Stupid Biking tricks

Sounds like you need to practice some bike handling skills and learn a little about maintaining your
ride. Fixing flats is easy and checking out your bike before each ride should minimize problems
you'll have on the trail.

Some of this were hard learned lessons for myself. Now I check everything before heading off for
3-4 hours on two wheels, and I take a kit of patches, basic tools, spare tube, and spare chain
links for the MTB (had to single speed it home once, that was enough to teach me to carry a little
extra chain.)

Badger South said:

Well, you know how to tell I ride a trail bike? Take a look at the back of my right calf to see
where the pedal has stabbed me in the calf from the short walk down the trail.

Sheesh, no matter how careful I am to put the pedal in the down position when I walk my bike down
to the trail, I invariably slip or the bike swerves on a twig or leaf every few weeks and the
pedal (with the no-slip spikes) digs into my leg. I now have three small holes in the front of my
leg, and one big hole, healing in the back, just below the calf.

Then today I take the bike in to have a flat fixed where a large thorn has pierced the tire (at
the furthest distance from my house on my round trip (of course), and I ask the guy to check the
front tire which seems to be rubbing. He says, well the reason is the wheel is not locked into the
forks (the quick release had come undone).

I'm thinking. 'whoa, I could'a had a nice face plant at 12mph into the river.' ;-)

Heck, who needs enemies, when I'm a one-man demolition derby. <g>

-B

Richard Adams said:

Sounds like you need to practice some bike handling skills and learn a little about maintaining
your ride. Fixing flats is easy and checking out your bike before each ride should minimize
problems you'll have on the trail.

Some of this were hard learned lessons for myself. Now I check everything before heading off for
3-4 hours on two wheels, and I take a kit of patches, basic tools, spare tube, and spare chain
links for the MTB (had to single speed it home once, that was enough to teach me to carry a little
extra chain.)

Well since I ride a loop that takes me only 3-4 miles from my house, I haven't gotten up to speed on
having a repair kit. I don't think I'm dextrous enough to change my own flat at this point, though.

On the 'practicing bike handling', yeah, I'm occasionally klutzy, and I'm not sure how to "practice"
not having an accidental 'ding' with the bike, going downhill through some brush and fallen branches
and over a big downed tree trunk. <g>

I'm thinking it might be easier to wrap my leg with duct tape than to hope to learn how to handle
the bike better. (Part of my clumsiness has to do with my having a bad left hip, so I can't really
walk normally, or squat down, as is needed to perform bike repairs.)

I'm amazed each day when I start the ride that I have all my limbs and faculties intact. ;-)

I do believe I'll be doing a basic 'check' of the components and wheels from now on. It's apparently
pretty easy to get the quick release lever knocked open (?)

-B

Badger South said:

Richard Adams said:

Sounds like you need to practice some bike handling skills and learn a little about maintaining
your ride. Fixing flats is easy and checking out your bike before each ride should minimize
problems you'll have on the trail.

Some of this were hard learned lessons for myself. Now I check everything before heading off for
3-4 hours on two wheels, and I take a kit of patches, basic tools, spare tube, and spare chain
links for the MTB (had to single speed it home once, that was enough to teach me to carry a little
extra chain.)

Well since I ride a loop that takes me only 3-4 miles from my house, I haven't gotten up to
speed on having a repair kit. I don't think I'm dextrous enough to change my own flat at this
point, though.

Shouldn't be too hard at all, you should be able to flip your bike over to work on a tire from a
standing position. (take care you don't scuff up anything on your bars, like I did once :-( Putting
on new tires, I've found, harder than servicing a tire already in use. Park Tools sells some
inexpensive plastic blue tirelevers which work nicely. An insta-patch kit and a mini-pump should get
you through pretty much anything. Worst case is a torn tire, in which case a folded dollar bill or
energy bar wrapper can keep the tube in.

Quoted message said:

On the 'practicing bike handling', yeah, I'm occasionally klutzy, and I'm not sure how to
"practice" not having an accidental 'ding' with the bike, going downhill through some brush and
fallen branches and over a big downed tree trunk. <g>

There's a sign in the woods near where I ride, "Know Your Limits" This is always the best advice.
Injuries are most likely to happen when you push your limits or are tired.

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking it might be easier to wrap my leg with duct tape than to hope to learn how to handle
the bike better. (Part of my clumsiness has to do with my having a bad left hip, so I can't really
walk normally, or squat down, as is needed to perform bike repairs.)

Naw, just find something or someone to prop it up on. Riding alone can be risky, see if you can find
others in your area to ride with.

Quoted message said:

I'm amazed each day when I start the ride that I have all my limbs and faculties intact. ;-)

I do believe I'll be doing a basic 'check' of the components and wheels from now on. It's
apparently pretty easy to get the quick release lever knocked open (?)

Shouldn't be easy to accidently knock open quick releases. I typically adjust the nut (on opposite
side of lever, never turn the QR level in the closed position to tighten), keep the QR level at 90
degrees, until just light flick in the close direction meets slight resistance. It should close
firm, but not take a lot of effort. If it's too hard to close you should loosen the opposing nut
until you can clamp it down firmly.

I came home from a ride with friends and one picked up his bike and the wheel came off. It's hard to
imagine how that could happen if the QR wasn't tight to begin with, probably left loose during some
wheel work and not properly checked before a ride.

Harrowing descents at speed are usually more fun if I know I've already eliminated as much doubt as
possible. Flats happen, though.

Richard Adams said:

Badger South said:

On 24 Nov 2003 22:38:43 GMT, Richard Adams <[email hidden]> wrote:

<snippage>>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Well since I ride a loop that takes me only 3-4 miles from my house, I haven't gotten up to speed
on having a repair kit. I don't think I'm dextrous enough to change my own flat at this point,
though.

Shouldn't be too hard at all, you should be able to flip your bike over to work on a tire from a
standing position. (take care you don't scuff up anything on your bars, like I did once :-( Putting
on new tires, I've found, harder than servicing a tire already in use. Park Tools sells some
inexpensive plastic blue tirelevers which work nicely. An insta-patch kit and a mini-pump should
get you through pretty much anything. Worst case is a torn tire, in which case a folded dollar bill
or energy bar wrapper can keep the tube in.

OK, I'll keep that in mind. At some point I may want to 'graduate' from my loop. I did watch the
'expert' at the bike shop change my tire just this afternoon, and even he had a little 'trouble'
getting it in and lined up! (yikes) So I figure my chances are not good. <g>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On the 'practicing bike handling', yeah, I'm occasionally klutzy, and I'm not sure how to
"practice" not having an accidental 'ding' with the bike, going downhill through some brush and
fallen branches and over a big downed tree trunk. <g>

There's a sign in the woods near where I ride, "Know Your Limits" This is always the best advice.
Injuries are most likely to happen when you push your limits or are tired.

OK, just to be clear, I have to _walk_ the bike down the semi-slippery hill, over two small creeks,
a large downed tree (I have to lever it up and onto the tree, then over the otherside), and other
minor slippery obstacles. This is when the pedal sometimes rolls up to the
12:00 position and then a wrong 'zig' or 'zag', and it bites my leg near the calf.

Quoted message said:

Naw, just find something or someone to prop it up on. Riding alone can be risky, see if you can
find others in your area to ride with.

That isn't likely. In 4 months of riding that loop I've only seen another bike about 10-15 times. I
sometimes ride with my wife, but that turns out to be annoying, trying to keep up with her, or her
shouting at me something about there being a big dog somewhere. ;-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm amazed each day when I start the ride that I have all my limbs and faculties intact. ;-)

I do believe I'll be doing a basic 'check' of the components and wheels from now on. It's
apparently pretty easy to get the quick release lever knocked open (?)

Shouldn't be easy to accidently knock open quick releases. I typically adjust the nut (on opposite
side of lever, never turn the QR level in the closed position to tighten), keep the QR level at 90
degrees, until just light flick in the close direction meets slight resistance. It should close
firm, but not take a lot of effort. If it's too hard to close you should loosen the opposing nut
until you can clamp it down firmly.

Well since the bike shop guy put it on the first time after fixing the rubbing brake pads, I don't
know how it came loose. I hadn't messed with it at all. Now, since he put it on (correctly, I
presume) this last time, I hope it will stay 'put'. But thanks for the tip on tightening.

Quoted message said:

I came home from a ride with friends and one picked up his bike and the wheel came off. It's hard
to imagine how that could happen if the QR wasn't tight to begin with, probably left loose during
some wheel work and not properly checked before a ride.

Harrowing descents at speed are usually more fun if I know I've already eliminated as much doubt as
possible. Flats happen, though.

Yeah, I guess it's best not to think about stuff like that too much. As a teenager and young adult,
I felt invulnerable. Now, I don't think I'd even attempt some of the moves I did then, now that I'm
50-something and retired.

Thanks for the helpful comments.

-B

Badger South said:

Richard Adams said:

Sounds like you need to practice some bike handling skills and learn a little about maintaining
your ride. Fixing flats is easy and checking out your bike before each ride should minimize
problems you'll have on the trail.

Some of this were hard learned lessons for myself. Now I check everything before heading off for
3-4 hours on two wheels, and I take a kit of patches, basic tools, spare tube, and spare chain
links for the MTB (had to single speed it home once, that was enough to teach me to carry a little
extra chain.)

Well since I ride a loop that takes me only 3-4 miles from my house, I haven't gotten up to
speed on having a repair kit. I don't think I'm dextrous enough to change my own flat at this
point, though.

On the 'practicing bike handling', yeah, I'm occasionally klutzy, and I'm not sure how to
"practice" not having an accidental 'ding' with the bike, going downhill through some brush and
fallen branches and over a big downed tree trunk. <g>

I'm thinking it might be easier to wrap my leg with duct tape than to hope to learn how to handle
the bike better. (Part of my clumsiness has to do with my having a bad left hip, so I can't really
walk normally, or squat down, as is needed to perform bike repairs.)

I'm amazed each day when I start the ride that I have all my limbs and faculties intact. ;-)

I do believe I'll be doing a basic 'check' of the components and wheels from now on. It's
apparently pretty easy to get the quick release lever knocked open (?)

I make my quick releases REALLY tight, its difficult to open them on purpose.

Quoted message said:

-B