Break Stuff

I've mentioned before that I don't mind getting called in to front line duty for Wash Cycle every now and then. After all, I was a delivery cyclist for 2.5 years, and being outside on a bike...OK you've heard this story before. Anyway, that said, some days it's awesome and other days it's not all peaches & cream, just like any job.

Monday morning, I was scheduled for Center City commercial deliveries again. It seemed like a really beautiful morning at first, sunny with a light breeze and a high of 85 in the forecast. I actually got to the office ahead of schedule, and other than having to repair a flat tire on the trailer first thing, the morning went smoothly. So smoothly in fact that the barista at Grindcore House actually pointed out that I was smiling: 

I used to frequent their shop when I lived in Pennsport, and I have a few good memories from there. Add this one to the list.

Around this time, the humidity really started to pick up, and it wasn't long before I was sweating bullets even with a light load. BUT, I ran into my old boss (who's now the executive director of Theatre Philadelphia) at another coffee shop we service, so I paused to chat with her for a few minutes (and enjoy the air conditioning).

My workload also picked up. An hour later in Center City, this was the scene:

I wasn't dehydrated by any means, but I was sweating pretty profusely and it seemed like a lot, even considering the amount I was towing. That said, I've done this countless times before and I was doing just fine minus looking like I'd just got out of a swimming pool.

There's that old saying that you're only as strong as your weakest link, and I found mine on the ride back to the plant. That flat that I fixed earlier in the day was riding on a less-than-optimal wheel/rim and I thought I could nurse it throughout the day (actually, I had to - it was the only one available at the time). All things considered, I did pretty well to get 3+ hours out of it, but with 250ish pounds on its back, it eventually folded (almost literally):

It might be tough to see from this angle, but two of the spokes are completely "free" from the center hub. Even at slow speed, there was no way the tire would hold up to that kind of wobbling. I had to call our West Philly cyclist to offload some of my trailer to avoid any further damage, and I replaced the wheel. I couldn't really be upset about the whole thing - it was only a matter of time before this happened.

This considered, I still finished 30+ appointments in less than 4 hours:

The oddities really began after I got back to the plant. I unloaded the last drop off and noticed my front tire on my personal bike was flat. Apparently I'd picked up a shard of glass on the ride in, this after I'd JUST REPLACED the tire and tube on Sunday. Even worse, that wheel I'd replaced on the trailer was ALSO flat, likely meaning it had a slow leak even before I put it on. SO, I fixed those too, and mercifully headed home. Let's just say I've gotten my fill of flats these last few days for sure (pun intended).

Nice Rack: Germantown & Southampton

You won't find a more bizarre street combo on this blog. This rack is next to the parking lot of the Chestnut Hill Brewery. It's a set of 4 stylized bikes. Neat looking, and orange is always a good colour choice:

It's also highly efficient and effective. Not only can I easily lock my front wheel and frame to the rack, there's also room to lock another bike directly across from mine. Nice work.

Beer Biker

I had a Saturday with no plans for the first time in what seemed like forever. Bet you'll never guess what I did...

There happened to be a Bikes and Beers ride sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition (or maybe in support of, either way), but I decided not to participate for a few reasons:

1. I don't particularly like paying $50 to participate in a ride, especially since only a portion of that revenue would go to the Coalition, who I already donate directly to on a regular basis.
2. They start these rides at 9:30AM, and on my usual Saturday, I'm not even out of my PJs by that time. I get why the organizers do this. They don't want people out too late in the heat of the day, but hydration's rarely been a problem for me.
3. I've already been to Flying Fish Brewery, so it wouldn't have been much of an adventure.
4. None of my friends were participating (that I knew of), and I wasn't in the mood for socializing with new people.

Plus, I prefer to get purposefully lost from time to time, which is not encouraged on a group ride, especially if you pay to participate. Anyway, so I decided to do a solo bikes and beers ride. As I mentioned, it was a beautiful day:

The destination (or halfway point I guess) I chose was Chestnut Hill Brewing, which had just opened in April of this year. Apparently Mt. Airy/Chestnut Hill is becoming a microbrewery hotbed:

The beer was awesome and as you can see, it's a cozy little place, nestled in a grocery store and behind a hotel. It's actually very close to Iron Hill Brewery and Earth Bread & Brewery, both of which I visited last year, so the route I took to get there yesterday was very similar. I did decide to take a few detours through North Philly instead of just taking the Schuylkill River Trail. I did take it on the way home, and decided to be a tad touristy:

The dark picture may have been foreshadowing, as I noticed I had a tire going flat soon after I hopped back on the bike. I had enough air to make it to the grocery store further on the way home:

I was going to patch it up, but realized there were actually TWO holes in the tube. Not worth it, especially considering I had already patched it once. I decided to take the bus home from there. Still, I got a 25 mile ride in before this happened, not too shabby:

Nearly 25. Who's counting, though? I replaced the tube and tire this morning. The more I think about it, I need to upgrade the front tire to a reinforced tube/tire like the rear, which hasn't seen a flat in more than a year.

Today has been a day of rest, as I'm back on the Wash Cycle for a day tomorrow...

City of Angels

I stopped to pick up lunch in Rittenhouse Square awhile back when I saw a familiar sight:

Yes. A bike. You see those a lot on a bike blog.

It's a Fuji Folding Bike, which longtime readers may know as my "old" bike that I was riding when I first started this blog. Her name is Angel. I decided to put her into retirement after a gruesome crash back in 2015, but rather than selling or discarding her, my Dad held on to her in his shed. After seeing this sight, I decided to bring her out of retirement, sort of:

It's pretty tough to ride in the basement.

I did some work on the wheels, getting them back to true and the like just for fun (maybe in the hopes of selling). I also re-calibrated the brakes and lubricated the chain and whatnot. I knew she could have used a full tune up, some cable replacements and some new tires, but for the time being, she was in pretty good shape.

All this work appeared like it would come in handy last month, when I was about to leave for a camping trip and broke a shifting cable on my everyday bike. I took Angel for a spin around the block the night before just to be sure everything worked fine, and it did. I mean, I needed to have a bike with me, right?

So, I folded and packed her into my car that night. After a half day of work the next morning, I set off for Western PA, only to arrive to find the rear tire completely destroyed and the tube inside shredded beyond repair. I have no idea what happened after I put the bike in the car, but obviously someone (or something) was telling me not to ride. The only possible thing I can think of is that the tire pressure increased too fast from the bike sitting in the back of my car, causing the tube to over-inflate, which in turn burst through the tire.

Anyway, back to Dad's house she goes until I can get some new tires, but mark my words, she WILL be back...

Hot & Heavy

Last week I hinted that I might get called into active duty at Wash Cycle again this week. Guess what? I did:

That's the only picture I took from Monday & Wednesday, when I was covering the Center City commercial route. Sometimes getting pulled off my regular duties can be kind of stressful, but in this case it was for all the right reasons: our regular Center City commercial cyclist is in Spain getting his visa renewed. I mean...that shows commitment. He's quite possibly the best cyclist we have on the team, too, so I'll look forward to having him back.

In addition to being a full schedule to begin with, we also had to reschedule appointments due to the 4th of July, packing even more into the usual day. I was on the bike for nearly 4 hours on a hot, humid Monday, not including the actual deliveries and pick ups:

There's no way that calorie total is accurate, either. I'm estimating I moved 1,000 pounds of laundry, not to mention how much sweat weight I lost. Did I mention our Center City delivery guy is awesome? He does this every damn day!

Back to somewhat normal now, I'm feeling like I need an adventure some time soon. A Bikes & Beers ride this weekend, maybe...