The Bike is Ready

I decided to put a new front tire on after all.  I think the one on there would have got me through the first seven days of the ride, but probably not the next five.  That means I would have to change it during the time Jenny and I are in Woodland, and we already have plans for that five day period that include a valve adjustment check on her bike.  This is a major operation and might take most of a day if shims are needed for the valves.  Plus there are lots of other things we plan to do during that time, including taking a day ride to the coast.  So I took the old tire off, and this time it only took me an hour and a half.....but I had some help from Carolyn at a couple of critical points.  One of which was getting the front wheel back in the forks.  It takes at least four hands because the wheel has to be lifted so that the axle can be slid through the forks and the hub, while the brake rotor slides into the caliper and the spacers at each side of the hub don't fall out.  Then the axle is threaded into the right fork leg while keeping all this alignment intact.  Crazy.  Anyway, I'm keeping the old tire in case I get desperate for a front tire I can re-mount it at some later time.  To remove the front tire I have to use both a front and rear lift, and while I had it up there I also installed the brackets for the Givi side cases:

Next, I mounted my Garmin GPS with the maps of the route already loaded:

All that's left is to do some yard work, make a dentist appointment, take a load of trash to the dump, and then pack and RIDE.

I don't think I will be able to keep this blog up to date during the ride.  I've been taking my pictures with a Windows phone, but I take along an Apple Ipad, and I can't see any way to download the pictures except by emailing them to myself.  Maybe there is a cable that connects a Windows device to an Ipad......I'll check into it.

Getting Ready......New Tire

The original rear tire that came on the bike would not make the PNW Grand Tour.  It is almost worn to the wear bars as can be seen in this photo:

I could maybe get another 500 miles or so out of it, but not the 2400 miles I'm going to ride before I return to Woodland.  So, after removing the wheel from the bike, I put it on my tire changing tool to break the bead:

Then pry the tire off the wheel:

First Side Off

Tire Off Wheel

I took a picture of  the new tire back on the wheel, but it was blurry, so here is the wheel on my balancer jig: 

And the wheel back on the bike:

Jenny found a guy in San Francisco who can change a tire, including removing and re mounting the wheel on the bike, in 20 minutes.  It took me that long to get the wheel off, and the total job of changing the tire and re mounting the wheel to the bike took just over two hours.  Oh well, I'm retired, right?  I should have all the time in the world, but still, I think changing tires is a bit of a hassle.

The front tire is not as worn, which is normal, so I'm thinking it can at least get me back to Woodland where I can mount a new one I have waiting, if I need to.

PNW Grand Tour

Last winter I was contemplating another ride across the country to celebrate my 75th birthday.  After I worked on it for awhile, even choosing a route, I came to the conclusion that the logistics were just too difficult.  Plus, I remembered how roads in the middle of the country are too flat, windy, and straight.  Jenny had wanted to go along on part of the cross country ride, but I think I convinced her that a grand tour of the Pacific Northwest, where I showed her all the good roads I have discovered since we moved here, would be more fun.  This is the route I developed:

The ride with both of us together starts in San Francisco and makes a counter-clockwise loop.  Each day is color coded, and the total mileage is about 2800.  After five days we will arrive back at Woodland where we will spend some time with her kids Jonas and Adina, who will fly up for a visit.  Maybe we will take a local ride while here, and I will also do some maintenance on her bike.  Then we will take three days to return to San Francisco, again taking some of the good roads I have discovered.  Of course, I will have to ride to San Fran and back, so I will be doing about another 1500 miles.  I leave on July 22 for San Fran, and we leave on the grand tour on the 25th.  Should be a great ride and I'm really looking forward to revisiting these roads and showing them to Jenny.