Yesterday morning (Saturday), I flew from Sacramento into Portland. The original plan was to take the Max light rail to Beaverton and then pick up a bus to Astoria. I would arrive in Astoria about 12:30. Instead I took a Lyft ride from the airport to Astoria and arrived about 3 hours earlier, shortly before I would have boarded the bus. By noon, I had my bike out of the box, assembled, and ready for inspection by the ABB mechanics.
I then took a walk back toward Astoria’s downtown and got some lunch. When I got back the mechanics had given my bike the AOK. Unfortunately I reversed the order of two bearing sets in the headset. That resulted in a stiff, ratchety feel to the steering. I figured that probably wasn’t going to work well. Sure enough, when I started the ride to the beach this morning, I confirmed that it wasn’t right and a likely source of a crash if I tried to ride it any distance. I had this problem years ago and finally recalled the solution–reversing the order of the bearings. Once done, all was right with the bike. I rode out to the beach. Many of the riders dipped their wheels in the Pacific Ocean, to be repeated when we get to New Hampshire. A little drizzle was part of the package.
Rider orientation began at 3:00, followed immediately by Route Rap, where Staff tells us about the next day’s route.
