30 Days of Biking: Wrap up

In case you were wondering, I did complete the 30 days of biking challenge. There were a few rides at the end that were nothing more than a ride around the neighborhood to put the check in the box for that day, but they count according to the rules. Everything was on an actual bike, outside, no trainers or gym bikes were used in the completion of this goal. Which is something. The more important something is I'm still riding fairly regularly. Not every day, but most. Short rides, mostly just to the park and ride. But rides none the less. On a bummer note, Tuesday when I got back to the park and ride I unlocked, threw my leg over the top bar and went to pedal off home. Crunch! Catastrophic rear derailleur failure! I noticed while walking home that my rear shifter lever was in the "all the way down" position, when normally it's somewhere in between. So my guess is either somebody monkeyed with it while I was at work, or I bumped it during the unlocking process and didn't realize it. Either way, the resulting displacement of the derailleur caused the chain to bind and the force was too much for the derailleur. It's actually a blessing in disguise. When I bought the Kuwahara frame, it included a headset (Kuwahara branded, no less) and also front/rear Suntour derailleurs. I built the rest up with a mish-mash of new and used parts. I added 8 speed bar end shifters and an 8 speed rear cluster, but the derailleur never had the reach to get to all those gears. So I was effectively riding a 6 speed rear cluster, as the range prevented me from getting into the highest and lowest gears. Replacing it has always been on my list of things to do, but so far it hasn't been done. Now it will get done. It's just a question of when.