2457 miles on the odometer.
Milestones: I am now in the Eastern Time Zone.
It's one thing to ask a human to pedal 4,500 miles across the country. What happens when you ask a bicycle to do it?
BIKE SHOPS
The bike shops, so far, generally have been few and far between, not well stocked, and lacking in expertise. When an issue arises with the bike, that can present a problem.
WHEELS AND TYRES (don't you just love the way the British spell Tires?)
In the course of this trip my wheels and tires will make nearly 3,000,000 revolutions. (Yes, sadly, I really did take the time to figure that out.) Together they support nearly 300 pounds of bike, rider and gear.
Tires: I am using a heavy touring tire, the Nimbus, made by Specialized, installed new for the trip. They are a wide tire, 35 mm, designed to carry the weight of a loaded touring bike. The tires, more than any other part of the bike, really take a beating! Besides supporting the weight and running long miles, they are exposed to torturous road conditions. Most of the riding is done on the shoulder of the road. This is where you find rocks, gravel, broken glass, and rumble strips. The bike tires have to deal with much more difficult conditions than a car tire would traveling the same route.
I carry 2 spare tubes, a tire patch kit, a tire boot (designed to fix a slash in the tire), tire levers to remove the tire from the rim, a collapsible spare tire, and an air pump.
How many flats have I had? Only one.
How are my tires holding up? Quite well, really. Bike tires, unlike car tires, do not come with mileage warranties. They don't last as long as car tires, but their longevity has been vastly improved. The back tire wears much faster than the front; most of the weight is back there. Over the course of the trip I have picked pieces of glass out of the tire that had become embedded in the rubber. This gets to be more of a problem as the rubber wears thinner. Only one has made its way through the tire casing (thus the flat tire). At about 1,800 miles (about half way to Burlington, Vermont where I'll meet Bev), I switched my front and rear tire to even the wear. How many miles will I get from this set of tires? I don't know, what am I some kind of fortune teller? How far do I guess? Hard to tell, but at 2,400 miles they don't look too bad. I'll try to get to Burlington on these and maybe have Bev bring me a set of tires from home for the lat 1,000 miles.
Wheels: The wheels I am using are also purpose-built for touring. The rims, spokes and hubs are all heavy duty, designed for the abuse of touring. Now, about those hubs (that's the part in the middle of the wheel that holds the axle, around which the wheel spins): When I switched my tires at 1,800 miles I discovered that I was barely able to move the axle in my front hub. Definitely not in rideable condition. The nearest bike shop was a day's ride away. What to do? Well, fortunately, I was riding with my friends Joe and Rhonda (remember Joe and Rhonda? If not, stop here and immediately read earlier posts!) who offered me the use of Rhonda's front wheel while she drove ahead to the next bike shop to have the wheel worked on. Unfortunately, Rhonda's wheel was a different size than mine so I had no brakes on my front wheel and more importantly, looked really silly. (I have since recovered from the embarrassment.) When I selected components for my bike I had two things in mind: durability and availability of parts. The hub I chose is a popular hub for touring. I felt good that it met both criteria. A hub should go thousands and thousands of miles without problems. The fact that this one failed so soon is definitely a problem. But more of a problem is the fact that replacement parts are not available. The shop I sent the wheel to did not have the replacement part I needed. They took the axle apart, cleaned out the metal shavings (not a good thing to discover in a hub) and re-greased the bearings with the warning that the parts were distressed enough that I had better find new parts to get me home. The next bike shop was four day's ride away in Duluth. I called ahead to see if they had the parts I needed and they assured me that they did. Turns out, they did not have the necessary parts and could not get them from their supplier. Seems as if the only place to get them is directly from the manufacturer. They did a little more work on the hub and wished me "good luck". So here I am, 2,000 miles from home, trying to decide what to do about this problem. Not what I expected when I made my purchase.
My bike with a "girly wheel"
CHAIN
On my bikes at home I have long used a wax based lubricant on my chains. Just before my trip I replaced my chain and gave it the proscribed treatment with this lubricant. My first day I rode 60 miles in the rain. By the end of the day my chain was squeaking like a rusty old Schwinn. Still another two day's ride to the next bike shop where I purchased some petroleum based lubricant which I have been using since. At 2,000 miles I replaced my chain because it had stretched out significantly (not unusual for that amount of mileage), together with the rear gear cluster. If you don't replace the rear gear cluster with the chain, often times the chain will skip because the gears on the cluster wear with the chain. This should get me home absent a break.
SHIFTERS
My shifters haven't been operating properly since Idaho. I think I could probably fix them but I haven't wanted to mess with them on the road since I can still use them all right as they are.
Heard enough whining? Actually, overall, I am very happy with the performance of my bike. Considering the miles and abuse, it really is quite remarkable how well it has performed.
No one wants to hear your filthy talk about "shifters", pal. Come on - kids could be reading this page.
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