That I was blogging through April last year is quite helpful to gauge expectations and precedent for bikeable weather this year. Thus, this seems a good place to note for future reference that I took out my 3-season bike on Thursday, April 17.
I'd dropped it off at Natural Cycle for a tune-up at the end of March, so it was ready Apr. 1 already, but, the roads still having some slippery spots and a whole lot of gravel, I decided to stay on the winter bike a while longer to spare my lovely from the worst wet and grit. Then it was hard to gauge when would be an appropriate time to make the switch.
In the end, my bike made the decision for me.
A month before, I'd had a bizarre incident with my drive train where my chain was tugging and pulling and catching and simply feeling wretched. With no measures to fix it, the problem disappeared.
A few days before the fateful Wednesday, I'd been feeling some wonkiness in the drive train but it felt like my right pedal -- which had me worried I'd face another incident of my crank arm (the other side this time) falling off mid-stroke. Instead, Wednesday, I was afflicted by that nasty pulling and catching sensation from my chain. It was irritating on the way to work, so I leaned down and knocked some chunks of the considerable gunk off the cogs in my derailleurs but it was even worse on the way home, to the point where it felt like the chain had actually slipped off the gears.
I promptly parked the bike when I got home, switched over my lock, and it was blue sky from then on.
I'd dropped it off at Natural Cycle for a tune-up at the end of March, so it was ready Apr. 1 already, but, the roads still having some slippery spots and a whole lot of gravel, I decided to stay on the winter bike a while longer to spare my lovely from the worst wet and grit. Then it was hard to gauge when would be an appropriate time to make the switch.
In the end, my bike made the decision for me.
A month before, I'd had a bizarre incident with my drive train where my chain was tugging and pulling and catching and simply feeling wretched. With no measures to fix it, the problem disappeared.
A few days before the fateful Wednesday, I'd been feeling some wonkiness in the drive train but it felt like my right pedal -- which had me worried I'd face another incident of my crank arm (the other side this time) falling off mid-stroke. Instead, Wednesday, I was afflicted by that nasty pulling and catching sensation from my chain. It was irritating on the way to work, so I leaned down and knocked some chunks of the considerable gunk off the cogs in my derailleurs but it was even worse on the way home, to the point where it felt like the chain had actually slipped off the gears.
I promptly parked the bike when I got home, switched over my lock, and it was blue sky from then on.
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