PA- Aborted Overnighter

[jhl99]

October is month the leaves in North Central PA change from green to the fall colors and start to drop… a perfect time for a weekend overnighter.  This past weekend started with a rainy Friday but the forecast was for sun by noon on Saturday.  Friday after work and a short ride, I made the 2 hour drive to one of my normal departure points and slept in the back of the car.  Saturday AM was overcast per the forecast, but I loaded up and started riding the forest roads to some single track, from which more forest road would lead state route that crosses the river, from there up to the state park overlook and then back into the forest to find a campsite, returning to the car on Sunday.

Things went great until I hit the single track.  Almost immediately a stick tangled in the back wheel.  Per instinct, I stopped pedaling immediately, came to stop, expecting to extract a stick.  I looked down and didn’t see a stick, but rather saw the rear derailleur lying on the ground.  I was totally dumbfounded.  I couldn’t believe it.  I haven’t blown a rear derailleur or hanger in 10 years.  Why now?  A perfect trip lay ahead.  The hanger was sheared off, as it is designed to, no other issues.

Guilty—I haven’t been carrying a spare hanger for about 4 years… So here we go, the single speed limp mode,


get back to the car and then motor over to State College and hope that a shop has a hanger so that I can salvage the weekend with at least some riding.

I quickly learned that in single speed conversion the chain needs to be constrained from shifting both up and a cog… pretty simple using a couple of sticks and nylon cord. 


In my tool kit, I carry both zip ties and about a 30” piece of nylon cord.  Zip ties are nice, but are pretty much a one shot opportunity, while the nylon cord can be untied and rigged until you get something workable.  I bailed to the paved road and shortened the ride back the car to 10 miles.  I still don’t understand the single speed mindset, maybe it works good where your speed stays within a 5 MPH window, but for my type of riding, no gears feels like a definite handicap.

Made it to State College, fortunately 104,000 Penn State football fans where at the stadium watching PSU trounce some poor division II school and traffic down College Avenue wasn’t that bad.  Town hasn’t changed much since my days as student in the late 80s.  The appropriately name ‘The Bicycle Shop’ had the hanger.  I bought two.

Back to the forest, time for a quick forest road ride and a chance to watch the sunset. 


I would have missed the sunset had things gone to plan (wouldn’t have been camped near a vista).  In the PA forests, there are few places that afford good views of sunrise or sunset.  Slept in the car again and awoke to a light frost and fog in the valleys.

Sunday, parked the car in Renovo and did a long forest road cruiser





In the late afternoon, I checked out the vista that was part of the original trip’s objective. 

Han gliders where queued up to take off, but high winds where keeping them grounded.

I can’t complain about the outcome this trip.  You win some, you loose some, and you learn some.  This little incident could have been much more inconvenient that it was.

That second hanger is securely packed in the tool kit.

[Marshal]

Nice write up, nice pics, nice tude

[sherpaxc]

Thanks for the write up!  I have to say, that is A LOT of stuff you are carrying.  Looks heavy.

[jhl99]

Yes, it does look like a big load.  I don’t know what setup weighs in at, almost afraid to tabulate it.  I’ve been using the same setup for years and years… my gear is economical and was purchased with low price and multiple uses in mind, long before I became aware of the ultra-light approach.   

Here is what we are looking at:

Rear Rack:
Synthetic, 20deg F sleeping bag.
6 mil poly ground cloth wrapped around sleeping bag
Tent, 3 season, single person, double wall
¾ length Ridge Rest pad in stuff bag
Map case with maps on top

Rear Pannier (Drive side only):
Bike tools
Spare tube
Food (dinner)
Spare socks
Poly Long Johns bottoms

Front Panniers:  (not full)
Camp Stove;  (Peak 1)
Pot, Cup, Spoon
Bag of essentials (water purifier, knife, lighter, candle, flashlight, etc)
Fleece Jacket
Nylon wind pants
Food  (somewhat bulky and heavy, bagels, apples, bananas)

In fanny pack, worn on person:
Magnetic compass
GPS
Camera (point and shoot), lens adapter, filters, wide angle lens, tripod
Spare batteries, wallet, car keys, lighter

On bike:
3 water bottles
Pump
Lights and fenders (bike is also used as commuter)

This summer I started going lighter.  Replaced the Peak 1 stove with an alcohol cat food can stove.  Next step is to  make a SiNylon tarp tent.  In warmer weather I use a 40 deg bag which is significantly less bulky than the 20 deg bag.

[stevage]

Interesting note on the singlespeed conversion. I had a RD explode a couple of years ago - jockey wheel dropped out and was never seen again. With much effort (we didn't know how to use a chain breaker), we managed to remove the derailleur and convert to singlespeed, but had the problem you describe - periodically the chain would try and shift up to a bigger sprocket. I made it a couple of kilometres on sealed road before the chain jammed up on the bigger sprocket and popped open. Wish I'd thought of trying to attack that problem specifically...just thought the whole thing couldn't work.

(To finish the story, I had an amazing stroke of luck, managed to hitchhike back to the nearest town, where not only was there a bike shop, but the mechanic, who only worked 2.5 days a week was in the shop...on easter sunday morning! Not only that, but I arrived 30 minutes before he knocked off. I decided I was prepared to spend $100 on an emergency fix to be able to salvage the next two days of bike trip. It cost me $15 for a new RD and installation. Silly small town bike shops with no business sense Sadly it spelled the end of that bike though, it was old enough that to get a decent derailleur for it would have meant changing lots of other components and everything was worn out anyway.)