January's Tour
I'm trying to do a bikepacking trip or tour every month this year.
January's tour was a brief trip in the Southeast. My brother, my friend Robby, and I planned a three day excursion starting in Cedartown GA, going through the Talladega National Forest, and looping back around to Atlanta. There would be bike paths, forest roads, gravel, dirt, Alabama drivers, Georgia country roads, and finally Atlanta traffic.
And rain.
There would be a lot of rain.
The forecast predicted that Saturday would be raining. The entire time. It would be a light rain, fortunately, so we departed with high spirits, rain jackets, and waterproof socks. The first bit of the tour took us on the Silver Comet bike path to the Alabama border, at which point it became remarkably less maintained. The Silver Comet became the Chief Ladiga Trail.
The rain did not let up.
Eventually, we reached the sublimely beautiful Talladega National Forest. The trees were mostly barren. We climbed to the top of the rolling plateau and were greeted by fog. Several more miles into the forest brought us to a small campsite information stand with some sorely needed shelter. We huddled under the small roof as the rain turned to sleet.
It was at this point that I began experiencing equipment failures.
My rear brake started acting up. I noticed during a fast descent that I didn't have quite as much stopping power as I was used to, and sure enough, the brake lever wasn't engaging until halfway through. A bit of futzing around found that the caliper end of the cable was poking my bike frame, and bending the cable out of the way fixed the issue.
Temporarily.
About this point, my phone started acting weird. My rain jacket's chest pocket had protected it previously against harsh rain, but not for this long. The jacket let enough water in that the "waterproof" case soaked through.
A bit more riding, and my rear brake starts to go again. It slowly started losing all power, until finally wasn't engaging at all. Steep descents on muddy gravel without a rear brake is not my idea of fun. We resolved to get to the hotel ASAP, call around for bike shops, and see if we could get this fixed.
We left the Talladega National Forest to get into Anniston, and were immediately overwhelmed with southern hospitality. Nearly every other car that passed us took the time to roll down their windows and yell at us. Some just blasted their horn while they passed too close. A precious few gave us the reasonable passing space. I don't like riding in the south.
We get to the hotel, and the bike stores are all closed. My phone is totally dead, and I'm feeling the reliance I have on a single point of failure. We figure the brake pad may have been mucked up, and that requires sandpaper to fix, so I booked it to Lowe's. The sandpaper did not fix it.
We talked our options out, and decided on an evac mission. The next morning, we rented a minivan and drove back to Atlanta. We arrived just before the bike shop closed, and they were able to fix the brake quickly -- the brake lever end had got caught, and it just needed to be straightened out.
Overall, it was a good experience. I learned a good bit:
January's tour was a brief trip in the Southeast. My brother, my friend Robby, and I planned a three day excursion starting in Cedartown GA, going through the Talladega National Forest, and looping back around to Atlanta. There would be bike paths, forest roads, gravel, dirt, Alabama drivers, Georgia country roads, and finally Atlanta traffic.
And rain.
There would be a lot of rain.
The forecast predicted that Saturday would be raining. The entire time. It would be a light rain, fortunately, so we departed with high spirits, rain jackets, and waterproof socks. The first bit of the tour took us on the Silver Comet bike path to the Alabama border, at which point it became remarkably less maintained. The Silver Comet became the Chief Ladiga Trail.
The rain did not let up.
Eventually, we reached the sublimely beautiful Talladega National Forest. The trees were mostly barren. We climbed to the top of the rolling plateau and were greeted by fog. Several more miles into the forest brought us to a small campsite information stand with some sorely needed shelter. We huddled under the small roof as the rain turned to sleet.
It was at this point that I began experiencing equipment failures.
My rear brake started acting up. I noticed during a fast descent that I didn't have quite as much stopping power as I was used to, and sure enough, the brake lever wasn't engaging until halfway through. A bit of futzing around found that the caliper end of the cable was poking my bike frame, and bending the cable out of the way fixed the issue.
Temporarily.
About this point, my phone started acting weird. My rain jacket's chest pocket had protected it previously against harsh rain, but not for this long. The jacket let enough water in that the "waterproof" case soaked through.
A bit more riding, and my rear brake starts to go again. It slowly started losing all power, until finally wasn't engaging at all. Steep descents on muddy gravel without a rear brake is not my idea of fun. We resolved to get to the hotel ASAP, call around for bike shops, and see if we could get this fixed.
We left the Talladega National Forest to get into Anniston, and were immediately overwhelmed with southern hospitality. Nearly every other car that passed us took the time to roll down their windows and yell at us. Some just blasted their horn while they passed too close. A precious few gave us the reasonable passing space. I don't like riding in the south.
We get to the hotel, and the bike stores are all closed. My phone is totally dead, and I'm feeling the reliance I have on a single point of failure. We figure the brake pad may have been mucked up, and that requires sandpaper to fix, so I booked it to Lowe's. The sandpaper did not fix it.
We talked our options out, and decided on an evac mission. The next morning, we rented a minivan and drove back to Atlanta. We arrived just before the bike shop closed, and they were able to fix the brake quickly -- the brake lever end had got caught, and it just needed to be straightened out.
Overall, it was a good experience. I learned a good bit:
- Check your cables!
- I want metallic brake pads.
- The Hy/Rds are a "worst-of-both-worlds" with respect to maintenance. They have all the downsides of cable and all the downsides of hydraulics. I had no idea what was wrong with them, and fortunately it wasn't the hydraulic system that failed. I'm strongly considering going back to full mechanical brakes, or doing a full hydraulic upgrade.
- Phone goes in a ziploc bag, always.
- Have a backup.
- A 2x is great for climbing, but nasty conditions mean dropped chains.
- Gravel in the South is very different from Colorado gravel. There are less rocks and it's generally not as difficult, but the rolling hills provide a different kind of stress.
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