Friday, February 25, 2011

Jellyfish stings and frozen King hubs

That was the first time Chris King has ever let me down
You can see the ice build up on the front of the derailer and rims

Perfect weather if it was 50 degrees warmer


Hagg Lake. 14.5 miles BURRRR!



I thought I could escape the snow at home by heading up to the Oregon coast area. I found plenty of snow here and some of the coldest conditions I have ever ridden in. I am pretty sure it was bellow 20 degrees. After riding for only 30 min I started to have problems with my rear hub. It was so cold that the ice was building up everywhere and made the ring gear in my Chris King hub skip and finally disengaged completely. I had to use all the water in my camelback to try to keep the hub thawed. Finally I just peed on it. That lasted for a good 30 min. The ice froze every cable on the bike. I couldn't shift front or rear derailer or drop my seatpost. I think the brakes were freezing, they were very hard to pull. The rear derailer was so frozen it wouldn't tension the chain. I used every piece of cold weather gear I own and was just barely warm enough. Wool and Gore tex are amazing. It was a great ride and a bit of an adventure.