Traffic got even heavier between the Mishawaka Amphitheater (Mile 170) and Ted’s Place (Mile 189), and I was thankful for lights and reflective gear while on this narrow-shoulder highway. For about 20 minutes during this stretch, raindrops were tapping the helmet—curious considering the weather apps had claimed a 0% chance of rain. Indeed, there seemed to be plenty of blue sky ahead and to the south. Nevertheless, the precipitation felt refreshing.
Wearing glowsticks on the neck and wrists and reflective orange bands on the calves, I set out onto dark roads illuminated only by the super-bright headlight of the cruiser. One great thing about setting huffy cruiser out at this cricket-chirping hour was that there were very few cars on the road. It was a particular relief to make it out of the Poudre Canyon shortly after the last remnants of daylight disappeared.
Only two blocks away from Walden’s Shell gas station—the official turnaround point of the ride—I rode by three guys having a chit chat in front of someone’s garage when there was a loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot but I instantly realized exactly what it was when it happened. My butt knew from the way the rear of the bicycle was squirming around. After that, I decided it was a good idea to let some air out of the front tire to obviate the risk of that one popping too. “Hey,” I asked the cashier at the Shell station, “is there a bike shop in town? ” The hope was I might be able to pick up another tube before heading back to Fort Collins.
If the tire pressure is too high, the tires unseat from the wheels, allowing the tube to escape and pop like a balloon. So the night before I inflated the tires right up to what I thought was the “safe threshold,” which experience told me was 40 PSI on this bike (still 15 PSI under the maximum pressure huffy nighthawk labeled on the sidewalls). I wanted to have the lowest possible rolling resistance for this ride, after all. There were much more cars on the road in the afternoon than during the wee hours of the day. A funny thing was that motorcyclists kept waving as I was crawling back up the pass.
A special tool is needed to push out a pin to shorten the chain. The chain is joined by either using the same tool to push in a special pin, or by using a special split link – which is huffy trail runner generally easier to do. When our shop re-opens to the public following the coronavirus outbreak, we’ll be happy to discuss options for fit customization, upgrades, and accessories.
This has never happened to me before when I was not riding a motorcycle. Maybe they thought a cruiser bicycle with a round honking headlight was “close enough” to being a Harley-Davidson’s brethren? After making a stop at Gould to resupply with water and buy a can of Coke and mini-donuts—the ultimate anti-bonking combo—it was smooth sailing down to Walden. This was because all the aerodynamic drag from the upright cruiser position and rolling resistance from the bike’s beach tires acted as a second and third brake.