Hey augidog how 'bout this?
I've been collecting stories about long distance moto-bike rides,
I wish I could remember who this fella was, but he's from around here in WA-
Here's his weekend trip over the cascades to Cle Elum:
Maybe I should compile all these stories and print them out in a sort of book or something...
Across the Cascades- 2004
Dear Friends;
For Labor Day weekend I wanted to go to Cle Elum, in Eastern Washington. I decided to take my Moto-Cycle, which was running nicely on (or about) its 10th tank of fuel. I hope my experience is helpful,
so I offer an account of it.
I live near sea level in Federal Way, Western Washington:
That means an 80-mile ride with a 3000-ft MSL mountain pass in between.
My mount is a Schwinn Mesa Runner that uses "26-inch" wheels (More on that later).
On the day of departure, I made an important design change to my bicycle: I was on a check-out test ride, and I thought I detected a bad vibration coming from my rear wheel. I thought: "I might have set the rear wheel bearings too tight when I checked them,
and they are about to DIE".
With my departure time fast approaching, and fearing that the wheel bearings were about to fail, I decided to replace the
26" 1.25" rear wheel with a 27"x1.25" wheel. A commitment to a fundamental, untested modification on such short notice is foolish enough, but it worked out well in the end.
It was either that, or not go on this adventure at all. Those were my options, as I saw them. The worst that could happen, other than the usual bicycle repair issues, is that I would have to pedal.
The 27-inch wheel makes a more efficient bicycle, diminishing
the drive-chain rotations per mile (a real drag) by nearly 10%, while
giving it a longer-legged, more satisfying pedaling speed, in my opinion.
With the 26-inch wheel, if the bearings failed, I would find myself stranded with no rear wheel at all; I believe I made a good decision.
Note: Precise measurements today shows that the 26"x1.25" wheel, a Kenda brand KWEST 100PSI, has an actual road-surface diameter of
24-7/8 inches. (Go figure.) This means the 27-inch wheel
(measurement=27.1/16 inches) gave me a 1.085 gearing increase.
That's only about a 2 mph improvement, but I could feel it, and was satisfied.
The 27-inch wheel was a CLOSE fit, clearing the caliper-mounting
crossbar by something like 1/16th of an inch.
But it worked, and worked well. Besides, it might do the valuable
job of helping keep debris from sticking to my tire and brushing it off.
The 27-inch tire was very worn. (This would become an issue later.)
No problem! I happened to have a nearly new replacement tire right here, and I strapped it to my sleeping bag and took off on my journey.
I would just use the old tire up, patch the tube, and replace it with the new tire. (Please pray for me once in a while?)
Ok, so I was now underway, and it was 3:30PM already.
My first goal was to find a way across the Cascades that did not involve using the I90 freeway, which appeared on the map to be the only way available. That is, without making a 100 mile detour.
I would explore and investigate. When I got to Issaquah, I had dinner and conferred with some people who live there.
It quickly became evident that there WAS no other way.
It would soon be dark, and I would just have to make a run for it, using the freeway as sparingly as possible, somewhat vaguely
resembling the free-yet-law-abiding-cyclist I wish I were.
Somewhere before the town of North Bend,
a Washington State Trooper (Read: "Law-Enforcement Anomaly: Enlightened Public-Safety Guardian.") pulled over ahead of me and put on flashing
yellow lights. I continued past him, under leg-power,
wondering what he was doing, if it had anything to do with me or not.
He eventually stopped me and very decently informed me that my rear red reflector was missing from my bike rack. (It had vibrated off.) He gave me a reflective adhesive sticker (The kind they put on abandoned cars, it looks like a HUGE Vietnam service ribbon,
except the green stripes are red ...) to make do until I could get a replacement. He also informed me that what I was doing,
BICYCLING ON THE FREEWAY, WAS QUITE LEGAL; only where specifically POSTED OTHERWISE is it prohibited. Well, that was really good news!
I wasn't going to get another ticket!
Yay!
But there was more good news: He told me of a little-known road
(Old Hwy 10) that covers the last two-thousand feet of elevation increase to Snoqualmie pass. It is popular with cross-state bicyclists,
and for good reason: It is a bit longer, but not as steep as I-90, which has an average 10% grade on the last five miles before the summit.
He gave me a map of Hwy 10, checked the effectiveness of my abandoned-vehicle reflector and said goodbye. How can you be more of a friend to a stranger than that?!? I don't know the answer, but can't be very easy.
Much obliged, Mr Trooper.
Several miles later, my rear tire gave out while I was under power.
I guess I need to tell you that it is much easier to immediately detect
a bicycle tire blowout under leg power than under engine power.
Make that NOISY engine power.
As it was, slightly downhill, I may have ridden as much as a 1/4 of a mile before the thud-thud-thudding of the rear tube stem obviated that the end of the tire's long career was very, very near.
Fortunately, as you may recall, I had come prepared with a backup tire. I walked about 1/4 mile back to the freeway overpass to patch the tube and to change the wheel.
I was now in for three discoveries:
DISCOVERY #1: The touring bicycle from which I had borrowed the 27-inch wheel had come from a thrift store. The previous owner had thoughtfully
installed a super-thick thorn-resistant tube. Actually, that's a great idea for a moto-cycle! But it makes tire removal very... let's say it nicely, "inconvenient"; and time-consuming.
And then it began to rain; again, no problem. I brought a lightweight dollar-store emergency poncho. It took me about 1/2 hour to get the tire off the rim, and another 20 minutes to get the new tire on, after patching the thorn-resistant tube.
I then pumped it up to 40 psi. It held. Good! 60 psi?
Then I made DISCOVERY #2: During the thud-thudding, the tube stem had been severely bruised, at 20 mph with my 190Lb muscular frame, (drumsticks, mostly) and 35Lbs of gear on top of it.
The tube breathed its last, leaking AT THE STEM, rendering it virtually
irreparable with my level of skill and lack of advanced alien technology.
Oh-kay!
Taking stock:
A) Location: 5 miles east of North Bend, on I-90="Middle of nowhere"
B) Time: Late at night. Bedtime. I'm tired.
C) Weather: Rain, 52 degrees F.
D) What's The Problem?: Irreparable tube.
E) Provisions: 1 Lb unopened packet of imitation crab meat (good!) 1/2 liter of bottled water(ok). Rainwater.
F) Potential shelter: Nearby bridge, Small tent, Sleeping bag.
Ok. Not so bad; actually cozy.
Hmmmmm....
Idea: "I'll cut the stem off of the tube, (to avoid damaging the rim) put it and the old tire back on the wheel, and motor back to North bend, where I will attempt to purchase a new tube in the morning."
If the reader will recall, this was a THICK, beefy thorn-resistant tube.
It acted 1/3 inflated, even when empty. I planned to ride it (and the old tire) to destruction or to North Bend-
Whichever comes first.
But then help arrived while I was putting the old, damaged tire/tube back on the wheel; a passing motorist offered me and my bike a ride
back to town. I'm no fool, and I gratefully accepted. I drank my water, and drained my remaining fuel into the 1-liter bottle so I could lay my bike down without spilling gas in his truck.
He knew the area well, but we could find no places in North Bend that were likely to sell an inner tube, so he generously took me another 15 miles on a back-track to relatively metropolitan Issaquah, WA.
I got to spend the night on a clean, gravel-covered bike path.
I ate my "crab meat", got some sleep, and waited for Fred Meyer to open in the morning.
I bought two tubes, one regular, one self-sealing/thorn-resistant,
and installed the thorn-resistant one. I also bought some more provisions, including another pound of imitation
crab meat for emergency rations. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a rear reflector for sale; only battery-powered ones, which I consider relatively fragile and unreliable (Lose the batteries, and that's all, folks). There was some 3M reflective tape for sale, but it was white, and I didn't get it. I probably should have gotten it.
I had at least 12 hours of daylight ahead, and I still had my "abandoned vehicle" sticker. I would keep looking in the towns ahead for a red reflector. I then installed the nearly new tire
onto the bike for the very first time.
It was then I made DISCOVERY #3: The new tire could not fit like the old worn tire did. The tire tread was too thick!
As you may recall, I installed a nearly exhausted 27-inch tire with wheel, and that it barely cleared the frame by 1/16th of an inch.
Well, with a brand-new tire, that 1/16th-inch CLEARANCE WAS GONE, and the tire was now BITING INTO the frame by about 3/32nds of an inch.
See? I told you a last-minute design change was foolish. Was I not right? I know most of you probably don't like reading what it's like to be a moron. But it's for your own good. Really...
I just want to share this experience with you because I think it has some legitimate value. I hope to make you think, so you need not repeat my mistake.
What could I do? Use the old tire? Put a tire liner in it?
It was a basket case and I did not want to use it again.
What would you do? I can't know the answer to that, but here's what I did: I discovered, with a firm bit of torque, the wheel could still rotate, even though it was 1/32nd of an inch "into" the caliper
bar. Obviously, given unlimited time, the rubber would wear away and, with the help of road grit and sand, eventually achieve a tiny
clearance. I added a little (newly-purchased) chain lube to the tire to get it started. It worked. After a mile, my speed had increased to "miserable".
After 10 miles, I could coast with mediocrity, and the tire had shed some black rubber fuzz on the caliper bar. I thought: "Wow! They sure make modern tires tough! This is taking FOR-EVER!" There was still plenty of tread, so all I lost was the brand-newness of the tire
and it worked very well.
I should point out that my wheels were extremely true, and that made a good difference, putting minimal stress on the wheel/spokes.
True fact: Did you know you can actually "erase" CrO-Moly steel
with enough miles of rubber tire?
20 miles later, I was passing the previous night's point of furthest progress. At exit 47, just as the Trooper had advised, I left the freeway and found old Hwy 10. It was a pleasant ride to the summit.
I started at about 1000 feet MSL, where my engine's performance was similar to that at sea-level, or Zero feet MSL. As I climbed on my way to 3100 feet, I noticed the engine losing subtle amounts of power.
So I made up the difference by pedaling. Sorry, I wish I could provide numbers, but It's a subjective perception.
Once I reached the summit, I was only 30 miles from my destination, and the remainder of the trip was uneventful and effortless: I made good time, largely downhill. When I got to lower altitude, the
engine started getting back its former perkiness.
I arrived to my vacation campsite, 24 hours after I had left.
That would be a new land speed record if I had been a sea cucumber
or even kudzu. Yet the little 48cc had performed flawlessly, and without complaint.
********The Return Journey********
The return journey was absolutely anti-climatic. Returning to Federal Way from Cle Elum took a surprisingly short 3-and-a-half-hours, going over Snoqualmie Pass, non-stop on the freeway most of the way back with 30 lbs of tools and camping gear on a single 1/2-gallon tank of 32:1
fuel. I never had to touch the 1-liter bottle of reserve fuel in my saddlebag. I calculate this to be about 150MPG. Not bad, all factors considered.
I'm satisfied.