A brief break in the rain today meant I got out on the trails for the first time in days. All good. Conditions were sloppy and muddy, so the aim for today was not to get a big long ride in, but to get a fire going somewhere in the woods and warm my fingers and toes while I ate a sandwich. You see, I’ve been inspired by a couple instragram streams of morning coffee, or wednesday whiskey, enjoyed somewhere out and about, by bike.
So, this was my version.
It is fair to say I have enjoyed little success utilising found tinder and kindling to get a fire going when it has been wet for a prolonged time. Of course, this is the most useful time to be able to get the flames to rise.
Today, the initial flames came easily, but I could not get the bugger to catch properly. Everything to hand was wet and I could not create a hot enough core to the blaze to dry the twigs etc fast enough. Even the silver birch bark I could find or gather was waterlogged and struggled to take.
After 2 hours (I am nothing if not pertinacious), with blood dripping from my finger and blisters forming on my palm, I finally got a fire going with enough gusto to call it a win.
And no, Mike n’ Ikes don’t burn well.
Brutal. But, I feel I am continuing along a path – King Louie isn’t the only one with a desire for Man’s red fire.
The other issue that has had my attention is removing the stainless bearing spacer from an xtr trail pedal that broke. A batch of shimano pedals had axles that snapped, freeing the retaining nut form the end of the axle and causing the body to fall off. This is the second such pedal I have had. It is a good thing that there is a replacement axle kit that just screws in. Unfortunately, in this case, the stainless spacer is caught inside the pedal body.
Suggestions of how to remove have been many – Ez Out, big hammer, blind bearing puller, small expanding reamer, bigger hammer and, of course, a dremel. The simplest may be to drill a hole in the pedal body and drift the stainless tube out, then seal it either by tapping and inserting a small bolt, or just using epoxy. We will see. It does make me wish I had a more ‘complete’ workshop.
drj0nswanderings 