Unprepared at Sourlands this morning...(just a rant post)

Dennis

Dennis

New Member
So, i woke up at 5:30 :getsome: this morning so I could be ready and have breakfast and be at Sourlands by 7am. Food-check, warm clothes-check, helmet etc...check.
6:30 am and i'm on the road for my first winter ride ever. I have to be back by 9:30 so my wife can leave and i can watch the kids....

Also my first trip to Sourlands, so i'm psyched about that...put into the lot. it was a beautiful morning...sunny and bitter cold(trails were sure to be solid). i take my bike out and gear up...hop on the bike and my front tire is flat!!! i never switched my pump onto this bike!! 😡 so pissed. i drive around belle mead and Hillsborough, go to Kohls(nothing), hit K-Mart...nice found a pump for presta valves.

so now, i'm happy again even though at this point i only will have 45 min to ride but it was better than nothing. get to the trail, gear up, and go to pump the tire...they mislabled the f'ing pump. :duh: no ride this morning. and to think, i could've been sleeping!!!!!

Just wanted to share the story with someone since my wife doesn't care or understand.


:2guns:Going back at 1:30 or 2pm...alone...if anyone wants to ride let me know
 
sucks for you

and me. Really wanted to ride SL this morn 😡

at least you'll get to go back and give it a 2nd shot
 
Thats a real drag. Atleast you didn't get stuck out in the trail though with a long walk ahead of you.
 
Can't tell you the amount of times I go out and not have pump, chain tool, spare link, tube or fing water. It always ends up bad, it's like it is supposed to fail cause you were not perpared. It will all be forgotten by the end of the day. Have fun, I must get down there...
 
Just got back from hiking the trails. Everything is still frozen mostly. You should be good to go this afternoon.
 
RU Chris said:
Thats a real drag. Atleast you didn't get stuck out in the trail though with a long walk ahead of you.
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yeah, well my wife turned out to be sick today so i got back to the trail at 10:30 or so. besides being way out of shape and winded...my right cleat broke! it was missing a bolt so when I would try to unclip, it would only swivel, not release. I busted my wrist in a fall you usually only happen upon when you fist get clipless pedals. No speed, dead stop, fell to my right on a rock. today was not meant to be, i should have stayed home!

i ended up walking a good portion until figured how to rig it..then went straight to my car.
 
Dennis said:
yeah, well my wife turned out to be sick today so i got back to the trail at 10:30 or so. besides being way out of shape and winded...my right cleat broke! it was missing a bolt so when I would try to unclip, it would only swivel, not release. I busted my wrist in a fall you usually only happen upon when you fist get clipless pedals. No speed, dead stop, fell to my right on a rock. today was not meant to be, i should have stayed home!

i ended up walking a good portion until figured how to rig it..then went straight to my car.
Click to expand...

sounds like you had a run of the mill at sourlandz... a lot of broken shit😛 Don't worry, this place has a way of growing on ya!
 
Dennis said:
I busted my wrist in a fall you usually only happen upon when you fist get clipless pedals. No speed, dead stop, fell to my right on a rock. today was not meant to be, i should have stayed home!
Click to expand...

Did you actually break your wrist or was it just a figure of speech?
Either way, that stinks! Feel better.
 
Boys Scout motto "Be Prepared". As much as possible I try to be self reliant and try to have everything I might need when I'm on my rig. I carry a floor pump in the car in addition to the hand pump in the Camelbak.


What was wrong with the cleat? Did you lose a screw (I carry screws too)? How did you fix the problem? :popcorn:
 
cyclopath..didn't break it though i can not rotate it left or right. was able to ride out since my wrist stays fairly straight. even typing this is fine. going to get it checked just to make sure there is no hairline fractures..i want to ride next weekend.


NOT SO FAST: you are exactly right, i lost a screw. Amazingly, i have had these cleats for 10 years, they outlived my shoes twice). since on screw was out, my foot just swiveled the cleat instead of discharging from the pedal. I had to stop a million times to screw the one really tight so i could make it out. I bought new cleats last night.

it was so miserable being cold and i was alone...i am going to breakdown and get prepared for now on. Floor pump is in my truck to stay and i'm getting small one for my pack. funny, i have a tube in my pack but no pump. Extra screws is a good idea, i'm going to put the whole cleat i had left over from the good shoe in my pack.

if you have any ideas for other things i should have, i'm up for suggestions. Got plenty of cargo space in my pack. Right now i have flint/magnesium(cause i think i am survivorman), a knife, and allen keys...that's it!
 
Cleats should be checked regularly because screws do loosen and get lost and when they do you're uhm, 'screwed'. It happened to me on the road on a long solo trip which lead to an hour and a half detour in a strange town to find a hardware store, dig for 'acceptable' screws, fix and get back on course.😡 Carrying a couple extra grams of screws would have saved me at least an hour. But check them regularly even if you do pack them.

You also need tire levers, a cell phone and I always ride with co2. If you get a flat then break your wrist going OTB, you might prefer a quick shot of air to pumping by hand.😉

Let us know what the doc says.

BTW, you notice the fishing line in Liong's pack? Well, Liong coaches Chuck Norris on survival skills. Mere mortals don't travel far enough on bikes to require catching and eating wild fish for meals.
 
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funny unprepared story

My first season on a MTB i signed up for a race(young and cocky) at Round Valley. my brother an I slowly drifted to the back of the pack. on the return section i popped my tire...the rest of the crew passed and my brother stopped to help. of course we didn't have tubes or pumps...so we started wallking back. figuring we were in last anyway, we took a dip in the lake and f'ed around and took out time....only to find our parents and neighbors(they came to surprise us) waiting and demanding that the race crew wait as well.
needless to say, the organizers were pretty pissed and our family and friends had something to laugh about everytime we told them we were going out for a ride!!
 
I read that a bottle cage screw can be used as a emergency cleat screw. I never checked. Does anyone know if that's possible?
 
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