Maintenance

Replaced defective coathanger

During the Euro Tour the coathanger of my velomobile broke in two places. On day 9 I discovered that it broke on the side and on day 13 the top was broken. This afternoon I went to Anton L. to replace the part. It's a two-man-job and Anton is a genius when it comes to bikes. As a 'compensation' I helped him setup his iPad and iPod Touch so he could synchronize his e-mail, contacts et cetera on both devices.

Body parts

Today a post about different body parts. Like feet, knees, fingers and head. Let me begin at the beginning. Yesterday we should be rowing, but because of the ice on parts of the canal that wasn't possible. That's why we 'enjoyed' some 40 minutes of time on the ergometer. Because of this I was home early that day because I also could not coach because of the weather. The chain on Ocho, my velomobile was making a bit more noise lately, so I decided to lubricate it after a bit more than 2600 kilometers. That also gave me the opportunity to slide the pedals a bit forward.

Curb edge (the sequel)

Yesterday Ocho had another flat tire. I'm getting a bit fed up with it lately. Fortunately the cause was quickly identified. The side wall of the outer tire, a Schwalbe Durano, was damaged.

The trick with the warm bottle

After my cold adventure of last Monday I didn't want to get frozen fingers again. That's why I had a brilliant idea. I was planning to make the bike a bit more winter resistant by mounting the Schwalbe Marathon Winter rear tire again. It has thick nobs and spikes which keep you from getting stuck on slippery surfaces, like snow and ice. I also removed a lot of snow from the wheel arches and pressurized all the tires.

Curb edge in the snow

Yesterday evening we had a course at our rowingclub to become a referee. You will help the race run smoothly. Someone takes care that all the boats are aligned at the start, another starts the clock, someone else takes care of any obstacles and bridges to see if everything is safe and by the rules and another is at the finish. A lot of responibilities. That's why we have a course, with in two weeks a exam.

After a succesful night I went home through lots of snow with Ocho, my velomobile. Boy o boy, it's pretty tough cycling over a snow covered sidewalk. I'd better get out and walk a bit towards the corner of the street. Once back in my bike I realize after 15 meters that I have a flat right tire. Earlier that night I took the corner to sharp when trying to get up on the curb and that wheel hit it pretty hard. The rowingclub is about 100 meters away and the snow on the sidewalk made me not notice it. Until I wanted to get home.

Puncturrific

Two flat tires less then 150 kilometers apart. That can't be a coincidence. Lately I've had some trouble with flat left tires, like today. After doing my weekly erg-session (love it!) I went home and the bike went like lightening. But half way home I felt that it didn't steer as tightly to the right and that the bike drifted a bit. I stopped, pinched and yes... soft. The other times I couldn't find the cause, but now I noticed the puncture was at the same spot. No coincidence. At the side of the road in the dark with my phone as a flashlight I searched for the cause. Yes...

Operation successful

I picked up my bike again yesterday after it went in for surgery last Wednesday. Unfortunately it cost around three hours to resolve the problem. The left rear LED light was defect and there was a break in the wire in front which caused both lights shine very dim. The indicator buzzer was attached a bit better and the original bike computer was put back in place. Why? Well, because I ordered a new bike and I put the old one up for sale.

The operating table

As I mentioned in my blogpost about Cycle Vision my left indicator didn't function properly. The one in front lighted up very faintly and the one in the back didn't do a thing. That's why I made an appointment with Felix, the electronics guy from Sinner Bikes. I took a couple of hour off from work and around 3 PM I entered the workshop. We placed the bike on it's side on 'the operating table' and we started to track down the problem.

Northern Velomobile Ride 2012

Today was typical velomobile weather. Wind and rain. This is the third time I ride this tour. In 2010 I rod a borrowed bike and last year the starting place was at my house. This year we started in Ravenswoud, a 40 kilometers ride. After a cup of tea and something to eat each of the 27 riders got in to their bikes and we headed for Marum. We were visiting Akkie and Willem for some vegetable or mustard soup. Yummie!

Quiet please

Because the pins of the velcro strips of my foam cover came loose I decided to visit Sinner Bikes after my weekly rowing for a new pin. A 5 minute job and because of the good service it was free. I also was looking to put something between my headlight and the body of my bike. When I'm riding on uneven terrain, cobble stone roads in particular, it makes a hell of a lot of noise. So I was searching to put something in between. And there was Felix with the brilliant idea to put a piece of inner tube around the headlight.