Sunday, November 06, 2005

Don Valley Ride


Now back to talking about me. The blog really can be the ultimate in self involvement.

Today I added a bunch of lights on my bike and really wanted to get outside in the beautiful weather this afternoon. I was ready to ride down to the lake, then ride back in the dark on the bike paths. This would give me a good chance to test out my new lighting setup, which consisted of a new Halogen light on the front, to complement my flashing white LED light; and new second flashing red LED light on the rear.

You can see that I'm running out of space. Probably not the best solution.



About 7 kilometres into my ride I started to crank hard up a hill when I heard the strangest grinding, mashing noise. My pannier strap had gotten caught in my chain. This caused my derailleur cogs to get jammed then pull all the way around to the top of my hub. The whole thing looked so out of place, I felt like I was looking at a photograph of someone with their elbow bent backwards. My derailleur is now cracked and my bike is totally out of commission. My wife came and rescued me in her car, since I was too far away to walk and nowhere near the subway.

This will force me to get a few things done I’ve been putting off for months now. One: get my chain and rear hub changed. My chain is so stretched, you can see it easily just by looking at the front chain ring where the teeth only match up with the chain part of the way around. Two: I’m going to go see if I can get my mountain bike into commuting condition. My mountain bike doesn’t have a rack right now, and it doesn’t have the holes built in for bolting a rack on. I’ll have to do a bit of figuring out for this. Better get started.



Darren J 11/06/2005 08:38:00 p.m.

5 Comments:

I'm glad someone got out yesterday for a ride. I intended to catch the short TBN ride at Finch, but there was thunder and lightning happening as I left. I elected to do some work around the house, instead.

In terms of your lights, you might consider one of those 'swing grip' things. I usually one use a single light at the front, but I generally ride on streets with lots of lighting after dark.

What a bummer about the problems with your bike. I think there are racks made for bikes without eyelet (Old Man Mountain?). Alternatively, you could get one of the larger Carradice saddlebags. You'll have to order it from the US though, as I haven't been able to find any Canadian companies that carry them.
Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:50 a.m., November 07, 2005  
Too bad about the bike, but nice photos! Is that first photo Rosedale Valley Road, or somewhere else? Nice light set-up. I should probably add a halogen on mine too, as I've just got a flashing LED... but the streets here are pretty well lighted.
Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:10 a.m., November 07, 2005  
I just noticed that my picture of the screwed up derailleur didn't get posted. I don't know what happened there. I'll put it up tonight.

I noticed the Carridice bag on your site, AJR. I'd never heard of it before, but it looks like a really good idea.

The halogen light I added is very low quality. I'd like to put a better one on. The reason I installed it was more for being seen since the roads are wel lit where I ride. I wanted a back up for my flashing LED light, and I figured it's good to have two different sort of colours. Plus two lights might help with depth perception for the drivers.

Later last night I set all my lights up on my mountain bike, which has much more room on the handle bar.
Blogger Darren J, at 11:45 a.m., November 07, 2005  
Joe, that's the road behind Sunnybrook that leads down the hill into the park. I doubt it has a name.
Blogger Darren J, at 11:47 a.m., November 07, 2005  
My rear-light is either faulty or the batteries suck. That's why I bought the Turtle Lights last week. The road - ah... the one through Wilmot Park or whatever it's called?
Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:53 p.m., November 07, 2005  

Add a comment