Broken Bike, again.

I was 17km into the ride this morning when I lost another spoke on the rear wheel.

I was NOT going over bumps. I was NOT going over train tracks. I was NOT going down a hill, or even going that fast, or swerving, or etc. It was a level, smooth, country road (Vanneck Rd just north of 9 Mile Rd, for the local folks) when I heard a "ping!". I stopped and found that a spoke had snapped off just below the head (where it attaches to the rim.)

I was not impressed. This is the 3rd spoke that I've lost on that wheel in the past month (since the wheel was rebuilt after the rim blowout.) I just had one fixed last week.

I'm probably going to be inquiring about replacing the entire wheel.

Anyone from Kona, Trek, or Rocky Mountain Bikes out there want to offer me a deal on a new bike?

Please?

Sigh.

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On the upside I want to take a moment to recommend The Bicycle Tutor website to anyone out there who wants to work on their bike. This guy has produced dozens of brief, well done, clear, simple videos on his website that cover everything from how to lube your chain, to adjusting gears, adjusting seat height, removing wheels, and so on. Excellent resource.

I Just Don't Get Some Folks...

This morning I took a pretty short ride - a 35km loop. On the way back, over the course of 15km I met three people riding along with their bike helmet dangling from their handlebars.

What's up with that?

I understand folks who choose not to ride with a helmet. I understand kids who remove their helmet once they're out of sight of Mom, or just forget to put it back on after playing at the park. But these three were adults... I'm at a loss to explain that one.

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Had another odd week for training. Broke a spoke Monday, the store was too busy on Tuesday, dropped the bike off Wednesday, picked it up Thursday... so that is three days with no riding. And I had just committed myself to riding every day from now until the tour. Sigh. What can you do?

And on top of that, on Friday I did a 45km loop and my left knee/shin started giving me grief again the last 5km. Argh. My friend Pieter then loaned me his MTB to just see if a different bike/fit/etc would make a difference. I dunno. 35km this morning and all was well. I think I'll try swapping between the two bikes for the next couple days to see how things progress. (Pieter's bike has no mirror... I keep looking at my left hand out of habit, but no mirror there. Drives me nuts!)

Convenient Accident

Had a minor scare on Saturday... Four of us were out west of London doing a ~110km loop. We were heading home and getting to within 20km of the end. My left shin was again complaining, which was not nice.

I crossed a double set of train tracks, and they were on the bumpy side. Suddenly there was a snap, and a clatter, and my bike seat fell out from under me. Visions of jagged metal under my ... uh seat sprang into my thoughts and I quickly took my weight on my pedals and stood up as I braked. My bike seat was on my rackpack, and the pieces that held it to the seat post were rolling around on the ground. It turns out that the bolt that holds it all in place had snapped completely in two.

But this is what cell phones were invented for, after all, so I called home to tell Heather to come and get me ..... and got our voicemail. No one there.

But hey, we know some folks from church who only live a couple km away ..... but my fellow rider Albert told me they were on vacation.

Not knowing exactly what to do, I gathered up the pieces and the four of us started cycling along slowly, as I pedaled standing up. Then came a providential surprise, as not even 200 meters down the road we passed a Honda Equipment dealer/garage that was open. We showed the guy our snapped bolt and and he quickly produced a bolt with a matching thread, and loaned me a wrench to snug it down tightly (It was just a regular bolt, not one designed for a bike, or for bike tools.)

No charge, just a smile. We are in the hands of providence! We had rolled through many, many, km of open countryside where we would have had real fun trying to solve this, but instead the breakdown happened in exactly the right place.

Biking Safety / Riding Two Abreast

Biking Safety / Riding Two Abreast

Biking Safety has been on my mind a bit lately. In part this started with the accident in Manitoba (see back a few blog posts.) and our discussion with the TV news crew. But also, our experiences on various rides and our treatment by various motorists brought this to the forefront of my thoughts. In particular, my friend (and fellow C2C rider) Pieter and I have been talking a lot about this.

I'm sure all of us have had our fair share of run-ins with motor vehicles. Whether an undeserved toot on the horn, or a truck that passes too closely, or even some unkind words yelled at us... I'm sure we've all gotten some of that. It's too bad, as the vast majority of drivers do pass us with perfect courtesy, but it is the others we remember.

Last week, four of us were out on a 100km ride, on quiet paved back country roads, training for the East leg of the Sea To Sea tour. As such, we were riding two abreast. This allows us to talk and fellowship together as we ride. We were passed by a pair of motorcycles, one of whom slowed down and yelled at our lead biker that we were "all over the road".

The truth is, we weren't. We were within one lane, and in that lane we were riding on the right hand side of that lane. But we were riding two abreast.

Both Pieter and I have since put in some reading and researching and googling to find out more on this. And I thought I'd pass along some of what we found.

First off, two abreast bicycle riding is perfectly legal in Ontario.

Don't take my word for it, go to the Ministry of Transportation's Cycling Safety web pages and see for yourself. It makes no mention of a prohibition against two abreast cycling. The Can-Bike II safety course manual also makes no mention of two abreast cycling.

The ministry guide summarized bike safety like this:

1. Slower traffic stays right
2. Slower traffic must give way to faster traffic when safe and practical

"Accordingly, cyclists should ride one meter from the curb or close to the right hand edge of the road when there is no curb, unless they are turning left, going faster than other vehicles or if the lane is too narrow to share."

In other words, you are entitled to the entire lane IF you feel that your safety warrants taking it. (This is partly based on other bits and pieces I read there and in other locations, not just on the above quotation.)

Another good document on this subject was written by Avery Burdett of the Ottawa (Ontario) Bicycle Club. (Follow the link to read up on his run-ins with a police officer on this very topic.)

And one more from the Ottawa Bicycle Club here: Group Riding Introduction
In particular I found this section of that document very informative:

"The default formation is double file, changing to single file if traffic and road conditions dictate, provided that doing so does not imperil the safety of the pack. Riding double file is the traditional format for cycling groups-it permits easy conversation with other riders, uses the road space efficiently, and minimizes the overall size of each pack."

-ALSO-

"If motorists are experiencing difficulty passing the pack because of heavy and continuous traffic in the opposite direction, the pack leader will decide whether conditions merit changing to single file. The key factor is the width of the roadway or lane. It may be safer to hold up traffic if there is insufficient width for it to pass comfortably. Riding single file may not benefit either cyclists or motorists -- it doubles the length of the pack and this could make passing more hazardous because of poor sight distances." (emphasis added)

Well, lots to know. I just wish that all motorists would also be reminded of this. Especially the three drivers who honked their horns at me today, as well the two large trucks who passed me without giving me (IMHO) a safe amount of clearance.

Oh and just for our non-Ontario readers, let me add a bit more.

I also found this other document. This document is again from Ottawa (active cyclists up there, I guess) and primarily dealt with a local bylaw prohibiting two-abreast cycling, which they repealed. However, it also provided a bit of background information that covered other locations around the world.

For instance:

• European countries and Australia permit two abreast cycling. The UK Highway Code states "when cycling, do not ride more than two abreast".
• Eight Provinces and two territories explicitly forbid two abreast cycling. Ontario and Saskatchewan have no specific rule. (wow, lucky I live in Ontario!)
• Although it was not possible in carrying out our research to obtain information on every US state law, we found that most states permit side by side cycling. Virginia is the only state known to forbid the practice. "State laws are generally based on the Uniform Vehicle Code & Model Traffic Ordinance (revised 1987) published by the US National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances. It states "persons riding two abreast shall not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, and on a laned roadway, shall ride within a single lane".

And once again what started as a simple idea to write a short article about safety and two-abreast cycling has grown into a huge document. I hope you learned something, I know I did!

Safe Driving! (And Safe Cycling as well.)

I took this photo this morning... Bells are required by law in Ontario, but mirrors are not... curious. I think everyone should have a mirror on their bike.

Things I learned reading SeaToSea blogs...

Dave Raakman, communications manager for the seatosea tour has reported that web traffic to the CRCNA web page is way up. So I know that I'm not the only one who is visiting there a lot to see the progress of the tour.

Since I don't get to join the tour until Grand Rapids, this is how I vicariously "participate" in the tour. So this is what I've learned during the past week...

1. David Tietsma takes a LOT of photos, and better yet, posts them on flickr for us to see.
2. Eritia Smit is the "fastest girl" on the tour, according to Joshua Krabbe.
3. Gayle Harrison likes "Wild Life".
4. Someone keeps forgetting to ask their hosts to turn off the sprinkler systems.
5. Cynthia Aukema likes riding in a pace line, but doesn't want to be the leader.
6. Seems like you can't avoid flat tires, but if -- no, make that when -- you do get one, odds are you'll soon have a half-dozen folks parked beside you helping. Good Samaritans abound on tour.
   
7. Lots of folks write about not being in a race and wanting to slow down and enjoy... but still I keep reading about people who are so excited to be averaging 30-40km/h (18-25mph)
8. Alarm clocks seem to wake up everyone else except the person who set them.
9. SAG vehicles are often stalked with dropjes (no word on if they've got "double-zout" or not).
10. It only took 6 days and already the tents are organized in "snoring" and "non-snoring" sections.
11. Speaking of 6 days later... 10:30pm is now considered late. Even by the 18-25s. Some folks chose bed over fireworks due to that.
12. ONE shopping trip to Costco by the cook staff runs $4000. No word on how many days that provides...
13. McDonalds has wireless internet. But it ain't free. (no Starbucks around there, folks?)
14. Root Beer Floats Rock.
15. Everyone... Everyone wanted a photo of that "no fireworks" sign in Stevens pass. (Okay, maybe it really was the elevation sign...)
    

On The News / On the Road

(this is a two-part post...)

Part the first

Yesterday, Jun 30, the seatosea officially got going in Seattle. I wished I was there.

However, in another part of the country, there was tragedy. In western Manitoba, a quartet of cyclists who were cycling across the country to try to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes were struck by a car, leaving 2 dead, and one still in hospital. They were on the Trans-Canada Highway (a 2 lane road, despite the name) which in that particular area has no paved shoulder.

I knew none of this at the time. Like many other people I was sitting at my computer, trying to watch the live satellite feed of the tire-dipping ceremony. I say trying, because they apparently had technical issues and there was no video. At the same time I was visiting the track-the-tour page to see their position according to the GPS unit that a cyclist is carrying each day.

Then the phone rang, and when I picked it up I was speaking with Sarah McGrath from the local A-channel evening news. She told me about the above tragedy, and as she had learned earlier about the Sea-To-Sea tour, she wanted to to talk with some other cyclists who were planning/participating-in a charity ride.

One thing led to another, and to make a long story short, in about an hour I drove out to (fellow cyclist) Pieter Pereboom's house and met Sarah there with her cameraman Jerry. We talked about the sea to sea tour, about what we knew of the safety precautions that our tour was using, as well as about the cause, and multiple other related topics. and of course, we talked about the terrible accident in Manitoba.

Despite the tragic circumstances, it was a great conversation, and some good publicity for the tour. It turns out that Sarah is herself a long distance cyclist, and while we did not convince her to join us on our planned ride the next day (more on that later) we did invite her to join us on August 21 and cycle into London from Chatham. She seemed quite interested in that -- we suggested that while she rides, they could have a camera crew driving along and filming and all that. Who knows what will come of it, but it was fun to plant the seed!

They gave us a fair bit of coverage on the 6 o'clock news, including throwing up the seatosea.org website address, which was very cool.

I do not have a digital connection to my TV, and neither did they put it up on Youtube, so you'll have to be satisfied with some snapshots that I took of the TV while I paused the tape. ;-)

Part The Second

Today is July 1, Canada Day, and a holiday here in Canada. With permission from our lovely wives, Pieter, John deVries, Mike Talsma, and I, got up early to drive a metric century.

This one:


We met up at 7am and headed SW of London. Our destination was Glencoe, a small hamlet about 55km away from us. We planned out a nice loop, on quiet paved country roads, and had a great ride on the whole.

Once in Glencoe, we turned around and came back into London using the planned route that the Sea To Sea tour will follow on August 21. And we can report that it is a pretty nice ride. There is only about 4km that is on a somewhat-busy street. All the rest of it is on nice quiet paved backcountry roads. Well done, Ed Witvoet!

I did bust a spoke at about the 40-45 km mark on the ride out. On the back wheel that I had just had fixed. I suspect that the problem was my recently removed kickstand -- I had removed it as it had gotten jammed in and bent a spoke. The wheel had a slight wobble to it after the spoke snapped, but I just wound the broken spoke around it's neighbour to keep it out of the way and we pressed on. Time to visit the bike shop again!

The total ride was about 108km for me, averaging 24 km/h(!), with a total ride time of about 4:36 in the saddle. Riding in a group sure makes the distance shorter. My left shin started acting up a bit again at the 75km mark, but didn't get too bad. I tried adjusting my cleat on that cycling shoe, perhaps that helped, as it didn't get any worse after that point.

And that's all for today. You can now go back to browsing the blogs of the riders who are already on the seatosea tour...