More bikes!

Today I had grand plans to finish fiddling with bicycles and devote some much-needed time to the Jamiejacket. Alas, it turned out that I have only fiddled with bikes. Partly that is Jamie's own fault, however.

My husband was so helpful when trying to help me "fix" Zoomie so that I could ride more confidently and safely when the roads get slippery. I've mentioned I fell several times, and even skidded along the last time to damage my glove (and my sneaker, it turns out- the plastic eyelet on the top as well as half the shoelace is just rubbed right off!). Jamie helped me by finding what I thought were the perfect screws (Lath screws), cutting the tips off so they weren't too long or dangerously sharp, and then not even being too annoyed with me when I've had to spend so much stupid time trying to unfail the whole situation. Today the studs came out.

Zoomie now has two completely unpatched tubes in tires without studs and destructive duct tape and other unfriendly things. I did find out why it was the front tire constantly causing problems rather than the back. My rear tire was the second one studded. The studs were nice and even, the duct tape smaller and smoother, and the seat tape band-aids covered the duct tape completely. Likely I could have kept the studs and made them work. But I hate them now for all the trouble they caused, so out they came.

I rode Foreman last week and up until this morning. The seat had just started causing me bruising, but I know from experience that I could have gotten used to it. I operated on Zoomie and rode her to work this afternoon. It felt so nice! My seat was so luxurious, the upright posture was lovely. I rang the bell that I had been missing at everything, and even just to ring it. I drank from my water bottle while pedaling along because I could. I missed my bike. The short deprivation did make me notice one thing, though: something is not quite right with the way I sit on Zoomie. I put too much pressure on my hands, and it does feel like I would slide off if I didn't hold on to the handlebars. Obviously it isn't something that hinders my want to ride, as I've ridden nearly every weekday since September, but it is curious.

Foreman is not destined to remain one of my bikes. after having Zoomie's step-through frame, I simply can't deal with that high nearly-horizontal top tube. It's a pain!
One day I had trouble with Foreman and a man who owns a couple of Pugs that I wave toas I ride by came out and offered help. He let me use a wrench to tighten the axle nut which had come loose (of course the ONE day I don't have my tool kit!). In the course of talking, I remarked that the bike I saw with flat tires and a rusty chain was a gorgeous shade of green, my favorite color. He offered to ask his wife if she wanted to give it away, and long story short- I now have yet another free bicycle. We picked it up yesterday, it is a Huffy Something-or-other. I found a thorn in one tire, and patched it, so now they both seem to hold air. I'll reinstall the wheel tomorrow and lube the chain- it should ride fine, I think. It will need a name soon, too. Foreman didn't even have to donate parts.

It figures that the day I remove the studs it rains with large snowflakes mixed in. Luckily, it ended before I had to ride to work, so I managed to not need any rides. Victory! Next week calls for more rainy or snowy days, but with mountain bike tires to use if I need them, I'm not as worried. Bring it on (though, not really, because I like this "mild" winter, m'kay Mother Nature?)!

Happy Wednesday.

Studded Failure.

I have a new bicycle in what I suppose I can call my "collection". I always thought it was weird to have multiple bicycles- why would you want more than one? But Zoomie has proven to absolutely hate having studded tires.

I rode to work the morning after we studded both tires. The ride was great, although the road was dry. It would figure that the promise of snow would prove to be a myth after I spend the time to winterize Zoomie. Also we had at least 2 weeks of sunshine being forecast. Oh well. Zoomie got me to work just fine, and I was feeling really happy with our project. I do hear the studs on the roadway, but its a soft noise that quickly becomes normal and unimportant. The same with the slight bumps of the studs on the tires: at slower speeds you notice the  vibration, but at normal pedaling speeds it just doesn't matter. I didn't feel any slower with the studs at all, which was also nice.

I remember talking with one of my bus mechanics after my route about the new studs that he noticed, so I am fairly certain the front tire was inflated at that time. I rode Zoomie to the top of the small inclined driveway when my husband called. I stopped there and spoke with Jamie for maybe 2 minutes, straddling Zoomie out of the saddle with both feet on the ground. When I went to pedal after hanging up, there was a very strange feeling and sluggishness and I discovered in the middle of the road that the front tire was extremely flat.

I wheeled Zoomie back inside to a few strange looks (why is Aimee back?). I disassembled the wheel and while Zoomie perched precariously on top of a first aid kit (fenders can be a slight annoyance sometimes), I found and patched the leak. I discovered that one layer of duct tape does not a durable liner make. The screw heads had torn the duct tape a little bit, mostly on the sidewall side f the tire rather than towards the center. I added seat tape. That is a cloth tape much like duct tape that the shop uses in various colors to patch rips and tears in the vinyl seats of our school buses. I thought the cloth might prove more durable. I applied it right over the duct tape already there.

It turns out that if you have a flat tire- it may be due to more than one hole.

We aired it up again to have all the air hiss out almost immediately. I discovered 3 more holes. It's a good thing I had just cut up my last big patch into more smaller ones! After patching those holes also, we aired up the tire again and things seemed ok. I only prayed that the rear tire would hold- I was trying not to be late getting home because I was supposed to be taking a leftover burrito to Jamie at school for us to share breakfast.

One mile from work, Zoomie went flat again on the front and I had to tell Jamie to buy food for himself. I was really disappointed too, because I love going places on my bike, like pedaling to the bowling alley bar to drive him home after he celebrated the last day on a job by having a few drinks with coworkers. Or a sort of "picnic" for breakfast on campus.

I walked most of the way home with Zoomie before being rescued by some coworkers, who drove me the last little bit to my house.

To try and fix the studded tire, I had to take it all apart again, and we decided to try a new method to protect the tube. I had been told by the wonderful employee at Home Depot to use an old inner tube to line the tire. Thanks to the studs, I now had a junk tube to use, but only one. So, using more seat tape, I made little tape and inner tube "band aids" or both tires. I cut pieces of tube and taped them in place over each pair of studs. I installed the new tube on the front.

I rode to work. I rode home. Yay!
I went out to get Zoomie to ride to work that afternoon. Flat front tire!

I got home from work and took the wheel apart. The hole this time appeared to be from a fold of duct tape which might have had a sharp point which the tube might have been rubbing against which created a hole. I patched it and reassembled everything. Jamie expressed concern that I didn't test the patch before putting it all back together, since the 4 patches I put on earlier had apparently failed. I was pretty sure I knew the mistake I had made- I hadn't let the rubber cement dry before pressing patches to tube. This time I did.

The first patch I had ever applied (before I lost the directions) held fine for months until I messed things up by installing studs, what could go wrong?

I woke up and Zoomie had a flat front tire. I switched my lights over to the mountain bike which I had replaced the tube in just in case, wrapped my cable lock onto it and I rode a different bike to work for the first time.

I've decided to name it "Foreman" after Red Foreman on That 70's Show. I thought it was a cuter name than simply Red. Foreman's tires seem impossibly wide after riding ZoomieZoomie.

I am not sure at this point if I even want to try a whole tube as a liner for the studs (without any of the previous tape), or if I just want to take the studs out completely. The weather is still forecasting sunny days. Well, one day shows a 20% chance of rain/snow, but here in Klamath if it isn't at least a 50% chance, it is more than likely you won't see any rain at all. I can use Foreman as my "winter" bike and Zoomie the rest of the time, I suppose.

Studded Tires!

On the way to work this morning I fell off my bicycle again. The roads were wet at my house. The temperature was hovering above freezing there, according to the thermometer. Somewhere along the way the simple wet turned into slippery frost or ice, and I was unaware. I was worried at the time because my headlight batteries were failing.

Anyway, I was going too fast and tried to turn, and ended up on my butt skidding backwards down the road. I suppose I might have panicked since I wasn't looking in the direction I was headed. I remember being worried that I was on my butt, and that maybe I was ripping jeans away little by little and soon it would be skin. I also had my right hand dragging the ground trying to stop my slide. I knew my glove was getting ripped, but I remember deciding to push down further to try to stop sooner. It worked, but my glove is ruined. Turns out my jeans are fine. I lightly banged that knee I hurt earlier, and the heel of my hand stung a bit from very minor rubbing that my glove saved me from.



So, I immediately cursed Mother Nature and Zoomie as well, and when I got home I looked up studded tires. Originally I asked my parents to get me those for my birthday, but it's supposed to snow tomorrow and well, they are stupid expensive. I've seen how to make some on forums, so I figured we could try that. Jamie said if we messed up he'd get studded tires for me and new regular tires in spring. So...

Zoomie in for surgery.

The surgical instruments. Also a Philips screwdriver, duct tape, and bolt cutters.

Step 1: Dismount tire and turn tube inside out. Commence adding screws from inside pointing out. I had marked the locations with a silver sharpie on the outside of the tire, but that turned out to be a futile gesture. I got better at aiming with the second tire, though. You just want the screws pretty evenly spaced.

Inside out tire with screws being installed.

Step 2: Cover screws with duct tape.

Step 3: Turn tire back rightside out (careful of those points!). Remount.

Step 4: Trim screw tips with bolt cutters.

Done!

I haven't ridden the improved Zoomie yet. We're giving it the night to recover (and see if the tubes go flat). However, just rolling it along didn't seem too bumpy, but the screws were very obviously touching- so they should theoretically provide better traction for me out there. 

We shall see!

Busy with....

Coughing.

For the most part.

We've had three weeks of real winter weather here. Each week began with snow, sometimes causing extremely slick conditions. Then after a few days the temperatures would warm up leading to rain which melts the snow. Rinse and repeat. Unfortunately I also came down with a cold, so I have not built a snowman despite the best intentions.

I have ridden Zoomie most days. It's not as bad as I feared it would be, but its no picnic either. To be honest, riding a skinny-slick-tire bike on hard-packed slippery snow is safer (for me) than trying to walk on it in my sneakers. I go slowly, maybe not even going out of first gear, and everything is usually fine. I fell twice the other day. The first was completely my fault. I thought I'd pause for a photo oportunity, and instead of braking slowly on the rear wheel, I accidently pulled the front wheel brake. Bam! Down I went. Very fast, pretty minor. Nothing hurt. My handlebars turned backwards, but other than that, I got my picture.

Pretty worthless, huh? I wonder if that's my breath.

Some better pictures:

My (old) bus.

I fell again on the snow on the way to Walmart. With all the snow, this last time being deep enough to threaten my ankles, I wanted to check for snow boots again at Goodwill. I found some.

My feet are finally warm!

The second fall was bad. I joked to my sister that instead of falling on my butt, I actually did something more like busted it. I was just sore up until after my afternoon run, but when I got home it was hurting more. Not really my butt, but my hip. The thick part of my leg where a sewing measurement would be for hips, not high where my hipbone is, either. So I count that as busting my butt. Jamie shoved an ice pack down my pants for swelling. The day after, I also had a sore shoulder and the right side of the middle of my back ached. I'm not sure if that is all from the one fall, but I felt beat. Today I got car rides from Jamie and co-workers even though the sun finally came out. 

On the way home from Walmart via bike path (not used often enough by me, perhaps):

Because I've been sick, my hobby pursuits are suffering also. I barely had a plan put together for our Saturday Pathfinder game, but I managed to get through it without any complaints. The players killed my bad guy as planned, but they are infected with a deadly virus needing a cure, which is of course why they will go where I want them to. I'm too new at Dungeon Mastering to let them mess up my plot.

The Jamiejacket has seen very little work, although I've tried. Jamie of course was disappointed. But, not only did the sun show itself, but I finally had a better day in a string of bad ones (up til midnight coughing uncontrollably after a whole day of that and sore abs? not fun when you tried to go to sleep at 8). I managed to screw up a simple piece-together when my head was a bit muffled. That's when I have a pattern piece that's huge, but only small scraps of material to use. They get pieced together to make the larger piece needed. Well, I neglected the seam allowance on two sections. I had to make do with very close seams for that section, and hopefully I can make it up with extra fabric where the sleeves connect.

Today I managed to mostly finish the entire back section piecing, and most of the cutting for the other pieces. Still need some lining. Jamie is letting me add parts of the maroon jacket to make up for only one jacket-worth of flannel to act as lining. With all those pockets, there isn't enough flannel to make up the difference. Still, with the freedom to add in the red, I think the jacket will look great.

Still on the mend, that's all for now. I need my sleep. Goodnight everyone!

Jamiejacket: a piece is done!

So the scottejacket, which I think should be termed the Jamiejacket, since it's for my husband specifically, has some definite progress! I have literally just stopped in my sewing to come and post this because I'm proud of it.

Here are some pictures:

What you are looking at is the left section of the front of the jacket. There will be a sort of shoulder piece above this part which goes to the collar. The patch pocket should end up positioned similarly to any other shirt pocket. Behind that patch pocket, though not quite hidden, is the invisible zipper leading to an interior breast pocket. You can see the lining peeled back in the middle photo to show that zipper opening. The full liner there is also the front of the handwarmer pocket. The back of the handwarmer pocket (not made yet) will include all the other interior pockets still making up the front panel of this jacket.

It sounds very confusing, because it is. I'll include more pictures as I go along to help explain things. 

Now all I have to do is make this section again for the right side, but I get to leave off the outside patch pocket. Still, this isn't really that much simpler because if you look closely, you'll notice that zipper stuck smack dab in the middle of nowhere. It isn't sandwiched neatly and easily between a seam. I hate it. But I also love it. The challenge of figuring out how to construct such a thing from only a very vague picture taken months ago was sort of fun while frustrating me to death. Maybe the second time a round will go faster.

So this is what I'm doing with my holiday (I also slept in, of course!). What are you up to?