Doug64

One day on a tour this summer I was reminded that you don't want to tick off the touring gods or even you wife.

We started out early and rolled easily in the cool morning under a heavily overcast sky. About the same time as the terrain started getting a little challenging, the clouds decided to turn from threatening rain to actual moisture. We pulled off the road and dug into our panniers to get the raingear out. I had to unclip the 2 bungee cords holding my rack pack to get it out of the way. I donned my rain gear, reassembled my rack pack and reattached the bungee cords to the rear of the rack were I had unclipped them. I also removed my hearing aids to keep them dry.

Riding in the light rain was almost enjoyable, but on about the third small hill I was starting to struggle a little to keep up to my wife. While my wife is a good strong rider, I'm usually a little stronger than her on the hills. We have identical drivetrains, and having to use one gear lower I kept dropping back. This was the pattern of the morning and I was really getting worried that something was wrong with me, and I was not going to make through the day.

Just before noon and at the bottom of hill we decided it was dry enough to get out of the rain gear before we started up a long hill ahead of us. I also replaced my hearing aids after placing my rolled up jacket and pants underneath the bungee cords on the rear rack.

This hill was a real struggle, and I could hear a rubbing sound that I attributed to a fender stay or some debris picked up in the wet conditions. I'd fix it at the top. When we got to the top I was really getting worried, but we just busted over and let her rip on the downhill. The faster we went the worse the rubbing got. I finally pulled over to see what was going on.

This is what I found. When I unclipped the bungee cords earlier, the right cord clip that is usually attached to the rack's seatstay strut dropped off and landed just below my rear brake's straddle cable. When I reclipped the bungee cord at the rear of the rack the forward clip moved upward hooking the brake's straddle wire. Everything felt fine. While it was raining it was not obvious due to the lubricating action of the water. However, when the sun came out and I placed the rolled up raingear under the bungee cord it really increased the pressure.

I was so happy to find that I wan't falling apart that I could actually laugh at my stupidity. I'm sure some of you will say that you laugh at it quite regularly. My wife denies any involvement, but probably secretly agrees on my mental status

rex615

Enjoyable read, thanks for sharing.

arnaguedes

ehehhehe, hand brake

saddlesores

and just what was your wifey doing while you were removing
your hearing aids..................


next time make sure your dirty drawers land IN the hamper, m'kay?

Tourist in MSN

It is fortunate that you found it before your pads looked like these.



It takes a lot of calories to wear down your brake pads this far.

MassiveD

classic!

robow

I'll have to keep that little trick in mind when the next time I'm riding with Mrs. Robow and she's leaving me behind as she generally does on the straight flats. "Sorry Honey, I never dreamed that bungee could come loose and pull up on your brake cable"
Thanks !

BigAura

Good story.

I'm not a bungee fan and now you've added another reason to dislike them

spinnaker

On our first day of our tour of Italy my riding partner was complaining of severe fatigue after about 20 miles. We were on a bike path which was flat and really down hill a bit. I could not understand it since I knew he was a strong rider but had never ridden with gear before.

He said I should ride ahead and find our host's home for the evening and that he would meet me at the train station. I reluctantly headed down the path at a brisk speed of 18 MPH+ . I found our host's home in Pavia in pretty short order. He informed me that my friend was waiting for us at the train station. I was bewildered at how that was possible. He wouldn't admit it at first but I later figured out he had gotten a ride.

That evening our host look us to the store. He bought phones. The plan was for me to ride and him to take the train if he could not ride. Stay in touch with phones.

The next day we were riding around Pavia waiting for our train (already planned). My friend was complaining that it seemed like there was something wrong with his brakes. I checked and saw they were rubbing his wheel. I could have killed him.

B. Carfree

My wife and I picked up a new tandem in Seattle and headed out the next morning for home, a 400 mile ride. In the wee hours before sunrise on the south side of Portland, my wife started complaining that there was something wrong and we were going too slow for our output. I usually blame slow speeds on the engine(s), so I of course said I thought there wasn't any problem. She proceeded to show me that we had to pedal to keep moving downhill, so I a look. The front brake had come out of adjustment and was rubbing badly. Ordinarily, this would have been no problem to fix, but on this particular brake (new to me and manufactured by the shop that made our bike), the tension adjustment requires a 16 mm wrench, which I didn't have. I can't remember what I jerry-rigged to get the thing adjusted, but we did make much better time after the brake was no longer on the rim.

djb

very funny Doug, but at least its better than the times we have all experienced when we feel something like this is happening-- we check our tires for a slow leak, check the brakes if they are rubbing....but alas, nope, we are just plain old tired and out of oomph, and it doesnt get better.

not sure why, but I've always stored my rain gear in one of my front panniers, probably cuz having my tent on top of the rack gets in the way a bit for access to the rear panniers, so I like being able to open a front one really fast for those times you only have a few seconds and don't want to get wet.

re "stuff happens" , on my very first bike trip, I biked from Mtl into Vermont and around. Going along the only road available one day I could see construction ahead. At first, it was fine, the road surface had been all scraped off but still rideable, but then after a while I could see that they had put this sticky tar stuff on the road, maybe pre asphalt or something, I dunno. Had no choice but to ride in it and it was still sticky, and gummed up all over my tires and when I had to pull over because it was getting too thick, all the stones from the shoulder stuck to it. Took me ages to scrape it all off.

Probably wasnt a very long section, but it sure felt that way, it was hot, it stunk like heck and the memory sticks (sic) in the ol noggin as one of those "stuff happens" moment.

antokelly

great story Doug better outcome

djb

I'm surprised more "stuff happens" stories haven't been added, usually folks enjoy regaling us with goofy stories.

Arkadee

I had a similar problem last year on day one of a tour with a couple buddies. I was the only one who actually trained and was physically ready for the trip but they dropped me on the first hill and I was struggling to regain any ground on the flats and downhills. After close to 10 km of struggling I stopped to empty the bladder and let my heart rate come down. That's when I realized the strap I used to attach my GPS to the handlebar had slipped and jammed against the front brake cable and the front wheel could barely be turned by hand.

My wife was not along but now that I think of it, I am not sure what my buddies were doing while I was parking the truck.... Hmmmm.

rawly old

Not sometimes, stuff always happens. Sometimes it's good, sometimes bad.
Gotta be ready for anything.

gregjones 

How ignorant can a manufacturer be........16mm???? I put myself through college in the 70's as a Porsche/Mercedes/BMW mechanic. We had a cool Snap On dealer. He would take the 16 and 19mm socket, wrench or whatever out of the "set" and discount us for the removal. It's a ****** that puts a 16mm anything on a bike that wouldn't have a team car in close pursuit, with a mechanic and the required strange implements required to service the machine. 16 and 19mm anything exists as freely in nature as frequently as do chicken lips at Albertson's

veganbikes

quite amusing, thankfully I use disc brakes so no straddle cable for my bungee cords to get stuck on. Though I do often see non-bungee straps like the Surly junk straps or Rivy Irish straps and others and think, is that a better way to go. I have never really liked bungees a whole lot but never had any issues with quality ones (one issue with a cheap one but I got my money back and didn't effect me to badly)

Medic Zero

Aren't kickstand bolts 19mm?