Category Archives: Travel

Break cable.

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5°C full sun with a lightening WSW.

False tracking.

Kona Jake: 44.7km, with mechanical problems. I headed out to the usual cafe but I broke a brake cable half way out (or so I thought). The front brake is crucial so some emergency thinking, do I: ride back, find a bike shop or ride to my place. I did the latter.

Cable disc brakes.

That mechanical was curious, it felt exactly like a broken cable. It’s been a long time since I had this, at least ten years. However, when I got it apart, the cable was fine, straight and free from corrosion. So I put it back in with oil in the sheath. All seems fine now.

Next concern: the rear tyre was soft when I did finally reach the café. They have some tools so I adjusted the brake levers and added pressure in the rear. It held as I hurried into the sun to get back. Those self sealing tubes did worked properly.

Jake: Cannock Chase,

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5°C, light cloud, muddy & cold. Still.

Kona Jake: this short but sweet. Even though my ankle was sore, it felt fine once riding even though the start was immediately a climb. Sunset is early around now (15.55) so I was.glad to get an hour’s ride. The whole time, I only saw half a dozen people. There was mud, mostly decaying leaves on the trails. Around the Rifle Range area, there were cleared forests and huge piles of trunks by the trail sides. Rifle Range Corner itself was closed by cones when I got to it from the north. The area will look different when the DofE season starts next year.

An excellent outing, worth the struggle to change in the changing robe.

Paddy Wagon: mechanicals.

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Kona Paddy Wagon, 14C, no rain but muddy, light SSE wind.

It has a new chain but it doesn’t ride well over the teeth. Under load, each tooth clicks.  I should have changed the rear cog (and I expect the chainring has gone also). Last time this happened, I couldn’t get the cog off with the chain-whip. Fixie cogs screw on, but as you ride them, the thread tightens. By tyhe time the teeth are worm out, the cog is too tight to remove. The bike shop had to practicaly break the cog off in a vice, it was that bad.

Furthermore, the rear tyre has a slow puncture that didn’t bubble in the bucket so I replaced the valve. Yet, it still slowly deflates.

November has been an odd month, it started and ended warm with an icy week 3. That makes acclimatising difficult.