Type 2 Diabetic. Cyclist Flâneur.   Coffeeneur.    Errandoneur
A bike / map geek with a gadget obsession and a high-viz fetish.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

New Front Derailleur

3/1/2014 41F 14m
End-of-February Numbers
2/28 cumulative mileage: 595 miles in 59 days
Annual Mileage at same rate: 3680



Kind of a non-standard day, but a nice ride. Started at Riverfront Park under the Birmingham Bridge. Stopped at REI to pick up some Park tire-boot patches. I've always used duct-tape and a dollar, but I keep thinking about it and I have the vibe I should spend the $3 and get the thing.

Continued southeast along the GAP. Lots of eagle-watchers out. Passed through Sandcastle and the Waterfront. Rode around Marcegalia.

I've had an ongoing issue with my front derailleur; it won't shift normally from the big chainring down to the small chainring. I think either a pivot bar is seized or a spring has failed. I can tap it with my foot and it moves quite easily, but it's under no tension of it's own accord. I called Thick Bikes from the trail; they close at six, and were willing to see the bike which I thought was awesome on a Saturday.

Reversed, Waterfront, around the back of Costco. Met YC and Paul, then Chris and Jerry. As we were standing there talking, a car came around, swerved to a stop, and a woman in the passenger seat snapped several pictures of us. Geezer fred paparazzi, I suppose. Maybe nobody back in Iowa would believe there were so many old people out on the trails, dressed in so many bright colors. I didn't get that.

Continued northwest, through the eagle-groupies, Southside works, and regained my vehicle and over to Thick. I thought I'd be dropping my bike off for a few days, but they look at the time remaining until closing and suggested I hang around while they fixed it.

I was really impressed at that. I didn't expect to walk into a shop on a Saturday afternoon and get a new front derailleur put on, right then and there. I really appreciated that.

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