September 29, 2019
Day 22 Almost Century Day
Last evening, it was a dark and stormy night. There was lots of lightning, thunder and a toad-strangling rain. This morning when I rode down to Casey's on the local streets to get coffee and something to eat, there were a couple of places where the rain had washed gravel out onto the roadway. While at Casey's, which is right next to the Windsor Trailhead, I walked over to see what the trail was like. I left footprints in the surface some areas looked soggy. So, my ride on the Katy Trail ended in Windsor, because if it was bad in Windsor, I knew it would be bad on the trail between Calhoun and Clinton. Highway 52 mostly follows the trail between Windsor and Clinton, so became my choice of travel first thing this morning. Once in a while passing vehicles would start to move back over as soon as they were almost past me and their right side tires would splash water out of the centerline rumble strip. Annoying at times. The wind was really blowing out of the south today and the gusts made the riding a bit interesting, especially when coasting down hills. And I did have some hills today. I knew it was gonna be a long day today, so, I was not really pushing getting down the road, cuz I did not want to wear myself out. Even being conservative, I still managed to be completely worn out by the time I got to Paola.
About halfway into the trip today, I started hearing strange noises coming from what I thought was the rear derailleur. The way the wind was blowing, it was difficult to tell. Finally figured out the Bafang unit had rotated a bit and I may have a cracked Bafang chainring. I found if I kept the chain in one of the four larger cogs on the rear cluster, I could move down the road with minimum protest from the damaged chainring. So, I was doing a lot of switching around on the front derailleur according to the hills and coasting where possible. I very carefully rode on to Paola, where, I discovered, the motel owner of the place I am staying knows a local welder. So, in the morning, I will have him inspect the suspected fracture with fresh eyes and see what he can do with the chainring still on the bike if necessary. Did not take too many photos today.....just a few in Clinton before I left town.
Update: What I thought was a fracture with my tired eyes last night turned out to be a gouge. The Bafang chainring is intact, and the only problem was a couple of loose bolts, one SAE (for which I purchased a hex key wrench at the WalMart across the street) and the other, metric, for which I have a wrench with me. Also turns out the lock ring that holds the entire motor assembly in place had worked loose. That kind of thing can make for a lot of noise. The wrench I have for the S&S couplers did the trick getting that lock ring back tight. All the shaking and rattling of the trip has worked stuff loose. Iwill take the bike for a test spin and see if the noise has gone. If so, I am off to the west, again.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 1 | Link |
5 years ago
Today's ride: 98 miles (158 km)
Total: 995 miles (1,601 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 4 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |