Cycle Commuter - Adventures in Bicycle Commuting

G laughed, “You don’t need an exorcist… you need a team car.”

On the ride home yesterday, my jockey wheels were squeaking like banshees so I decided to do a little bit of drivetrain maintenance when I got home. It was then that I discovered the extraordinarily bad state that my rear hub was in. Crunchy doesn’t begin to describe it. But there wasn’t anything I could do… I don’t have the tools or the competency to overhaul a hub. So I resigned myself to ride in on the wheel this morning and hope for the best.

I cringed as I rolled out this morning. It sounded wretched. It sounded as though I was destroying all things smooth and metal with stubborn, unlubed movement. I contemplated riding the One Way all the way in… but the wheels on it are in no better shape, if not worse. So I continued on.

It was a bit misty this morning, which made for a pleasant subtlety to everything (aside from my crunchy rear wheel). I ended up a bit early to the first checkpoint, so I decided to hit up the coffee shack that G and I had joked about stopping at. Rolling up to the window, the barista just laughed—:”How many miles to the gallon do you get on that thing?” I told her about 3,000. She was curious about how far I was riding and how long it took me and we ended up having a pleasant little exchange while she made my drink. “Where’s your cup holder?!” She laughed when I showed her my left hand. The drink tasted exceptionally good. I’ll have to stop there again.

I met up with L and a new rider at the checkpoint and rolled out. The crunchy had subsided a bit, which was a relief in that out of earshot, out of mind kind of way. The ride in to work was a bit slower than usual, no thanks to an uncommon headwind and our new partner. It was actually really nice to take it easy, though.

Once at work, I began considering my options. I knew the hub was shot, but denial wanted me to suspect it wasn’t that bad. When I shared the news with G, J and others, the response was the same: “Dude, what’s up with you and destroying wheels?” They’ve got a good reason to ask, unfortunately… this is my fourth rear wheel that I’ve had issues with in a little over a year. Two on the Element, one on the One Way and now this one. I did a little bit of research online and quickly discovered that others had similar experiences with the same hubs… not enough grease and cheap parts do not happy results make. In the end, R took a look at it and did what he could on the spot before telling me to not ride on it… I told him I didn’t have that option… so I was told to ride home slowly and stop by his place later to see what could be done. Once back at my desk, I ordered a new wheelset. I’m hoping it’ll arrive tomorrow.

I’ll admit, I didn’t mind riding slowly. It was the first really nice day of the year… upper 70’s and a tailwind to boot. Part of me did lament not being able to hammer away with the wind at my back… but the sun made up for it. We rolled out with a group of five and hung together for eight miles along the trail. Out of shame, I hung back behind everyone. On top of the unholy crunching, my jockey wheels had started squeaking again. If I coasted, I crunched… if I pedaled, I squeaked. But, it was a good lesson in patience and pacing. Once back in town, a car passed me and honked its horn… I looked up and saw that the driver had his hand out his sunroof and was giving me a big thumbs up. It made me forget all my worries.

While R was quickly repacking the bearings, I asked what would’ve contributed to the situation. “Well, how much do you ride?” Right now, 250 a week. Otherwise about a hundred. “Yeah, that’s a lot. That’d do it, combined with crappy parts and shoddy factory assembly. You’re not a small guy, either, so you’re putting a lot of power into the pedals and torquing the crap out of things, I imagine. You probably just need to do more maintenance more often, that’s all.”

Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day. I’m excited. With the guaranteed sun, I’m certain there will be many, many people out and about. I’m even excited for the adventure of leaving home at 4 am (event obligations dictate so). As G put it, it’ll just be me and the birds on my commute. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to see the sun rise behind the mountain. Actually, now that I think about it, the timing will be perfect for such an experience. Rad.