Category: Cycling

T-Minus 9 Hours

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Hehe I’m counting down the time before I go out on the bike.  I’m really excited about finally being able to ride my bike again.  I really hope that I don’t have any problems with the wheel.

If everything is ok then great.  But whether it goes bad or is all good I’m going to still return the wheel to the bike shop and see if they have the correct wheel.  If not then I’ll see if they have the correct tire to go with that wheel.  I just don’t want to have any issues with it. But I want to be positive about it and hope that it all goes well.

You know when it’s going to be Christmas in the morning or you know that your parents are going to take you to Disneyland in the morning so you can’t go to sleep because that’s all you can think about?  That’s how I feel right now.  I took an ambien because I know I won’t be able to sleep.  Then again I have ADHD anyway so I know that I won’t be able to sleep lol.  But you know, I’m real excited.

I am not so excited that I’m going to wear all my biking gear and clothes with shoes to bed so I can just wake up and run out the back door and not have to worry about putting on my helmet and backpack and sunglasses because they are already on.  No, I’m not THAT excited.  Just regular excited.

That last paragraph was for Sue who tried to make fun of me and I was a douche nozzle to her.  So there you go Sue.  I really hope you got a kick out of it.

New Wheel

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I finally got my new wheel today although there is a problem with it lol.  I put the tube and the tire on it and screwed it to the bike and then started putting air into it.  As I was putting air in it I saw that the tire at the bottom was bulging out and so I stopped putting air in and started taking it out again.

I don’t know what happened but apparently it’s the wrong size.  The tag said 26″ so I thought it was the right thing but the tire says 26″ x 1.95″ so I can only assume that the wheel is not right some how.

I’m not going to return it yet though.  The guy said I had like 2 weeks or 1 month or something, I didn’t hear him but he said I had time to return it if something was wrong with it.  I’m going to ride it tomorrow to see if it does good or not.  If not then I’m going to have no choice but to return it.

Just to be sure I’m going to go out to the patio and take the air out of it and adjust the tube and wheel a little then put air in it again just to be sure.

I really hope it works out because I need to get back on the bike trail because my weight is out of control.

P.S. Ok so I went out there and put the tire back onto the wheel and pumped it up right on the table instead of on the bike which I think is the right way but I did it on the table and it was fine.  I put it pumped up on the bike and it seemed pretty sealed up with no problems.  I rode it for a minute and it was perfectly fine.

If I have issues tomorrow on the bike trail or even on the way to the bike trail then I guess I’ll have to walk home and then return the wheel for a new one.  Although, I’m going to have a long walk depending on where I’m at.  That is unless I can just deflate the tire then pump it up again but not fully just to get me home faster.

Sweatvac Ventilator Cap

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Ok, I just found something on this thing that made me laugh lol.  First here is what the cap looks like:

sweatvac1

Cool right?  It certainly looks cool.  The style is Diablo.  I think it’s really neat.  I was looking at the little paper that came with it that explains how it keeps you dry.  Here is what it says:

“How The SweatVac® System Works:  SweatVac® products are engineered and designed using a unique blend of the finest technical fabrics.  Our multi-layer technology channels vapor and moisture away from your skin and into the outer wicking layers, where they quickly evaporate.  Unlike other headwear, the material that touches your skin stays dry and comfortable – never soggy or clammy.”

Ok that’s neat.  I noticed a washing instructions tag on the inside of the cap and so I was looking at it to see what the fabric was made of and how to wash and dry it.  To my surprise I found this:

sweatvac2

Machine Wash, Air Dry, No Bleach, No Drugs, Made in USA…  Wait what?  No Drugs?  You mean I can’t use Tide with Crystal Meth anymore?  Oh my Seacrest.  But that’s how I wash all my clothes.  Well except for all my swim wear which I use Tide with Pot via a Bong.  Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to use regular plain old tide instead. (I KID!)

Drugs lol that’s funny.  I mean, I’m not knocking their message because it’s a good message but I mean come on.  If I were relying on drugs to get me thin again I wouldn’t be riding a bicycle.  I would be riding the crystal meth train to skinnyville.  I wouldn’t have to do all this back-breaking hard work to try to get skinny if I was doing drugs people.

Bike Supplies Arrived Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well today my Blue Wave Camelbak 70oz/2 Liter backpack came as well as my Sweatvac Ventilator Cap (Diablo).  I’ve been waiting for it all morning and the stupid mail carrier didn’t even ring the doorbell.  What the hell!  This isn’t a very good neighborhood for leaving shit on my doorstep.  Hello!

Anyway, it came and so I’m happy.  Of course I tried on the skull cap immediately and thankfully it fits perfectly.  I started wondering maybe I bought one that was too small or too big but it’s perfect so that’s good.  I had this f’d up dream last night that I got it but it was 1 inch thick all the way around and it was a lot bigger than it really is and I was pissed off in the dream.  Also it wasn’t Diablo, it was blue and black lol.  I put it on and it covered the top of my head and parts of my face and it was so heavy lol.  Well, the real one is ultra-thin and lightweight, it’s so light you don’t even know you are wearing it after a while.  I wore it around the house for half hour and not realizing I still had it on.

My Blue Wave Camelbak is really nice.  It’s red and black and it has 2 compartments for you to carry other things.  I like it.  It’s 70oz which according to the tag is 2 liters and that’s enough for me.  Normally when I go riding even when I did the 18 mile trek, all I had was a 32oz cup.  Actually when I was doing the 18 miles I ended up having to refill it at one of the rest stops which was fine.  The water wasn’t great out of the drinking fountain but it was fine until I got home.

So all I need is my front wheel from Snider’s Cyclry and then I’m all set.  I was supposed to have it yesterday but they told me Monday so now I have to wait until Monday which is fine I guess.  I can wait just a couple more days.  But if they still don’t have it I’m going to raise hell because I can’t stay this fat forever lol.

No New Wheel

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Well I was supposed to get my new front wheel for my bike today because on Monday when I went in to buy one they told me that they would get them in on Friday.  Well, today is Friday and so I called at around 2:30pm or so and they said that the UPS delivery won’t come until 3:30.  So I called at 4.  They told me that it will be in by Monday.  So I gotta wait just a little bit longer.

That’s ok because I’ve waited all this time and my Camelbak and Skull cap haven’t come yet and I’m sure they won’t be here until Monday anyway.  So that’s ok, I can wait.

Bike Light

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I think it was the day before yesterday or something but I noticed that the light generator wasn’t touching the tire when you flip the switch and so I fixed it and then checked out the lights to make sure they were ok by pushing the peddles.  I noticed that the back red light was working fine but the headlight wasn’t working at all.  I flipped the bike upside down and pushed the peddles with my hand to make the back tire turn and the light was just not coming on.

I took the light fixture off the bike and took it apart to see if the light bulb was just out and when I went to turn it to remove it the glass part came off and the metal was just not unscrewing at all.  I’m pretty sure it’s because the light set that I bought was old, it was made in 1991.  I searched high and low trying to find a new bulb, I went to Albertson’s, no go.  I went to Walgreens, not there.  I figured that maybe an auto parts store might have them because they have little tiny lights too but alas the car lights were the same size but no threads.  The guy at the counter told me to try Home Depot or Floyd’s hardware store.

I decided that since I can’t use my bike anyway I might as well wait until I can to worry about it.  But then I noticed a Halloween tap light sitting in a drawer and noticed that the light bulb looked the same.  I unscrewed the 3 screws on the bottom and was able to unscrew the bulb and sure enough, the exact same light bulb.

I brought it to the bike area (this was yesterday) and screwed it in and flipped the bike over and plugged the wire into the generator and pushed on the peddles but unfortunately it didn’t turn the light on.  I put it back in the tap light and put some batteries in there and tapped it and it turned on just fine.

I went searching in a computer drawer with old computer stuff and found some old mic’s from when I got my first computer and never used the mic’s and was all ready to strip the wires to use it but it was late at night and I couldn’t find my scissors so I waited until today.  This morning after Darrin went to church I got up and went out there and my scissors were by the bike so I got all the stuff ready and sat down on the stool out there.  I tried it one more time with the wire that came with the light set but this time I stripped the wire that touches the light to see if it was just messed up there but no go.  I then thought, well what if the light has to be on the bracket on the bike frame so I just placed it on there and turned the peddles and sure enough the light came on.

At this point I’m not quite sure if it’s just sheer stupidity or if my ADD is really that bad lol.  At any rate I’m glad I finally figured it out and got one more problem out of the way so I can get back on with my life.

Bad Luck

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I have the worst luck of anybody in this whole universe.  I don’t know what I ever did, maybe my karma sucks really bad.  I went to ride my bike for a minute or 2 so I could see if the bent tire would be ok and as soon as I opened the back gate then set my bike up with the kickstand so I could close the gate, the kickstand went back in and the bike fell and guess what?  My brand new rear view mirror broke right off.  So now I need a new one.  I’ve had bad luck with crazy glue and plastic.  If I glued it with crazy glue then every time I adjust it, it will fall off.  ARGH!

Front Wheel

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I got my bike all fixed up and stuff and I just spun the front wheel and apparently it’s bent a bit.  I just spent $76 today and I really can’t afford to buy a new wheel.  I’m sure that I will be fine with a bent wheel until I get my next check in January.  I probably won’t be able to ride my bike for a week anyway so when I do start up again I can just ride with a bent wheel for a while.  I’d rather not ride with a bent wheel but there really isn’t that much I can do about it for right now.  All I can do is just be very safe when riding and hope nothing goes wrong lol.  Or just not ride at all until I get a new front wheel.  This is all costing more than the bike is worth lol.

Biking Accident

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I had a little accident on my bike today.  I was riding up a bridge standing up and all of a sudden the bike shifted gears and my leg slipped off the pedal and I fell on my left side which broke the handlebar bolt.  I had to call home to come pick me up then went to the E.R. and was told that I tore a muscle and I can’t ride my bike for at least 4 weeks.

I’m not giving up on it though.  I’m sure it won’t take a month because it’s feeling good right now but maybe a week or 2 I can take it easy.  But I’m changing my bike route so I don’t have to deal with any of the bridges at all to get to the bike path and back home.

It’s frustrating that this happened because I’ve gotten myself into a routine and now that routine has been broken but I’m confident that when I can ride my bike again that routine will come back to me.

A Bicycle Built for Two

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, ExerciseLeave a comment

I suggested to Darrin today that maybe we should get a bicycle built for two.  He didn’t go for that one lol.  I think it would be cool.  We could have matching performance wear, helmets and we can have headsets for chatting.  And we can also use a Y adapter for my Dell DJ so we can both hear the same music while we ride.  I think that would be awesome.  This is what we would look like…