new brakes

Yesterday -- the last day of August. Summer coming to an end; fall approaching.

In many ways the summer seemed long and drawn out -- in a good way -- but still I feel like it is ending much too soon.

Yesterday Hubby had to do some work at our rental house and he wanted to go out to eat afterwards. So I decided to ride Milly into the city and go to United Cycle to get the brakes checked. The brakes worked fine, but made a funny noise. I don't like funny noises when I'm riding, so I thought I should ask about it.

I rode on 16A, as usual, and took the Henday to 87 Avenue. From 87 Avenue there are several different multi-use paths that lead to overpasses crossing the Whitemud. I took the first such trail and crossed on this bridge. The sky looks so threatening in this photo, it's hard to imagine that it really was a beautiful warm day, and it seemed sunny most of the time.

After crossing this bridge, I rode on 76 Avenue and on the 69 Avenue bike lane into Wolf Willow neighbourhood. There is another multi-use path here that I've taken before that leads to the Rio Terrace neighbourhood. Last time I ended up on a path with a very steep downhill and then an equally steep gravel uphill. This time I ended up on a fully paved path with almost no hill. I'm not sure how that happened, but it was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have a hope of riding up the gravel path on a skinny-tired road bike, so I was happy to avoid it.

The on-street bike route through Rio Terrace leads to the pink bridge that crosses the Whitemud. This bridge begins with some stairs, so you can either pull your bike on the side ramp or pick it up and carry it. Milly is so light that it was easier for me to pick her up. I was going down as two fit-looking roadies were going up, using the ramps, and their jaws dropped when they saw me pick up my bike and sail down.

They would not have been so impressed on the other side, where there is a steep climb up to the street. Two little kids were coming down on their bikes, riding side by side and leaving me no choice but to stop and let them go. When I tried to ride up the hill after that, I couldn't get going, and had to walk my bike.

The Pink Bridge

From this point, it's a short ride on a quiet street with a great view to another set of stairs leading down to the Quesnell Bridge trail. Again I carried Milly down with ease.

I rode across the Quesnell Bridge -- a first -- and then rode around aimlessly for a bit as I tried to find the multi-use path that goes up to meet the 76 Avenue bike lane. It was hopeless; I had no idea where that path was. Finally, I settled on riding up Fox Drive -- another first -- and a surprisingly nice ride thanks to the bike/bus/taxi lane. I took a wrong turn, however, going right on Belgravia, and because of the University farm, found myself trapped into riding south all the way to 51 Avenue.

At 51st I turned left and headed all the way over to 106 Avenue, where the bike lane makes it a fairly easy ride up to United Cycle. I say "fairly easy" because this bike lane is pitted with potholes, crevices, cracks and other assorted hazards. It's hard to believe the city thinks they're doing cyclists a favour by using a road like this for a bike route.

The guy at United Cycle said my brakes were basically okay, but that maybe I should replace the back brake pads. When I said I'd like to try to do it myself, he gave me some quick instructions (it was busy) and assured me that it was easy. So I went to the parts department and asked for the brake pads. Surprised that they were only $5.00. I purchased them and rode back down to our rental house to meet Hubby. While there I took a look at the brakes and realized that Parts Guy had given me the wrong brake pads. After the work was done, we went back to United Cycle and asked for the right ones. First Parts Guy said, "Oh, those will work." Fortunately, Second Parts Guy stepped in and said, "No, they won't." He found the right ones for me (they were $30.00 instead of only $5.00!) and showed me how to put them on. First Parts Guy had Justin Bieber-ish hair, hanging down over his eyes; maybe he couldn't see the package contents properly!

We went on to Kebab Express, where one of my former students works, for a tasty Turkish meal, and then headed home. I googled a YouTube video of instructions on changing brake pads. To tell the truth, I watched three videos in all, then set to work. It was pretty easy. It would have been easier if I wouldn't have taken off the old shoe, set it down on the floor and then proceeded to put it back on again. Good thing I noticed!