Accidental minimalist biking

[sloutre]

That's a pretty minimal pedal don't you think?

I was running my first mountain bike duathlon this past Saturday: 5k trail run - 10 miles mountain bike - 5k trail run.

After about 2 miles on the bike my pedal got caught on something after going over a log and broke. Since I had no way to repair I continued until the end of the first 5m loop. It was a really fun race and I didn't want to abandon, I was so mad! So I took off for another 5 mile loop with a broken pedal and then completed my 5k barefoot. My time was really bad: 2h32, with almost 40 min to complete the last 5k, but I *really* enjoyed it.



The best of all: I got an award for that! For continuing with a broken bike...and for being the only crazy person to run barefoot. The race was named the "Odd Man 1.3.5 Racing - Uncommon Racing for the Uncommon Racer..." So I fit right in!



I just wish I had been wearing shoes more substantial shoes than my water shoes since the 'pedal' kept rolling under the arch of my foot and my arch ended up a little bruised from that pressure.

 

[Abide]

Wow, were they cheap pedals?

Wow, were they cheap pedals? Or did you really nail that thing.

 

[Abide]

And you ride a hard tail? I

And you ride a hard tail? I thought I was the only one to have an old school frame. Do you have front shocks?

 

[sloutre]

They looked like decent

They looked like decent pedals, but they have a plastic part. Someone gave me that 10 year old bike but it seems to be pretty nice compared to the bikes I had before.

I just went over a log, I suppose the pedal got caught on something. When the weigh of me+the bike came down, the pedal stayed up.



I don't have front shocks. I'm happy to just have a bike. It was an 'easy' trail.

 

[sloutre]

And please Abide, stop making

And please Abide, stop making fun of my bike! I love it.

One shop at the race was doing free tune ups. The guy told me I will need to replace my rear wheel and I'm better off buying a new bike but I plan on running the same race next year with the same bike. I won a $25 gift certificate at the bike shop and hope it will be enough to replace the pedal.

This bike is good enough for me, and I'm cheap.

 

[Abide]

I'm not knocking it at all,

I'm not knocking it at all, the one I use is exactly like it. I bought it when I was 18 for $250 and have probably put 10,000 miles on it over the past 14 years. It is the best bike ever. I can ride it in the mountains and all over town. All I have done to it is replaced the chain once, replaced the tires once and fixed a few spokes. I have gone through about 10 different innertubes, but that is because we have so many thorns down here and I kept popping them until I bought the fancy thick slime ones.

Why do you need a new rear wheel? Just replace the spokes if they need it. The shop will probably relace the whole thing for $30.

 

[sloutre]

I don't remember the exact

I don't remember the exact terms but the guy said that my rear wheel was moving sidewise a little because the hole in the middle is worn out and probably oval.

It doesn't bother me at all so I will not replace it. I would like to learn how to take care of the bike. REI has a free bike maintenance clinic but they just show how to replace a tube and oil the chain. I need to look up more stuff on the Net.



Great that you put that many miles on your bike. I used to have an old rusty beach cruiser to take my kids to school or ride around the neighborhood. Now that I have a much better bike I may ride a little more and maybe try some sprint triathlons. If I could put just 1000 miles on the bike that would be great. I'm not sure I'll ride 10,000 in my lifetime!

 

[pbarker]

Great story!Good luck

Great story!

Good luck upgrading.



I am planing to ride my TRIs with water shoes