Rob and I don’t own a car so my bike is my primary way to commute. This month I’ve been riding nine miles pretty much every day and lately I’ve been having some trouble with my shifters. On Tuesday, the gears locked as I was coming up a hill — not fun — so I took it in to have it looked at.
There was nothing obviously wrong. So the awesome mechanic at Bike Gallery lubed it, tightened a couple of things and didn’t charge me, since he “didn’t really do anything.” It’s riding like a dream now, so I disagree.
While it was there, and in the stand, I noticed that my saddle was crooked. At first I thought it had just spun on the mount, but no. No, the rails were actually bent and probably had been since we moved back from NYC. I know the bike fell at least twice while it was in the back of the moving truck. So, I invested in a new saddle.
Today, my toes went numb during the last ten minutes of the ride both to and from work.
So, back to the shop today and I have a new, different saddle. Another awesome mechanic took the time to check the fit to make certain that there wasn’t anything else going on.
Let’s hope the new saddle does the trick. It’s funny though, how when you change one thing a cascade of little changes begins.
I know what you mean, I broke a spoke on the back wheel of my bike a few weeks ago with about 2 miles to go on a ride. Makes it feel squirrely. Got that fixed and had to readjust the shifters.
Then adjust the seat, then the handlebars seem wrong and so on…
But at least our carbon footprint is small. I’m either in a van pool, on my bike or riding the bus. Sometimes all three on the same day. Seattle is pretty good for bike trails but everyone tells me that Portland is tops on the West Coast. Is your commute mostly trail or road?
It’s mostly road, unfortunately although stretches of it have bike lanes. The thing that is beautiful about Portland is that cyclists and drivers tend to play well together. There are the occasional idiots on both sides, but generally everyone is well-behaved.
The new saddle worked well today and no numb toes.
Yay, no numb toes. Boo for the occasional idiots. Here, it seems to depend on the neighborhood as to the percentage. We have a number of bike lanes but most seem very narrow or full of debris. I have to admit that I’m not entirely comfortable with road and avoid them as much as possible. Luckily I live a block from the Interurban trail and can ride it all the way to where I meet my Van pool.