Long bike out of action

Time to give the trusty Xtra-long treadly a spell.
After 2 years and 10 months of daily commuting and general getting about, The Xtracycle is officially off the road!

It's been my main mode of transport for nearly 3 years but is now in desperate need of an overhaul.

List of stuff that is somewhat broken or just doesn't work any more....

- Saddle (vinyl split and cushion exposed)
- Brake pads (warn out)
- Brake cables (stiffening)
- Snap Deck (Laminated sheets separating, timber veneer splitting)
- Rear gear (shifter just won't grip the cable any more)
- Bottom Bracket (warn out, bearing case rusted and busted. Axel...)

 

 (What's left of axle and bearings... There were insects (cicadas) in there!)

 

 

 (Brakes, saddle, gear selector. Stuff that isn't cutting it)

I had intended to fix most of those bits and pieces that should be considered general maintenance but could never find a spare moment... The final straw came when I was slightly unwell one day and found myself grinding away in a bad gear, the chain ring moving in a sideways motion and too much friction radiating from the center bracket. I stopped the bike looked down at the play in the chain ring and found myself unable to continue at even a moderate pace. I limped the bike home and dreaded riding it again! (I rode it one more time when I went looking for Rosellas but found it was no longer fun!)

Now that my favorite machine is off the road I am alternating between two other bikes.

1. The Train-bike - An old Beach Cruise with an alleycat extension and a Weerider for taking the kids out and about.

2. The Pink Wonder - My old Shogun Katana road bike, for commuting and longer tours.

I have to say I am really enjoying being back on the road bike. It's a bike that fit's me perfectly and, (when I can stop the rear wheel from rubbing on the left chain stay!)it gets me to work 10 minutes quicker with energy to spare.

Lately this is the bike I've been taking out for morning rides. The speed allows me to get further and see more before having to turn back home in time for the family breakfast routine.

The morning rides are like a return to some kind of sanity... problem is that they make the other things I do... like work, seem somewhat less sane.

This morning I had the alarm set for 4:30am but was too tired to get up, but woke again at 5:15am, which is slightly too late for me to get as far as I would prefer, but I decided to ride anyway.

The moon had almost set and unfortunately the batteries on my headlight were waning, I was really struggling to stay on the path, it became really difficult with all the bicycle traffic coming the other way shining extremely bright lights in my eyes. I reckon there were about 30 bikes on the path between Karama and Palmerston this morning. The air was so fresh, but the conditions were perfect for riding fast, no sweat... (well not much sweat anyway).

By the time I reached the Palmerston bicycle overpass the sky was beginning to lighten up so I decided that would be far enough. It's not a bad spot to turn around, so I rolled back down the hill to the Robertson Baracks junction and sat for a while watching the sky change color as more and more bicycles rolled on past.

5 minutes of bliss before shooting off home as the sun began it's trajectory... (well the earth actually but you know what I mean)

riding pre dawn

For most of my life I've been an early riser.

Even back when I was about 10 years old I'd wake up at 6:00am and take off on my bike. I remember being bored and totally impatient as I waited sometimes for hours outside one friends house looking for signs of life... waiting for someone to wake up and come outside...

When I was a teen I helped friends with their paper rounds and really got a kick out of riding around the suburbs while it was still dark and most people were barely stirring in their beds!

When I left school and got a job, I bought a motorbike and found I needed a lot more money than the supermarket was paying so I got a second job cleaning at a local University.... 4:30am start!

Some time after that I hit the jackpot and got a job as a Postal delivery officer where I thought I had it made! 5:30am start and go home as soon as the mail is delivered! I loved it! There's so many stories I'd love to tell about that job but I've been sworn to secrecy! (I'm serious!) Somewhere along the way the Postal service went through what you might call a cultural change, the milk and honey ran out and one day I found myself in a field of thorns... 'Time to hit the road!'

I left that job and went back to school... learned to type and use the dreaded computer (Like I've written before), stupid machine! The next thing I know 10 years have passed and I've been working in an office, staying up late every night sleeping in... till 7:00am! Sleep deprived and forgetting how much I missed the dawn!

So now that I've nearly kicked that habit I've been waking early again and re-uniting with the bliss of 5:00am quiet streets, cool breeze and the scent of freedom! Sendiri saja!

On Sunday Saturday morning I was woken up at 4:30am, I wretched the Shogun Katana out from a tangle of vines, put some air in the tires and went for a quick spin down the bicycle path to Palmerston. Still too early to turn back I decided to head for Chanel Island when I discovered the new boat ramp and jetty at the Elizabeth River Bridge. I crossed the bridge then decided to turn back and gaze at the stars from the jetty. I've heard the planets are forming some kind of alignment, I don't know which ones I was looking at but there were about three clustered around a crystal clear crescent moon just before dawn. The rail bridge was alive with micro bats serenading each other in the dusky light. It was beautiful. I got home sometime around 7:00am just as everyone was waking up.

(Drawn impression -human admiring the moment when the night is met by the dawn)
(I forgot my camera!)

This morning there was far less moonlight for riding so I went for a shorter ride earlier in the morning. An early morning mission to collect Rosellas from a the scrub just a few kms from home. Unfortunately there appeared  to be no plants... strange because every other year there have been masses of them. Maybe Parks and Wildlife rangers sprayed them all? I'll have to go back in the daylight to check. Anyway there is only two days before the New Moon which meant the moon was waxing and only a thin sliver of light and to the right I think Venus? I don't know, I'll have to look it up. I came home without the loot I intended, but feeling the energy and lust for life entering my body!

This afternoon I surged home on my early 80s Mixte ladies bike and left a couple of licrad up speedsters to chew on my dust! I don't know if they were racing me but they must have felt pretty weak being thrashed by a fella riding a 30 year old ladies bike in the sitting up position. Arrgh!