Ah what a Glorius day for an organised tour! Forecast was to be sunny, low wind and over 25 c (and it was!) My
first good chance to ride my Mango Velomobile and show it off to over 1500
riders, volunteers and of course spectators.
I arrived about an hour before the
start of the ride to get processed and do the meet and greet thing. Most
Albertans have probably never seen a velomobile so it was a big draw. Lots of
pictures and curiosity. I never did get any negative responses from any one and
a had couple of really interested riders with some good questions. (Nice to meet you Mark!)
It was at first amusing then it got somewhat annoying for a bit to hear the same question over and ovre again. Can you guess it? Yep: "Does it have a motor?" To most I guess this is an obvious question as it looks like a somsort of new type electic thing. or what they have the impression of one should be.
As the ride progressed the Mango really made an impression on the hard core roadies as I was crusing and passing many at over 35kph and sliding down the hills at over 50kph. Plus they were so amazed that I was not even pushing it most of the time, just pedaling at a average cadence, coasting and breathing normally as they were huffing and spinning to stay along side and talk.
The Mango did supburb until after the mid way point. 7 km out from the lunch stop my chain started to make this wild and bizarre undulating and grinding sound then it stopped after a couple of seconds. Okay that was weird. I continued to ride but my butt started to get kinda warm. I stopped and checked. Couldn't see nothing, So I rode on. After a kilometer my butt got really hot again and then I had no chain movement. It was really hot and sunny so as I looked down into the darkness I could spin but the chain did not move. What the frak? So I jumped out to get a better look and to my amazement the power chain tube had come loose and wrapped itself around the chain ring. So THAT was the weird noise and girations of the chain a while back, the chain tube had come loose. Okay I had a couple of zip ties to no problem. Ya right. 1 hour and a half later I was 40 km behind the last rider on the tour. No matter what I tried, with zip ties donated from far and wide, the chain tube would not stay and would wrap itself around the chain ring. By this time completing the ride was out of the question. So I got a ride back to my van drove back to my velo and went to the finish line to meet my freinds as thay finished their ride.
It was at first amusing then it got somewhat annoying for a bit to hear the same question over and ovre again. Can you guess it? Yep: "Does it have a motor?" To most I guess this is an obvious question as it looks like a somsort of new type electic thing. or what they have the impression of one should be.
As the ride progressed the Mango really made an impression on the hard core roadies as I was crusing and passing many at over 35kph and sliding down the hills at over 50kph. Plus they were so amazed that I was not even pushing it most of the time, just pedaling at a average cadence, coasting and breathing normally as they were huffing and spinning to stay along side and talk.
The Mango did supburb until after the mid way point. 7 km out from the lunch stop my chain started to make this wild and bizarre undulating and grinding sound then it stopped after a couple of seconds. Okay that was weird. I continued to ride but my butt started to get kinda warm. I stopped and checked. Couldn't see nothing, So I rode on. After a kilometer my butt got really hot again and then I had no chain movement. It was really hot and sunny so as I looked down into the darkness I could spin but the chain did not move. What the frak? So I jumped out to get a better look and to my amazement the power chain tube had come loose and wrapped itself around the chain ring. So THAT was the weird noise and girations of the chain a while back, the chain tube had come loose. Okay I had a couple of zip ties to no problem. Ya right. 1 hour and a half later I was 40 km behind the last rider on the tour. No matter what I tried, with zip ties donated from far and wide, the chain tube would not stay and would wrap itself around the chain ring. By this time completing the ride was out of the question. So I got a ride back to my van drove back to my velo and went to the finish line to meet my freinds as thay finished their ride.
I
did have fun that day, met some great people and realized that the volunteers of
these organized rides will try to do the impossible sometimes. I did get 55
kilometers in at a moving avg of 29 kph! My best ever! (yes the area riding in
was flatish of with some rollers).
Now I have to figure out how to get the chain tube to stay in place. Can someone upload a couple of photos with a suggestion of how to fix a chain tube in place in a '08 Mango. Plus I could use a diagram of the proper chain routing too.
Now I have to figure out how to get the chain tube to stay in place. Can someone upload a couple of photos with a suggestion of how to fix a chain tube in place in a '08 Mango. Plus I could use a diagram of the proper chain routing too.
I had mentioned to those trying to
help me get the Mango rolling again that "a big part of day was not just
finishing but the adventure of it all." I really did have a great day and I get
another oppurtunity to figure out how to fix and maintian my velo and to add to
the knowlege base of my blog! So please I could really use the info on how to
affix my chain tube properly. send them to me email at velorydr at telus dot net
Thanks, I hope your adventures this week are fun too!
Thanks, I hope your adventures this week are fun too!
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