No disagreement

Bill Baka wrote:
Kind of like last year when my bottom bracket spit out all of its
bearings. I tried using the bike as a scooter, standing on one pedal
and jumping/pushing with the other but that got old so I called
the wife. Another time a pedal flat snapped off so I could not
even play scooter. You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.

True enough for components, but does NOT apply to tubes. It's simply
idiotic to not carry basic flat-repair items.

Bill "riding around the block possible exception" S.

On 2004-10-21, Bill Baka wrote:

You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.

Indeed they do. On a loaded camping tour of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I
had my stem break in Porcupine Mountains State Park. Nearest bike shop
was in Houghton, 70 miles away. I was all set to hitchhike to Houghton to
buy a new stem, when a sagged tour group and support van pulled into the
campground. I lucked out and was able to buy a stem from them, but you
can't count on that happening when you need it.

--

-John )

Bill Baka wrote in message ...

Kind of like last year when my bottom bracket spit out all of its
bearings. I tried using the bike as a scooter, standing on one pedal
and jumping/pushing with the other but that got old so I called
the wife. Another time a pedal flat snapped off so I could not
even play scooter. You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.
Bill Baka

Yep, lots of things can break, but most do so rarely. I split a BB
shell once, locking up the cranks. Fortunately I was on my way home
and only a mile or so out. How much I carry on the bike depends on
where I am going, and type of trip. If I am overnighting or longer, I
carry more tools; but the only spare parts I carry are a chain and
some spokes. My normal kit is flat repair plus some allen wrenches
and a screwdriver. A lot of my regular rides are into the hills
around me; I live at 43 ft elevation, the hills go up to over 3000, so
I am usually riding at higher elevations than home. My 'plan' if
something breaks that does not disable the rolling capability of the
bike is to use gravity: coast downhill as much as possible and get to
a train station. I live right across the street from a train station,
so it makes an effective SAG strategy :-)

- rick

On 21 Oct 2004 15:49:59 -0700, (Rick Warner)
wrote:

Bill Baka wrote in message ...

Kind of like last year when my bottom bracket spit out all of its
bearings. I tried using the bike as a scooter, standing on one pedal
and jumping/pushing with the other but that got old so I called
the wife. Another time a pedal flat snapped off so I could not
even play scooter. You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.
Bill Baka

Yep, lots of things can break, but most do so rarely. I split a BB
shell once, locking up the cranks. Fortunately I was on my way home
and only a mile or so out. How much I carry on the bike depends on
where I am going, and type of trip. If I am overnighting or longer, I
carry more tools; but the only spare parts I carry are a chain and
some spokes. My normal kit is flat repair plus some allen wrenches
and a screwdriver. A lot of my regular rides are into the hills
around me; I live at 43 ft elevation, the hills go up to over 3000, so
I am usually riding at higher elevations than home. My 'plan' if
something breaks that does not disable the rolling capability of the
bike is to use gravity: coast downhill as much as possible and get to
a train station. I live right across the street from a train station,
so it makes an effective SAG strategy :-)

- rick

Good plan...but would you skip/miss a ride b/c you didn't have an essential
item on hand? "No spare tube; can't ride today!" lol.

Ya know there are competitions where smart people pay to ride and lug their
bikes, called Eco-challenges. Got 5 bucks? A quarter? A thumb, winning
smile and nice quads and calves? ;-D No big deal.

-B

You know what I think about benters, so I won't repeat
myself, other than to say, even if those contraptions didn't
make you look silly, they are very dangerous, unstable, and
very slow.

Fab, I have seen you post many times on the recumbent newsgroup (which
makes me respect you a lot more than I would otherwise) but I do
wonder what you are doing there. What gives? I suspect you wouldn't
give a bent rider the time of day as they pass you when out training,
why the interest in the NG?

Mort

On 21 Oct 2004 15:49:59 -0700, (Rick Warner) wrote:

Bill Baka wrote in message ...

Kind of like last year when my bottom bracket spit out all of its
bearings. I tried using the bike as a scooter, standing on one pedal
and jumping/pushing with the other but that got old so I called
the wife. Another time a pedal flat snapped off so I could not
even play scooter. You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.
Bill Baka

Yep, lots of things can break, but most do so rarely. I split a BB
shell once, locking up the cranks.

Please, how the hell does that happen?

Ron

Fortunately I was on my way home
and only a mile or so out. How much I carry on the bike depends on
where I am going, and type of trip. If I am overnighting or longer, I
carry more tools; but the only spare parts I carry are a chain and
some spokes. My normal kit is flat repair plus some allen wrenches
and a screwdriver. A lot of my regular rides are into the hills
around me; I live at 43 ft elevation, the hills go up to over 3000, so
I am usually riding at higher elevations than home. My 'plan' if
something breaks that does not disable the rolling capability of the
bike is to use gravity: coast downhill as much as possible and get to
a train station. I live right across the street from a train station,
so it makes an effective SAG strategy :-)

- rick

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 22:53:12 -0400, Ronsonic unknown wrote:

On 21 Oct 2004 15:49:59 -0700, (Rick Warner)
wrote:

Bill Baka wrote in message
...

Kind of like last year when my bottom bracket spit out all of its
bearings. I tried using the bike as a scooter, standing on one pedal
and jumping/pushing with the other but that got old so I called
the wife. Another time a pedal flat snapped off so I could not
even play scooter. You can only carry so much stuff. Maybe a trailer
with a whole spare bike? Things break down when THEY want to,
not when it is convenient for the rider.
Bill Baka

Yep, lots of things can break, but most do so rarely. I split a BB
shell once, locking up the cranks.

Please, how the hell does that happen?

Ron

Things break the way they want and it does not have to be in a
logical fashion. If a car throws a rod it is locked, happened to
me once for not watching oil level. Point being, if something
can go wrong it will and probably at the worst possible time.
When my bottom bracket went, it all fell out and any attempt
at pedaling would cause the chain to come off one side or the
other since the angle could change 30 degrees or so.
It is called Murphys law.
Bill Baka

Fortunately I was on my way home
and only a mile or so out. How much I carry on the bike depends on
where I am going, and type of trip. If I am overnighting or longer, I
carry more tools; but the only spare parts I carry are a chain and
some spokes. My normal kit is flat repair plus some allen wrenches
and a screwdriver. A lot of my regular rides are into the hills
around me; I live at 43 ft elevation, the hills go up to over 3000, so
I am usually riding at higher elevations than home. My 'plan' if
something breaks that does not disable the rolling capability of the
bike is to use gravity: coast downhill as much as possible and get to
a train station. I live right across the street from a train station,
so it makes an effective SAG strategy :-)

- rick




--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Ronsonic wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:10:45 GMT, Blair P. Houghton wrote:

Rick Warner wrote:
And to answer the obvious follow-on, yes I rode in those conditions
this year, part of the 6000 miles so far, less than anticipated due to
being off bike for 6 weeks for a broken hand after getting hit by a
wrong way cyclist. Rode 45 miles with 4500 ft of climbing in the rain
yesterday, with 20 pounds of baggage on the bike. Rode over a pass in
the Alps in snow flurries at 9000ft+ this summer with 35 pounds of
baggage, after holding back for a day due to heavy snow. And I have
done long stretches (15+miles) up the coast into 20-30 mile per hour
headwinds, part of 100 mile days. Riding into 15-25 mile headwinds is
just normal, part of the everyday scene.

Reread what I wrote. It wasn't about the wind. It was about
the way assholes don't show up on the road.

BTW, I had a flat tire this morning and had to carry my bike home
after only 20 minutes of riding.

So my day sucked more than your year.

Having read several of your other posts, I'm inclined to believe that a lot of
your days suck worse than most anyone else's years.

Even the best of them have to be spent in your company.

Today was pretty good. Until I noticed you following me up.

--Blair
"Then it sucked until about
four seconds from now, when
I'll forget you again."

Cheto wrote:

"Blair P. Houghton" wrote in message
. ..

BTW, I had a flat tire this morning and had to carry my bike home
after only 20 minutes of riding.

Huh? Why didn't you simply repair or replace the tube with the most basic
flat repair tools that ANY cyclist with an iota of common sense ALWAYS
carries. You do carry flat repair tools, don't you?

Nope. I ride close enough to home I don't need to.

I'll pack more stuff when I start extending my rides,
but since my rides are designed as cardio exercise
rather than race or distance training (so far) that
isn't yet in the plan.

--Blair
"You carry a patch kit on your trainer?"

Rick Warner wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:06:04 GMT, Blair P. Houghton wrote:

Rick Warner wrote:
On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 05:39:11 GMT, Blair P. Houghton wrote:

Fighting a killer headwind* on the flats today I passed another
rider, quite slowly, and asked "don't you just love the wind?"

"It's the best," he replied.

Makes you wonder how people who post about riding can end
up being fractious bozos who won't agree with anything
reasonable even though they're not trying to torpedo
through 15 mph gusting to 25...

Try 25 gusting to 40 with rain falling at up to 1"/hour. Then write
back.

You're the sort I was talking about.

Hmmm, since I do ride through wind, rain and everything else I do not
fit the final criteria in your list, probably others as well.

You ride through wind, rain, and everything else while you're
being an asshole on the Internet?

--Blair
"Post pictures of your winnebiko."