Inventory That Under the Saddle Bag

Like most recreational cyclists I carry some essentials repair items in an under the saddle bag.  Or at least I thought I did!  I usually have two or three tubes, a patch kit, a multitool, a leatherman, even some anti-chafing creme.  I also thought I had a roll of electrical tape.

You know where this is going, don't you?  I've been riding on a new rear wheel for the past three weeks.  I got a flat on it the first day I rode home with it, but chalked that up to bad luck.  Then yesterday on my commute I flatted in the morning and then again in the evening.  This time roadside in 96F/36C summer heat I pulled the tired entirely off the wheel determined to find the embedded piece of crap that had penetrated my kevlar belted Specialized Armadillos.  And then I saw it.  The rim tape was askew.  This exposed the bare metal holes for the spokes and that's what punctured my tubes.

OK, no problem.  That's why I have electrical tape in my bag.  No, I don't?  Fortunately, I use some old cut up mountain bike tubes as rubber bands.  They don't deteriorate over time.  Anyway, I cut them into strips, put them over the exposed spoke hole, and carefully put a replacement tube into place.  What do you know, that improvised boot got me home (around 13 miles of waiting for the other shoe to drop).  

Let this be a lesson, kids.  Inventory that under the saddle bag.  Do you have everything you think you have?  Is that tire cement dry?  Have some glueless patches just in case (I carry those to help out people w/other tube sizes)?

You never know what's going to be handy on the road.

A little rain, a lot of sun, a bunch of climbing

I work for a software company that still spoils its employees.  I can't help it if I'm lucky.  Part of this is free iced coffee in the office.  Part of it is a trip to the Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire.  This is a gorgeous old hotel nestled in the White Mountains next to the tallest point in the eastern United States.  I brought my bike and did a short ride. 

A view of the valley with the mountains in the distance form the hotel verandah 

Mountain passes in New Hampshire are called notches -- they look like notches in the mountains after all.  I left the hotel and rode toward Crawford Notch.  There was a stiff enough headwind that I had to put some effort into going downhill!  The weather also got weird.  It started out sunny and hot.  Then it got cloudy and sure enough, it started to rain very lightly.

Before leaving the hotel my manager reminded me to put on sunscreen

I saw these two cyclists stopped earlier - they were putting on their jackets.

I just wanted to dip my toes into the notch.  I did not want to ride too far down into it.

My bike and the scenic vista 

After stopping at the scenic vista for some photos, I turned around and biked back up the notch.  There was a stretch with just about no shoulder that really scared me.  Cars were passing at near highway speeds.  Fortunately, the drivers were courteous and gave me a very reasonable amount of room.

A little lake in the mountains

Then I turned off onto a seasonal road, Clinton Road.  It's not maintained in the winter.  And it didn't look too great in the summer either!  I think it was a very gradual uphill most of the way.

Finally it dumped out on the access road to the cog railroad.  This is a railway that goes up to the top of Mount Washington.  The sign said it was only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the cog railroad station.  I thought, what the heck.  So I rode up the road.  And I do mean UP.  Wow, it was a steep incline.  Meanwhile the weather had gone back to being super hot.  My bike computer said it was 94F/35C.  

I heard thunder in the distance.  A passing hiker told me he was glad he wasn't up on the summit.  Anyway, it was a really tough climb, but I made it up to the cog railway.  I can't imagine what it's like to do the Mount Washington Hill Climb ride.  I had one of my coffee pouch things from GU.  Kinda gross tasting, but I really needed the caffeine.

Then I did the six mile ride down the hill to the intersection with 302.  Very fast, very scary.  My legs were jelly anyway.  I rode back to the hotel and met up with my family.  You know, it was only a couple hours out on the bike, but wow it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading.  Keep the rubber side down.

July 4th weekend ride in Burlington VT

Why isn't Independence Day always a long weekend?  Can't we add or subtract days to June to make this happen?  

Anyway, for the 4th of July long weekend I went up to Burlington, Vermont.  The morning after arriving I jumped on my bike with the vague agreement that I'd meet up with the rest of my family later that day.

 

The packed gravel causeway. Fairly narrow in places.

We were staying in South Burlington.  I had a recollection that the bike path that goes along Lake Champlain goes to the islands in the lake.  This was a somewhat flawed memory, as it turned out.  Also, I had to bike through the Route 2/Route 89 interchange which turned out to be utterly terrifying. Anyway, I got through it & swore I would not bike through there again (meaning, I'd have to meet up with my family wherever their activity turned out to be and not back at the hotel).

After that and a somewhat more pleasant ride through Burlington, I made it to the bike path. Initially, it was packed with families and such. It made for slow going -- and of course you absolutely have to make a big effort to be careful & courteous around newbie/inexperienced cyclists. Particularly the kids who can be fairly unpredictable. Anyway, the traffic thinned out after a bit and the riding became quite a bit more tranquil. 

Oh, this is where there used to be a bike ferry I thought

Around here I had a funny interaction with another cyclist.  She was taking a selfie while rolling.  I was coming around her to pass & assured her I was not trying to photo bomb her selfie.  Later on, she passed me when I stopped to take a few photos and have a snack.  Later still when I caught up with her again, I asked her how much further the path went.  She told me it was quite a bit shorter than it turned out to be.  Not a big deal, but I thought I was already across "the causeway".  So when I family asked me where's the causeway, I said it was behind where I came from.  It wasn't.

As it turned out the causeway was indeed a narrow causeway that went out into the lake.  And, to my surprise, it dead ended at a bike ferry.  There was an hour wait for the ferry!  I felt fairly ill-used.  If I had done even a minimal amount of research I would have known this bike path dead ends and doesn't go directly to the Lake Champlain Islands.  oops.

Only 89 miles to Montreal and world class poutine.

So, I turned around and started cycling back towards Burlington.  I stopped at North Beach for an iced coffee.  My wife & daughter were off at a farm, so I set that as my destination and rode there.

Relaxing under the shade by North Beach

There's an active railroad line next to parts of the bike path

We have Stonehenge at home

I met up with a couple cyclists who assured me this was actually passable.

Google Maps' bicycle directions kind of sucked. They sent me along a closed section of road which was fortunately rideable, and then along a terrible "stroad" with no shoulder & fast moving traffic.

Finally, it got a bit better with a shoulder, and then it turned off into the kind of rural road that you expect to ride on in Vermont.

Is in my ears and in my eyes

Now this is Vermont cycling!

Finally, I got to the parking lot, found my car, and was just getting everything sorted out when my family finished their thing and came walking over.  I got an ice cream sandwich and was done for the day.  Cycling wise.