and decent enough shade.  The hills were tough, but manageable -- the long hills weren't too steep, and the steep hills weren't too long.  We finished relatively strong and had a nice small-town dinner.

Sunday was a shorter rider -- 50 plus -- to the east, with much warmer temperatures (high close to 100 degrees).  The terrain wasn't as pretty -- much more of a tour of the suburbs, with less shade and several walls we had to climb.  Used the granny gear a few times -- as I say, I don't use it much, but when I do I'm really glad I have it.   I headed home after the ride, so I didn't do the full five days.  But the full Bike VA is something I'll consider next year, particularly if I don't do RAGBRAI.

The following weekend started with my 60th Birthday and ran through the 4th of July.  Very hot again.  Rode both Sunday and Monday mornings, early -- pre-7 am start both days, to beat the heat and get home before the Takoma Park 4th of July Parade.  We all wore red suspenders in memory of Ernie Weisman, and the parade had a nice float in honor of both Ernie and David.

And finally, back to Easton the following weekend, thank goodness.  I woke up Saturday morning to lightening and thunder -- a true gully washer, with white caps on Jack's Cove.  The weather cleared a bit during the afternoon, and by Sunday it was a perfect day for a ride --  the morning started with a bit of crispness to it, with enough cloud cover to keep things relatively cool.  In contrast to many other Eastern Shore rides, I saw quite a few serious road riders -- and spent some time chatting with a couple of them.  The first was a guy who hammered by me on the Oxford Road, riding a Cervelo tri bike.  He slowed down after he passed me, and I thought he might be having a mechanical problem.  Instead, he'd notice my IF and wanted to talk about steel bikes.  We rode together for a number of miles -- at a considerably faster pace than usual for me -- and then split up.

After the Island Creek loop, I rode with a woman into Trappe.  She was heading up to Tunis Mills; I might have joined her except (frankly) she was riding a bit too slow for me.  So I headed through Trappe, across Route 50 along my "western Talbot" route.  This time I added a wonderful new loop -- I went out Barber Road, and instead of turning left on Bambery, I stayed straight out the Jamaica Point Road, to Schoolhouse, and then back on Chancellor Point Road.  This loop added 6 beautiful, very isolated miles -- plus something I'd hadn't seen before on the Eastern Shore:  large fields of sunflowers, which brought back memories of those great stages of the Tour de France through the sunflowers.  After the loop, I wandered home, taking different turns than usual -- a left on Manadier, across Rt. 50 at a different point.  Overall a great 60 mile ride, getting ready for RAGBRAI.