FedEx Invoicing

I don't know if you're supposed to do this, but I usually pressure wash the chains and sprockets at the beginning of the season and replace the grease. I don't do much on trails but the chains still attract mud and other grit.

Then there are the zealots around here wot buy studded tires and cycle all year 'round. It's seldom all that cold, but icy fairly often.

--sp

You can't do many miles per year then :-)

I get 250 miles per lube out of the road bike chain and that only if I cleaned it meticulously. Pressure washing isn't good because it forces water inside the rollers that won't come out for weeks. Or in Canadian climates probably for months. Things will corrode in there.

Then I'd use studded tires as well but only in winter. Here they aren't needed. When riding on ice and snow in the mountains fat bikes are more fun. But it's not for the faint of heart because you sometimes have to deliberately lock up the front wheel.

The hardcore guys:

When traction is at a premium we let as much air out of the tires as possible so the tire side walls just don't wrinkle.

I found a method that works really well for getting the dirt out of chain links. Get a small low speed gearmotor and put a drive sprocket on the output shaft. drape the chain over said sprocket, dangling into a solvent bath. set the solvent can in an ultrasonic cleaner, with some weight in the bottom of the can to keep it from flipping over/trying to float away. Run the motor while the ultrasonic cleaner is on. Nothing more to it, dirt is gone, chain rolls freely again. Next, take the clean chain and dunk it into a heated can of your favorite chain lube...if it isn't just an aerosol. In that case, heat up the chain in light oil, then spray with the aerosol while it's still very warm. Good penetration into the roller this way. Seems elaborate, but it is easy once set up.

grit

The black stuff could be fragments from tire rubber shredded as the cars drive down the road. I have examined these under a microscope and found them to be extremely irregular in shape but they won't smear or disintegrate under pressure, just like rubber.

The bad news is diesel particulates are in the pm5 range and cannot be viewed under a microsope. They go deep in the lungs and cannot be eliminated by the cilia. You don't want this since it can lead to cancer of the lungs. This is why diesel emissions are so highly controlled and extensive emission conrols are required to burn the particles before they leave the catalytic converters. This is why you rarely see a diesel emit heavy clouds of black smoke under load.

On the other hand, rubber tire particles are much larger and are viewable under a microscope. They are probably eliminated from the lungs by the cilia, but they do carry the danger of adsorbing unwanted bacteria, viruses or mold spores that can make you very sick.

High ionic colloidal silver will help take care of the viruses, but the toxins on mold sprores are a very difficult problem. If you are sensitive to mold, I have found nothing that can help except complete avoidance to any exposure. Once the symptoms start, the damage is done, and it is permanent.

Could be. Although I wonder how that gets to the side of the road where I ride and then up into the chain.

In the US regulations have no teeth when it comes to larger vehicles. Probably a lobby thing. School buses are the worst and especially as a cyclist I never get close to one waiting in front of a traffic light. Because when the driver steps on it a massive black plume comes out.

When there is enough soot it blackens just about everything.

I am not very sensitive but I generally try to avoid riding on roads. Not just because of pollution and noise but also for my own safety. Too many distracted drivers and people who shouldn't even be behind a steering wheel.

Yes, but that requires me to take the chain off every time I clean. I really do not want to do that. On the mountain bike it's essentially after each ride. On the road bike only every 4-7 rides or 200-250mi but that chain does not have a removable chain link.

I just took the mountain bike rear end apart and discovered that the rack boom has buckled at the main weld. I turned pale for a while ... whew!

Your front tire kicks them up and into the chain. I have examined the debris on the side of the road and came to the conclusion you could probably mine a fortune by extracting the valuable elements that are left on the side of the road. Everything you can imagine. All you have to do is separate it.

I used to see this in Canada, but no more. About the only thing you notice about trucks is signs requesting they do not use the engine compression to slow them down. This makes a very loud noise.

I agree completely. Roads are dangerous. This is why I drive on the sidewalk even though it is prohibited in my town. A little ringydingy on the handlebars helps alert people you are coming. If there are two or more pedestrians going in the same direction as me, I take the opportunity to park on a convenient bench or under a shade tree until they are so far ahead it won't matter, or they have crossed the street.

It is amazing how much distance pedestrians can travel while you are enjoying a brief respite on a park bench. I am going into my 75th year, and I am slowing down a great deal. But younger people seem to be speeding up.

I used to be like that.

I am concerned about you. The way you ride, you could crash and break something imporant, like a leg or an arm.

Do cellphones work where you go? If not, how about a personal emergency beacon so the rescuers can find you, maybe like this:

Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon (Epirb)

As a ham, you could whip something together in an hour or so. With your expertise, you could get it to run for a week on a 3032 lithium cell. Plenty of time for people to find you.

Rain?

Twenty years ago, I would have said it was asbestos, or maybe lead.

It's been, oh, at least three months since I crashed last time :-)

But that's nothing. One of the local electronics parts rep is also a mountain biker and said "If I didn't crash real hard it wasn't an interesting ride".

Cell phones often don't work where I ride. However, I always let my wife know the route. There is generally a risk when doing something fun. Yes, I could break something, cripple myself or even die. But I am unlikely to get ailments related to sedentary lifestyle which affect the vast majority of people in industrialized countries.

I don't ride hard although I regret a bit that I didn't get a downhiller bike with a double-crown fork. They weren't available in 29". While I live in California where we have trails like this I don't quite ride that style:

For a while I was doing ~80-100 km/week but not this summer.

Surely not on just one clean and lube of the chain per year.

I've been walking that far. ;-) Well, not so much in the last couple of months but not too far off that.

Good! That is what kept my great-grandpa healthy until almost 103 when he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

When I retire some more I want to hike some of the trails that I ride now. Instead of 3-4h it'll be an all day affair but should be fun. One sees more and most of all hears more when hiking. Once when my rear tire blew violently and unrepairably I had to walk home for hours. It gave me a different appreciation for that section of singletrack.