well that crazy section was just some exploration, I rode around the campsites and what not... did my best to map out where i thought i went. There are also some crazy steep climbs back there

here are some photos i took with my cell phone of this pretty cool overlook




but as for mixed terrain rides, I live really close to patapsco st park and I can spend a whole day back there on my mountain bike. There is one paved trail that runs the entire length of the avalon area, and plenty of trails branching off of that

LOL! You have no clue, sonny! (about old)

Seriously, though... you should've said something. I think we could've quick-planned a birthday/pub crawl ride on short notice.

Looks like I'm driving in tomorrow:

https://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/25326

bummer, its supposed to be like 90 something tomorrow so oh well lol


GL on the repair, whenever i sit down to do some work on the bikes I always find like 9000 things broken lol

Yeah... hopefully the wheel bearings won't be next.

Thats funny you had that happen, I noticed some play in my headset a week or so ago, so I tried to adjust it, then if felt "rough", So I took out the fork and found the bearing were all rusted looking, I cleaned them off and greased them. Still feels rough and now it creaks bad, no play now though. I seem to think its from being fenderless in the rain and a few rivers we rode through.

Next week I'll order a new headset.

Yeah... I think much of this is from the Monument to Monument ride, but commuting in the rain can take a toll, too.

I don't think I had a BB tool after M2M, but I got one around the June timeframe.

The BB that I removed is just over a year old. I think it was installed last year, May, at a bike shop in Bethany Beach. The problem was I didn't have a BB tool at the time, so after M2M, whatever water got into that area was left there. I know that I've pulled the crank out since then, but I didn't go any further than wiping surface crud off of the bearing cover plates and crank o-rings.

I was really surprised by the amount of torque I had to place on the bearing cups to get them off. I had to slip the ratchet into a length of pipe with a weight on the far end to get them started (actually it was part of an old heavy-duy microphone stand that I used, the extra weight being the stand's base--hey, I didn't have anything else, so...)

So, live and learn. If you ride through rivers... better yank the crank and pull the BB. Get that water out asap, then regrease it against the elements.

Stealth is really easy in West Virginia but not so great in other areas. You can get shot in Pennsylvania. Private property is sanctimonious there

dspaff: Park dr out of the park toward Ellicott City is the steepest climb around. I just rode that section to pick up a car. The road that you "rode around" is nasty huge gravel that turns into nice dirt trail for a little while then it drops down to EC. Did you ride that really steep section that was paved? It turns to gravel just after that area. My buddy and I Xcountry ski it when enough snow falls. Always ending with a little whiskey in EC

Hey GB Nice to "see" you again. Wish I could have made your moonlight ride. Work trip sucked the life out of me. The road that dspaff rode(Park Dr) is pretty but short and the gravel section is horrible.....but it does end at a brewpub. I remember there being roads around Liberty Reservoir that are dirt. There use to be some around Triadelphia Reservoir and Ducketts R.

Everyone: We should talk about a beer ride again. I have to go out of town for the next 2 weeks but have a free schedule after that. So check your lives and lets see what we can get organized. If everyone wants to end at my house we can sample brews and go swimming. Maybe SOs with cars can join in at my home to party and drive home the weary cyclist. Last weekend in August, labor day weekend or the 2nd weekend in Sept are all good.

Hooray beer!

I'll be lazing around the Outer Banks from Saturday 29 August through Friday 4 September, and (not lazing at all) at the Civil War Century on Saturday 12 September.

By the way, your butt dialed me last night at about 8pm and left a voice mail message . I listened to the voice mail for a while, but once I hit 3 minutes I deleted it.

Sounded like you were playing games with your kids.

Thats funny, My 17mo, also called my sister in law, about the same time. She loves phones and shoes, go figure.
The son and I were up playing pacman and he was begging to play don't break the ice (which I hate, any game that take 5 minutes to assemble and 5 seconds to destroy is not good)

Man, I just *hate* it when my butt just goes off and does stuff without checking with me first!!!

Well, got the bike back together and did a test ride. Everything seems good as new.

The new bearings are still a little bit stiff, but they'll loosen up with time.

I can do some minimal stuff to my bikes, but I have to confess that the bottom bracket is a thing of mystery to me. For a while now, though, I've been slightly paranoid about the Airborne -- I hear odd noises coming from (I think) that general area. I don't think it's all the time, although it's not easy to hear it in wind/traffic noise. I think it's mostly when I'm really cranking hard. And fast, too, I guess; I don't remember hearing it when I'm doing one of my agonizingly slow grinds up a big hill.

I can't quite describe the noise, either. Not quite a grind, or a squeak, maybe something in between, in rhythm with my pedaling -- it kind of reminds me of a washing machine.

I got that bike in December 2003; the bottom bracket has never been touched, and it's been ridden through at least a few day-long downpours per year. No river fordings, though.

If it's a sealed BB (vs. an external BB with "sealed" bearings) then you -may- be ok, but best that a qualified bike mechanic look at it if:

- the bike is not shifting well when with all of the derailleurs properly adjusted and there's no frame damage
- the chain inexpicably contacts the inside rail of the FD making a loud noise when in the lowest gear on the RD
- the chain skips across the top of the chain rings periodically
- the chain skips across the cassette cogs in high gear
- grinding emanating from the BB

--can't think of other reasons at the moment.

Thanks for the tips, NR!

I don't even know if it's sealed or not, how lame is THAT?

Hmm. Hard to tell for some of those possible symptoms -- my chainrings are friction-shifted, so I never notice any shifting funkiness there; the chain goes wherever I put it. It doesn't seem to bounce around of its own volition. I have had occasional skipping issues in the back, though, and there is definitely some weird noise sporadically coming out of (I'm pretty sure) the bottom bracket area.

I'll keep an eye (ear) on things, and plan on taking the bike to the shop in January or so.

DC Randonneurs are doing a Monument to Monument Ride this Sunday:

Who wants to ride down to meet them for lunch?

me

Or ride down to DC and ride back to Baltimore for lunch. What would that be, a 4 am start?

I'm doing this brain injury benefit ride on Saturday, 67 miles and I'll probably do the Sunday coffee ride if my "other" riding friends survive Saturday.

That possibility occurred to me... for about a second. What would be more realistic is to get the cue sheet from Crista and meet them somewhere along the route and ride with them into Baltimore. It's be less than 100 miles, but at least you wouldn't have to start riding at 4:30am.

rant:

the wifes bike has been back to performance 5 times for the chain jumping all over the cassette and hard clunking when shifting, we got less than 20 miles on it and its doing it again, Ben(one of the guys) said he will take care of it tomm, did I mention 5 times.

And everytime the wife gets mad and wants to sell the bike, can ya blame her.

I may be able to do that, depends on what these other guys are doing Sunday. Also, I don't like getting up before 7am on Sundays, or any day for that matter.

Harry, I just sent Crista an email requesting a copy of her cue sheet (in case it's different then the BBC's), so if you or anyone else who wants to ride down to meet them wants a copy, let me know via PM with your email address included.