Finally, the inaugural bike to work day. Yesterday 09/26/2006.
The first day was great. I woke up, not too tired and start riding. I was dark when I left the house. It was a little bit hard to see. As I ride on, the sky gets brighter. There are mist rising from the creek as I ride. I ran into an old friend at the train station. We talked as the train took us toward the Great America Station. The sun was rising outside. The only problem I had is after I got there. I was planning to take the shuttle so I can scout out my way during lunch. The shuttle do not have a bike rack. So I have to ride to work, since I don't know the way, obviously I got lost.
The ride home is a breeze. I got to the station 15 minutes early than I should. I mistakenly thought the shuttle time was the train time. Stupid me. Anyway, at least I did not get there 15 minutes late.
My legs are quite sored today. I rode 30-40 minutes more than I had planned. But this is really good exercise. I felt more tired today driving than yesterday.
I had some greedy thoughts. The conductor did not check my ticket. I have a free 1 week pass. It seems to be an honor system for the most part. I was thinking to pretend that I did not start riding till someone check my ticket and write the start day. On final thought, that is cheating and stealing (from the train company and the fellow riders), I will buy my tickets as I should next week. Thank you Holy Spirit to keep me from evil.
Pray that I keep this up.... Both biking and not sinning.... For Health.... For goodness.... Cheers!
God Bless, JC
星期三, 9月 27, 2006
星期二, 9月 26, 2006
Sunday Ride
Sunday Morning, I decide not to do dry run. I slept in and did a relax ride to UC BART station. This ride is to make sure the slime is distributed properly in the tires and also practice my on the road biking skills. I got home safe and sound without incident.
星期六, 9月 23, 2006
Finally successful dry run!
Finally Dry Run is successful. I was 20 minutes late starting but I got there in less than 45 minutes. It was early enough not to have many cars. I survey the ACE train station. The ticket office is close then. Parking is full on a Saturday morning. I would doubt finding a parking in the morning on a weekday would be easy. So biking or taking the bus would be more appropiate. Let me try again tomorrow at the correct time just to get myself used getting up.
The trail was very nice, ducks are flying, mist are rising from the alameda creek. Too bad I did not bring a camera. Anyway, even if I have, I would not stop, I need to time the trip. I saw a snake coiling on the trail. It has brownish yellowish bands on the body. I ride by it towards the station and also return trip. It looks poisonous and I did not want to mess with it.
The trail was very nice, ducks are flying, mist are rising from the alameda creek. Too bad I did not bring a camera. Anyway, even if I have, I would not stop, I need to time the trip. I saw a snake coiling on the trail. It has brownish yellowish bands on the body. I ride by it towards the station and also return trip. It looks poisonous and I did not want to mess with it.
More thoughts about Tips to apply slime
Instructions:
1. Get newspaper/sale paper to cover the floor. Especially if you have carpet floor. Hardwood, Linolin, bricks etc are probably ok. This is just to make clean up easy.
2. Open the slime bottle, pull the security seal off.
3. Use the valve removal tool on the top of the bottle to remove valve.
4. Be careful of the valve, when you are removing it, air will be released from the tire and it is possible that the valve will fly out.
5. Connect the plastic tube to the bottle
6. Rotate the tire so that the valve hole is between 9 to 11 o'clock or 1 to 3 o'clock. See my other blog entry on which tire to do first.
7. Connect the plastic tube to the valve hole
8. Squeeze the bottle to apply slime. Don't squeeze half the bottle in (even if you can tell how much is half bottle). Squeeze a couple times, let it set, squeeze a couple more times, let it set again. Also try to distribute the slime evenly by rotating the wheel, remember to screw the valve in before you rotate, then repeat until you get half bottle in.
9. There are a few ways that you could tell if it is half bottle. Open the cap of the bottle and peek in. Or try to squeeze approximately the same amount each time then alternate between the front and rear tire. This is more troublesome because you have to screw the valve back every time. This alternate front and rear method is unproven, so try at your own risk.
10. Screw the valve on when you are done.
11. Pump the tire to the desired pressure.
12. Rotate the tire many many times again or ride it for a while to make sure the slime is distributed evenly inside the tire.
13. Do the other tire or if you alternate between both tires, you are done.
14. Viola, you are done and clean up.
See my other blog entry for the interesting experience since I might not have explain the reason behind all the steps here.
Good Luck, God Bless, JC
1. Get newspaper/sale paper to cover the floor. Especially if you have carpet floor. Hardwood, Linolin, bricks etc are probably ok. This is just to make clean up easy.
2. Open the slime bottle, pull the security seal off.
3. Use the valve removal tool on the top of the bottle to remove valve.
4. Be careful of the valve, when you are removing it, air will be released from the tire and it is possible that the valve will fly out.
5. Connect the plastic tube to the bottle
6. Rotate the tire so that the valve hole is between 9 to 11 o'clock or 1 to 3 o'clock. See my other blog entry on which tire to do first.
7. Connect the plastic tube to the valve hole
8. Squeeze the bottle to apply slime. Don't squeeze half the bottle in (even if you can tell how much is half bottle). Squeeze a couple times, let it set, squeeze a couple more times, let it set again. Also try to distribute the slime evenly by rotating the wheel, remember to screw the valve in before you rotate, then repeat until you get half bottle in.
9. There are a few ways that you could tell if it is half bottle. Open the cap of the bottle and peek in. Or try to squeeze approximately the same amount each time then alternate between the front and rear tire. This is more troublesome because you have to screw the valve back every time. This alternate front and rear method is unproven, so try at your own risk.
10. Screw the valve on when you are done.
11. Pump the tire to the desired pressure.
12. Rotate the tire many many times again or ride it for a while to make sure the slime is distributed evenly inside the tire.
13. Do the other tire or if you alternate between both tires, you are done.
14. Viola, you are done and clean up.
See my other blog entry for the interesting experience since I might not have explain the reason behind all the steps here.
Good Luck, God Bless, JC
Tips to apply Slime to your bicycle
I have tried to slime treat my tires. 2 weeks ago I got a flat by some very trivial thorn seed.
I bought slime from Sportsmart. It is for treating tires to prevent future flats. I finally got some time to apply it today. For bicycles, the recommendation is 4 oz for each tire. The bottle contains 8 oz.
Somehow I treated the back tires first. First problem: It is very hard to find out if you used half of the bottle, since the slime is green it is very hard to see through the bottle. I would suggest to treat the front tire first. Because I would think the front would be more susceptible to flats then the rear one. So if you accidentally put more slime in the front, there would be enough for the rear.
Problem 2: My front tire repel some of the slime. I got slime everywhere, my tire valve, my pump, my tire gauge, my tire, my wheel, my floor. First, I think I should not apply the slime at 6 o'clock. Apply it at 12 o'clock. This is not the time but the angle of the tire valve. Do this so that the slime has place to flow. Second, Since I could not see how much I squeeze in on the rear tire. I squeeze, stop for a while to check the bottle. But I just squeeze in everything in the front. I think squeezing some in, let it flow, then squeeze some more, repeat a few times would help.
Remember to spin the tires to even out the slime or ride the bike immediately when you are done.
One final thought. May be squeezing some slime to the front, screw the tire valve back, spin the tire, then squeeze some to the back, screw the tire valve, spin tire. Then go back to the front, then the back. Do that a few times. May be this would solve problem 1? This might more evenly distribute slime on both tires. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Good Luck, God Bless, JC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: After thinking about it. I think the best angle is not 12 o'clock. More likely to be 9 to 11 or 1 to 3 o'clock.
Another thought is if you have carpet floor. You better cover it up. If slime is everywhere, the worse place you want them to be on is the carpet.
New updates.
I bought slime from Sportsmart. It is for treating tires to prevent future flats. I finally got some time to apply it today. For bicycles, the recommendation is 4 oz for each tire. The bottle contains 8 oz.
Somehow I treated the back tires first. First problem: It is very hard to find out if you used half of the bottle, since the slime is green it is very hard to see through the bottle. I would suggest to treat the front tire first. Because I would think the front would be more susceptible to flats then the rear one. So if you accidentally put more slime in the front, there would be enough for the rear.
Problem 2: My front tire repel some of the slime. I got slime everywhere, my tire valve, my pump, my tire gauge, my tire, my wheel, my floor. First, I think I should not apply the slime at 6 o'clock. Apply it at 12 o'clock. This is not the time but the angle of the tire valve. Do this so that the slime has place to flow. Second, Since I could not see how much I squeeze in on the rear tire. I squeeze, stop for a while to check the bottle. But I just squeeze in everything in the front. I think squeezing some in, let it flow, then squeeze some more, repeat a few times would help.
Remember to spin the tires to even out the slime or ride the bike immediately when you are done.
One final thought. May be squeezing some slime to the front, screw the tire valve back, spin the tire, then squeeze some to the back, screw the tire valve, spin tire. Then go back to the front, then the back. Do that a few times. May be this would solve problem 1? This might more evenly distribute slime on both tires. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Good Luck, God Bless, JC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: After thinking about it. I think the best angle is not 12 o'clock. More likely to be 9 to 11 or 1 to 3 o'clock.
Another thought is if you have carpet floor. You better cover it up. If slime is everywhere, the worse place you want them to be on is the carpet.
New updates.
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