Marsh Creek Sunday Ride

Today I rode 9.8 miles at Marsh Creek State Park. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly.

It was a little cool with temperatures in the upper 50's. Nice and sunny but with the thick tree cover in the park, you don't get much sun. I am now wearing long sleeve bike jersey with a short sleeve UnderArmor heat gear underneath.

I saw a couple walking 5 identical dogs. I am not sure what breed, but they were white and tan and very frisky.

Sunday Ride

Today I rode 7.4 miles at Springton Manor Farm. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly. Once again I saw the woman with the pack of dogs. This time she only had 5. Although it was only 8:00 am it was already hot and humid. It was a nice workout. Originally I was going to ride a Marsh Creek State Park but they were having the Marshman Triathlon this morning. It is a Swim ¼ mile, Bike 12.5 miles, Run 2 miles triathlon. Maybe some day I should ride the bike route and time myself. The guy that won in my age group did the bike route in 37 minutes. That is 20.3 mph average!

The Ludwig Corner Riding & Driving Club was also having the Chase for Cancer benefit ride at Marsh Creek State Park. So it was probably a good idea to avoid the park today.

262.5 Miles: 25 Ride Preventative Maintenance

Today I performed the 25 Ride Preventative Maintenance. I am really at 23 rides but since it was a rainy day (due to Hurricane Hannah), I took the opportunity to perform the maintenance.



True the wheels: The front wheel was right on. I only had to tweak 2 spokes on the rear wheel



Inspect Chain Stretch: Using a ruler I determined that there is no chain stretch. I place the ruler end at a centerline of a chain link pin and use the ruler to see if the centerline of a pin falls at the 12 inch mark. If the pin near the 12 inch mark is beyond the mark that means the chain has "stretched". Actually what happens is that the individual pivot points wear bigger pivot holes. 1/16 inch is acceptable, 1/8 inch is too much and the chain should be replaced.



Degrease the drive chain:





I removed the chain with the chain tool.

















I then put the chain in my parts cleaner with mineral spirits. My parts cleaner is an old coffee cup that has a tight lid. Previously I closed the drinking hole and small vent with silicone caulk.



I shake the chain in the parts cleaner and it removes all of the grit.













I pour the dirty mineral spirits in a glass jar. The grit eventual settles to the bottom and I can reuse the mineral spirits for future cleanings. At some point I will evaporate the mineral spirits and throw out the solid gunk.















I then soak the chain in SAE 30 oil.





















This is the chain reinstalled. Nice, clean and well oiled.















Inspect nuts & bolts: Completed with no problems identified



Tighten cranks: Checked tightness and it was OK



Lube cables: I lubed the cables.



Inspect wear of chain rings: Chain rings and cassette were OK

Cycling Glasses

I got some new eyeglasses and thought it would be good to get some cycling glasses. I thought the cycling glasses would provide more protection and also so I won't break my new glasses. The cycling glasses at my eye doctors were $300 and that was just the frame.





I did not want to spend a lot of money so I did a search online and found ZenniOptical.com . I ordered frame #7002 Prescription Wind Goggles. They are really safety glasses but I think they will do well for cycling.


I asked my eye doctor for a copy of my prescription. The ordering was easy with clear explanations about the various optical terms. The only tricky one was the Pupillary Distance. This is the measurement between your pupils. For my prescription they listed the distance from each pupil to the centerline of your nose. So you have to add the two numbers together.

Although I wear progressive lenses, I ordered single vision glasses because I won't be reading while I am riding my bike. I also originally ordered the clip on sunglasses but Zenni Optical emailed me an said that the clip on's do not come with this frame. I usually do not ride with sunglasses anyway.

On August 22, 2008 at 7:20 pm I placed my order. Total cost $49.85 including shipping. There is no sales tax.

Frame Color 21 Black
Anti Reflection Coating
Lens Tint Choices: No Tint
OD-SPH: -2.00 OD-CYL: -1.75 OD-AXIS: 117 OD-ADD: 0
OS-SPH: -2.25 OS-CYL: -1.75 OS-AXIS: 72 OS-ADD: 0
PD-Pupillary Distance: 62
Prescription & Lens Type: 1.57 Mid Index Single Vision , No Charge
Prescription Strength: Standard Strength - No Charge

I received the glasses on September 5, 2008. The glasses were in a plastic case and then in a bubble wrap shipping envelope. They were well protected. They also included a cleaning cloth.

The prescription was right on and the glasses felt comfortable. They are light as they are only 28 grams. The outside wind shield has a slight tint to them which I like.

I used them on my road bike ride today. It was pretty muggy as I tried to get in a ride before the rain from Hurricane Hannah arrived in the area. I noticed that if you have the glasses tight against my forehead they would fog up when I was stopped. If I kept them slightly off my forehead, they would not fog. They also were comfortable. It did start to rain in the second half of my 14 mile ride, and the glasses did a good job of keeping the water droplets out of my eyes.

The glasses were easy to clean as the prescription insert can be popped out.

Overall I am satisfied.

Road ID

After my odyssey at Blue Marsh Lake, I thought I should have an identification with my emergency contact numbers on it. If I got hurt I would want to make sure there was no delay to contact home.



On August 30, 2008 at 2:29 PM I ordered a RoadID wrist band. I included my name, home town, 3 emergency contact numbers and my blood type (O negative). I ordered the yellow wrist band. It was only $19.48 including shipping with a $2.00 discount coupon that I received by email.


I received the RoadID on September 5, 2008 and will use it always when riding. It looks really well made.

By the way when I ordered, they gave me a coupon that I could pass along to my friends. Here's the coupon number:

Coupon Number: ThanksMichael405285


The coupon is good for $1 off any Road ID order placed by 10/01/2008. To order, simply go to RoadID.com or click the link :http://www.roadid.com/?CID=ThanksMichael405285
It can be used up to 20 times.

They also sent me coupon numbers TAF8514, TAF8515 & TAF8516 for $1.00 off, good until 12/31/2010.

Please feel free to use them.

Preventative Maintenance Plan

I found a maintenance schedule that looks pretty good. I will use it as guidance. Some of the items seem a bit too frequent (like replace your grips every 25 rides). The schedule is as follows


Off-road riding - average riding 5-10 miles

Each Ride: Inspect tire pressure, lube & clean chain
Every 5 Rides: Inspect wheel true, degrease drivetrain, clean & wash bike
Every 10 Rides: Inspect nuts & bolts, Inspect & tighten cranks, lube cables- brake & gears
Every 25 Rides: Inspect chain stretch, Inspect wear of chainrings, replace grips
Every 50 Rides: Grease nuts & bolts, Replace cables & housing, Replace chain. Replace tires
Every 100 Rides: Replace cassette, Replace chainrings, Grease bearings, Replace bottom bracket



So I am getting close to 25 rides. At that time I will perform the following maintenance: true the wheels, degrease the drive chain, inspect nuts & bolts, tighten cranks, lube cables, inspect chain stretch, and inspect wear of chain rings.

Blue Marsh Lake Odyssey

Today I rode 35.2 miles at Blue Marsh Lake. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly and it was an extremely good workout. For those of you familiar with Blue Marsh know that the loop trail is about 29 miles. Getting lost adds another 6 miles. This is the first time I rode Blue Marsh.

I debated on whether to ride Blue Marsh because the weather called for a "few showers". The temperature was perfect--- about 70 degrees. Most of the ride the rain held out. There was some "sprinkling" after I had ridden about 15 miles (the point of no return). The sprinkling was rather refreshing. Of course it started to rain hard after I got lost after 26 miles.

This is the start at the Stilling Basin parking lot off Palisades Road.

The ride started out great. I brought 108 ounces of water and some snacks. I figured I would complete a water bottle every 5 miles and have some snacks at the 10 and 20 mile mark. This all went according to plan. The trail is mostly dirt, gravel or old macadam roads. There is also some single track. The trail is generally well marked except where the streets cross the trail and some of the parking areas. It took me a little while to find where the trail continued.

There also were some pretty big hills throughout the trail. This one on the left is an example. Very steep with some railroad ties for erosion control. I had to walk up hills like this. There were also a couple of downhills I walked because they were just too scary.

This little guy posed for pictures. I stopped on the trail no more than 10 feet from him. He didn't move at all for several minutes while I took pictures.

Also at mile 15 where the trail crosses Church Road I decided to take the full lake loop. You can cut off about 7 miles by just riding down Church Road to the other side of the lake. This was a big mistake as the hills at this point were very steep and I probably end up walking most of this portion.

The hill.

This was the top of the hill about mile 17.

This was about mile 21-22.

When I passed mile 26 there was a sign pointing to the day use area and to the main hiking trail. I took the route marked the main hiking trail but ended up going into a big circle which I didn't realize until I completed the circle. It also started raining pretty hard at this point.

When I reached the top of hill where the yellow gate was I followed a dirt road. After following this road for a while I figured I was lost. I have google maps on my cell phone so I took a look at where I was. It indicates my GPS position usually within 3 meters. I was on Penn Bern Road and I was actually leaving the park. I figured I should take the roads back to the Stilling Basin . This road took me out to Rt 183. I made a right and then made a right onto Palisades Road. After about 2 miles I got to the Stilling Basin access road.

Although I got lost, I did complete the entire loop (and then some). I wanted to do the Blue Marsh loop because of the challenge. It took way too long. The next time I do Blue Marsh I will take the Church Road short cut. I would definitely do it again.

Final ride stats:

35.21 Miles

Max Speed 28 MPH

Average Speed 7.1 MPH

Ride Time 4:58:09

Total Time including Breaks: 6.5 hours