Day 4- Chains, Campy hubs and crank reassembly/installation

Well, maybe some of you are wondering why I would come to a place like this.....

OK, April fool! Don't know what the building above is all about- but it's the first thing you see when you turn into the parking lot. The NEW building is shown below and is quite modern with solar collectors on the roof. UBI generates about 60% of all electricity used at the Ashland site.

Today we reinstalled the Shimano two piece crankset we removed and disassembled on Wednesday.

I had already worked with this type of crank, since I have the exact same one on the touring bike I built last year at home. Here it is reinstalled on the bike in class.

Not to rub it in....but it was another 72 degree day with sunshine! Even the UBI staff was itching to get out early! Days like this is the reason I retired- so I could ride when the weather cooperated. But, I am willing to make these sacrifices for the learning. The view from the school looking out over the I-5 corridor and the sun on the mountains to the southeast.

The only downside today was disassembling the wheelset I built up on Tuesday. UBI recycles all the materials which can't be used again in class. The rims and hubs are reused. Taking 32 spokes out of each wheel to recycle with the spoke nipples was a lot faster than the assembly and truing procedure!

If you check out the UBI website and click on photos of current class, you will see today's activities, including one of me. www.bikeschool.com

Tomorrow is Friday- one more day and the first week is a done deal. So is my laundry supply, so I know what I will be doing this weekend. Sunday looks good for a ride after church (50's and very small chance of rain). Hope to hook up with a road bike rental tomorrow after class.

A view of Ashland

Today was warm and sunny, so I took a walk up the hills on the east side of Ashland. There are some quaint houses once you get past the two or three blocks of commercial/entertainment district on that side of Main St.

Ashland hosts the longest season Shakespeare festival in the world, or so I've been told. There are theatres and workshops all over the place. Downtown Ashland is loaded ith antique shops and all kinds of boutiques selling art, pottery, books, etc. It's an "artsy" kind of town.

Here are some pics of the views and a few of the unique houses I saw on my walk today. It was great to get out and enjoy the sunshine. I can feel the vitamin D working already!

A sticker on a car parked in one of the residential areas...........

And this is wine country, as evidenced by this recycling box outside one of the homes!

If you feel the need for a rest (maybe it's the wine?), here's a spot someone has created on a corner for passerby to sit and contemplate the spring budding of the trees.

All for now, tomorrow it's crankets and derailleurs.

Spindles, Pedals, Cranks and Bottom Brackets

If you already know what these things are then you won't need to read the next few sentences. The spindle is the thing which connects the two arms which hold your pedals. It goes through the bottom bracket, which supports the spindle with bearings in the bike frame. The crank is the arm and gear assembly on the front of the bike and you move the chain around it to then move the rear wheel.

We took every variety of these apart today and also put them back into bikes, both mountain and road frames. Lots of special tools, grease and washing of hands! Also good practice. Not very exciting stuff, but all very necessary on your bike!

I'll try to upload some pics of Ashland later. It's almost 70 degrees outside and I'm gonna get some vitamin D.................

Day 2- building wheels

One of the mysteries of bike wheels was overcome today. Truing a wheel has always been a challenge I have avoided. Learned the factors affecting spoke length and we loaded both front and rear hubs which later became completed wheels.

By end of day, I had actually built these up into a pair of accurate and ready to ride wheels. Great instructors who led us through the process step by step. It took a lot of fear out the topic.

And.....the finished wheel set!

Day 1 building hubs

Today we learned about hubs and took apart (and successfully reassembled) 4 different hub types. There are 13 of us in the class, including two guys from Alaska, one from Missouri and one from North Carolina, but most are from the California/Oregon areas. The cone style hubs pictured were the first thing we did today and will be used for the wheels we will build tomorrow. We were promised that the wheel building process would be de-mystified, and that it is really a process oriented procedure (which should be good for me!)

The classroom is well equipped and we share a workbench with our partner in all the hands on procedures.

Ashland and home for two weeks

About a four hour drive to Ashland from Salem, Oregon.  I am only 15 miles from the California border, and actually had sunshine today!  But it only lasted a short time.  Lots of rain for this time of year.  Not sure I will get in many cycling miles while here for the next two weeks.  The drive through the Willamette valley was pretty and very green.  Lots of rain this winter here.  Here is a view of the approach to Ashland.

The Cycle Hostel will be my home for the next two weeks.

 

And a graphic showing the connection to cycling here in the downtown area. 

The Cycle Hostel offers accommodations exclusively for students at United Bicycle Institute (UBI).  http://www.bikeschool.com/  I'll meet the rest of the class as they arrive tomorrow.

Salem visit

Aspen, Sean & Liz, Dusty in front

Had a great visit with Liz, Sean, Aspen and Dusty in Salem and some delicious homemade clam chowder -thanks Liz!  It was nice to see some of our west coast family on the way out here.  Spent a day in Eugene, browsing the REI store and driving up towards the McKenzie pass, where Kathie rode with Womantours on her Northwest Loop adventure.

On the way to Ashland

Left Rochester very early this morning and arrived in Portland, Oregon on time.  Considering the snow dumping Rochester got yesterday- I'm glad to be out here where it's only occasionally raining. 

Will be staying with Kathie's sister & family in Salem until Saturday and then heading down to Ashland.  Hope to get some riding in before class starts on Monday.