I recently read that while the incidence of teen drunk driving has halved in the past five years, the number of teens (and older drivers) texting while driving has skyrocketed and is now the leading cause of teen death's and injury while driving. I've lost friends to both drunk and distracted drivers and totally believe this to be true.
If you search for "Autonomous cars" in Wikipedia you will find that Google is a leading player in the development of autonomous (or self-driving) cars. They already claim their autonomous cars are safer than human-driven cars as they have racked up a total of 700,000 accident free miles. Both California and Nevada have amended their laws to allow for testing of autonomous cars on public streets and highways. Michigan and Florida are looking into similar changes.
The legislatures of both states are also looking at laws that would help establish liability in the case of accidents involving autonomous cars. One day soon we will be able to buy autonomous cars although they will be expensive at first. Google estimates they add $150,000 worth of equipment to a car to make it autonomous - about half of which is the radar array.
Although autonomous cars might be available within five years it might be fifteen years before I can afford one. But eventually driving your own car may be something only rich eccentrics do. If 99% of all traffic accidents are caused by the 10% of cars being driven by humans, the cost of insuring a human driven car will become more that even the most die-hard individualist can tolerate.
So if your car is doing the driving, you can text and drink as much as you want and I and all my cycling friends can ride safely knowing your car will respect our safety more than you ever did.
My only question is - will they invent self riding bicycles? What would they look like? Would I want one? If I can say I want everyone to drive autonomous cars, do I have the right to say I still want to ride my bicycle?
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
I broke the streak of bad luck
Amber and I rode the RMCC 400k on the 7th of June in Louisville, CO. My last two brevet attempts failed due to mechanical problems. I have also been having problems with my knee lately so I was a bit worried.
RMCC has an interesting way of running.brevets. You join the club for $25 and you can ride as many brevets as you want. They have a very full calendar so there's a lot of opportunity to rack up the km. If I lived closer I'd join up every year. On the down side - there's no support at all. You get your brevet card at the start of the ride and that's it. Definitely on the unsupported edge of randonneuring.
It's a two day drive to Louisville from Los Angeles so we kept an eye of the weather on the way here. Friday was predicted to have early storms, Saturday was cool but with minimal rain, and Sunday had heavy rain and even tornadoes. Our ride had temps from 55-60, steady wind about 10-15mph from the east, and only 30 minutes of rain.
We started at the ungodly hour of 4am and headed north into the cool night. It was overcast with leaden skies and recently rained upon roads. We were ready for rain but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Fear of jinxing stopped Amber and I making any comments about the weather.
The first real challenge was the climb up Poudre Canyon which was running very high. Even so there were quite a few rafters coming down. We saw a kayak pinned against a rock but there was no-one inside fortunately.
Then we dropped down Poudre and climbed up to Forks. Nice restaurant but a nasty climb alongside a busy road. We turned around dropped back down alongside the same nasty road. Then we headed north to Wellington where we started working our way back to the start of the ride.
About 9pm it started to rain which messed our Garmins up so that we got lost and missed a turn. This only added about three miles but it was three miles we didn't need. The rain only lasted 30 minutes and was actually quite pleasant. This last 100k was the most difficult to navigate because it kept crossing our outbound route which was very confusing. I went into calorie debt and spent the last 50 miles trying to get out but never really succeeding. Part of the problem there was the oddly spaced controls (19 miles then 40 miles, etc).
Around mile 220 we came to the scene of an accident. There must have been six police cars there blocking the road. Normally they would not have allowed us through but we asked very politely and a police officer escorted us through the accident scene. I've no idea how we would have completed the ride on time otherwise.
We got to the end later than we had hoped because the last 100k took 7 hours instead of the 5 that the others took. Nevertheless I managed to break two bad streaks - major mechanicals and DNFing on the Colorado rides. No flats, no mechanicals, no crashes, minor rain, great temps, minor diversion.
The next day we took it easy to help my bad knee recover. We watched the tornado reports on the television. Thank God we weren't out in that weather.
RMCC has an interesting way of running.brevets. You join the club for $25 and you can ride as many brevets as you want. They have a very full calendar so there's a lot of opportunity to rack up the km. If I lived closer I'd join up every year. On the down side - there's no support at all. You get your brevet card at the start of the ride and that's it. Definitely on the unsupported edge of randonneuring.
It's a two day drive to Louisville from Los Angeles so we kept an eye of the weather on the way here. Friday was predicted to have early storms, Saturday was cool but with minimal rain, and Sunday had heavy rain and even tornadoes. Our ride had temps from 55-60, steady wind about 10-15mph from the east, and only 30 minutes of rain.
We started at the ungodly hour of 4am and headed north into the cool night. It was overcast with leaden skies and recently rained upon roads. We were ready for rain but hoped it wouldn't come to that. Fear of jinxing stopped Amber and I making any comments about the weather.
The first real challenge was the climb up Poudre Canyon which was running very high. Even so there were quite a few rafters coming down. We saw a kayak pinned against a rock but there was no-one inside fortunately.
 |
| Top of Poudre Canyon |
Then we dropped down Poudre and climbed up to Forks. Nice restaurant but a nasty climb alongside a busy road. We turned around dropped back down alongside the same nasty road. Then we headed north to Wellington where we started working our way back to the start of the ride.
About 9pm it started to rain which messed our Garmins up so that we got lost and missed a turn. This only added about three miles but it was three miles we didn't need. The rain only lasted 30 minutes and was actually quite pleasant. This last 100k was the most difficult to navigate because it kept crossing our outbound route which was very confusing. I went into calorie debt and spent the last 50 miles trying to get out but never really succeeding. Part of the problem there was the oddly spaced controls (19 miles then 40 miles, etc).
Around mile 220 we came to the scene of an accident. There must have been six police cars there blocking the road. Normally they would not have allowed us through but we asked very politely and a police officer escorted us through the accident scene. I've no idea how we would have completed the ride on time otherwise.
We got to the end later than we had hoped because the last 100k took 7 hours instead of the 5 that the others took. Nevertheless I managed to break two bad streaks - major mechanicals and DNFing on the Colorado rides. No flats, no mechanicals, no crashes, minor rain, great temps, minor diversion.
The next day we took it easy to help my bad knee recover. We watched the tornado reports on the television. Thank God we weren't out in that weather.
Monday, May 26, 2014
I don't have to...
I rode the Beachwood BBQ ride with Amber last night starting at 5:00pm at Anaheim Amtrak. This is a great ride especially when you need to beat the heat of the SoCal summer. The only thing I don't like is that we always have a headwind on the way out but only a weak tailwind on the way back. Also, I get nervous with all the homeless people living under the bridges.
On the plus side it's nearly all bike paths or very quiet roads with only about four miles of PCH. As it was a fine Memorial weekend evening the beach path was fairly busy but not as bad as I expected.
When people are behaving recklessly I like to communicate clearly that there are cyclists approaching. Most people appreciate the heads-up, but some take it personally and get offended. I don't care it they're offended as long as I don't hit them.
<rant>
I saw a depressingly large number of reckless cyclists on the ride. It's no surprise that so many motorists actively dislike cyclists when I see so many behaving like they do. Here's a list of "I don't have to's that I see far to often. Please don't be one of these...
I don't have to ...
Wear a helmet
Ride on the right side of the road
Put my hands on the handlebars
Use lights or reflectors at night
Be able to hear what's going on (I get sick of calling 'on your left' to people that have deliberately made themselves deaf with iPods)
Signal or look before I turn
Have an elementary understanding of the traffic laws or even common courtesy
I hear "It's a free country" too much. America is not a "free country". Afghanistan is a "free country" ie lawless. Go cycle over there if you want to be unconstrained by laws.
</rant>
On the plus side it's nearly all bike paths or very quiet roads with only about four miles of PCH. As it was a fine Memorial weekend evening the beach path was fairly busy but not as bad as I expected.
When people are behaving recklessly I like to communicate clearly that there are cyclists approaching. Most people appreciate the heads-up, but some take it personally and get offended. I don't care it they're offended as long as I don't hit them.
<rant>
I saw a depressingly large number of reckless cyclists on the ride. It's no surprise that so many motorists actively dislike cyclists when I see so many behaving like they do. Here's a list of "I don't have to's that I see far to often. Please don't be one of these...
I don't have to ...
Wear a helmet
Ride on the right side of the road
Put my hands on the handlebars
Use lights or reflectors at night
Be able to hear what's going on (I get sick of calling 'on your left' to people that have deliberately made themselves deaf with iPods)
Signal or look before I turn
Have an elementary understanding of the traffic laws or even common courtesy
I hear "It's a free country" too much. America is not a "free country". Afghanistan is a "free country" ie lawless. Go cycle over there if you want to be unconstrained by laws.
</rant>
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Lucky Greek 100k
I took advantage of a few cool days to ride my Lucky Greek 100k permanent after work last night. It was as windy as always but the perfect temperature. I even had a few sprinkles of rain on the way to Corona and saw some fireworks. On the way back the wind (tail) died down a little screwing me but that's par for the ride. Lots of frogs sitting on the bike path on the way back but I don't think I hit any.
I'm glad my sore knee didn't get any worse during the ride. In fact it was less painful at the end than at the beginning. Weird in a good way.
On the way back I noticed how I slow down at night. This is a widely reported phenomenon. You think you're riding at 16mph and you look down and see you're riding at 13mph. One other thing I notice about riding at night that I haven't heard anyone else talk about is the way my perception of time changes. Many times I've thought it was only 1 or 2am only to see the rosy fingers of dawn on the horizon.
There was a package from Peter White on the doorstep last night. I had ordered a crown fork mount for my Lumotec dynamo light and also a fiber spoke.
I mounted the light mount and put the light on it. It's out of the way now and hopefully not interfering with my brake cables. I'll take a little ride today to make sure it's all good.
I took a look at the fiber spoke. This is an emergency spoke that will replace any length spoke (not a penny farthing!) until you can get to a shop. It's a little tricky to use and the instructions are printed too small for me to read without reading glasses so I made sure I understood how to use it if the time comes. I'll be carrying it in my Carradice bag on brevets and on vacation.
Hopefully an easy ride to Hangar 24 in Redlands with Sherry today. Need to head over to RadioShack to pick up a new battery for my bike computer.
I'm glad my sore knee didn't get any worse during the ride. In fact it was less painful at the end than at the beginning. Weird in a good way.
On the way back I noticed how I slow down at night. This is a widely reported phenomenon. You think you're riding at 16mph and you look down and see you're riding at 13mph. One other thing I notice about riding at night that I haven't heard anyone else talk about is the way my perception of time changes. Many times I've thought it was only 1 or 2am only to see the rosy fingers of dawn on the horizon.
There was a package from Peter White on the doorstep last night. I had ordered a crown fork mount for my Lumotec dynamo light and also a fiber spoke.
I mounted the light mount and put the light on it. It's out of the way now and hopefully not interfering with my brake cables. I'll take a little ride today to make sure it's all good.
I took a look at the fiber spoke. This is an emergency spoke that will replace any length spoke (not a penny farthing!) until you can get to a shop. It's a little tricky to use and the instructions are printed too small for me to read without reading glasses so I made sure I understood how to use it if the time comes. I'll be carrying it in my Carradice bag on brevets and on vacation.
Hopefully an easy ride to Hangar 24 in Redlands with Sherry today. Need to head over to RadioShack to pick up a new battery for my bike computer.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
The right tools for the job
Yesterday Amber and I planned to ride from Anaheim Amtrak to Solana Beach Amtrak and take the train back. This was to be our pre-Colorado 400k long climbing ride. It was not to be.
We're currently at the tail-end of a heat wave. Most of last week has seen record-breaking high temps here in the Southland and a spate of wildfires in San Diego county. We started early to try to avoid climbing Santiago Canyon in the worst of the heat. Caltrans decided to close the 91 freeway on Saturday morning (defund them!) so it took 20 minutes for me to get the two miles around the closure.
We left Anaheim a little later than I had hoped but I'm not sure it made much difference. It was still over 80 even by 9am. We got to Cook's Corner before 11am which meant we could have breakfast. Amber had their amazing French toast and I had a breakfast burrito. We met some northbound cyclists who told us that Camp Pendleton was closed to cyclists because of the fire. We don't like riding on the shoulder of the I5 even though it is legal, so we decided to catch the train at San Clemente instead.
The ride down the Alisal bike trail was as wonderful as normal and we popped out at the coast just north of Dana point. Heading south we were soon in San Clemente with almost three hours to burn. I was suffering from the heat and the remnants of a cold so I decided we needed to try a coffee shop that I've always wanted to checkout. I think it's called the Kahaluka or something. Anyhow I had a banana smoothie (to ward off incipient cramps) and iced coffee. Very nice.
We ran into Linda Cammell there with some friends. They started in Corona and rode down to San Clemente using almost the same route as us except they don't know where the Alisal Creek bike trail is. I will mail her the GPS file. I notice the Metrolink runs more frequently than Amtrak and has far better bike facilities. I'm going to look into that - especially in light of what happened when we tried to board an earlier train (read on).
There are two stations at San Clemente - one Amtrak and one Metrolink - weird. Thank goodness for smart phones and GPS systems. We had a hilly climb to get to the Amtrak station and on one of the hills my chain broke. It's a brand new chain with maybe 400 miles on it. It looks like the mechanic didn't align the pin correctly and it slipped out of one side of the link.
Three days ago I bought a chain tool. I fixed the chain in about 10 minutes. I haven't broken a chain for years. What are the odds I would break one a few days after buying a chain tool?
We got to the correct train station and waited for the next train. The conductor was a prick and wouldn't let us on because we had reservations for the next train. He had empty spots but still wouldn't let us on. We decided to ride up to San Juan Capistrano which is the next stop and catch our train there. Our GPS systems showed us the way.
San Juan Capistrano is a lovely small town - very much like San Luis Obispo. We waited there, listening to live guitar music from the café next to the station. It was very pleasant. The time for our train came and went - Amber checked the train status on her iPhone. It was running an hour late because an earlier train had broken down. Eventually it showed up and took us back to Anaheim. There were a lot of people on the train headed to Anaheim for the baseball game. I bet they were mad.
So we relied on having the right tools several times during the ride. The broken chain; monitoring a late train; last-minute route changes, all these issues were handle adroitly by having the right tools with us.
We're currently at the tail-end of a heat wave. Most of last week has seen record-breaking high temps here in the Southland and a spate of wildfires in San Diego county. We started early to try to avoid climbing Santiago Canyon in the worst of the heat. Caltrans decided to close the 91 freeway on Saturday morning (defund them!) so it took 20 minutes for me to get the two miles around the closure.
We left Anaheim a little later than I had hoped but I'm not sure it made much difference. It was still over 80 even by 9am. We got to Cook's Corner before 11am which meant we could have breakfast. Amber had their amazing French toast and I had a breakfast burrito. We met some northbound cyclists who told us that Camp Pendleton was closed to cyclists because of the fire. We don't like riding on the shoulder of the I5 even though it is legal, so we decided to catch the train at San Clemente instead.
The ride down the Alisal bike trail was as wonderful as normal and we popped out at the coast just north of Dana point. Heading south we were soon in San Clemente with almost three hours to burn. I was suffering from the heat and the remnants of a cold so I decided we needed to try a coffee shop that I've always wanted to checkout. I think it's called the Kahaluka or something. Anyhow I had a banana smoothie (to ward off incipient cramps) and iced coffee. Very nice.
We ran into Linda Cammell there with some friends. They started in Corona and rode down to San Clemente using almost the same route as us except they don't know where the Alisal Creek bike trail is. I will mail her the GPS file. I notice the Metrolink runs more frequently than Amtrak and has far better bike facilities. I'm going to look into that - especially in light of what happened when we tried to board an earlier train (read on).
There are two stations at San Clemente - one Amtrak and one Metrolink - weird. Thank goodness for smart phones and GPS systems. We had a hilly climb to get to the Amtrak station and on one of the hills my chain broke. It's a brand new chain with maybe 400 miles on it. It looks like the mechanic didn't align the pin correctly and it slipped out of one side of the link.
Three days ago I bought a chain tool. I fixed the chain in about 10 minutes. I haven't broken a chain for years. What are the odds I would break one a few days after buying a chain tool?
We got to the correct train station and waited for the next train. The conductor was a prick and wouldn't let us on because we had reservations for the next train. He had empty spots but still wouldn't let us on. We decided to ride up to San Juan Capistrano which is the next stop and catch our train there. Our GPS systems showed us the way.
San Juan Capistrano is a lovely small town - very much like San Luis Obispo. We waited there, listening to live guitar music from the café next to the station. It was very pleasant. The time for our train came and went - Amber checked the train status on her iPhone. It was running an hour late because an earlier train had broken down. Eventually it showed up and took us back to Anaheim. There were a lot of people on the train headed to Anaheim for the baseball game. I bet they were mad.
So we relied on having the right tools several times during the ride. The broken chain; monitoring a late train; last-minute route changes, all these issues were handle adroitly by having the right tools with us.
Monday, May 12, 2014
I understand
Many years ago, as I bought a truck from Longo Toyota, the salesman seemed more excited than me. "Are you excited about your new truck?", he asked.
"Not really," I replied, "it's just a car."
He seemed crestfallen.
Last year, when I realized my beloved Serotta had been stolen it was almost as if my child had been kidnapped. When I recovered it I was ecstatic. It lives indoors now.
I've owned it over 15 years. I estimate I've ridden about 75,000 miles on it and spent about 6,000 hours riding it. It means far more to me than any car ever could.
This brings me to the closing lines of Mike Carter's excellent book "One man and his bike".
"And finally, I'd like to say thank you to my bicycle. I love you, but not in that weird way that can get you arrested. I'm sure that anybody who loves their bike will understand what I mean"
I understand.
"Not really," I replied, "it's just a car."
He seemed crestfallen.
Last year, when I realized my beloved Serotta had been stolen it was almost as if my child had been kidnapped. When I recovered it I was ecstatic. It lives indoors now.
I've owned it over 15 years. I estimate I've ridden about 75,000 miles on it and spent about 6,000 hours riding it. It means far more to me than any car ever could.
This brings me to the closing lines of Mike Carter's excellent book "One man and his bike".
"And finally, I'd like to say thank you to my bicycle. I love you, but not in that weird way that can get you arrested. I'm sure that anybody who loves their bike will understand what I mean"
I understand.
Monday, April 28, 2014
For the lack of 25 cents worth of plastic
This weekend I rode the Simi Valley to Solana Beach 400k brevet for the third time. This is one of my favorite 400k rides but the last two times I rode it I bonked horribly at Rancho Palos Verdes. Last year I also got sick enough in Newport Beach that I barfed into a trash can. I was really hoping to have a better ride this year.
Amber couldn't ride with me because of scheduling conflicts so I decided to ride with Pete Eades instead. I had decided to try Perpetuum again to see if I could keep my energy levels topped up. I used it for a while several years ago but stopped because I didn't think I needed anymore. However as I've grown older I have an increased tendency to bonk so I thought I'd try it again. Pete was also trying a new energy drink for the same reason.
We started at Simi Valley Amtrak station and headed out on a bike path I hadn't known about. It was a great way to start a ride. We headed mainly downhill and made good time until we got Oxnard. The last 20 miles to the beach we started picking up a strong headwind. Unfortunately it was coming from the right too which meant we would still have it as we headed up the coast.
The north bound leg was brutal with 20mph sustained winds gusting to 25. At mile 55 we got to the turn around control and Roger was waiting for us. Pete and I were the last on the road for a couple of reasons. For one reason, Pete is 72. The second reason is that the new energy drink was forcing him to pee every 10-15 miles.
Once we turned around the tailwind was amazing and we held 20mph very easily - barely pedaling. However the wind was still getting stronger and as the route turned it became a cross wind from time to time which was getting pretty dangerous.
Venice beach was very sketchy with sand all over the bike path often to a depth of several inches. I walked the first few sandy stretches but there were so many I started riding over them. It's surprising what you can ride over even with skinny tires. At times the wind was so strong it blew sand into our faces. I had sand in my face, mouth, trail mix, and ears. It stuck to our sun block, our chains, and I even ended up with some iron-rich sand stuck to my computer magnet. We literally rode in a sand storm - might be a first for me.
I didn't bonk in Rancho Palos Verdes which suggests the Perpetuum did its job. I'll be using it on the Colorado 400k in July. Transitioning from Rancho Palos Verdes to Long Beach you have to climb a short, steep hill to get onto the Los Angeles River bike path. It caught me by surprise and I powered up in too-big a gear. Something bent or slipped or stretched under the load and all of a sudden my bike wouldn't stay in gear. I tried adjusting the barrel adjuster for the rear derailleur but nothing helped.
The only way I could get it to stay in one gear was to put it on the big chain-ring and the big sprocket which put a lot of tension on the derailleur and limited my top speed to 15mph. Even then it would slip to a bigger gear on the hills. I effectively had a single speed bike. With my 15mph top speed and Pete's constant pee breaks we weren't making great time but we were rolling along with a comfortable time buffer.
The Long Beach bike path was surprisingly clear of sand. We even wondered if someone had come through after the storm and cleaned it. Passing through Seal Beach I pointed out two of my favorite restaurants to Pete - the Crema and Beachwood BBQ. We took the beach trail through Huntington Beach and it was also clear of sand and pedestrians although there was evidence that a storm had passed through.
We made an impromptu stop at the Jack in the Box in Newport Beach and I was starting to get a bit spacey. We took a little longer at this stop and really filled up the calories which helped enormously. Oddly Pete seemed really chipper at this point which helped me recover. It's nice the way you can feed off each other's energy when you're feeling a little down.
There are quite a few hills in Laguna Beach and on one of them the gears slipped again so I shifted back into the big sprocket and somehow shifted the rear derailleur into the spokes. This destroyed the derailleur, broke two spokes, bent two more, and tacoed the wheel so it rubbed against the frame and I couldn't even push it. My ride was over.
When you bought your bike you may have noticed a plastic disk that sits between the cassette and the wheel. This is designed to stop you from shifting into the spokes. This 25 cent piece of plastic would have saved the ride and also saved me $500 in repairs. When they rebuild my wheel I've asked them to install one. I really don't know why I removed it in the first place.
I called Roger and was amazed when he showed up about 10 minutes later. Apparently he was at home only a few miles away. He drove me down to Solana Beach where I got showered and changed and grabbed some sleep. Pete showed up a little after 6am looking very strong. His energy drink seems to have worked marvels.
We all ate at a marvelous place called the Beachgrass Café. I had a Maple, Bacon, and Cheddar pancake that was seriously the best pancake I have ever eaten. I'm planning on doing this 400k again next year just so I can eat here the next morning. I already know what I want.
Thanks to everyone for the company - especially Pete. Thanks to Greg for organizing and to Roger for saving my bacon. I'm so glad I didn't get stranded in Laguna Beach with an unpushable bike at 12:30am. That's two brevets in a row that I've had to abandon because of mechanical problems. I really need to break this streak.
Amber couldn't ride with me because of scheduling conflicts so I decided to ride with Pete Eades instead. I had decided to try Perpetuum again to see if I could keep my energy levels topped up. I used it for a while several years ago but stopped because I didn't think I needed anymore. However as I've grown older I have an increased tendency to bonk so I thought I'd try it again. Pete was also trying a new energy drink for the same reason.
We started at Simi Valley Amtrak station and headed out on a bike path I hadn't known about. It was a great way to start a ride. We headed mainly downhill and made good time until we got Oxnard. The last 20 miles to the beach we started picking up a strong headwind. Unfortunately it was coming from the right too which meant we would still have it as we headed up the coast.
The north bound leg was brutal with 20mph sustained winds gusting to 25. At mile 55 we got to the turn around control and Roger was waiting for us. Pete and I were the last on the road for a couple of reasons. For one reason, Pete is 72. The second reason is that the new energy drink was forcing him to pee every 10-15 miles.
Once we turned around the tailwind was amazing and we held 20mph very easily - barely pedaling. However the wind was still getting stronger and as the route turned it became a cross wind from time to time which was getting pretty dangerous.
Venice beach was very sketchy with sand all over the bike path often to a depth of several inches. I walked the first few sandy stretches but there were so many I started riding over them. It's surprising what you can ride over even with skinny tires. At times the wind was so strong it blew sand into our faces. I had sand in my face, mouth, trail mix, and ears. It stuck to our sun block, our chains, and I even ended up with some iron-rich sand stuck to my computer magnet. We literally rode in a sand storm - might be a first for me.
I didn't bonk in Rancho Palos Verdes which suggests the Perpetuum did its job. I'll be using it on the Colorado 400k in July. Transitioning from Rancho Palos Verdes to Long Beach you have to climb a short, steep hill to get onto the Los Angeles River bike path. It caught me by surprise and I powered up in too-big a gear. Something bent or slipped or stretched under the load and all of a sudden my bike wouldn't stay in gear. I tried adjusting the barrel adjuster for the rear derailleur but nothing helped.
The only way I could get it to stay in one gear was to put it on the big chain-ring and the big sprocket which put a lot of tension on the derailleur and limited my top speed to 15mph. Even then it would slip to a bigger gear on the hills. I effectively had a single speed bike. With my 15mph top speed and Pete's constant pee breaks we weren't making great time but we were rolling along with a comfortable time buffer.
The Long Beach bike path was surprisingly clear of sand. We even wondered if someone had come through after the storm and cleaned it. Passing through Seal Beach I pointed out two of my favorite restaurants to Pete - the Crema and Beachwood BBQ. We took the beach trail through Huntington Beach and it was also clear of sand and pedestrians although there was evidence that a storm had passed through.
We made an impromptu stop at the Jack in the Box in Newport Beach and I was starting to get a bit spacey. We took a little longer at this stop and really filled up the calories which helped enormously. Oddly Pete seemed really chipper at this point which helped me recover. It's nice the way you can feed off each other's energy when you're feeling a little down.
There are quite a few hills in Laguna Beach and on one of them the gears slipped again so I shifted back into the big sprocket and somehow shifted the rear derailleur into the spokes. This destroyed the derailleur, broke two spokes, bent two more, and tacoed the wheel so it rubbed against the frame and I couldn't even push it. My ride was over.
When you bought your bike you may have noticed a plastic disk that sits between the cassette and the wheel. This is designed to stop you from shifting into the spokes. This 25 cent piece of plastic would have saved the ride and also saved me $500 in repairs. When they rebuild my wheel I've asked them to install one. I really don't know why I removed it in the first place.
I called Roger and was amazed when he showed up about 10 minutes later. Apparently he was at home only a few miles away. He drove me down to Solana Beach where I got showered and changed and grabbed some sleep. Pete showed up a little after 6am looking very strong. His energy drink seems to have worked marvels.
We all ate at a marvelous place called the Beachgrass Café. I had a Maple, Bacon, and Cheddar pancake that was seriously the best pancake I have ever eaten. I'm planning on doing this 400k again next year just so I can eat here the next morning. I already know what I want.
Thanks to everyone for the company - especially Pete. Thanks to Greg for organizing and to Roger for saving my bacon. I'm so glad I didn't get stranded in Laguna Beach with an unpushable bike at 12:30am. That's two brevets in a row that I've had to abandon because of mechanical problems. I really need to break this streak.
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