[OrRando] Screech Owl...

Susan France susanfrance at teleport.com
Sun Apr 16 12:22:17 PDT 2006


So I've been playing with my pump all morning... one would think I would
just toss it out and buy something else... but once a piece of equipment has
failed and you take it apart, get it all figured out, put it back
together... ya just cannot toss it. My pump is missing a fairly large
O-ring. Maybe it was never designed to have an O-ring in this particular
place, but it needs one. It probably explains why my tires never held
pressure when fixing flats in the rain.  But that is not it's only
problem... last night the "rod" separated from the "piston"... I could see
that it screwed together but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to
get the thing apart so that I could rescrew the rod to the piston... now I
know, and it wasn't obvious. And why would it unscrew in the first place?
Vibration... I often would find my pump handle lose from the pump and
thought nothing of it... but slowing it was unwinding itself, until last
night "surprise" pump handle in one hand, pump body in the other, flat tire,
sweep position, and riding alone.

Luckily I made the route an out and back and Bert, David & John were on the
"back" portion and they come upon the lone cyclist with her pump in pieces.
(Bert, David & John were preriding the route,  putting up stickers at
controls for the rest of the group.) So, I decided I'll just get the flat
fixed and ride back with them since I have no pump, I've lost a lot of time,
I was riding alone (which I really don't like at night) and I had "the
backup wheel". So now Bert, David & John all know about "the backup wheel".
When I had the flat I just dreaded fixing it... The wheel is 16 years old
and like new ...because the aero style makes it nearly impossible to get a
tire on/off the rim... as the 3 of them soon learned. Bert didn't want me to
mess with pulling the shard out of the Gatorskin I had, he wanted me to use
his brand new spare tire. Then when he saw 3 patches on my spare tube he
insisted I use his brand new spare tube... OK, but I do know that my patched
tubes hold just fine as I've never had a patch fail. But I wasn't going to
argue with 3 randos eager to fix "the backup wheel". Then Bert wants to use
his CO2 cartridge, so we all get a detailed lesson in the finesse it takes
to not blow the tube/tire off the rim.  I used CO2 cartridges years ago with
really bad results... as in empty cartridges and flat tire, stranded in
Scappoose...luckily a cyclist with a pump just happened by.  My wire-beaded
Gatorskin was retired next to a Oak tree for me to retrieve later this
week... (this is my stomping grounds). And Bert, David & John lost a minimum
of 1/2 hr battling "the backup wheel."

And we are off now with a tailwind toward the last control. How nice to ride
with someone... you can see the road better with all those extra lights.
Someone to talk to. We struggled a bit with attaching the bag of stickers to
the last signpost. I hadn't given Bert enough zip ties, it was cold and very
windy here, and the post was pretty much surrounded by mud... in the end we
used one of my spare tubes... again, I could just retrieve it later this
week on a trip out into the prairie.

And then just a short trip back to the start...

Those roads were quiet... even hwy 219 was quiet after 11pm. I could take
the lane on a road I'm so used to riding with trucks zooming by at 60mph.

I did hear an owl, a horned owl. I got pelted with hail, I did see the
meteor...it looked blue from my vantage point.

I say we do this again, hopefully on a night when the weather is warm and a
full moon.

Cheers,
Susan.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: orrando-bounces at tire.patch.com
> [mailto:orrando-bounces at tire.patch.com]On Behalf Of joel metz
> Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2006 9:37 AM
> To: orrando at tire.patch.com
> Subject: [OrRando] screech owl populaire report...
>
>
> yeah, im up, and ive finished my report!
>
> i mean really, how long can a report on a 100k in the dark take to
> write, anyhow? :) especially with no pics (i SO hate my stupid old
> digital camera. NOTHING came out useable.)
>
> anyhow, its here:
>
> http://www.blackbirdsf.org/randonneuring/2006_100.html
>
> thanks susan for a great little ride, and del and nathan for the company!
>
> -joel
>
> --
> joel metz  : magpie at blackbirdsf.org :  http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
> bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
> 		       portland, oregon
> ==
>            i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
>                                  after she got that bicycle...
> _______________________________________________
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> OrRando at tire.patch.com
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>



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