Thoughts on Routine Maintenance and Fascination with Araya Rims

I'm pretty good at keeping my chain oiled and wiping rims - sometimes daily if I commute during inclement weather - so though I may put off other routine maintenance, I eventually get around to those less glamorous yearly tasks like replacing brake pads and chain. I had procrastinated long enough that the lowest freewheel sprocket grumbled underfoot and I avoided that gear altogether until a warm weekend day allowed for outdoor repairs.

Greenfield kickstand - a little crusty but functional.

With the bike in the stand, I had noticed that oiling the underside of the frame during winter rides on salt crusted paths and roads had curbed most of the corrosion, except for the new kickstand replaced in November. The metal has developed some kind of residue and for better or worse is still quite functional. The kickstand wasn't shiny to begin with, rather the color of a five cent coin much the same as the MKS pedals installed late last summer, though the pedals have fared well during the winter months. 

It's customary to replace chains twice a year on my commuter bike. In some respects this feels excessive because I don't remember performing this kind of frequent maintenance on my other bikes, but then again I have to remind myself that winter adversely affects all those moving parts. New chain installed, front brake pads replaced, and rear pads adjusted made my bicycle feel like a svelty machine once again!

Beautiful, squared Araya rims.

However, before I took the bike for a spin, upon closer inspection I noted excessive wear on the freewheel. The rim was also slightly dished, but not overly so. I've seen worse. And for at least two years, the spokes on the left side have been looser than the right, which might account for that annoying creaking which I mentioned last fall had disappeared, but lately has manifested itself once again. And though the wheel has remained perfectly true it's also original to the bicycle and the worn freewheel meant it was time to replace the whole back wheel.

Did I ever mention I'm smitten with Araya rims?

I've used, or should I say, been exposed to Araya rims on most of my 1980s bicycles. The squared rims are fairly ubiquitous in bicycles of that era and provide a unique old school look. The more I work on my bicycles the more those rims speak to me. And for whatever reason, those wheels, like the stout early mountain bikes of the same era, have held up well.

I hated to say goodbye to the rear Araya wheel on my commuter bicycle. I contemplated holding onto the wheel for the axle and rim, but I'm not a wheel builder and frankly it wasn't practical. Emotionally, I had to let that wheel go. And luckily, I had a spare Araya rear wheel and cassette (found in a free bin at a garage sale - lucky me), that I had used briefly a couple years ago. The trade off is the "new" freewheel doesn't have optimal gearing for hills, but I'm happy to still have beautiful, old school style.

Now that my commuter bicycle is running smoothly, I'm pleased. However, I will keep an eye out for more Araya wheels, just because those beauties are still available.

Grand Isle State Park Bike Overnight - New Pedals, a Camp Chair, and Instructions to "Don't Forget the Pie!"

Mount Saint Helens, ready for an overnight. The Clementine will get her outing in September.

My goal this summer was to go on four bike overnights, one per month. For August, I planned to try out the Clementine, but with rack difficulties I put that idea on hold, instead opting to load up the Mount Saint Helens. If I'm honest, the idea to tour on the Ross has always been on my mind, so the decision wasn't so much consolation, but a chance to try a simple tour on a step through bicycle, one I'm completely confident and comfortable riding for short distances.

Loving the MKS "sneaker" pedals.

First, I made time to replace the Tioga pedals with Rivendell's MKS "sneaker" pedals then loaded the bike with bare necessities: a change of clothes, the usual sleeping bag, mat and single person 3 lb. tent, camp stove and stainless cup, bathing suit and water shoes (which I never used), the usual toiletries, and one superfluous item: a 1 lb. Helinox ground chair, a new item that I wanted to try on a tour. As I was getting ready to leave, my husband mentioned that if I could possibly carry it, I should return with a pie. It's kind of a joke between us, because once we were able to haul a pie back from apple country in South Hero, and that pie made it home a little squished, but definitely edible. Since then it's become our mantra: if you go there, then find a way to bike a pie home. So then I pushed off  at 4 pm. with a lightly loaded bike. Immediately, I fell in love with what I couldn't feel with the "sneaker" pedals, the spindle that used to protrude and caused my feet to slide on the old touring pedals. The new pedals are keepers!

The U-shape racks on the bike ferry are covered in corrugated flexible pipe so bicycles are not scratched.

I easily pedaled the flat waterfront path, connected with the causeway trail,  took the ferry, and was pedaling on South Hero in the Champlain Islands. I had a slight headwind, but with less than 20 miles, tops, to get to Grand Isle State Park, I realized this would be the shortest bike overnight I'd ever done.

I stopped  at Keeler's Bay Store for a couple items to supplement dinner and breakfast and parked my bike next to another  bicycle, this one heavily loaded with four monstrous panniers. And surely, I surmised, the bike belonged to someone on a very long tour. As I roamed the store, I kept my eye out for whom the bike might belong to, but the store was busy and by the time I went back outside the bicycle was gone. I suspected I might see the owner again in the campground because it was nearly 6 pm., but there was no guarantee that was their final destination for the evening.

Within a mile I easily caught up to the bicycle, piloted by an older woman and as luck would have it, we were headed the same direction. I slowed down and we swapped our stories. Jan, from California, was embarking on a two week tour of Canada having just retrieved her bike from a Burlington bike shop.

Cooking tomatoes and yellow beans from my garden, then adding ramen and tuna fish.

At the park entrance we agreed to camp together and were able to split the site fee. The lady in the office didn't quite know where to put us at first but settled on the paddlers' site, which proved to be a great choice. Lake Champlain reserves special campsites along it's 110 mile length for anyone traveling by human powered watercraft. The patch of lawn was next to the beach and secluded, so even though the site lacked a picnic table, it was a short walk to our pick of 4 tables with a beautiful northern view of the lake.

Jan's and my tent easily fit in the site. It had been a sultry day and the evening continued in the same vein. An offshore breeze was welcome filtering through my tent opening (in blue) so after dark I set up my little chair which happened to snuggly fit inside the tent. I have difficulty spending more than 6 hours on my back so the chair was a splurge that I hoped would pay off in the long run and make tenting a little easier on me, especially during shorter daylight hours. I'm happy to say the experiment worked - I spent an entire hour sitting upright, reading Never Cry Wolf until I was ready to retire.

In the morning Jan and I rolled our bikes to the picnic table so she could organize her panniers. She'd been in a hurry the previous day to get moving and was exhausted from a red eye flight so now she had the time to properly organize her gear. As I soon discovered, Jan carries extra clothing so she's never cold. Indeed I wore a t-shirt while she added a layer of fleece. But still, it seemed she was carrying way too much gear for a two week journey. However, Jan is a seasoned world traveler and certainly understands her comfort zone.

Jan and I parted at 8 am. after swapping addresses and phone numbers. I invited Jan to stay with our family on her return to Burlington where she will fly back to California.

While Jan had a nice tailwind to propel her into Canada, a headwind greeted me as I headed in the opposite direction, retracing my route. However, as with short rides, any wind is doable. I was too early before the orchard store opened it's doors, so I walked in a cemetery, spending several quiet minutes, indeed recognizing family names from nearby establishments.

The orchards were bursting with red fruit and as I later found out, some varieties of apples are harvested as early as July and continue well into November.

With string and yarn I secured a whole apple crisp, packed in a box (this orchard sold crisp and not pies, but I knew my family wouldn't care!). I rolled on more asphalt, then dodged potholes on a dirt road, then pedaled a relatively smooth stone dust causeway, then more bumpy pavement, over a wooden bridge before returning to our family camp.

When I opened the box at 11 am. my family stood around and marveled at it's perfect shape, then sniffed the dessert, and looked at me with salivating eyes. I told them to dig in and we all gobbled heaping portions as a treat on the deck overlooking the lake.

While the bike overnight was a mere 40 miles round-trip, the Ross performed well, I love the new pedals, my chair will now be a must-have on future trips, and I met a wonderful lady. As I've mentioned before, it's all about the experience that makes these simple journeys worthwhile.