Club Events

General Membership

Date: Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Place: Central Library

Time: Meeting starts - 7:00 pm

Come at 6:30 pm to socialize

TBA Board Meeting

Date: Tuesday, 07 September 2010

Place:    Greenbrier Library
   1214 Volvo Parkway
   Chesapeake, VA

Time: 6:30 pm

If you have moved, please contact Mike Sleeman to have your address updated.
E-mail: membership@tbarides.org

Correspondences and newsletters are sent via 3rd Class mail, and will not be forwarded by the U.S. Postal Service

The deadline for next month's newsletter is the 10th of this month. You can e-mail your submissions (i.e. classifieds or articles) to Jeff Hathaway.
E-mail: editor@tbarides.org

The TBA Mission

The purpose of the TBA is to promote and encourage the use of the bicycle as a means of recreation and transportation; to develop a physically fit, self-reliant, well informed citizen; to uphold and support the rights of bicyclists; to encourage the use of facilities for bicycling on public lands; and to provide information in the interest of bicycling safety.

President’s Message (Top)

Bicycle Maintenance and Upkeep

How often do you look at your bike from a maintenance perspective? Do you clean it after every ride, or do you just ride it and let the maintenance take care of itself?

I ask these questions because I have to confess I am usually in the latter category of riders – those who let their bike clean and maintain itself. Recently, I was reminded why this can be a very bad idea. Sure it works great when nothing is wrong, but all of the warning signs of big problem pass by without being seen.

A few weeks ago, I started getting multiple flat tires every ride I went on. I am sure this happens to some people, but not me. In fact, I rarely get a flat. What was wrong? The answer was pretty simple: I was trying to get one more season out of my tires and it was well past time to replace them. I had ignored the warning signs of my tires being worn flat, instead of rounded, and they were full of little holes that invited road debris to attack. Had I paid more attention and inspected them occasionally, I would have seen it was time to invest in new tires. Instead, I chose to wait until I had a really loud blow out while I was riding – one that took 3” of my front tire’s bead with it. I was lucky enough to be able to SAG in and did not have to walk several miles with my disabled bike. Lesson learned? Inspect my tires regularly!

Unfortunately, my problems did not stop there. After my next ride (with two brand new tires!), I decided to take care of the “little hop” I had noticed in my rear wheel while fixing all of my flat tires. This is where I get to point out that Gordon Freeman and Mike Love (Cycle Classics) are outstanding mechanics! Instead of just truing my wheel, they inspected it and noticed two of my spokes were well on their way to being pulled through the rim and five additional spokes had stress cracks around them. The mental picture of my rear wheel collapsing while in use was absolutely terrifying! Obviously, I should have noticed this long before it became dangerous to ride on this wheel. On the bright side, I really enjoyed riding in the Coast Guard City Century on my new Campy wheel set!

By now, I had made a major investment in making my bike safe to ride again. I even put on a new chain and rewrapped my handlebars! This was also about the time my wife asked me how much the new wheel set had cost. I simply turned to her and said, “Just say Happy Anniversary Dear!” Hopefully I have learned my lesson and pay much closer attention to my bicycle upkeep in the future.

Keep on Riding!

Steve

Advocacy (Top)

Bruce Drees is working hard. Check out the latest at: http://www.hrcyclist.info/