Mt. Bike Now

For local trail riding, I’ve lately been using a fanny pack I picked up a couple shakes of lamb’s tail shy of twenty mtbing years ago. I strap it around my waist to hold a few things while out for an hour or so spin, sometimes when on the road too.

Remember back when fanny packs were used to hold keys, granola bars, a multi-tool, a patch kit and some cash? I never was one for stuffing things in jersey back pockets.

It was a few weeks back when I had one of those “ah-hah” moments: fanny pack. I went up to the attic and dug it out of a box. I got tired of strapping on a hydration pack for post-work unwinding. It didn’t seem necessary. I figured that if I had a major mechanical, I could walk home, as my local after-office rides aren’t typically more than a twenty minute or maybe a one hour stroll from home.

Anyway…I’m bringin’ back the fanny pack:

purty purple phlox

trail riding, nice april eve

post-ride beverage

cheers!

When I heard that ads were being placed on vagoscribe by the domain provider as a means to help pay their bills, I wasn’t pleased, to say the least.  Once confirmed, I immediatly paid the fee to keep this site ad-free, meaning you will not see any ads on any of the pages of vagoscribe.com  Sure, it’s a way for them to keep paying the bills, which keeps them up and running, providing a place for me to do this.  I understand that. 

What I do not want, though, is for my site to be associated with any particular brand, product, use, etc. If you do see an ad, please email me and let me know the date, time and webpage you saw it on.  You’ll also notice that no sponsors are listed on the site anywhere.  This is my site, and I don’t want to pay lip serivice to anyone’s stuff, having to mention a company or product in a writing piece. 

Happy 2012!  Here we go…

Here’s a wonderful story of how bikes improve the lives of girls living in India.  Not too often do we read something in the news, or see it on the television, and walk away feeling good.  I rarely post links on the site, but this is one I want to share:

How cycling set deprived Indian girls on a life-long journey

Enjoy the smile on your face after reading it!  Pass it on! 

Education is power.

To the chagrin of the American economy, local bike shop owners and online discount stores, I decided to forego buying a new set of pedals and instead went with Gorilla Glue-ing the Time that broke.  My reasoning went along the lines of something like:  one pedal is still good, it would only be a fifty percent needed investment, and why not take the ones off of the beater bike and put these on.  Oh…and the fact that the cleats that are in my shoes are rusted in, screws are stripped and there’s no way I can get them out!

All that led me to piecing the pedal back together and squeezing some big monkey magic onto the shattering point.   That was three days ago.  It seemed to work, so I mounted them onto the bike and went for a road ride this morning.

I wanted to get some miles on my legs before three days of Michaux riding over the upcoming weekend.  I headed north from town in the direction of the flooded Wabash.

I continued on to Prophetstown State Park.  The day was cold and bleak, but there were no winds, so the ride was warm.

To the back of the park, I went.  Then I pedaled back out to the front of the park, making my way back into town.

Nearly back in town, the train was warming up, getting ready to roll north on the rails towards Chicago.

The pedal held up fine.  I clipped in and out multiple times during the ride without any noticeable difference from using the pedal when it was not glued together.

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With the recent acquisition of a steel 29er singlespeed, I’ve been hearing things like:  steel is real, 29ers are the future…the future is now, singlespeed is the soul of biking.   It seems I’ve hit the mtb zealotry jackpot; I can be a member of several cults, if I want.

I seek only one membership.

Whether you’re riding 26 or 29 inch tires, steel or aluminum or titanium or carbon, 2×9 or a full rack of gears or a 2:1 ratio, the only thing that matters is that you’re riding your bike and that you’re not sitting on the couch.  The Mountain Biker Liberation Front doesn’t tax its mind with extolling the virtues of what is best.  Best doesn’t matter when you’re raising your heart rate while putting rubber to dirt.

Save the “this is better than that” talk to those that don’t get it.  MTBLFers know that in the end, it doesn’t matter.  We enjoy whatever ride is between our legs.  That’s what matters.

Join us?

MTBLF Manifestos (Dirt Rag)

Why We Ride
http://vagoscribe.com/2008/03/04/mtblf-manifesto-why-we-ride/
Let Us Be Sick
http://vagoscribe.com/2011/03/10/mtblf-manifesto-let-us-be-sick/

It’s time for the next edition of phone photodump- lots of fun photos, not enough time/content to blog them separately…

First, from the “cool bike shit” files, is this:

No, I didn’t get a new powermeter. I decided that since I’m gunning for a world championship in Cyclocross that I should be doing a majority of my training on my cyclocross bike. So, on Saturday, I took the Quarq off of my road bike and put my cyclocross chainrings on it. Yes… shit just got serious.
The only problem that I’m running in to is that Quarq recommends that you re-calibrate the slope for your powermeter when you change the rings. They provide a table for calculating this change. However, I had new rings installed from the beginning, and I don’t know if the slope was ever changed or not.  I might have to pull that crank and send it to them for calibration.

The RDO fork is pretty boss. Consider it a rigid fork multiplier… it makes everything that’s fun about riding rigid even more fun. It also makes everything that’s challenging about riding rigid a little more challenging.

I like ironing Ryan’s work clothes- especially when he brings me coffee and a pop tart.

Thor has discovered television.

Turbo, at the age of 10-ish, has discovered garbage.

Thor and Turbo also have a not-so-secret pact that he won’t bother her like he does the little dogs if she’ll allow him to snuggle on the dog bed.

Can you spot the terrier in this photo?

A late November, mid-afternoon sunlight shines softly through the leaf-less trees as I am finishing up on the new Green Valley trail.  I think of honey, and of the idea that God exists.  Forest grasses convert the sun’s rays and beam water-fed green colors back into the woods.  My legs are tired, three hours of rolling up and down the hills of Brown County and across that gnarly path called Schooner Trace.

When I started out from the north side of the newly bestowed IMBA Epic trail system, I had the thought of  ”ride ‘em all.”  The day’s forecast called for blue skies and 60s degree temperatures, pretty much perfect for an end-of-season ride.  I had on shorts, but layered the torso.

Taking the “lefts” out to the climb up Hesitation Point, I rode that roller coaster ride with a big smile on my face.  The warming air, but with cool breezes, the smell of the woods in late fall, the forest light, my breathing, pedaling fast, all reminded me of being a kid again.  Remember those afternoons of youth spent riding around town and through woodlots without a care of proper hydration and nutrition?

Find Your Flow

Hoosier MTB

Up HP went well, save a back tire spin-out on that tight right turn that requires a scoot over the tree root.  It had been a while since I hadn’t made it through, but it didn’t matter.  I crested out and crossed over the hard road, making my way down to Schooner.

I rolled through, or maybe I should say “bounced” over, the initial rocks at the entry way, but the quick switchback to the right got me again.  ”Gotta work on ‘trials-like riding’ for 2012,” passed through my mind.  I clipped back in and muscled down the trail, feeling good and happy to be off the main trails.  Approaching the next “crux,” I cleared the entry into the tight left downhill switchback, but didn’t quite have the line, and wasn’t able to pedal cleanly through it.

Continuing on, Schooner offered some humble-pie jabs, and a few of the off-camber downed logs had me jumping off my bike.  ”Maybe some day I’ll clean all of Schooner,” was a laughable thought, but still a goal.  The first section finished up and I crossed the hard road to part two.

I was home.  The backcountry riding feeling, the ravines, the rocks, the “cliffy-ness,” the rolling down in the hollers, seeing riders flying by on the trail above, Brown County’s Epic-ness was alive.  From burly to freaky fast trails, from riding with the community to a solo ride where a limited rescue factor requires that your technical skills be honed and polished, Brown County  really does have it all.

Back Schooner Way

Brown County Backcountry

Schooner Trace Trail, Brown County State Park, IN

Back up on the thoroughfare, I turned right and pumped my way to the campground where I grubbed a little and stretched a bit.  Not wanting to chill down, I clipped back in and again enjoyed the “pump track” for a while.  It seemed that HP was coming along at a decent clip, keeping to the “bee” line and not dropping back in on Schooner.  Let it be said:  that little stretch of trail between the Schooner trailheads may well be my favorite piece of BCSP.  It rolls, but it also punches you and could knock you down.  Some finesse and muscle are in order.

Out on HP again, I stopped to get a photo of my own of the “iconic” Brown County view:

Long Shadows, Hesitation Point, Brown County State Park, IN

On the way down HP, I stood off trail as two riders made their way up through one of the rocky sections.  The first guy took a fall, tumbling off to the side.  He said he was fine, though ego-bruised maybe.  I stood again as a group of four huffed-and-puffed their way up a little further down.  And then I was able to hammer to the bottom.

I turned the cranks to Green Valley, more rolling along.  My legs started to tire,  but the scenery around me fueled me back in the direction of my car.  Keeping left after Green Valley, I ended the day by sitting back and beach-cruising on Pine.  Never will I not take the opportunity to roll rubber tires through pine trees.  Quiet.  Soft.

Nearing the end of my dirt ride for the day, I offered a prayer of thank you and gratitude to HMBA and the people who built the trails, for coming back out without injury, and to the engineers that build bikes that allow me and others to spend long days riding trails over and through the hills of southern Indiana.

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***********

I was driving west on I-74 in Indiana on Sunday, October 2, going about 75 mph, when what I thought was a rock, cinder block, brick, something like that hit my car.  All in a split second or two, around 10:25 a.m., my brain processed the following:  I knew it couldn’t have been a rock because there was no overpass, I was in the middle of flatlands, no one was around, and no cars were near me.  I looked up at my rearview mirror and saw my bike somersaulting east on the highway and then bouncing into the grass median.  As I’m watching that aerial display, I realize that my back windshield is shattered and that my day of mountain biking Kickapoo in perfect fall weather was not going to happen.

I pulled over to the side of the road, and then called my wife while walking to gather my bike.  I picked it up and saw that it had bent handlebars, a gashed grip, a flat and ripped back tire and some damage to the seat.

Back at my car, I called 911 to have the police come to file a report so that it would be on record for the insurance company and for Thule.   While waiting for the police to arrive, I took some photos with my phone.  I noticed that the Big Mouth clamp/jaw was still locked.

Ten minutes later, the officer arrived and proceeded to get a softball bat from his trunk to knock the rest of the glass out of the frame, saying that I could drive it home like that if I wanted to do so.  He filed the report and gave me his card in case I got pulled over on the return trip home.  I got home forty-five minutes later.  My bike was in the passenger side Thule Big Mouth during the drive this time.

How did it happen?  To start, I knew for certain that both wheel straps were fastened in my driveway, as I’ve always done when transporting my bike.  I know without doubt that I secured the big clamp and locked it in my driveway, as I always do, even on trips across town.  From the time I pulled out of my driveway to when the incident took place, no one touched the bike rack.

Some relevant background:  It is pretty well-known that bikes can wiggle and shake a bit when on a roof rack, even when locked in a fork mount device, which some people think is more secure than the upright bike mounts.  Sometimes, and this has occurred with my rack, the wheel straps do come loose.  That was more likely to happen with the old version of the straps than the new ones.  I put new wheel straps on in 2010.

Here is what I think occurred:   The wheel strap at the front end of the bike tray near the front of the car somehow came loose.  That allowed the bike to sway a little and move forward some in the tray.  The locked Big Mouth clamp slid up on the down tube of my Cannondale Scalpel.  The bottom of the down tube is thicker than the top of the down tube.  With wind resistance, the bike was “pushed” and lifted from the tray and flew head over heels, the back wheel strap still fastened as the bike went airborne.  The bike slammed into the back windshield, snapping the back wheel strap in half, and then the bike careened off the car and bounced east on the highway.

Thank all gods everywhere that no one was behind me.

Thule response:  Because this happened on a Sunday, and that Thule is closed on Sundays and Mondays, I had to wait two days until I could talk with them.  I called right away at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 4.  The customer service representative was perfect in taking down my information and explaining to me the procedure for filing a claim.  I hung up and then emailed the claims rep.  By 4:00 that afternoon, the rep had called me.  I explained what I thought had happened.

The Thule claims rep found it plausible.  He expressed concern, and never once suggested that it was probably my fault, that I had done something wrong.  He said he’d send me a new Big Mouth and locks right away, and that I needed to file a claim form and send in photos and all receipts/estimates for damages to the car and bike.

Thursday, October 6.  The new Big Mouth is already on the way.  I am to send the Big Mouth that malfunctioned back to Thule in the box that the new one will come in.  Thule will send me the shipping label to put on the box, meaning no cost to me.  I’ve received a confirmation email that my claim form and other documents have been received and are in proper order, and that they will do all they can to fully reimburse me for all damages.  I already have replaced my back windshield.

Saturday, October 8.  The new Big Mouth arrived and I installed it on my car.  I boxed up the old one up.

Monday, October 10.  I sent the old Big Mouth out to Thule.

At this point, I had to travel abroad for work.  Travis confirmed that he received the old Big Mouth and that he could reimburse me for all damages.  I had a LBS complete an invoice for needed repairs/parts.  I returned to the States on October 29.  All paperwork was filed shortly after.

Today, November 15, I received the check from Thule.

Lessons learned:  First, I will now add a cable lock(s) when mounting my bike on the roof rack.  It’s not really about the car damage.  Cars can be replaced.  The additional lock is about preventing, hopefully, what could have been a major disaster.  Second, Thule is a top notch corporation, in my experience.  While working in the “business,” I had great interactions and experience with Thule customer service and product reps.   My experience with them on this incident was simply outstanding.  Third, in researching if this has happened to other people, I came across many stories online of malfunctioning bike racks, some due to user error and some not.  No matter how great you think your bike rack is, and no matter if you always use it exactly as the instructions say you should use it, it seems that all brands/models have the potential for malfunction.  You might consider adding an additional safety feature/lock/cable, especially when going out on the highway.

Check your bike racks, replace worn parts, and review the warranty for the products you are using.

You have my permission to post this in other locations if you think it would be a good idea.  Spread the word:  Bike racks do malfunction.  You can use this direct link when re-posting:

http://vagoscribe.com/2011/11/15/thule-big-mouth-malfunction-and-thule-response/