Wednesday, April 12, 2006

BIKE CRISIS

Scheduled today for an easy 45-min ride. How easy can it get? So I get my bike out of the truck where it's been for the 2 days we've been here. Get out the front wheel that was removed for transport. Put the wheel on.

No go. It's like the brakes are slammed on. Wheel won't move. Even with the brake-release thingie open (that you open to take the wheel off) it rubs.

I take it off. I check the brake pad positions. I mess with the brake/shifter lever. It's full of dust and grit under the lever hood. I clean it out with spray-can air and a baby-nipple brush. I put the wheel back on. No go. It's like the brakes are slammed on. The brake lever won't move. It must have gotten jammed up during transport or something. Steve can't figure out what's wrong either. The rub is not only in the brakes, it's up under the inside of the fork. Like something's bent that repositioned the relationship of the wheel to the fork, or something. What the h#ll???

I can't ride my bike. It's dead. I go inside, take off my bike clothes, put on my "civvies." We're going to see more of the views and vistas here in southeast Utah. My bike is trashed. I'm in tears. It was only an easy-spin recovery ride, no big deal to miss .... but my bike is dead. I killed it storing it in the truck bed with all kinds of junk jamming against it during travel. It's all bent up or something. We'll be in Denver this weekend.... I can get it serviced there. Hopefully.

I fish in the truck for the bike-lock-cable. In case someone tries to steal my dead bike while we're out touring the valleys. While I'm finding the cable, Steve is puzzling over the bike. I come back with the lock, and he says, "I know what's wrong." Oh, yeah? You know what my bike died of?

"This isn't your wheel. It's mine." Steve's wheel. To his humongous heavyweight touring bike. Fat tires. Yeah, they don't fit into my fork or between my brake pads in the open position. They're big fat touring tires.

ROFLMAO!!!!

For pete's sake. I had been thinking, while messing with the wheel and brakes, geez, this tire's more worn than it should be, I just put on new ones last month, at least I thought I did; did I replace both of them or just the rear one after all those flats?

My own skinny hotsy Bontrager racing wheel is with its new Bontrager tire is still in the truck bed, next to Steve's bike. Switch the wheels. It spins like it's floating on air (especially since we just adjusted everything.)

45-minute easy ride, done.

12 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

If only all problems were so easily solved!

bari said...

ROFL! That's pretty funny, Ellie. Kinda sounds like something I would do. Glad you got your ride in.

Vickie said...

Easy fix. Lucky that's all it was, and you still got to ride! But when I have had the tight rubbing wheel, why is it not the wrong wheel but something else??

Holly said...

Oh Ellie .. I'm so glad you and Steve figured it out! What a crazy way to start an "EASY RIDE" day!

Dr. Iron TriFeist :) said...

HA! Well, at least everything turned out fine in the end. Keep riding!

Fe-lady said...

Funny how sometimes the obviouis is so invisible at times! Glad you got your ride in...must be pretty where you are! How about some photos!? :-)

Fe-lady said...

OBVIOUS...man I have got to check my stuff before I send it off!

Rachel said...

That's so funny. I do stuff like that all the time. It makes Jason very worried. One time, I was getting ready for our scuba diving lesson in the wee hours of the morning, and I accidentally used hair mousse as deodorant! We had a good laugh.

Kewl Nitrox said...

HA HA HA... Tooo Funny! Thanks for making me feel betta about my own goof ups. :)

Comm's said...

Ha, thats happened to me too. All that fret for such a little thing.

E-Speed said...

:) Glad you figured it out!

PuddyRat said...

You've been taking some terrific photos. I just love them. And I'm soooo glad your bike didn't die. What a tragedy that would be!