Friday Aug 31, 2007 Pete and I each took some vacation time from work so we were able to get in an afternoon  bike ride.  The weather was nice, quite warm actually.  We decided to make this a nice easy relatively short ride. 

Pete had some coupons he needed to use up at our local True Value hardware store.  We rode toward downtown Rochester where the True Value is located on the north side of town.  On the way to the hardware store I noticed my bike was making a funny popping type noise again.  I had noticed this noise the last couple times I rode, but I couldn’t quite figure out for sure where the noise was coming from.  The noise did seem to be getting slightly more noticeable each time I rode, I assumed this meant what ever problem was causing this issue was getting worse.  After Pete finished shopping I suggested we stop by the local bike shop to see if they could fix the problem.  I suspected it was an issue of unbalanced tightening of the spokes on my rear wheel.  I was guessing it was a spoke rubbing against another spoke during each wheel revolution.  I was hoping they might be able to do a quick adjustment while we waited. 

We also wanted to get some lunch and we agreed to go to the Hamlin Pub for something to eat and to see if they had the golf match on TV.   

Next stop was the bike shop.  I explained the noise issue and showed them why I suspected it might be a spoke issue.  They looked funny at me and I could tell they didn’t agree with my diagnosis.  They did agree to adjust a few spokes to try and balance out the wheel.   I told them I couldn’t leave my bike, I needed it to get home.  It only took a couple minutes before they returned my bike.  The adjustment made a huge difference, it appeared to solve the issue, no more popping noise.  I lucked out this time, they knew I purchased my bike from them and they didn’t charge me for this minor adjustment. 

It only took a couple more minutes to make our way to the Pub.  We locked our bikes outside and went in to get a table.  They weren’t real busy, but there was a guy chain smoking relatively close to us which was annoying.  This is the chance we take by going to a Pub where smoking is allowed.  Usually when someone is smoking it isn’t bad enough to be a bother, but for some reason this day it was a bother.  The golf match wasn’t on TV so there wasn’t anything on TV worth watching.  We ate our lunch and left relatively quickly.   

We went pretty much straight home after leaving the Pub.  We took the PCT north to Dutton Road.  I rode about half way up the Dutton Hill before finally walking the second half of the way up.  I was feeling lazy and didn’t feel like pushing myself to ride up all the way.  Pete must have been feeling even lazier than me because he walked his bike up the entire way.  I waited a couple minutes for Pete to arrive at the point we cut into the subdivision on the way to Pete’s house.  We split up close to Pete’s house, I kept going the extra 2.2 miles to my house.  Again, even though it was relatively short and uneventful it was great just to be out on our bikes on a Friday afternoon.  

Following are the ride statistics from this day.  16.7 miles total, 24.5 mph max speed, average speed 10.1 mph with time on bikes of 1 hour and 39 minutes.
David Lindquist