Ride home for Friday, 30 July

Met Knox for lunch, and got him set on the road after that going across the bridge through Dartmouth and on up the coast.

Slow ride home as my 3 week vacation starts today and I was hauling a whole bunch of stuff home. I very nearly broke Knox's rule of "if you're having trouble lifting your bike then you're carrying too much"; fortunately I found a cunning way around this by putting my laptop in my backpack, thus making the bike easier to lift. Probably not quite what he meant, though...

So, 3 weeks off, but I'm going to be in training for the Nova Scotia MS150 ride. It's going to be interesting combining training for that with my parents visiting (they're arriving on Sunday), but hopefully it shouldn't be too bad - my dad's a cyclist too, so I should be able to get him to come out on some rides with me.

If you'd like to sponsor me, you can do so at http://ms150.fop.ns.ca - thanks!

Distance logged: 13.350km
Time: 40:18
Average speed: 19.9km/hr
Max speed: 50.4km/hr
Temperature: 21C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3822.381km

Ride into work for Friday, 29 July

Rode into work with Knox following behind. I think he preferred the nice downhill direction we took in instead of the uphill route! Knox spent the morning in Halifax, then we met up for lunch, and he headed off for the hills of Dartmouth, aiming for Cape Breton. The weather wasn't stellar today, but checking the forecast it's supposed to be pretty nice for the next couple of days - just as well since Knox wants to get some long distance days going to make sure he can get to North Sydney in time for the ferry.

Distance logged: 13.229km
Time: 45:10
Average speed: 17.6km/hr
Max speed: 43.7km/hr
Temperature: 16C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3809.031km

Ride home for Friday, 29 July

Met up with Knox this afternoon and took him down to MEC, then we walked our bikes around the boardwalk (hence the somewhat slow speed!) Rode back trying to avoid the hills, I don't think Knox enjoyed the steep hill into Clayton Park overly not - specially since he was fully loaded down with touring gear. He managed the whole way without having to get off and push, though, which was quite impressive.

Distance logged: 16.128km
Time: 1:16:02
Average speed: 12.7km/hr
Temperature: 22C
Cumulative distance: 3795.802km

Ride into work for Thursday, 28 July

Ride in from Bedford from the chiropractor's this morning. Thought it was going to rain but got away with nothing more than a few sprinkles. Is summer over already?

Distance logged: 23.124km
Time: 53:10
Average speed: 26.1km/hr
Temperature: 16C, cloudy, humid
Cumulative distance: 3779.674km

Ride home for Wednesday, 27 July

Cloudy and windy ride home, hopefully the summer weather will return soon!

Distance logged: 13.325km
Time: 40:38
Average speed: 19.7km/hr
Max speed: 52.4km/hr
Temperature: 23C, windy
Cumulative distance: 3756.550km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 27 July

A foggy and windy ride in, not overly pleasant.

I took the bike in to IdealBikes and Roger fixed it on the spot. It looks like the clamp holding the fender slipped, he pushed it back in and re-aligned the front and rear derailleurs for good measure, and told me if it happened again pushing the fender back would fix it temporarily to get me home, but bring it in for a proper repair.

Distance logged: 17.462km
Time: 44:36
Average speed: 23.5km/hr
Max speed: 63.4km/hr
Temperature: 17C, foggy, windy
Cumulative distance: 3743.225km

Ride home for Tuesday, 26 July

For some reason my front derailleur has become offset; it won't shift down into the granny gear, and trying to go into the big ring results in the chain dropping off. This only happened since I rode in the rainy weather yesterday, which is rather odd. I took it into IdealBikes and Robert reckoned I'd managed to somehow bend the fender forward which was throwing the derailleur off. He offered to fix it there and then but I had to get home for my daughter's birthday dinner, so I'm going to drop the bike off in the morning instead to be ready (hopefully) for tomorrow. This meant I had to do the climb up Central Avenue and Main Avenue without a granny gear, which was... interesting.

Distance logged: 13.390km
Time: 40:11
Average speed: 20.0km/hr
Max speed: 66.5km/hr
Temperature: 24C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3725.763km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 26 July

Thought it was going to be a wet and rainy ride in when I got up and looked out the window, but by the time I got my stuff ready and got dressed it turned into a fairly nice morning.

Found an interesting bike diary courtesy of HereNT and decided to make a map of my morning commute.

Distance logged: 17.470km
Time: 43:32
Average speed: 24.1km/hr
Max speed: 64.4km/hr
Temperature: 16C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3712.373km

Ride home for Monday, 25 July

Got rained on pretty hard on the way home. It started off as just a mild drizzle, but by the time I got about halfway it turned into a steady downpour. Oh well...

I stopped off at IdealBikes and Dave gave me a bag of bearings; unfortunately they were too big, so I'll have to take them back and get smaller ones. He also checked my chain for me; it's the right length, the cogs are indeed worn, so his advice was to put the old chain on and ride it until it slips and get new cogs then. I think I'm going to have to resign myself to either changing the chain every month, or getting a really strong chain (probably an SRAM PC68 chain) and ride that out until the cogs wear out. I think I'll have to go and dig through the forums on bikeforums.net for recommendations...

Distance logged: 14.196km
Time: 41:02
Average speed: 20.8km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 15C, rainy
Cumulative distance: 3694.903km

Ride into work for Monday, 25 July

Started out a bit chilly this morning but soon warmed up - a 4C temperature rise in less than an hour, quite a swing! Got to use my horn in the first real test this morning; a woman in a bright yellow car drove past me going about 2km/hr faster than me, indicated left, then drifted to the right, leaving me no clearance. I hauled on the brakes and blew my horn at her to warn her I was there and she cowered in her seat - most bizarre. I'm guessing she was still hung over from the weekend...

Distance logged: 17.025km
Time: 43:25
Average speed: 23.6km/hr
Max speed: 63.4km/hr
Temperature: 13C-17C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3680.707km

Ride for Sunday, 24 July

Went out for a ride with the bike trailer with Rowan. Did the usual loops around the pond, which he enjoyed as usual. Went exploring around the Halifax Mainland Commons, which turned out to be some fairly rough terrain - the bike trailer coped with it pretty well. My only problem was getting stuck in the bridge across the stream that feeds into the pond, which I've never gone across before (it was only opened fairly recently, I think); there was about 2mm of clearance between the tyres on the trailer and the railing on the bridge, so I ended up unhitching from the bike and hauling the trailer through by brute force, which Rowan thought was pretty amusing...

Distance logged: 20.112km
Time: 1:25:45
Average speed: 14.1km/hr
Temperature: 19C-22C, sunny, intermittent clouds
Cumulative distance: 3663.682km

Maintenance day

Didn't need to do any work on the mountain bike as I haven't ridden it all week. Instead, I concentrated on the road bike; changed the rim tape, changed the chain, and repacked the bearings in the front wheel. The bearings are definitely pretty worn, and a test ride showed it was a bit better, but not much. I'll pick up some more bearings tomorrow. I sized the chain according to the old one, but oddly enough, it's skipping in 6th, which hints that it's too big. I'll see if I can get one of the mechanics to double-check it (it's always possible the cog is worn).

Rather surprisingly, the thinline V-brake pads are holding up pretty well after around 700km - I guess it's only winter weather that really takes it out on them.

Ride home for Friday, 22 July

Pretty fast run home considering I was lugging home a bunch of gear. My front wheel is starting to feel like it's dragging quite a bit, I'm going to see if I can clean out and repack the bearings this weekend...

Distance logged: 14.341km
Time: 43:06
Average speed: 20.0km/hr
Max speed: 51.9km/hr
Temperature: 29C, humid
Cumulative distance: 3643.570km

Ride into work for Friday, 22 July

Nice sunny ride in.

I see Knox is taking a short-cut on his tour, which I guess will mean he might be hitting Halifax a bit sooner than expected. Should be fun!

Distance logged: 17.475km
Time: 43:49
Average speed: 24.0km/hr
Max speed: 59.5km/hr
Temperature: 18C-20C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3629.229km

Ride home for Thursday, 21 July

Volunteered at the bike shop again, although I didn't actually do anything - they were really busy so I just leafed through the Norco catalogue and chatted to the mechanics. Later on, Robert specced out a front wheel for me to replace my current one (which is starting to show signs of wear); a BMX hub with wide flanges, meaning shorter spokes for a stronger wheel, attached to a cyclocross rim. He reckoned the only thing that would be stronger would be a tandem wheel, but that would be serious money - tandem rims weren't even listed in the catalogue! The wheel Robert specced out came to $160 in total, and I think I'll go for it.

Rode home later, around 9:30, and it was such a nice night out I decided to go home via Bedford. Definitely better than sitting indoors!

Distance logged: 30.403km
Time: 1:18:01
Average speed: 23.4km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 22C-20C, dark!
Cumulative distance: 3611.754km

Ride into work for Thursday, 21 July

Summer is getting into full swing as the humidity rises up - looking out across the city from my office I can see a haze of fog from the heat. At least it's not a haze of pollution like it is in Toronto; the local air quality forecast says it's going to be good all day...

Distance logged: 17.294km
Time: 42:56
Average speed: 24.2km/hr
Max speed: 58.2km/hr
Temperature: 19C, humid, misty
Cumulative distance: 3581.351km

Ride home for Wednesday, 20 July

Left work a bit early today and went for a ride round Point Pleasant Park. Apparently the humidex temperature was 38C, but once I was moving it was quite pleasant and I didn't really notice the heat. Once I was back on the road I was dripping sweat whenever I had to stop at a traffic light or stop sign, but that just made me cool off more quickly once I was moving.

Good weather is forecast for the next couple of days, perhaps I should go in early and leave early...

Distance logged: 21.804km
Time: 59:08
Average speed: 22.2km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 30C, humid
Cumulative distance: 3564.057km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 20 July

Nice ride in - it wasn't quite raining, but it was a bit too heavy to be called mist, but it was certainly pleasantly cooling. No numbers due to the flat battery in the bike computer sensor...

Distance logged: ?km
Time: ?
Average speed: ?km/hr
Max speed: ?km/hr
Temperature: 20C, damp
Cumulative distance: 3542.253km

Ride home for Tuesday, 19 July

Picked up my bike after getting a sardonic message on my phone from Roger... "you will be glad to know we've replaced your bottom bracket, so your pedals no longer operate independently of each other, and are both usable for pedalling purposes..." Funny guy! It was a free warranty repair, even though I'm not sure if the bike is still under warranty. Can't complain about that!

I now no longer have a ticking noise coming from my bottom bracket, so now the noise I'm focussing on is the squeaking from my seat. I disassembled it and put grease everywhere I could, but I'm not sure if I've greased the bit that's actually squeaking. Ah well, I only have a few weeks to wait till my parents arrive with my Brooks B67 saddle.

Also, the battery in the wireless sensor died on the way home (I'm not having much luck at the moment, it would appear). I checked the battery with a meter at home,and the 12V battery was reading 5.8V - definitely due for replacement, although I've only put around 1600km on the battery!

Distance logged: 3.026km (!)
Time: 9:40
Average speed: 18.8km/hr
Max speed: 43.6km/hr
Temperature: 27C, humid, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3542.253km

Ride into work for Monday, 18 July

Nice ride in, ride up to the point where I hit Spring Garden Road and my axle snapped, rendering my left pedal useless. I walked in the rest of the way rather glumly. I took the bike into Idealbikes and the mechanic reckoned it was a warranty repair on the grounds that "it shouldn't fail like that!", so with any luck I should be getting it back this afternoon, repaired for free! Hurrah for Idealbikes, the best bike shop in Halifax!

Distance logged: 16.032km
Time: 39:08
Average speed: 24.7km/hr
Max speed: 66.0km/hr
Temperature: 18C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3539.227km

Ride for Saturday, 20 July

I decided I would take a tour of the Aspotogan Peninsula, as it sounded like quite a nice ride. As I went through Timberlea, I saw the Lakeside- Beechville- Timberlea trail and decided to take that. It was a pretty smooth ride (albeit a little slower than riding on the road) which I enjoyed, stopping every now and then to take pictures and apply suntan lotion. When I hitting Lewis Lake, however, the trail degraded into a morass of rocks - inch long pebbles up to 6 inches deep. Riding through that was like slogging through snow, but I'd gone too far to want to turn back. I got a pinch flat along here, too - riding at up to 35km/hr through the rocks really wasn't a great idea!

Once I got to Tantallon it was OK, but the section from Hubley through the Tantallon is really not worth it on a bike unless you've got wide knobby tyres, preferably on a mountain bike - I can see it being quite fun then. The trail from Tantallon through to St Margaret's Bay was still a bit rocky, but it was fairly easily navigable. Once I hit St Margaret's Bay the trail was smooth crushed rock almost all the way, apart from a few sections here and there that had pebbles scattered across the road. Riding on the trail meant I was able to listen to my MP3 player, too - something I don't generally do on the road unless I'm in a really rural area, so that made a pleasant change.

When I hit Hubbard's I had a choice to make; I could either take the 329 highway (my original plan), or I could continue on the trail, which turned into the Aspotogan trail. Lacking any mapping, my assumption was that the Aspotogan trail would go by Aspotogan and loop back round towards Chester, following the same basic route as the 329. I decided to take the Aspotogan trail, since I was enjoying listening to some MP3s and riding along on a relatively deserted trail without cars zooming by. After around 15km of riding, I was rather surprised to find myself coming out by East River. I found a map at the trail head there, which revealed the Aspotogan Trail went, essentially, nowhere near Aspotogan. What a rip. I decided it would be a good idea to head back to Hubbards on the #3 highway anyway, as I was starting to run low on water. I picked up more water and food in Hubbards and continued on on the trail, jumping back onto the road at Tantallon through to Hubley, then rode the trail all the way through to Lakeside before the trail stopped. It looks like the trail is eventually going to go all the way into Halifax, which means I'll have about 5km of road riding before I get on a trail, which is a nice option to have. I rode the rest of the way home on the road, and filled up on a nice big plate of stir fry before relaxing in front of the TV watching a Penn & Teller episode.

Total fluids drunk: 6 litres of water, 2.8 litres of gatorade mix
Total food eaten: 2 gels, 4 energy bars, 3 granola bars, 3 apples
GPS map: http://www.fop.ns.ca/bike/2005.07.17_aspotogan/00gpsmap.jpg (not complete - GPS turned itself off before I hit East River)
Pictures: http://www.fop.ns.ca/bike/2005.07.17_aspotogan/

Distance logged: 133.33km
Time: 5:54:15
Average speed: 22.6km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 21C-23C (according to Environment Canada - I saw it hit 33C), sunny
Cumulative distance: 3523.195km

Ride home for Friday, 15 July

Really hot and humid ride home. It seemed to strike a few pedestrians really badly, too; I had one walk out into the middle of the lane in front of me, then stop and look for traffic, see me, freeze, take a step back, then a step forwards, and look at me like I was going to ride into him. I managed to swerve around him safely, though.

Distance logged: 12.721km
Time: 39:56
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Temperature: 23C, humid
Cumulative distance: 3389.865km

Ride into work for Friday, 15 July

Took the mountain bike in today as it was raining when I got up. I put on my rain pants and jacket, too, as it was still drizzling when I left. Of course, it stopped about 3 minutes after I left the house, and I was dripping with sweat when I got into work (when I took the rain pants off, I had sweat dribbling out of them...)

The weather forecast is calling for showers or possibly thunderstorms this afternoon, but it's looking pretty clear so far...

Distance logged: 13.057km
Time: 35:08
Average speed: 22.3km/hr
Temperature: 17C, damp
Cumulative distance: 3377.144km

Ride home for Thursday, 14 July

Volunteered at the bike shop last night and got to work on a bike that can only be described as a toy. It was a Dunlop "mountain" bike, I had to replace the rear derailleur cable, align the brake pads, tighten everything up and generally tune it up, supervised by one of the mechs there. I took it out for a test ride once I was done and the frame was flexing under me and causing the bike to shift gear by itself. I really hope the owner of this bike is significantly lighter than me!

I also picked up an Air Zound from MEC. It's quite impressively loud...

Distance logged: 14.688km
Time: 46:00
Average speed: 19.2km/hr
Max speed: 74.2km/hr
Temperature: 19C
Cumulative distance: 3364.087km

Ride into work for Thursday, 14 July

Lack of sleep last night and running late meant I didn't get to ride as much today. The weather seems to be improving, though, so hopefully I'll get a chance to ride the Aspotogan Peninsula on the Lighthouse Route at the weekend.

Distance logged: 17.761km
Time: 44:21
Average speed: 24.0km/hr
Max speed: 63.9km/hr
Temperature: 14C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3349.399km

Ride home for Wednesday, 13 July

After the excitement of the past few days, nothing out of the ordinary happened on the ride home. This was somewhat out of the ordinary.

Distance logged: 13.361km
Time: 39:16
Average speed: 20.5km/hr
Max speed: 50.0km/hr
Temperature: 18C, cloudy, breezy
Cumulative distance: 3331.638km

Ride into work for Wednesday, 13 July

Found a proto-muppet cyclist today when I was doing my hill ride. As I took a left out of Tower Road on to Point Pleasant Drive I saw a cyclist in full on roadie gear turning right onto Tower Road and stare at me rather strangely. I ignored him and went down to the bottom of Point Pleasant Drive, stopped for a quick drink of water, and started back... Then I saw the roadie coming towards me down the hill. I shrugged and carried on, then in my mirror saw he'd turned around and was following me. I suppose he must have thought someone in full commuter gear with a full set of panniers was a worthy target. After the odd look he gave me earlier I didn't really feel like stopping to chat, so I pedalled up the hill faster than he could manage and headed off down Young Avenue. I didn't see him again, so I can only presume he was also doing hill training and was hoping for someone to draft off of...

Distance logged: 19.596km
Time: 47:05
Average speed: 25.0km/hr
Max speed: 61.8km/hr
Temperature: 13C, overcast, breezy
Cumulative distance: 3318.277km

Ride home for Tuesday, 12 July

I seem to be a muppet attractor at the moment. This afternoon's muppet was a cyclist in jeans and t-shirt and helmet with the strap dangling open, dawdling along at around 10km/hr. I overtook him, went over an intersection, and stopped in the queue of traffic waiting to cross the next intersection (on Argyle crossing Sackville, for those of you following along at home). The muppet swerved across in front of me, went past the car in front, swerved to the right of him, then tried to go straight across Sackville around a Harbour Hopper which was trying to turn right.

I'm really surprised there aren't more fatalities on the roads, considering how inept most drivers are (the driving test here boils down to driving round the block, and parallel parking).

Distance logged: 14.113km
Time: 41:17
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 54.7km/hr
Temperature: 18C, cloudy,breezy
Cumulative distance: 3298.681km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 12 July

Another windy day. Lots of cyclists around today, I don't think they saw the weather reports guessing at 70% chance of rain this afternoon. Found myself behind a muppet cyclist who really shouldn't be on the road; dawdling along at maybe 12km/hr, weaving from side to side, singing along to tunes blasting out from his ipod. *So* tempted to come up behind him and give him a little push...

Distance logged: 18.520km
Time: 46:39
Average speed: 23.9km/hr
Max speed: 54.7km/hr
Temperature: 15C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 3284.568km

Ride home for Monday, 11 July

Sunny but breezy ride home. Definitely need to adjust the handlebars, and perhaps tweak the seat a bit more.

Distance logged: 13.372km
Time: 38:47
Average speed: 20.8km/hr
Max speed: 47.2km/hr
Temperature: 24C, sunny, breezy
Cumulative distance: 3266.048km

Ride into work for Monday, 11 July

Did a pretty fast ride in considering I was fully loaded - laptop, full change of clothes, rain gear (it's supposed to maybe rain/thunderstorm later). I also did some hill rides too. I can definitely feel a difference with the narrower tyres, more than I was expecting. The handlebars still aren't quite right though, now they're a bit too high, so I'm going to have to fiddle with them later.

Distance logged: 18.670km
Time: 46:46
Average speed: 24.0km/hr
Max speed: 62.0km/hr
Temperature: 16C, clear
Cumulative distance: 3252.676km

Maintenance day

Cleaned off the wheels, then cleaned off the chains on both bikes with the Park Tool chain cleaner - it did an impressive job cleaning the chains! I also fitted the new handlebar, transferred brakes and shifters across, mounted the grips, and put the old grips on the bar ends. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it rides now...

Ride #2 for Saturday, 10 July

I'd left my mountain bike at the office on Friday along with the car rack. My wife drove me down and took the bike rack back. I went over to MEC and picked up a pair of Conti Top Touring 2000 tyres, a new pair of grips and a Park Tool chain cleaner. I bungee corded the tyres onto my rack - it's amazing how much clearance cars behind gave me as a result! I also went into CycleSmith on the way home on impulse and picked up a new, wider handlebar for my road bike. It just fit in my backpack, sticking out about 6 inches. I got some odd looks from pedestrians on the fire trail!

Distance logged: 12.869km
Time: 38:01
Average speed: 20.3km/hr
Temperature: 20C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3234.006km

Ride for Saturday, 09 July

Went for a ride out to Waverley to make a cue sheet for Knox when he visits. Unfortunately I only got partway along Kearney Lake Road when I started feeling a bump... bump... bump from the rear wheel. At first I thought the rear wheel was out of true and rubbing on the brake, but I couldn't see anything obvious. Looking closer, I noticed that there was a section of tyre about an inch and a half long right by the rim that had frayed out... Obviously not a good idea to keep riding! I managed to limp home OK and took the tyre off; the tyre had frayed between the bead and the sidewall, it was actually seethrough in parts! I took off the front tyre as well, and then went off to get new tyres...

Distance logged: 15.511km
Time: 38:57
Average speed: 24.0km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 20C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3221.137km

Ride home for Friday, 08 July

Catching up on posts...

Distance logged: 14.383km
Time: 42:02
Average speed: 20.6km/hr
Max speed: 52.8km/hr
Temperature: 20C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3205.626km

Ride into work for Friday, 08 July

Bit of a chilly ride in, but I needed something to wake me up - Rowan was up all night throwing up, so I got to sit with him. I had a bit of a surprise on the way in; the padding on my seat fell off!

I took the bike into Ideal Bikes and picked up a cheap $5 seat to tide me over till next month when the parents arrive from the UK with my Brooks saddle. I also picked up a new car rack from MEC, since the Walmart special was somewhat less than sturdy...

Distance logged: 12.753km
Time: 34:10
Average speed: 22.4km/hr
Max speed: 58.7km/hr
Temperature: 14C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3191.243km

Ride home for Thursday, 07 July

Went out for supper with a client, then went for a ride out after that. Took a ride across the bridge to Dartmouth and back, pootled around downtown Halifax racing against cars, then rode home the long way. It was definitely quite a bit cooler, which was a pleasant change... I might have to do some more late evening rides!

Distance logged: 21.477km
Time: 58:34
Average speed: 22.0km/hr
Max speed: 61.3km/hr
Temperature: 17C, humid, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3178.490km

Ride into work for Thursday, 07 July

Rode in from the chiropractor's in Bedford this morning. Took the backroads up Hammonds Plains Road, down through Kearney Lake, into town. Constant threat of rain, but it never actually materialised.

Found that my tinkering with the rear brake last night was a touch excessive and I had next to no braking. I adjusted it with the barrel adjuster and it's usable, but still not perfect; it'll do till I get the wheel trued again, though.

Distance logged: 35.543km
Time: 1:28:43
Average speed: 24.1km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 14c-15C, overcast
Cumulative distance: 3157.013km

Ride home for Wednesday, 06 July

A really humid ride home, then about halfway home the rain started, which was actually rather pleasant.

Took a closer look at my rear wheel and found that one of the brake pads was rubbing against the wheel, which really didn't help. I let out the brake cable a bit more and bent out the spring in the brake to get the pads to centre a bit more, hopefully that should do the trick. I'll find out tomorrow when I ride back from the chiropractor's in Bedford to work...

Distance logged: 12.690km
Time: 39:55
Average speed: 19.1km/hr
Max speed: 50.0km/hr
Temperature: 20C, overcast, humid, rainy
Cumulative distance: 3121.470km

Ride into work for Wednesday, July 06

Foggy ride in, so foggy my glasses fogged over with fog. Took the opportunity to ride around Halifax a bit, the bike's still feeling heavy with the new wheel...

Distance logged: 16.987km
Time: 43:39
Average speed: 23.4km/hr
Max speed: 60.9km/hr
Temperature: 14C, foggy
Cumulative distance: 3108.780km

Ride home for Tuesday, 05 July

I got the road bike back with a new cyclocross wheel. It's appreciably heavier than the old one; it's got triple butted spokes, and washers on every nipple, and there's a definite feeling of solidity to the wheel. Roger said he built it up to be a really strong wheel, and it shows. He warned me that it'll take a few days to bed in, and it will go out of true as it does so, so I'll take it in for a free truing; I noticed it drifted out a bit while I was riding and rubbing the brake pads, I fixed that when I got home by *cough* letting out the brake cable a bit. Best of all, Dave (the owner) decided it was partially a warranty repair anyway, so there was no labour charged - I slipped Roger $5 anyway, since he did such a good job on it. The only problem I have now is a ticking noise coming from the bottom bracket. It's a cartridge bracket so I think I'll ride it till it's worn out, then just get another one.

My mountain bike should be ready tomorrow - Roger reckoned $40 or so for a sealed cartridge bottom bracket to replace my current cup and cone bottom bracket. He said that usually a sealed cartridge lasts for 2-5 years, but given the mileage and style of riding I do (ie, winter riding) it would probably be closer to 2.

Now, the interesting trick is going to be figuring out how to get both bikes from downtown back home...

Distance logged: 12.869km
Time: 39:09
Average speed: 19.8km/hr
Max speed: 99.9km/hr
Temperature: 24C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3091.793km

Ride into work for Tuesday, 5 July

Another ride taking it easy on my bottom bracket. Hopefully by tonight I should have a fully working bike!

Distance logged: 12.347km
Time: 33:56
Average speed: 21.8km/hr
Temperature: 15C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3078.924km

Ride home for Monday, 4 July

Took the mountain bike into Ideal Bikes this morning, Roger reckoned it was probably just the bolt in the bottom bracket that needed tightening. I rode it home, and it worked for a while, but as I started going uphill it worked loose again. Oh well, it was worth a try...

Distance logged: 12.779km
Time: 41:48
Average speed: 18.3km/hr
Temperature: 27C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3066.577km

Ride into work for Monday, 4 July

Took it easy on the ride in and took a relatively short route due to my wonky bottom bracket. I'll take my mountain bike in this morning, hopefully I'll have one of the bikes ready to ride home this evening!

Distance logged: 12.349km
Time: 33:02
Average speed: 22.4km/hr
Temperature: 15C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3053.798km

Ride for Sunday, 03 July

Didn't get my bike on Thursday as the bike shop had to special order the rim for me - I'm hoping to get it on Monday. No ride on Friday as it was the Canada Day holiday. The great thing about my birthday (30th June) is the day after is always either a holiday, or a day off!

Went for a ride today with Rowan in the bike trailer, doing our usual loops through the streets. Had to cut short as something in the bottom bracket is going really iffy - it feels like the crank arms are loose, but I checked them and they seem OK. I'm going to ride my mountain bike in tomorrow and hopefully ride one of my bikes home tomorrow night in good condition!

Distance logged: 14.038km
Time: 56:50
Average speed: 14.8km/hr
Temperature: 20-21C, sunny
Cumulative distance: 3041.449km