Stone Cold Lock

You might say Christmas or my birthday came late (or early) for me this year, for a couple reasons.

I received a couple gift cards for BikeLine/Trek Bicycle for said occasions from my Aunt(s) just a few weeks ago, one of which I used to help purchase a long overdue replacement for my Kryptonite U-lock that had broken last April:

Quite obviously, that's the new lock, not the one that broke. I chose to get this particular model for two reasons: it came with the frame mount holder (that strange looking thing in the middle) and because I had great luck with my first Kryptolok. It lasted nearly 3 years. After my first one broke when the key got stuck in the lock, I picked up this Bell lock from Walmart in a pinch, because it was literally the only one available at the time:

As you can see, the key is still in the lock, and that's the reason I went lock shopping yesterday. For the second time in the last month (both during extreme cold), the key or lock didn't function properly. After the first occurrence, I sprayed WD-40 in the mechanism and it seemed to work fine for a few weeks. It literally froze up again on Saturday night.

Luckily I was able to get the key stuck in the "open" position and force the lock off with a hammer, but you know that old saying "Fool me once..." and so on. I made it home Saturday night and did eventually get the key out, but I decided I'm not messing around with this hunk of junk any more. Forgive the rant, but I've hated this lock from day one, simply because of its shape:

If you look at the Kryptolok, you can see the steel tube is round. The Bell lock is ovular, which they claim makes it more secure/tougher to cut/etc. The unfortunate side effect was that it made locking the wheel and frame to bike racks quite arduous at times because of the elongated shape. The little things can make the biggest differences sometimes. Additionally, it had a rain cover for the key hole that was supposed to prevent the mechanism from getting dirty or wet, which also didn't work (clearly). Good riddance. Fortunately, they have a lock program and a warranty, which I registered for and plan to take advantage of.

Anyway, all frustrations aside, I chose to use this experience as an opportunity to take a long ride to Manayunk, which is the closest Trek Bicycle location relative to my home:

I didn't get to ride to Manayunk on my birthday as I'd originally planned, so I'll consider this the belated fulfilling of my tradition. I didn't stop for lunch or beer though, as I had to get home to watch sportsball. I was also delayed by some fierce wind out of the northwest (I'm estimating 15MPH). As you can see, I rode right into the teeth of the beast yesterday on the way out. That's actually preferred, because the ride home was much easier. The silver lining is that there was not a cloud in sight:

I won't sugarcoat it though. The last few miles were still a bit rough just because of the earlier difficulty, and there were definitely icicles forming in my beard. Also ice forming inside that water bottle up there. Neat stuff. Overall not the worst ride I've ever taken, but I think I'm good on long rides for at least the next couple weeks, and hopefully my lock problems are gone for a long time...