Tag: seat post

Testosterone Overdose

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, ExerciseLeave a comment

I don’t know what’s going on but all of a sudden it’s almost like I got an overdose of testosterone from all the bike riding I’ve been doing.  It’s like all this energy is inside me now.

That rear bike rack that I got for my birthday wasn’t the right size but I figured out how to make it the right size by rigging it to the seat and using old brakes to screw it into the frame at the bottom.  Today I went to the store and could hear it creaking where I attached it to the seat post so I drilled a hole into the seat post and put a screw in there to make it more stable.

bikescrewpost

I also finally thought of a way to get the bar on my home gym back on.  When I got it (it’s a Weider Total Body Works 5000) that little plastic thing at the bottom (you see it in the picture from that link) which holds the bungee cords, the screws snapped off of it, when?  I have no idea.  It was loose in the box.  I didn’t send it back because I bought it from Wal*mart’s website and it was shipped to me.  So I didn’t want to pay for shipping just to get that replaced so I just left it.

So I was sitting here and I got a brain storm.  What if I use the Dremel tool to cut into the screws where they snapped off at the bar so that I can use a flat head screwdriver to unscrew them and take them out and finally get that plastic bungee cord holder back into place.  So I did and it worked.  OMG!!!  Finally!  I’ve had that thing for a couple of years now and it always put a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn’t use those bungee cords to add more resistance because I didn’t want to have to keep raising and lowering the darn thing, it’s too heavy to have to do that.  It would be easier to use the bungees which is why they put them in there in the first place.

So now I can.  Boy, I feel so butch these days lol.

Wheel Fixed

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

Well I had to bring my back wheel to Snider’s today to have them tighten the freewheel (the thing that holds the chain and has different gears) but it wasn’t that it needed to be tightened, the tech guy said that they all wobble like that.  So I told him about the cracking sounds and so he looked at it and said that the problem is that the metal in the screw that holds the ball bearings in place is worn down and so they had to replace the rod and ball bearings altogether.  That was only $18.

I’m so glad it wasn’t that much money.  I would rather just have them fix the issue than have to spend $25 or $30 on all the tools needed to screw the freewheel tighter just to have it still have the same old problem lol.

That’s why I shouldn’t try to diagnose my own problems because I don’t know jack about that dren.

Chips cousins girlfriend Venda drove me there and ended up buying me a rear rack and a pair of gloves for my birthday which I so didn’t want her to do because the gloves themselves were $40 and the rack was $25.  After I got my wheel on I tried to install the rack and they didn’t supply any screws darnit.  Plus there are no holes in the frame for the top bars to go into so I have to return the rack and get a different one.

–Edit: I got the rear rack on.  I had some old brakes that I kept for some strange reason.  I just couldn’t throw them away lol.  Can you say pack rat?  Anyway, those fit on the bottom so I don’t need those screws now.  But the top still didn’t fit so I went into the tool shed and there was a roll of this metal with holes in it so I cut a piece the size I needed, wrapped it around the seat post and took some bolts and washers and nuts and screwed them to the top of the rack.  Then I took another bolt with washer and nut and screwed the piece of metal together tight so it doesn’t go anywhere.  See?  I am handy once in awhile lol.  It is secure enough now that I don’t have to worry.  End Edit–

The gloves on the other hand are really good.  I didn’t realize that I needed these gloves instead of just any regular glove because these are specifically meant for people with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome which I have.  This is what it says on the cardboard that the gloves were attached to:

Patented Technology
With technology designed by Dr. A Robert Spitzer, a neurologist, Spenco® cycling gloves feature a unique, patented groove over the carpel tunnel nerve that channels away pressure and road shock to reduce hand numbness and fatigue.

So that’s what I needed all along.  Every time I ride my hands get numb with the gloves I wear now and even without the gloves and I have to shake both my hands (not at the same time of course lol) to shake the numbness out.  So thank you Vedra and Venda for the new gloves.