A pretty day for a ride – Gate 16
Friday 3 October 2014 – a blessed event occurred – a day of wind and rain without a thunderstorm. I lost no time in getting out to ride the disused military roads at a nearby Air Force reservation. The place has thousands of acres and has been in continuous use by the military since about 1926. During the Second World War, portions of the base were used as P.O.W. camp that reportedly housed Axis prisoners taken in the North Africa campaign, and possibly Sicily. None of the camp structures remain, that I have seen, beyond foundations and chimney stacks. Some of the roads out there are concrete, others gravel, many have become overgrown with grass and scrub. The Air Force keeps the grass cut on many of the roads. I saw a hunter’s truck near the unexploded ordnance warning sign, so pretty much stayed on the roads after that.
Even though I’ve had some concern about the Bridgestone’s headset, I thought some easy riding on mostly graded, if rough roads and across some fields wouldn’t shake anything loose. I was wrong. The bike’s front-end shuddered and squirreled as I braked to a stop at the bottom of the third rough-and-washed-out gravel road descent near where the power lines cross overhead. That was toward the eight-mile mark. I didn’t bring a wrench, so I rode back to the car.
I’ll probably put the Bridgestone out to pasture – easy paved trail rides with my wife and son. Doubt I can justify the expense of yet another headset, in addition to refacing the headtube, to my wife – at least for a while. Here’re the pictures – click on them for full-sized images:
Christov_Tenn 