Sun break

[Claire Petersky]

After 27 days of continuous rain, they said maybe Sunday would be only "sun
with occasional showers". With that in mind, my husband and I took off
yesterday for our inguaral training ride for 2006. We're planning to use the
tandem for STP and RSVP, and although we've both done these rides on
singles, this would be our first time on the tandem.

Believe it or not, not only did it not rain on the ride, we had patches of
blue sky. It was a little chilly, but not too cold.

The biggest problem was getting the tandem into the small chain ring while
under load. David got it in once without me being prepared for it, and my
foot spun around so fast it put strain on my bum ankle. I don't know how
that could have been prevented, as he announced the gear change before, but
it was taking a long time to drop down into that gear. The next time we had
an unsuccessful change into that small chain ring, we had to stop the bike.
I tried to manually pull the chain into the right spot, and then it got
jammed in some weird way, such that it took two of us and a tool to pull it
out and then on the little ring successfully. The third time it wasn't going
in, we decided to be more coordinated. David called out "dig" and we both
pushed down hard, and then "drop" and we both backed off, and then the chain
just neatly fell into place.

Maybe I should find the tandem mailing list so I can learn some more of
these techniques, so we don't have to invent them ourselves.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

 

[Sorni]

Claire Petersky wrote:
> After 27 days of continuous rain, they said maybe Sunday would be
> only "sun with occasional showers". With that in mind, my husband and
> I took off yesterday for our inguaral training ride for 2006. We're
> planning to use the tandem for STP and RSVP, and although we've both
> done these rides on singles, this would be our first time on the
> tandem.
> Believe it or not, not only did it not rain on the ride, we had
> patches of blue sky. It was a little chilly, but not too cold.
>
> The biggest problem was getting the tandem into the small chain ring
> while under load. David got it in once without me being prepared for
> it, and my foot spun around so fast it put strain on my bum ankle. I
> don't know how that could have been prevented, as he announced the
> gear change before, but it was taking a long time to drop down into
> that gear. The next time we had an unsuccessful change into that
> small chain ring, we had to stop the bike. I tried to manually pull
> the chain into the right spot, and then it got jammed in some weird
> way, such that it took two of us and a tool to pull it out and then
> on the little ring successfully. The third time it wasn't going in,
> we decided to be more coordinated. David called out "dig" and we both
> pushed down hard, and then "drop" and we both backed off, and then
> the chain just neatly fell into place.
> Maybe I should find the tandem mailing list so I can learn some more
> of these techniques, so we don't have to invent them ourselves.

Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the derailleur
cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

Ham-fisted Bill

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Sorni" <[email protected]> writes:

> Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the derailleur
> cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

There have been times when I've successfully resorted to
just giving it a little kick with my heel. Which is
fairly easy to do when using toeclips and loose-ish straps.

I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
(or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

 

[Sorni]

Tom Keats wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Sorni" <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the
>> derailleur cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

> There have been times when I've successfully resorted to
> just giving it a little kick with my heel. Which is
> fairly easy to do when using toeclips and loose-ish straps.

Yup. Done that, too.

> I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
> (or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.

LOL. No, I meant getting off the bike and /adjusting/ the front derailleur!
(I learned this sophisticated method when I first started mountain biking,
and would get the dreaded "drrrrrrrrr" going up a steep hill as the chain
stayed on the middle ring after the cage had popped in to the small ring
position.)

Bill "get off, press in, get on, ride away" S.

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
"Sorni" <[email protected]> writes:

>> I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
>> (or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.
>
> LOL. No, I meant getting off the bike and /adjusting/ the front derailleur!

Ahhh. I stand corrected.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca