And now.. I wait.

So I went to a few local bike shops and some of them just said "Nope, nothing we can do for you!" 

Looking for:

• 26 x 4" wheel
• 170 mm hub span
• Quick release hub "not the single pin through new style"
• Tubeless re-install
• New spokes, as I broke 2 also..

Thankfully the rim is fine but I already have another 3 sets of rims, just none set for the back wheel.

So finally finding a store that was willing to rebuild under $300.00!  I'm finally now just sitting back to wait for it to be completed.  At the same time, I'm getting a different gear caset installed with a lower and higher gear ratio installed.  Currently my max speed while peddling is around 22-26km.

Getting:

• New spokes
• New Hub (bigger/tougher)
• New rear gear set.

Lessons Learned:

I should have a spare rear tire "complete" ready to swap out, otherwise I will be with out a bike for 2 weeks.  I say this, because with all my bikes, due to my weight and the strength of my legs, I have a tendency to warp rear rims.  This was a problem with my last "hybrid mountain bike" where I kept 2 spare rear wheels.

Rear hub exploded...

While adventuring around in I hit a huge bump that I didn't see coming and I broke my rear hub.  Snapped the pin right in half. So everytime I took a pedal step, the tire would cave into the bike frame.

Took the rear wheel off and bits of metal, bearing, all just flopped onto the ground.  So my rear tire is now dead.  Time to bring the rim to my local bike shop and see what they can do, to get me back up and running.  I'm not to hopeful and I just might end up having to buy a rear rim with a new hub already in place...

So for now, I'm off my bike again. *SIGH*

Two weeks, legs are back!

So after a long winter here in Canada, I am now back to biking daily to work at a decent speed but starting was painful!  Over the winter months I had lost a lot of the power that was in my legs but after two weeks of biking, I am darn near close to what I was.

Over the winter I picked up a few things but I haven't had a chance to install them yet.

Side note: After winter, a full inspection should be done!  I found out that on my rear disk I only had 3 screws left and at the front I had one screw left... which I found out when I started to hear "CLANK, CLANK, CLANK, BONG!" the bong being my break pad flying off while I was stopping to understand what the CLANK sound was...

I have:
New breakpads
New pedals with feet mounts (ones that my feet slip into)
New leather saddle.

I need to find a good size water bottle holder that I can mount to my front fork.

Tried and failed. Again....

So I finally tried again to bike into work, I modified my face mask so that my mouth could fully breath. I greased up all my gears, etc..  There was no snow and the weather was calling for low -9 and a high of -5, perfect!  I started to ride and it was FREEZING.  I stopped and looked at my phone again and it said the same thing, expect it was currently -19.  Gah.  But I still continued to bike to work.  I've never heard of any other job, where you can report on things and be wrong 40% of the time and still remain employed.  

And then it snowed. I was plowing through about 2 inches or more at times and this is that slippery stuff.  While going straight, I wiped out for no reason at all.  Crack goes my side mirror and I think my rear break line snapped.  So I give up, there is no safe way for me to get around town as a commuter.  Time to review the road and bike again mid February.  Until then, I'm driving to work.

Recreational biking vs. Commuting

So commuting out of my town is near impossible, while remaining safe cycling.  But I am able to bike around, which I was able to do for 4 hours on the weekend and man, do I miss it.. and man, my legs were burning!

I've been thinking about replacing my current straight handlebar with one that is similar to one that found Stopped by at a local bike shop and picked up some new handlebars, to give me a more of a cruiser feel but I have my eyes on a BMX style handle bar.

It's going to be a pain to try the handle bars out before I go spend some cash on a higher quality handle bar.  But after being on the straight bar for 4hrs my wrists started to hurt.  My thought is, that with this style of bar, I can move it forward or back, depending on my mood.  Aerodynamics is not something I care to much about when my average speed is 22 km

Safe riding

My plan was to bike into work this morning but I decided that I had to figure out a safe path to go from point A (Home) to point B (Work), so when I was driving around on the weekend, I looked all all my options and I'm rather disappointed that there is no safe way for me to bike out of my little town of Aylmer to Ottawa.  Once I get to the bridge (half way mark) then there is plenty of cleared paths and cleared off shoulders that I could ride.. but getting to the bridge will be impossible with out being one of those bike riders who rides along with traffic but is forcing drivers of cars to vear out of my way.

Even the shoulders on the roads aren't being plowed.  I thought for sure with my bike I would be able to handle the shoulders but it's about a foot tall everywhere (not talking the lower Aylmer road, that is plowed but that shoulder is slanted and I'll end up in culvert/ditch on the first ice patch)

Getting back on the saddle.

I haven't rode my bike since last year!

I have to admit, over the holidays I didn't bike as much as I wanted.. and I got really use to driving the truck around.  Has a auto starter, so it's nice and warm when I get in it.  Outside is just cold, messy, slush, icy and over all, not very pleasant to be in.  I know I love the ride and just getting on the saddle and taking the first pedal rotation could convince myself of that.

But I just can bring myself to hammer my face with frost bite weather.

For the month of January I'm going to remain off the bike.  *SIGH*


I should of grown out my beard for the winter, guess that's next years plan. My goatee needs to morph!