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Old 06-03-22, 09:22 AM
  #365  
rustystrings61 
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Greenwood SC USA
Posts: 2,340

Bikes: 2002 Mercian Vincitore, 1982 Mercian Colorado, 1976 Puch Royal X, 1973 Raleigh Competition, 1971 Gitane Tour de France and others

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Clunker Challenge No. 8 Conclusion

I needed 9/10 of a mile to complete my 100 km for the challenge - but that was barely worth pumping up the tires. I wound up taking a relatively leisurely ramble over roads I traveled 40 years ago, figuring traffic would be light at mid-morning. I decided the night before that I could no longer stand the green bar tape, and I took the modern but slightly crumbly black tape from a bike I was gifted a week ago and combined it with scraps from the bin o’ recycled bar tape to make the bike look slightly more presentable. I also readjusted the rear hub cones, which had loosened up, as had the headset.






Mechanical stuff done, I rolled out Northside all the way to the local airport and explored. Even on a slow day I think I saw 3/4 of Greenwood’s Range Rovers parked out there. It’s a cute little airport for small planes, and they’re probably sprucing up for the air show in a couple of weeks.







That done, I rolled out past the Leith Women’s Correctional Facility (home to Sharon Smith, convicted of murdering her own children) and the local Humane Society before looping around through the hidden industrial park area. I wasn’t fast enough deploying my phone’s camera to catch the two white-tail deer at the roadside.

From there I rode down to see what was happening with the bridge on Airport Road that has been closed for most of a year now. Apparently nothing. I briefly considered bypassing the barriers and crossing to take Laurel Avenue back home, but I am older and wiser now. I will candidly admit that 20-odd years ago I crossed over a closed bridge in Abbeville County by walking across on a steel I-beam in Look-cleated shoes, carrying my bike on my shoulder, but I like to think I’m wiser now.



That done, I made my way to Deadfall Road and climbed the hill, realizing that it’s not as bad a hill as I once thought it was, then turning back to enjoy the descent. A quick victory lap around the apartment complex and I was done. Clunker Challenge No. 8 is now in the books for me with 16.7 km today for a total of 115.8 km!

Total expenditure -

$15.00 - acquisition of the bike
$10.70 - pair of used tires, plus tax
$4.00 - value of one used and one new shift cable from the stash
$5.00 - value of one used Vetta saddle scavenged from another clunker
$0.00 - value of used Look pedals given to me with a free bike
$0.00 - value of scavenged nasty green bar tape
$0.00 - value of replacement black bar tape from bike given to me

$34.70, my second-cheapest Clunker yet!
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