wily in pacifica
09-15-2005, 01:27 PM
Last Sunday I was driving back from Half Moon Bay after a nice day of riding up in the hills. On my drive home (north on Hwy 1 to Pacifica) I have to drive over Devils Slide. As I approach the bottom on the Pacifica side I see a guy pushing his very heavy bike downhill along Hwy 1 about 100 yds from the bottom. I can see he has a rear flat and there is no shoulder to fix it. So I wait at the bottom to see if I can help out. As he walks into the pull-out I get out to see if he needs help.
If you have ever seen a bike tourist who is way over loaded you would have seen about half of what this guy has strapped onto his bike. He accepts my help and he proceeds to take a few items off of his bike so we can get to the back wheel.
He tells me his loaded bike weight 130 pounds and I would not disagree. But of the 130 pounds only the actual bike is meant to be on a bike tour. I tell him there is a bike shop across the street but he needs to get to Safeway first to get some money that has been Western Union’d to him by his mother or brother. Plus he cannot afford the labor charge of a bike shop.
Steven is somewhere around 40ish and has been riding for a couple weeks having started in LA. After owning a gym for a while his wife asked for a divorce and basically took everything. He is using this trip to his mothers house in Washington to “Cleanse Himself”.
His bike is a 700c comfort type bike with 8 gears in the rear and three up front. Plenty of low gears to get him up the hills but with that much tonnage it has to be slow going.
The only way to get the tire off is to set the rear of the bike up on one of those concrete road dividers. Luckily his rear rack sticks out far enough to allow us to get to the rear wheel. And why wouldn’t it seeing as it is made of a crutch. It is very solid and matches his front rack made of the other crutch. But not being a bike rack it makes changing a flat tougher than it should be. He gets the quick release undone and the rear wheel slides out of the dropouts. But there is no way he is getting that rear wheel out of his frame. But he doesn’t need to as he has figured out that all he needs to do is pull the old tube out and put a new one in without pulling the wheel completly out of the frame. His handy dandy screw driver comes out and the tire is off the rim.
By this time I see his rear tire is getting very warn. I tell him he will be getting flats much more frequently as his tire gets thinner. So I head for home a couple miles away to see what I can scrounge up. I have a few tires perfect for him and take him a Ritchey 700-35 cross tire to replace his 700-38 warn tire. By the time I get back he has patched his tube and ready for the tire. He then tells me he almost crashed coming down Devils slide at 50+ MPH. And I can believe it with all that weight. I warn him about the brakes heating up his tube and perhaps his tube blew due to the heat. He then tells me his spokes “Ping” as well. I take a look and both of his wheels are 32 spokers with MT bike hubs. Well the next thing you know I am giving him directions to my place and my number. I tell him if he stops by on his way north I think I have a 36 spoke heavey duty wheel he can have. I didn’t want his to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere in northern CA and have a spoke go out on him.
Well an hour later he calls me on his “Cell Phone” and a few minutes later he is riding into my garage.
Well now we have to actually get his wheel out of his frame so he starts taking a bunch of stuff of his “Solidly” built bike. What I thought were matching rear panniers are actually two carry on pieces of rolling luggage attached to his rear crutch. So they are not coming off since they are on permanently. He starts to unload the luggage and they look as well stocked as our pantry upstairs. I stopped trying to figure out what he had in there when he pulled out a big baggie of red stuff. He proudly shows it to me and said he got a great deal on 3 pounds of salsa in Half Moon Bay.
So we search my garage to see if we can find something to prop up the rear of his bike. It was tough to find anything sturdy enough and I have every bike gadget known to man .Man, I wish I had kept that 2 ton concrete road divider I just threw out. We use a couple of the shoe boxes he pulled out of his luggage and the box my wheels came in and sure enough it is sturdy. But I don’t think I would want to get under it to change his oil. Did I mention his drive chain is completely black? He has been using Gun Oil to keep his chain lubed and plenty of it.
Well we get his wheel off and I use my tools to get his 8 speed cassette off. Most of the parts on this bike are the lower level of Shimano. One or two levels lower than LX. I bought a set of 700c 135mm wheels in all black. I was thinking they would make a Bomb Proof set of commuter wheels for that Surly Cross Check frame I never got around to buying. I show him what a plastic tire iron is so he can pick a set up at the next bike shop he visits. We take my new Ritchey tire, and mount it on my all black wheel. It looks great and very stealthy. Too bad you will never see it with all the stuff on his bike.
Eventually we get it back on his bike and he starts to load up the bike again. After he is all loaded up I see the top to a coffee can on my floor that must be his. He picks it up and straps it to the top of his front Styrofoam cooler. Apparently the coffee can top keeps the squeaking down to a minimum.
I also give him a blinky light for the rear in case he gets caught out in the dark which may be tonight as it is almost 5 PM and he has no idea where he will stop for the night. He says he will mount it when he gets a chance and it looks like the only place for it will be on the handle of his fishing net which is hanging off the back of the crutch rack and strapped to his fishing pole. I asked if he was fishing and he said maybe up in Oregon he will give it a try. We look in his touring book and find out there is a hiker biker sight in the Marin Headland at the Hostel. So he will need to ride another 20 miles and get across the GG Bridge. But first he has to get out of Pacifica and the only way out is UP.
Before he leaves he asks if there is a store near the Hostel and I tell them there is nothing even close. He likes to end each days ride with a beer or four. He will have to find a store a few miles before the bridge and rather than try to direct his to a store I just give him a couple of my nice cold MGD’s.
He straps on his old all white Bell helmet and is all ready to ride out of my garage. All told it took about 90 minutes to change his wheel for mine and I am already missing him. Funny thing is that when he talked to his Mom on the way over to my place she was worried about who this crazy guy is giving you a tire and wheel. She told him not to go into my house. And he didn’t.
All I asked from him in return is that he send me a post card along his way. If anyone up north of San Francisco sees Steven (and you cannot miss him) give him lots of room as you really will not have any choice. And if you have a yard he can pitch his tent in flag him down. I have his cell number so if anyone can help him out e-mail me and I can give him a call to hook him up. It will be well worth it just to check out his rig.
Willy in Pacifica
If you have ever seen a bike tourist who is way over loaded you would have seen about half of what this guy has strapped onto his bike. He accepts my help and he proceeds to take a few items off of his bike so we can get to the back wheel.
He tells me his loaded bike weight 130 pounds and I would not disagree. But of the 130 pounds only the actual bike is meant to be on a bike tour. I tell him there is a bike shop across the street but he needs to get to Safeway first to get some money that has been Western Union’d to him by his mother or brother. Plus he cannot afford the labor charge of a bike shop.
Steven is somewhere around 40ish and has been riding for a couple weeks having started in LA. After owning a gym for a while his wife asked for a divorce and basically took everything. He is using this trip to his mothers house in Washington to “Cleanse Himself”.
His bike is a 700c comfort type bike with 8 gears in the rear and three up front. Plenty of low gears to get him up the hills but with that much tonnage it has to be slow going.
The only way to get the tire off is to set the rear of the bike up on one of those concrete road dividers. Luckily his rear rack sticks out far enough to allow us to get to the rear wheel. And why wouldn’t it seeing as it is made of a crutch. It is very solid and matches his front rack made of the other crutch. But not being a bike rack it makes changing a flat tougher than it should be. He gets the quick release undone and the rear wheel slides out of the dropouts. But there is no way he is getting that rear wheel out of his frame. But he doesn’t need to as he has figured out that all he needs to do is pull the old tube out and put a new one in without pulling the wheel completly out of the frame. His handy dandy screw driver comes out and the tire is off the rim.
By this time I see his rear tire is getting very warn. I tell him he will be getting flats much more frequently as his tire gets thinner. So I head for home a couple miles away to see what I can scrounge up. I have a few tires perfect for him and take him a Ritchey 700-35 cross tire to replace his 700-38 warn tire. By the time I get back he has patched his tube and ready for the tire. He then tells me he almost crashed coming down Devils slide at 50+ MPH. And I can believe it with all that weight. I warn him about the brakes heating up his tube and perhaps his tube blew due to the heat. He then tells me his spokes “Ping” as well. I take a look and both of his wheels are 32 spokers with MT bike hubs. Well the next thing you know I am giving him directions to my place and my number. I tell him if he stops by on his way north I think I have a 36 spoke heavey duty wheel he can have. I didn’t want his to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere in northern CA and have a spoke go out on him.
Well an hour later he calls me on his “Cell Phone” and a few minutes later he is riding into my garage.
Well now we have to actually get his wheel out of his frame so he starts taking a bunch of stuff of his “Solidly” built bike. What I thought were matching rear panniers are actually two carry on pieces of rolling luggage attached to his rear crutch. So they are not coming off since they are on permanently. He starts to unload the luggage and they look as well stocked as our pantry upstairs. I stopped trying to figure out what he had in there when he pulled out a big baggie of red stuff. He proudly shows it to me and said he got a great deal on 3 pounds of salsa in Half Moon Bay.
So we search my garage to see if we can find something to prop up the rear of his bike. It was tough to find anything sturdy enough and I have every bike gadget known to man .Man, I wish I had kept that 2 ton concrete road divider I just threw out. We use a couple of the shoe boxes he pulled out of his luggage and the box my wheels came in and sure enough it is sturdy. But I don’t think I would want to get under it to change his oil. Did I mention his drive chain is completely black? He has been using Gun Oil to keep his chain lubed and plenty of it.
Well we get his wheel off and I use my tools to get his 8 speed cassette off. Most of the parts on this bike are the lower level of Shimano. One or two levels lower than LX. I bought a set of 700c 135mm wheels in all black. I was thinking they would make a Bomb Proof set of commuter wheels for that Surly Cross Check frame I never got around to buying. I show him what a plastic tire iron is so he can pick a set up at the next bike shop he visits. We take my new Ritchey tire, and mount it on my all black wheel. It looks great and very stealthy. Too bad you will never see it with all the stuff on his bike.
Eventually we get it back on his bike and he starts to load up the bike again. After he is all loaded up I see the top to a coffee can on my floor that must be his. He picks it up and straps it to the top of his front Styrofoam cooler. Apparently the coffee can top keeps the squeaking down to a minimum.
I also give him a blinky light for the rear in case he gets caught out in the dark which may be tonight as it is almost 5 PM and he has no idea where he will stop for the night. He says he will mount it when he gets a chance and it looks like the only place for it will be on the handle of his fishing net which is hanging off the back of the crutch rack and strapped to his fishing pole. I asked if he was fishing and he said maybe up in Oregon he will give it a try. We look in his touring book and find out there is a hiker biker sight in the Marin Headland at the Hostel. So he will need to ride another 20 miles and get across the GG Bridge. But first he has to get out of Pacifica and the only way out is UP.
Before he leaves he asks if there is a store near the Hostel and I tell them there is nothing even close. He likes to end each days ride with a beer or four. He will have to find a store a few miles before the bridge and rather than try to direct his to a store I just give him a couple of my nice cold MGD’s.
He straps on his old all white Bell helmet and is all ready to ride out of my garage. All told it took about 90 minutes to change his wheel for mine and I am already missing him. Funny thing is that when he talked to his Mom on the way over to my place she was worried about who this crazy guy is giving you a tire and wheel. She told him not to go into my house. And he didn’t.
All I asked from him in return is that he send me a post card along his way. If anyone up north of San Francisco sees Steven (and you cannot miss him) give him lots of room as you really will not have any choice. And if you have a yard he can pitch his tent in flag him down. I have his cell number so if anyone can help him out e-mail me and I can give him a call to hook him up. It will be well worth it just to check out his rig.
Willy in Pacifica