Jul 4 - at last, not skunked

I'd only caught a couple of rock bass -- where did they all come from ?  I haven't seen that many RB's in years.  Then Matt Carter came along in his kayak and we chatted for quite a long while.  Frustrated with no significant action on that side of the lake, I crossed over and caught another rocky.  Shortly afterwards, however, I caught two keeper smallmouth bass and then a third, albeit tiny, took my last minnow.  I took the traps over to the culvert on 522 just a short time ago.  I'll pick them up later today and, if I get motivated, will go to the end of Smith's Bay tomorrow a.m. and see if anything's biting there.

Yesterday there was a piece of wood drifting fairly close by, a bit of it poking above the water ... no, wait !  It's a snapping turtle, a big one.  It hung around for a while, perhaps more interested in the rock bass than me.

 It's 11 a.m.  I just talked to Marda on Sandy's phone.  Sandy was being good and having Marda pick up the phone because they were driving.  That's one good thing about the 2011 X5 -- bluetooth.  Neither my 2001 or Sandy's 2002 have those newfangled features.  Anyway, they are on the road, will stop in Parry Sound for groceries and lunch and be here sometime in the afternoon.

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The girls got here late afternoon, grocery shopping and lunch in Parry Sound.  Sandy reported that the vegetable market was basically empty, ravaged by holiday weekend shoppers.  I guess that's not surprising.

Kim came over and joined in the conversation and then headed back to feed herself and Chili.  Sandy has invited her over for dinner on Tuesday. 

I retrieved a few minnows from the 522 culvert, enough to go fishing this morning.  We'll see how that goes.

When I was riding the other day I stopped to wait for traffic at 69 and found that my rear brake was dragging.  Checking it, all looked clear until I realized that I'd broken a spoke.  These are the Rolf Prima Elan Aero wheels -- I'd had that rear wheel rebuilt by them a couple of years ago and this is the second broken spoke.  I think that they were overzealous when they tightened these spokes.  Of course my spare spokes and spoke nipple driver for these wheels are in Florida.  Yesterday I checked my parts bin and have a traditional spoke that fits (the Aero wheels have bladed spokes) and the nipple from the Aero wheels has the same threads as a standard spoke, but I don't have a driver that will fit.  So ... out came the spare rear wheel and I'll use that for the summer.  This is on the Litespeed, not the bike I'm using for the big rides. 

If push comes to shove (strange phrase), I've got two other spares, one on the yellow bike and the Neuvation wheels hanging in the work room.  This one that I've put on as spare is the one with the ANT+ Power Meter.  It'll do.

I decided to continue my ride, in spite of the broken spoke.  I loosened off the rear brake so that it didn't rub.  I was also having shifting problems, it not wanting to stay in one gear on the larger cogs.  No amount of adjusting would help.  I'll have to see if that's a hub problem (too much play) or the rear derailleur is worn out.  I've found that the low end Deore derailleurs have a limited lifespan before they get sloppy.  When I was talking to a bike shop about Hamid's setup, which is similar to mine, the fellow figured that the Shadow version of these rd's was causing the problem.  The non Shadow version also has a cable adjustment at the rd.  I've got two new spares with me, one the shadow version and one not.  I'll use the current setup, current rd, with the replacement wheel and see if I encounter the same problem.  The other possibility, of course, is that the cassette is also worn.  I've got a spare cassette as well.  Yes, I'm full of spares.

One thing that for which I don't have a spare is my left hip.  It was feeling better yesterday and then not so good late in the day.  This morning it's not so good.  I'll be riding today so that should be interesting.  The X5 is due into the Arnstein Garage for the bearing replacement and I might simply drive there with my bike, ride for a few hours and return for the car.  I haven't decided yet.

I did spend a few hours yesterday setting up the route in RideWithGps to load onto my Garmin.  There are certainly some stretches on this ride with very few turns, like 60-70 miles at a time.  Oh yes, and there are climbs that are 60 miles long.  They're obviously low grade, but they do culminate in high passes.

The named passes / elevations in the cue sheet are daunting:  8284, 9527, 9621, 10,276 and on and on.  Likewise there are long descents, which with good planning would take place during the day because otherwise you'll freeze.  It looks like we'll have huge temperature swings.  I see the temps hitting the 90's in Denver, but in the mountains, it varies.  Walden CO, for instance, hits 80 during the day and 40 overnight.  I'm sure that outside of the city it will be in the mid 30's, if I'm lucky.   Laramie WY is warmer during the day and night; Steamboat Springs is about the same as Laramie.  All look like they will be pretty windy.  Ugh.

This should be interesting.  Onward !