Chainwheel Chatter Newsletter Posts (effective Sep 2021)

Wish List for 2022

Rick Proctor

The holiday season is here.  The kid in me has always known the holiday season starts with Halloween and goes through New Year’s Day.  This is a season mixed with days off from school or work, fun days, food days, gift days and party days. 

Most of us now are mature and responsible adults with additional considerations, but if you ride a bike, I bet you have some “kid” still in you too and you know someone should be asking what’s on your Christmas wish list.  If someone asks, you don’t want to get caught without a wish list and say something like “uhh . . . football” or whatever.  This is a good time to leap out there with a bold statement like “a new bike!”.  The details of what kind and any pertinent features should be known and shared too.  Be considerate – if the person asking about it is expected to pay for it there may be a measure of shock to deal with, so break it to them gently.  But if the person asking is a bike-riding friend who just wants to know, well, then some shared enthusiasm is ok.

If a new bike is too much to ask for, there are lots of practical alternatives.  Replacing worn out stuff is maintenance and not considered wish-list-worthy by adults-with-kid-still-in-them.  Wish lists should involve upgrades to your bike riding experience.  These upgrades should be somewhere between fun and “bling” on the amusement dial.  In the bike world, bling upgrades are either shiny or make a pleasant noise.  Upgrades can be:

• Items for your bike, like really good fenders, better gearing, or electronics.
• Stuff you wear, like a helmet, shoes, or anything in between.
• Things that enhance your biking experience, like a hitch mounted bike rack, home bike storage rack, bike maintenance stand, or tools.

If you’re sure Santa won’t service your wish list, it’s ok to do it yourself.  America is famous for do-it-yourself activities!  This offers the advantage of taking out the middleman and allows you to get exactly what you want without losing important features in a translation.  Go for it!

Riding on Air

Rick Proctor

Tires don’t help you look better, fix your plumbing problems, or resolve political issues, but you gotta have them.  Pneumatic tires provide the bike rider with the cushion of air for the wonderful feeling we like as we fly over the ground.  Tires must be tough and durable to provide their function reliably, yet tires are also vulnerable to unfavorable environmental conditions that can end the joy ride when a puncture happens and the compressed air in the tire escapes.  Here in America, we commonly refer to this situation as a flat.

There are lots of good quality bike tires on the global market that will last for many thousands of miles, and with some good maintenance and a measure of luck, there can be very few flats.  Some bike tires resist flats better than others, but if you want to know what you can do to help prevent flats with the tires you have now – read on:

• 1.    Avoid riding over the stuff that causes flats.  Easy to say, but not so easy to do.
• 2.    Inspect your tires.  Every time I lube a bike chain, which happens at around 100 mile intervals, I check the tires for embedded debris like glass, thorns, sharp rocks, staples, nails, screws, etc. that could cause a flat.  I also do this as soon as possible after riding through suspicious debris.  Note: this is much easier when the tires are clean.  With good lighting and wearing safety glasses I’ll look and feel with a finger for embedded debris in the tire centerline that contacts the ground all the way around the tire.  Carefully remove any debris that can be seen or felt using a non-sharp instrument, like a small flat blade screwdriver.  The idea here is to push down the rubber around the debris and coax the alien item out without punching a hole into the tire/tube.  Wear safety glasses.  I’ve had stuff pop out of the tire and ping off my glasses – the kind of stuff that could have caused an eye injury or a flat tire.  The rubber around a piece of debris can squeeze it enough to eject it when sufficiently loosened.  Occasionally small needle-nose pliers may be needed to remove bits of wire embedded in a tire.  Also look for tire irregularities and excessive wear and replace the tire when necessary.  This inspection process usually takes only a few minutes at home but could prevent an inconvenient roadside flat.
• 3.    Check tire pressures, pump as required, then check the pressure again.  When I check the pressure before pumping, I look for reasonable pressure remaining since the last time I checked it.  If it’s flat, or going flat, fix it.  I check the pressure after pumping to be sure removing the chuck from the stem did not release too much air pressure. 
• 4.    When you get the pressure where you want it, be sure to carefully close the presta valve on the stem, then put the cap on the stem to keep the valve clean for the next time.  Even a little bit of dirt on the valve stem can be blown into the valve when checking and adjusting pressure, causing it to leak when you think it is closed.  I’ve found several leaking valve stems over the years, which requires removing the tire to replace the tube and stem assembly.
• 5.    Valve stems can leak with tubeless setups too, so it’s a good idea to keep a spare stem or a spare tube (which includes a stem) on your bike for roadside repairs.

The pneumatic tire for bikes was invented by a Scotsman, John Boyd Dunlop in 1888.  Yep, this was before pneumatic tires for cars!  While pneumatic tires were one of the most significant improvements for bikes, flat tires were introduced as a day-denting experience.  Most of us who ride bikes don’t like to fix flats, especially while out on a ride, and the visual profile provided to onlookers of a cyclist fixing a flat – well . . . it doesn’t look like fun.  Take care of your tires and they will be there for you when you need them.  Have a great ride!

Progress Report: North Creek Trail Phase 1

Rick Proctor

A newsletter from February 2021 featured three phases of development of the North Creek Trail N-Crk-Trail-Newsletter-Feb-2021 (snohomishcountywa.gov) between Bothell and Mill Creek.  On Monday, August 22^nd, 2022 I found the Phase 1 project to be nearly complete and the trail was open for riding, so I did a test ride.  This new Phase 1 all asphalt or concrete trail section is only about 1¼ miles long.

A new 12 feet wide paved trail goes west from Bothell’s Centennial Park on the south side of 208^th St SE for nearly ¼ mile then crosses 9^th Ave SE to a corner where the trail turns right to the north to cross 208^th St SE.  9^th Ave SE turns into Filbert Dr as it crosses 208^th St SE.  The Phase 1 trail begins on the west side of Filbert Dr and has a mild upward grade going north.  Filbert Dr and the trail curve gently left, right, left for ¾ mile and at 3^rd Dr SE the trail crosses Filbert drive to continue under power lines with mostly level curviness for another ¼ mile where it crosses Winesap Rd.  The trail turns left on the east and north side of Winesap Rd for about 500 feet to Sprague Dr.  At this point the trail goes down a steep grade along Sprague Dr for about 100 yards where it ends abruptly at a “Trail Ends” sign amidst other signs indicating Private Property, No Trespassing, and Dump No Garbage.  This where the Phase 3 section should begin someday to connect to the Phase 2 section that will end at North Creek County Park.  If you ride down to the Trail Ends sign you get to turn around and try to ride back up the short, but steep, grade – ugh!

It should be noted the new parking along Filbert Drive is signed for 90 minutes max and there are no bike lanes on this part of Filbert Drive.  I found the trail was suitable for biking up the grade to the north, but if I were going the other way, I would take the road with the nice downhill grade.

The existing gravel and boardwalk trail across the wetlands of North Creek County Park is presently better suited for pedestrians than for bicycles.  To get around the wetlands of North Creek, bicyclists will need to take a long and inconvenient detour involving either Bothell-Everett Highway (SR 527) or North Road.  The North Creek Trail could become a valuable commuting route for bicyclists with future improvements.  Let’s look for opportunities to make inputs to local government agencies for bike friendly trail developments.

Lake Crescent by Trail

Rick Proctor

Way out west on the Olympic Peninsula there is a trail known as the Olympic Discovery Trail.  The ODT has been evolving for decades to eventually connect the Pacific Coast to Port Townsend with something like 130 miles of bike and pedestrian friendly trail.  Some segments of the ODT have their own names that existed before merging into the ODT, which adds local color and a bit of confusion.  While the ODT is a work in progress, the completed parts are wonderful.  The missing links that still exist are being addressed with active planning efforts that include finding funds, right-of-way negotiations, land acquisition, design, and construction.

The Spruce Railroad Trail is one of the newer completed segments.  We rode it in early August 2022 on a Monday with sunny and warm weather.  We drove on US 101 about 14 miles west out of Port Angeles and turned right onto East Beach Road near Lake Crescent for another 4 mile drive to the Spruce Railroad Trailhead.  The paved parking area at about 500 feet of elevation is quite large and was filling quickly as we arrived about 10 AM – too late to snag a nice shady parking spot.  The one (1) pit toilet was very busy and there are no other services at this location.  No cell phone signal either added to the remote feeling. 

Most of the Spruce Railroad Trail is converted from the old railway of the same name so the grades are mild.  There were plenty of signs near the start of the trail, one of them indicates no other toilets for 4 miles.  The fully paved trail has lots of pedestrians for the first mile or so to the Devil’s Punch Bowl, a popular swimming area, especially on a nice summer day.  The trail follows the northern shoreline for a couple of mostly level miles with spectacular views across Lake Crescent to the Olympic Mountains beyond.  The waters of the lake are naturally blue-tinted clear water, which adds to the perception of a perfect northwest mountain lake. 

The McFee Tunnel near the Devil’s Punch Bowl is long enough at a hundred yards or so and has a bend in the middle, so it is dark.  Lights are useful here and are required per signage.  Bicyclists were also supposed to walk bikes through, although no one else did.  A mile or two later the Daley-Rankin Tunnel is straight, much shorter, and not so dark.  The trail gradually veers away from the lake west of the second tunnel and a mild consistent grade is an easy climb through forest.  At mile 4 we didn’t know which tree or bush was intended for toilet use as nothing else could be found per the trailhead sign, so we continued up the trail.  At a max elevation of about 1,100 feet at mile 11 a porta-potty was found near a trail junction. 

The trail junction option to the south would go to the Fairholm Olympic Discovery Trailhead, US 101, and beyond to the Sol Duc Hot Springs Road.  We took the other trail junction option to the right which continued westward for another mile with a few non-railroad type of tight switchbacks and short moderate grades reaching US 101 where the paved trail continues for a few more miles beyond.  However, on this day US 101 was getting resurfaced with a fresh layer of sealant and rock chips (a.k.a. ”Chip Seal”) which we did not want to walk on or ride our bikes across.  We also wanted to get away from the noise and dust, so we backtracked to the trail junction and a nearby table for a nice lunch in the forest, then rode back to our car.

The Spruce Railroad Trail is part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, which is also part of the Great American Rail-Trail that will someday connect the Pacific Coast to Washington, DC with a cross continental bike and pedestrian friendly non-motorized transportation route.  May you be young enough, and lucky enough, to ride the completed trail end to end.