Grounded

November 22, 2021 to November 24, 2021

Monday

Three out of our four bicycles are hanging from the ceiling at REI, waiting for servicing. Rachael’s the only one with wheels so I’m left with the Raven and wherever I can get on my own two feet until one of mine comes down from the ceiling.

All three have issues holding up their planned maintenance:

Rachael’s Bike Friday needs a new chain and cluster, both of which had to be ordered; and as long as they’re working on the bike anyway she’s going to have them swap in her new Cane Creek compression seat post, which is of course also not yet at hand since the initial one was stolen. There’s been another package theft at Elizabeth’s condo since then, so we’re watching carefully for a delivery notification so we can dash over and pick it up immediately.
My Bike Friday also needs a new chain and cluster, both of which also have to be shipped. The chain has arrived (Rachael’s also, btw), but not the cluster. I’m in no hurry though. Unlike Rachael, who will be taking her Bike Friday to Tucson, I’ll just be putting mine back in the suitcase until we leave for Nice in March.
My Rodriguez just needs minor adjustments to the gears and brakes, but otherwise is fine - so they say when I drop it off this morning. They call back a half hour later though and say they’re wrong - it needs a new chainring too, which they’ll have to have shipped down.

So, no biking for me today even though the weather is conducive to it. Rachael takes off to the river, and I content myself with a climb up to Pittock Mansion and back.

Oh, and a bit of old news: I got my semiannual haircut Friday, just in time for the drive up to Seattle for Thanksgiving dinner with the family:

A new barber again, Culture. The last two both went out of business during Covid.

On Johnson Street: a very sanitized look at the homelessness situation.

There are several long staircases up the west hills that let you cut across the switchbacks. I connected up three of them on the way up and then back down again, about 350 stairs each direction.

When pigs fly! An excellent use for your leftover squash.

In the West Hills, on the climb to Pittock Mansion. This looks like something you’d see at a French chateau.

At Pittock Mansion: a harlequin gloryblower.

Mount Hood, and the Boring Hills. I think the closest three in the direction of Hood are Mount Tabor, Kelly Butte and Powell Butte.

From Pittock Mansion: our bridge of the day, the Fremont Bridge.

Tuesday

Rachael heads over to the storage unit this morning, and shortly afterwards gives me an excited call: I’m a winner! When I first went over there after we hit town they signed me up for their Thanksgiving raffle - I was their first entrant. I’ve seen them a couple of times since then and asked if I could have my prize yet, since I was surely going to be the lucky winner. This morning though they had the drawing and it really is I! I had a choice of a Turkey or a $50 gift certificate at Safeway.

I hustle over to pick up my well deserved prize and to have my photo taken, and then bring it back and hand it over to Rachael, Team Anderson’s designated shopper.

I then head over to REI to see if there’s an estimate on when the Rodriguez will be done. Not today, but maybe tomorrow. And by the way, they ordered the wrong clusters for the Bike Fridays and haven’t been able to find the right ones because of the crippling component delivery backlog. Not good news, and they invite me to search around on my own.

I do search, and find exactly one available - in a warehouse in Singapore, which I can have for only $150 - three times the list price. I keep searching, and then stumble across a second one - amazingly just four miles away, at River City. What luck! First I win the lottery and now this!I call up to confirm it’s really in stock, and then dash over in the Raven to collect it before it disappears.

In the meantime, Rachael calls from her walk to say that the seat post has just been delivered and she’s on her way to collect it. We’re all set for her bike at least, so she takes the cluster and post over to REI and continues her walk.

Rachael’s new suspension seat post, which you’ll note looks identical to the package stolen last week. Also the Shimano 11 speed 11-34 cluster, which we’re delighted to have gotten our hands on.

Wednesday

I’m still without wheels and it looks like a good day for a ride, so I call REI to get an ETA for the Rodriguez. Good news: the chain ring has arrived, and they’re working on it, and it should be ready by early afternoon along with Rachael’s bike.

Bad news: REI calls back a few minutes later. Now that they’re working on it, they’ve found that my rear rim is cracking in several spots and is unsafe to ride. Good thing I got took it in!

Good news: they have a suitable replacement wheel in stock ready to mount, if I’d like it. Of course I would, so I leave them to it and take off on another walk, this time up Balch Creek and back down Cornell, a walk I’ve been meaning to do anyway because I’ve wanted to see what Cornell is like while it’s closed to cars for tunnel maintenance.

More good news: by the time I return, both bikes are ready. I pick them up (Rachael’s off on her own bike ride, of course) and then head off with Rodriguez to celebrate at the Lucky Lab. The bike feels great, and ready for my 75 mile birthday ride that’s coming right up. I don’t even mind that the spokes on the wheels don’t match now.

I don’t know how to caption this, but I like it.

It’s sad to see how badly the Stone House has been defaced. On the other hand, it is very colorful.

I’ll have to remember this look, because I’ll probably never see Cornell Road like this again. It’s closed to cars while its two tunnels are being maintained, so for the time being it’s just a wide bike and hiking track.

At the Lucky Lab. We’ve got to stay on task if we’re going to fit all the essential stops into our short stay here.

Once every six months is definitely too long between Superdogs.

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Jon AylingThe cluster market is really crazy at the moment - oddly enough I was just writing about this, due to parts being completely unobtainable I had to resort to rebuilding my cassette. Glad the bikes are running well again!
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2 years ago

Kelly IniguezTo Jon AylingJon,

What cassette do you run? I have four spares. Overkill. No trouble finding 9 speed cassettes. What I cannot find is a SRAM X-9, 9 speed grips shifter. There have been a few used ones on Ebay, but they were too used for my liking. I've found just a couple on line, but they were for in store customers only.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jon AylingI’m envious. If we relied on my being able to pull off something like this we’d be doing a whole lot of walking. I’m pretty good on flats and can stumble my way into improving the brakes, but that’s about it. Which is fine. I’m happy to be doing my bit to keep the LBS’s of the world in business.
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2 years ago

Jon AylingTo Kelly IniguezHi Kelly - I've been running a pretty basic Shimano "megarange" 8-speed (11-34 tooth). I like the range of this one, and - up until now! -they've been cheap (£10 or even less) and readily available. I have a creeping feeling they've stopped manufacturing them now too - certainly the "megarange" brand has been retired. So I was cursing myself for not buying a couple of spares when they were on offer a few years ago - in the pandemic I've had trouble even finding used ones on ebay!
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2 years ago

Jon AylingTo Scott AndersonThanks Scott, this is all rather borne out of necessity rather than any natural mechanical aptitude on my part! In my student days I had a sequence of ... not top-of-the-range bikes, and a combination of random failures and trying to save money meant I ended up learning how to fix (or "bodge") quite a few things. It's definitely been a learning process and I've managed to break things almost as much as I've fixed them - but nothing catastrophic yet!
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2 years ago