No really, this is fun.

Invest in bikes!

2012-01-24T20:17:00.001-08:00

It's the conservative thing to do!

From http://bikeportland.org/2012/01/23/the-state-of-cycling-alliance-for-biking-walking-releases-2012-benchmarking-report-65422

People on bikes make up 1.8% of all traffic fatalities

In 2009, 40% of trips in the United States were shorter than 2 miles, yet 87% of these trips are by car. Twenty-seven percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile. Still, Americans use their cars for 62% of these trips.

While bicycling and walking fell 66% between 1960 and 2009, obesity levels increased 156%.

Seniors are "the most vulnerable bicyclists and pedestrians"... This age group accounts for 6% of bicycling trips, yet 10% of bicyclist fatalities.

Bicycling and walking projects create 11-14 jobs per $1 million spent, compared to just 7 jobs created per $1 million spent on highway projects.

Cost benefit analysis show that up to $11.80 in benefits can be gained for every $1 invested in bicycling and walking.

Circumnavigating San Clemente

2011-10-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

San Clemente means sun & surf, tanned bodies, Marines,and Richard Nixon. Add to that short list excellent bike riding! Due to a collaborative effort between the city, developers, PG&E, CA state parks and the US Marine Corps, there are extensive trails throughout town. The city’s page highlighting the trails provides a pretty good map.

To the south of town and bordering Camp Pendleton are the popular and world-class mountain bike trails. An excellent overview to the San Clemente Singletrack can be seen on mountainbike bill's site. A mountain biker’s paradise, a mile from the ocean!

While the SC Singletrack gets all the attention from “serious” cyclists, the city trail complex gets overlooked. It shouldn’t be! These are some fantastic trails with approximately 13 miles of on-dirt, car (and mostly people) free riding.

The trails are extremely well maintained. Mostly hardpack with a few sandy sections.

There are some steep spots, maybe two or three hills of consequence, but the rest is rolling trail with minimal elevation gain.

A map showing the basic route is on Bikely.com. That route includes sections riding from the North Beach Metrolink station. By the way, consider taking the Metrolik train down, riding the trails, then training back home. An entirely car-free day!

I most recently rode these trails with a bunch of friends from the Rivendell Bicycle Works Google group. Good people that it’s great to spend time with. We get together probably four times a year to ride. These are often mixed-surface routes, where there’s a good percentage of dirt, but not enough to bring a mountain bike. Rougher than what you would want to take a skinny-tired road-race bike on though. Rivendell bikes lend themselves to these routes as they are built around the “country-bike” ethos. Rough stuff riding at it’s best!

This ride took us about four hours when we did it in October. A few rest-stops, but pedaling pretty consistently over that time. Not tearing up the course by any means, but a collegial pace that lends itself to catching up with people you haven’t seen in a while.

A few of us took the extended route and rode a little more singletrack and utility roads to maximize our dirt time. At the end, we dropped into town for some well deserved pizza and beer at the world renown Pizza Port.

If you’re a SoCal cyclist, and you have a bike that’s versatile (that means fits tires larger than 25mm) you owe it to yourself to do this. A ton of fun!

More pix can be seen on flickr. Mine and Mike's.

Something new out there.

2011-08-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

I live in a cycling-friendly town (Redlands, CA) and there are a LOT of bikes out and about every day. There are many more utility cyclists than in the past, but that's not what is new (just good!). The last few months has me seeing something different in the type of cyclist out there. Not the percentage of riders growing (like the utilitistas), but a new sub-genre: The serious hybrid-ist. This person has an upright hybrid bike (sit up and beg bikes as the Germans call them), but aren't a brand new, jump into cycling sort of a person. They look like the average roadie with a Radio Shack, Garmin, etc. jersey on, but are sitting bolt upright on a hybrid. And they are typically riding with other cyclists dressed the same way, but on everyday crabon fibre road bikes (MCRBs).

These cyclers don't look like they're new to the sport, but more like age or ailment has forced them onto a more upright bike. They're too comfortable on a bike and in traffic to be trying out cycling for the first time. Just moving away from the race-inspired drop barred bike. Unfortunately that leaves them little choice in alternative bikes. Basically MTBs or hybrids. They probably have a MTB in the garage, so are choosing a hybrid to get the upright position they need, but with slicks and lighter build than a MTB.

This is where it occurs to me that these people need to discover Rivendell Bikes. Rivendell isn't the bike company of the old and infirmed, it's just that they design their bikes around the idea of letting cyclers get the bars up high and comfortable. Who wouldn't want that? Once you decide that you're not going to get to podium on the local crit, maybe it's time to start thinking about comfort in a bike and what will let you ride it all day and into your dotage. Rivendell will be there for you.

SUCCESS!!!

2011-03-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

No thanks to my LBS (either of them) or Sram North America (nice people, crappy customer service policies), I now have my missing parts!!! One year and $7 later.

Another day, another rant

2011-02-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone, and the bike parts I need still elude me. It all started way back in 2009. I needed to get a small replacement part for a P5 internal geared hub. No biggie the internets told me, just drop Sram a line and they'll send it to me...

The tubes were plugged or something, as Sram politely told me they only sent parts to dealers and I would need to work through a LBS. Uh-oh, warning lights start going off. My two LBSs at the time consisted of one run by a single-guy who pretty basically liked to play with his own bikes and not much else, and the other a large Trek-alized store full of pot-heads barely competent to install tires. My choices were limited, so I chose the small shop (individualized service and all that). "Uhm, yeah, I guess we can get that..." Two months later, lots of phone call, several stop bys, no parts.

I give up for a while and forget about my little IGH project. Finally think about it again as I'm cleaning out the garage and selling unused parts. Yeah, I'm not using that wheel, might as well sell it. I need to get that damn part though so I can sell it as complete/working wheel and make huge money that I can buy gold with. In the meantime, the bike shop has gone out of business (wow, who could have seen that coming!?!?), so that leaves Special-Ek as my only option.

I print out the email from Sram stating the part #. I print out their parts manual showing the part. I bring those to the shop. Guy at the shop is really trying to help, but just can't wrap his head around the idea of ordering the parts from Sram. He wastes half an hour going through a QBP parts book and trying to talk me into getting a Sturmey Archer part. I go home, get the wheel, explain how it goes together, and finally convince him the best thing to do would be to call Sram and ORDER THE DAMN PART FROM THEM!

A week goes by. He calls, says the part is in. I get over there. And massive fail. At least they didn't charge me anything.

Fuck it, I'm just buying it online. Looks like $7 shipped from Petra Cycles in the UK.

Hopefully they won't end up sending me Shimao SPD cleat bolts.

The Long Version

2010-11-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

Life in Southern California is good. We're a third of the way into November and the weather is a perfect mid 70F. Better yet, we're lucky enough to have fantastic bike riding relatively close by in every direction. The SoCal Rivendell gang tries to get together monthly throughout the year, but has been pretty busy and unable to meet up since the Spring. Luckily things are slowing down a bit, and some rides are getting set up. For the November ride, we were hoping to get 10 or so riders, but between work, illness/injuries and familial obligations, ended up with half that. Interestingly, five different counties were represented, LA, OC, SD, SB and Ventura. A true Southern California experience! No Riverside people, suck on that 951!

We staged just outside the community of Silverado Canyon. Fantastic rural area in the foothills of the Santa Ana coastal range. There were a lot of cyclists out on the roads leading here, maybe some sort of a time trial event going on plus a lot of club riders. But most of them had skinny tires and had to turn around once the dirt started. I'm sure they were much faster than us on the tarmac though!

From the start, it's a pleasant tree-covered ride through town and to the trail head of Maple Springs in the Cleveland National Forest. Maybe 10 cars or so parked there. The paved road narrows but is still open to traffic at this point. It's pretty unrelenting climbing. I don't know the grade, not mellow but not terrible. Any steeper and it would become unpleasant. The pavement stopped at about the five mile mark (can't help it, I like knowing!) and then mostly smooth fire road. Some sections with large rocks, but no sand, washouts or gravel. There is no place I'd rather be than riding on fire roads, so at this point of the ride I was just in heaven.

The temperature dropped as we climbed, and I was under dressed with just a wool jersey. Not cold enough to put on my jacket and too lazy to put on arm warmers. The vegetation began to change from huge live oak and chaparral to smaller oaks with a lot of manzanita and now pine trees. Another five miles of fire roads to the saddle at the intersection of Maple Springs, Harding Truck Trail and the Main Divide trail. VERY windy and chilly here as the Santa Ana's were blowing and whipping right through here.

Some observations: With the 3+ million people living in Orange County, we only saw 30 or so up in the mountains that are 10 miles away from their houses. And half of those 30 were yahoos riding around in jacked up 4X4s.

This ride had a 20% female contingent, a new high for a Rivendell Ride.

It also had 80% of the bikes being Rivendell product, another new high!

The pace of the ride was perfect for me, and I hope everyone else. The above-mentioned climb wasn't really that bad, it was tough not knowing when it would end and how to pace myself. The downhill was absolutely perfect. Came down the Harding Truck Trail which is ironically closed to trucks and motor vehicles. Was able to open it up for 10 miles of uninterrupted downhill!

What worked:
-Platypus collapsible bags. Rob recommended these and they work great for bringing extra water!
-40mm tires. Just perfect. My Contis and Jenn's 650b tires gave ZERO problems. That said, the smallest tires were 33.3mm and they seemed to work out fine as well.
-Well thought out country bikes! I can't imagine not having a bike like this. Combining the best of mountain and road bikes in one package. Who woulda' thunk it?
-Silverado Cafe! GREAT little restaurant, with inexpensive good food and beer!

What didn't work: Ha, tricked you, everything worked perfectly! THANKS to the folks that showed up. Rob and Jenny both had to drive from a way out, so hope they got their money's worth! Good meeting you all in the flesh and hope we can ride some more soon!

Next month is a ride out of LA in the Santa Monica mountains, Dirt Mulholland. This is one of the best mixed surface rides in SoCal, so be there or be square!

Full set of pix on flickr.

Two Days on the SART

2010-08-30T19:45:00.001-07:00

Long-time readers will notice a dearth of postings over the last few months. I'm done complaining about my LBS, obsessing on tires, and thinking liberal politics. Now it's time to talk about riding bikes!

Two days riding back to back on opposite ends of the Santa Ana River Trail was fantastic. It brings out the best of living in the Inland Empire! Luckily a (record) mild summer let me ride to my heart's content. Saturday I had the option of taking a long ride, and planned to ride out the back door to Huntington Beach. That would require a ride home, which was not forthcoming. So I decided to drive half way which is in Corona, and jump on the SART for an out and back ride to the Pacific.

And my was that ride marvelous! The on-shore winds were blowing inland, seriously slowing me down. I averaged about 13 mph going to the beach. Ate there, then turned around for a 19 mph ride back to Corona!

The amazing part was a lack of ITB issues in my knee. It's been plaguing me for the last few years, but I think I might have kicked it to the curb! Not even a tinge of it over the 60 mile ride.

Speaking of 60 miles, discussion on the RBW list has led to the creation of a new group, Les Metriques. It's purpose is to promote metric century rides. 100 kilometers is just a touch over 60 miles. In my opinion (humbly or otherwise) it's a great length for a long ride. It doesn't take up a ton of time 4-7 hours depending on how fast/fit you are, you don't need a bunch of special bags or lights (or bike!) and it really isn't that fatiguing. Just a real great length of a ride!

So that was day one, on to day two: The dirt portion! Past San Bernardino, the SART is non-existent, or at best just dirt road. Then you get up into the San Bernardino Mountains and it turns into wonderful singletrack trail.

You can hike or ride it from Big Bear down the mountains, but there's a marvelous little portion up in Angelus Oaks. It's close by, cool, and wonderful! I drove the 1/2 it takes to get there and hit the trails! The best part was taking the 8 y.o.! His first extensive amount of single track. He was great. Walked a few sections. Crashed another section. Pedaled the whole way out on the road leading back to the car park. Good times were had by all!

The purpose of this is let folks know there is some bike culture in SoCal. They can get to a place that is car free, either a nice MUT but the beach, or glorious singletrack up in the mountains. You can even bring a kid along!

That said, what's the hold up? Get out there and ride!

Bike 'servations

2010-05-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

I have two Rivendells. A "Road" and an "All Rounder". Same size & dimensions, even built by the same guy (Joe Stark) in the same year (2001). The AR has heavier gauge tubing, but not a whole lot so. It's about seven pounds heavier due to the tubing, a rear rack, triple chainrings & mech, Brooks B17, and 40mm Conti Top Touring 2K tires on Sun CR-18 rims. The Road has downtube shifters on a compact double, ti cassette, ti WTB Deva and Pasela Tourguards (30mm actual) on Open Pro rims (28 spoke front). While the bars are the same (46cm Nitto Dirt Drops), they are about 30mm higher on the AR.

So here's the much-promised 'servatin': I went on back to back rides over two days on these bikes. First on the Road, then the next day on the AR. Same route, a 33 mile out and back that has a pretty consistent grade (THIS is approximately the ride, but a different route back). Both days I was feeling good and had a nice espresso. Priorities!

I don't normally do the time keeping thing, but this was a test. For science.
Road stats: 61 minutes to turn around spot @ 16.6 miles. Return home was 80 minutes (uphill, and tired)
AR stats: 66 minutes to turn around spot. Return was the same at 80 minutes.

Two variables to throw in. I was playing leapfrog with some cyclists on the "Road Day". Finally got tired of it and dropped down and spun past them. I kept up the speed so they wouldn't catch me. Lame, but I was tired of passing/being passed by them cuz' they wouldn't say "hi". Serious.

Second thing is that I ate a snack bar thingie at the turn around today. I may have bonked a little bit on the last little bit the previous day. So possibly my time was artificially faster going down on the Road, and possibly artificially faster returning on the AR.

The conclusion: It appears that for a couple hours of riding, in a non-competitive manner, weight doesn't matter much. Again, this was only 30+ miles, by myself and no real hills. I was just as comfortable on both bikes, which is a big factor. I sure love the way the Road feels, but am having a hard time justifying keeping them both!

A kewl aside: another roadie who didn't want to say hi had to stop and dismount to lift his delicate bike over the gate getting off the trail. I simply road around the gate on the pea gravel and kept on going. Fat tires sure are nice!

Found: The Perfect Kid Bike

2010-05-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately is hasn't been sold since Al Gore won the vote for President.

Buying a capable kid's bike is difficult if you're an a opinionated cyclist. You want your kids to have a bike that's similar to your tastes and what you believe is the best style. For me this is steel with no suspension (rigid) with 24" wheels and a pretty low standover. Good luck finding that on the current market. There are lots of nice bikes available at your LBS, but none with the above features that I'm aware of. Big Box Bikes aren't really apropos to this conversation.

So let me suggest you look for a Trek 220. They still make them, and they're good bikes, but they are aluminum and have suspension forks. Why a bike meant for a 60 pound kid needs suspension is beyond me. But I digress. The 220 has a "boy" and a "girl" frame, which are completely alike except the girl frame has about two inches of extra standover. That's actually a pretty cool feature as long as your male-spawn doesn't freak over riding a GIRL'S BIKE.

What I'm recommending is finding a used one. They're steel, have tons of adjustability in fit and are well made in Taiwan. Parts are pretty low-end, but well-enough made that you can adjust them. SRAM shifters, Altus front derailer, no-name rear, seven-speed freewheel hubs, alloy rims and bars, good tires. Tektro brakes, in particular, are really good. They'll lock up the front wheel and toss your kids if they aren't used to hand brakes (ask me how I know).

So the key is to trawl Craigslist to find a good one. It's gonna' be used of course, but for the most part these sturdy bikes are hard to abuse. That, and unfortunately, most kids don't really ride their bikes a whole bunch :-(

The minimum saddle height from the ground is approximately 26 inches, so your kiddo needs to be able to straddle that. At least until they figure out they can lean the bike over in order to put a foot down. My five and seven year olds are the same height, so technically can both fit this bike. That extra two years of bike handling comes in very useful as the seven y.o is much more comfortable. The five y.o. is kinda' freaked by the extra size and mass and doesn't like riding. Luckily there is a nice 20" bike that needs to get used for a few more years!

Speaking of wheel size, the 24" wheels are amazingly better at rolling over curbs and obstacles compared to a 20" wheel. A huge jump in performance and capability. It's the 29er of the kid-bike world!

I've still got my eye out for a Kona Jake 24, which is probably the best all-around kid bike out there, but good luck with finding that! Let me know if there are other similar bikes out there, particularly a 24" cross bike!

Update: Trek has a similar model, the 200 that is currently being sold. Looks like it could be a nice bike! Also, I've been able to get a Redline Conquest 24, which is a full 10 lbs lighter (The only unmentioned downside to the 220 is that it weights in at 30lbs!). The Redline also lacks the small triple chainring, which my kids use a lot when we're out on trails. Tire availability might be a problem later on as well.

As a courtesy...

2010-05-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

Good stuff on the interwebs today!

io9.com

There is no God but Chuck D. and Flavor Flav is his Prophet

2010-04-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, this song is as timely as ever. Arizona continues to be the laughingstock of the nation. First they fought MLK day, now they're after folks wearing the wrong kind of shoes. But no, not racial profiling. Just don't have brown skin and/or speak Spanish (chances are the Irish are ok this time).

Where does your bike come from?

2010-04-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

So we have this ever-expanding, intertwined and interdependent global economy thing, right. It gets complicated, even for something as simple as buying a bike. Some manufaturers wave the flag of their respective country, but then get their parts made somewhere in Asia for cheap. Well that's lame. Be upfront and don't try to hide/minimize where your product is made. Here's a nice guide to finding out where bikes are made in case you want to know:

http://allanti.com/articles/where-was-my-bike-made-pg328.htm

I admit, I like buying U.S. built bikes and parts. NOT because of quality, as Asian bikes and parts are top notch. Instead, I think there is something to be said for supporting manufacturing jobs here in The States. That's gotta' be a good thing in my book!

Health Care Reformed

2010-03-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

The real star is Nancy Pelosi for getting the 216 votes from the wild herd of cats.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is hard to accomplish if you lose your house to cancer.

Ridin' 'round the city

2010-02-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

Big plans to ride 60+ miles around L.A. Original plan was to take Metrolinke out and meet up at the Metro station at Wilshire/Vermont. Well, laziness prevailed so I drove and picked up Andy. Made it out lickety-split and found great parking - always the key to any adventure in L.A. Headed out from Koreatown, where the signs are all in Korean but the pedestrians are all Mexican.

Down Vermont through the not so nice parts of town. Amazing was having all the kids out waving and cheering for you as you ride the street. Kids and the crazies talking to themselves at the bus stops. They cheered also.

So 20 or so miles into I get that not so fresh feeling in my left knee. Damn, IT band pain. Week before was 40 miles no problem-o, but now, maybe not stretching enough pre-ride, faster pace, not resting during the ride causes it to REALLY start hurting.

Head to Lynwood and the LA River Trail, which we hop on for another 10 miles or so. BRUTAL headwind the whole way. Great to see a lot of folks using the trail on bikes, on foot and surprisingly on horse!

Make a right and head into Wilmington, the industrial underbelly of the Southland. Nice neighborhood right in the middle of it.

Left that area and headed to the wooded glens of Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates. I was surprised as it was definitely an older money/smaller house sort of place than I was expecting. Nice ride through there, although going up Palos Verdes Drive North about did me in with my stupid knee :-(

Dropped down to Redondo Beach then on to Hermosa for a lunch break. Good snack stop there (pretty good beach pizza) and split the group as I just couldn't pedal any more. Sucked as I knew I didn't have that far to go to get back. Oh well. Rode over to the Redondo metro stop, then trained back to downtown.

And what do you know, my car was still there!

Thanks to Seth, Rick, Ron for putting it together. John, James and Andy for coming out and going for a ride!

More pics!

Ricks' take on the day.

Basic map of my portion.

1962 Le Tour

2010-02-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

This is a really well put together period piece from the '62 TdF. Forwarded to my by all-around great guy Aaron. Seems like doping was a big deal, just as today. But then they didn't pee-test you, you simply died from it. Maybe that's a way to fix doping!

I really like watching them search out water and beer. Still carried their own tires for roadside repair as well. Yeah, that was a bit of a different age...

Here's part one:

and part deux:

Meta-blog reposting: The Utility Bicycle

2010-01-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is BRILLIANT! Thanks to Reno Rambler for showing this!!!!!

2010

2010-01-01T09:28:00.001-08:00

Wishing you and your's a Merry New Year!

And remember, friends don't like friends vote Republican.

Grand Bois Cypres - follow up to the follow up

2009-12-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

The initial experiences were wonderful, even with one puncture. I get goatheads ALL the times, so that wasn't a big deal, and even made me happy to find that was the culprit.

A while after that, and not so many more miles (my All-Rounder gets 75% of my miles) I found some "squiggles" on the rear tire. Looked like the tread was shifted instead of going straight. No biggy, must be a slight imperfection I never noticed.

I kept riding it, but then actually started to notice a hop in the rear wheel. I'm not that sensitive to squeaks, creaks and such, so it was kinda' a big deal. I get home and what do I see:

Yikes! What the hell is that cancerous looking lump doing on my tire! Looks like it was going to pop any second and glad it didn't during the ride! The tire was distended maybe 3mm at the highest point, and another 3mm or so to the side. Like a big cyst on the tire. If you look at this photo, you can see where the tread was starting to separate and the tube is visible through the casing:

In fact on removal the casing was severely splitting:

Not good at all. I get hold of Jan @ Bicycle Quarterly and let him know. The tires have maybe 200 or so miles on them at this point and this just shouldn't be happening. He readily agrees and immediately tells me to send it to him and he'll get an exchange out to me as soon as their new shipment gets in. He was VERY cordial and easy to deal with and I'm VERY appreciate of him.

The Cypres are pricey tires. They are built to be high performance and make no bones about that. Like anything high performance they're built on the very narrow edge between lightweight and durability. In my opinion, Panaracer (the manufacturer) tries to make these too close to the performance side and ends up having some quality assurance issues.

I just went on a ride with these tires today and continue to love them. This was on a mixed terrain ride that is one of my normal rides.

I needed to post this experience with the tires not to undermine them or anything Jan is doing, but to further document my experience with them. My initial experience was so positive, and I'm sticking with these for the long-haul as they just feel so right for me. But I am going to be inspecting them a bit closer than I ever looked at a Pasela or a Roly Poly/Ruffy Tuffy tire. That's a bit of a negative, but within my skill set for bikes! If these give further problems, I'll report back!

Rant

2009-12-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

Turns out I need a super-secrete part for a SRAM hub. Fine, whatever. I contact SRAM and find out if I can get one. No, I can't. It has to be ordered through my LBS. Fine, whatever. Lame but fine. This is the same LBS that gave me NO help to begin with which led me to contact SRAM myself. So I go to the LBS, provide them with the part # and phone # to SRAM. Ask them to please call and order me the part from the nice people at SRAM (they really were nice).

At the same time I order some generic bike parts. A new handlebar and a shifter that are available through QBP. You know, available anywhere sort of thing. I've already researched their availability and found them for X% cheaper at various internet sites. But no, I order there, happy to support a local business, families, etc. Quite the humanitarian I am.

A week goes by. I stop by the shop on a Friday after being told they should arrive that Thurs. Get their 10 min before shop opens so decide to ride around the neighborhood for a half hour. Get back @ 11:20 and shop still not open. Fine, whatever, I gotta' go pick up a kid at pre-school by noon so take off.

Then ride back that afternoon. They're open, but the guy there looks at me with blank eyes when I say what I'm there for. I go home.

So I wait a week and this time use the phone. Call up and get the owner. Conversation goes something like this:
Me: Have the parts arrived?
LBS: Well, no, must be Christmas and all.
Me: But I ordered them two weeks before Christmas.
LBS: Uhhhhm, yeah, check back next week.
Me: How about those small SRAM parts, did they arrive yet?
LBS: Ohhhh, those, I don't think I called yet.
Me: Could you maybe call right now?
LBS: No, I'm kinda' busy. I'll try next week.
Me: Sigh.

So now I'm waiting for bike parts I could have ordered elsewhere (for cheaper!) and have had them long before the Christmas holiday. I'm also relying on them to order a part I can't get myself.

And I have two weeks of holiday to put all this stuff together and see if I like it. Well now one week of that is gone and instead I'm writing smack anonymously on the internet.

/rant

Help Davey get this bike fixed!

2009-12-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

No, not "fixed", but fixed! I found this GREAT little bike while out on a meandering ride a few weeks ago.

It was pretty well vandalized, with the lights and generator long gone, the fenders totally bent around, and the shifter long since broken. BUT it was in the cool 24" size which I love for smaller people and kids, it was a nicely put together steel step-through frame, and best of all, it had a Sachs (pre-SRAM) P5 internal geared hub! Worth my time to get back there and pick it up.

So I get it home, and its really pretty rough, but seems like it is fixable. I stripped the fenders off and straightened the racks and misc. parts. Needs new cable but the brakes look serviceable. Front wheel is severely twisted, so that might need to be replaced if I can't bang it out. Looks good otherwise though! I see a sticker w/ Germanish words, so looks like it's for the German home market.

How it ended up here in The States, then vandalized and abandoned on a back road is beyond me. Anyway, everything is totally fixable except that hub. Looks like I can get a new shifter and click box, but I have no idea how to install it and/or service & repair the hub as necessary. It may be hard to believe, but my local LBSes (yes, more than one) pretty much don't want anything to do with this. Anyone out there in internet-land have any idea on what I can do or who I could send the wheel to for service??? I'd really like to get it running as it is a great little bike. My kiddos are almost able to fit it, so would be great for them to have (I love internal geared hubs for kids!).

Update: I've had several SRAM bulletin links forwarded to me and it looks like the parts I need are all pretty straightforward common parts. Now, locating them anywhere in the States is the trick. It was suggested I get hold of retailers in the UK and Germany, but that's something I'd rather avoid unless I absolutely have to...

Lake Shoe Company is amazing!

2009-11-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

Really, what a great company! I mentioned below that I was worried about the buckles breaking/getting worn too much to use on my new shoes. That's the only concern I had about them, and figured I wanted to get a pair in reserve as the rest of the shoe should last a couple of decades. So I contacted Lake's customer service people/person through their website. I asked where I could get a pair of buckles. They replied asking for my address so they could send me a pair!!! They showed up today, less than a week later. I can't say enough how happy I am with this, it's just great!

New Shoes for Poppa!

2009-11-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Really, I'm moving into the year 2009 with a bullet! Brand new SPD compatible shoes. Say it ain't so, Joe. I finally got tired of looking at the purple on my mid 90's Nike Ngubas. Good shoes that have lasted really well, but I never really loved them. Interior fabric was kind of creepy and I didn't like touching it. The laces always picked up tons of foxtails and assorted stickers along the trails.

I searched long and hard among shoe label companies (all actually made at the same factory in China by very dexterous four year olds) to find just the right shoe. Had to have leather, full lugged bottom, and not cost $330. Looked at Sidi and they are plastic shoes with dainty little cleats that cost too much. AND I CAN'T STAND THEIR WEBSITE! Next came Diadora. I like their fit (have a road-ish pair already) and the price is right on their X-Country models. But made of plastic with the wimpy little cleats on the bottom. Shimanos looked too Shimano-ey. Finally came across the MX-190 from Lake. Leather? Check. Full lugged? Oh god, yes! Cheap? $79 on sale at Jenson usa. Score!

The only downside is that the toe is kind of narrow and pointy, so I had to go a size up (they come in 1/2 sizes, which is cool!) to get that area to be comfortable for me. That's normal for me in bike shoes except Diadora which is kind of wider in the toe box. The shoes have one of those fancy buckle thingies which looks like it'll break or get worn out pretty soon. I'm going to get some extra buckle parts to have on hand for when it inevitably breaks.

But take a look at that lugged sole! Full Vibram rubber sole. No problem wearing them on the hike a bike sections which come into play when I ride. The front end isn't as fully lugged as I'd like. They have those screw in cleat thingies but the fixed lugs are small and I can see they won't grab super well when climbing up a steep hill. Also the bolt tops there contact the ground when you walk, which isn't so good for traction. You can see where they're already getting polished from walking on them. I can deal.

So yeah, happy camper. Cool shoes and a real good experience w/ Jenson. They're an semi-close LBS for me, but also have a pretty good web presence. I bought two sizes not knowing which to get and had ZERO problems returning the unused shoes. Good deal!

Trail Bike

2009-11-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

So y'all have heard the "Anybike, anywhere" mantra preached at many a church service. I won't try to convince you if you consider yourself a skeptic. Instead I will brag about my ride yesterday.

Seventeen miles, climbing up to the ridgeline south of Redlands. That's a bit of a boring climb, but pretty wide streets with low traffic and not steep. Just monotonous. Stopped at a garage sale for kicks. But then you summit and can drop into Oakmont Park and WOW, you have some good stuff available to you!

I usually do this ride in reverse, but decided to practice some climbing (hmmmm, any reason I need to get my legs in shape???).

My Rivendell All-Rounder climbed perfectly up the singletrack switchbacks.

Really, just glided up the trail.

I was trying to stitch the three best trails in town together: Oakridge, Deer and Creekside/Coach. Success! You can see the map on Bikely.

Oakridge is flat but curvy with a steep drop off to the south:

Deer Trail is really unknown and might be on private property. It is a "historical" trail in town though. The first part of it is where all the paint-ballers play their games. Some definite hike-a-bike sections that I couldn't ride, but didn't mind hopping off for at all!

That trail drops you down to San Timoteo Creek where you can pick up the western side of of the Creekside Trail. This incorporates portions of the Coach trail that was once the main route between Colton and the low desert used by the Earp brothers. It's probably my favorite route in town and I ride it maybe once a week. Again, usually in reverse though.

So about the bike thing. I put on fatter/knobbie tires (Ritchey Zed 700cX44mm). Coulda' done it with the usual Paselas, but why beat yourself up. The top tube is a bit high for hopping over when I was doing the hike-a-bike parts, but really the hardest part to clear was the saddle. I dinged it up a little bit with my shoes, but it will survive.

Seventeen miles in a bit under two hours. Speedy Gonzalez I am not, but a load of fun locally on a beautiful and comfortable bike is a good thing!!!

Unbelievable

2009-10-14T17:43:00.001-07:00

Wow, just wow. I hope you're all praying for my eternal soul, cuz' it just coughed up an atheist hairball. That's how religions start.

Read all the craziness over at wonkette.com

Poker Game in Hell

2009-10-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Say your prayers tonight!

http://www.thekingsgallery.com/communities/4/004/005/319/644/images/4521101364.jpg

via wonkette.

Don't be a tool

2009-10-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Preach it Brother: http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/2009/10/national-snap-on-day.html

Mountain Bike Mania

2009-09-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

So lets see... it's been a decade since I've actually rode as a mountain-biker. In the nineties, I spent a lot of time up in Big Bear riding the trails. I rode the pro-course up then Skyline, then bouncy-bouncy around all the singletrack. Downhill Bob was the guy a rode with. Cool guy that I wish I could keep up with!

Anyway, at one time, it was a lot of fun. Then life happens, and I don't really have time to go up anymore. Actually sold my beautiful Bridgestone MB-2 that I bought new.

I get the hankerin' for a bike ride today, but unfortunately it's 100F outside by the time I get around to leaving. Normally I don't like taking my bike for a drive in order to go riding, but today I had to get somewhere that was cooler. Hmmmmm, what's the weather like in Angelus Oaks, 45 min away? 83F. I think I know how to spend the afternoon!

I have only been here a couple times in the past, but remembered where to park and mostly how to get to the trailhead. But then the trail forked. Oh what the hell, lets go down. Good choice! Miles of singletrack ahead. I mean just zoom-zoom rolling downhill, wide switchbacks, smooth and fun.

Then it happened. I got lazy and slacked off. All the downhill lulled me into forgeteting about shifters and pedaling! I came on an abrupt up hill right after the trail has a minor washed out section. BIG rock wall to the right, kind of steep rocky drop off to the left. And me two chainrings to the right of where I should be. Stalled out and flopped over to the left. BAM! Right onto the rocks below. Luckily my brain said "Relax and roll with it" which I was able to do successfully. A couple barrel rolls later, popped out of the pedals (not used to SPDs either, which contributed) and there I was looking at the pretty blue sky.

Anything broken? No, I think I can move everything. How do I get out of these rocks... and what is this pretty green plant with the three leaves I'm laying in. Yep, poison oak. Oh goody, my bottles and phone slid down even further into it.

So five-ten minutes later, I'm collected, and finding the parts to my cool Avocet linear measuring guage, and notice that my bar-end shifter is totally yanked out of the bars.

I'm guessing I was gripping it so hard trying to downshift when I fell that I yanked it out with my superior human strength. Hmmmm, I have tools, but that would mean stopping and fiddilng around with them. I guess I'll just wrap it around my brake cables and go.

The rest of the ride was wonderful and uneventful (but a lot of annoying gnats that caused it to suck just a bit). Long climb out of the valley along Middle Control Rd. but I enjoy that part as well. Lots of cuts and contusions on the legs and back. A huge charley-horse on my quad where I think the bike landed on me. Minimal dings to the bike, just some scratched paint on the top tube a bit and a new gash on the side of the saddle. I'll fix the shifter tomorrow (needed to re-wrap that side of the bars anyway).

Lessons learned: Don't zone out while riding singletrack! Mountainbiking is a blast!

Weekly dose of reality...

2009-09-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/09/original-sin.html
Unfortunately, a must read.

Grand Bois Cypres follow up

2009-09-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

First flat!

But wait, there's more: It's not the tire's fault! It was from a goathead!!!!!!

For a primer on the foul devil-seed, go here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/goatheads/pool

I picked this one up while riding up Alessandro (goathead hill) where I pulled up 10 or 12 large plants last month. Lots of little buggars around there.

It was quite a relief to see that it was a goathead! I felt the tire going soft the last mile or so on the way home and was bummed, but flats close to home aren't that big a deal :-) Got the wheel off, pulled the tube, and found the cause.

Nothing I want to ride withstands goatheads. Marathon XRs or Specialized Armadillos might be ok, but yikes, not fun at all to ride. Up to now, I've been riding on Panaracer/Rivendell Ruffy Tuffies, and those have had their share of goathead punctures. Pasela Tourguards do as well! I think the Col de la Vie 650b tires were the worst for me.

All that said, I have about 100 miles on the tires and am immensely happy with them. Have done maybe 20 of those miles on dirt, and no problems. As mentioned in the initial write up, the tires do great on dirt. The float over the loose sandy stuff pretty good, hold a line on singletrack, and best of all, really seem to give me more traction on technical climbing. On asphalt they role really quietly and seem to have incredibly low rolling resistance.

I think they're keepers!

Grand Bois Cypres - Initial Impressions

2009-09-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

To start, let's get this straight: My "handle" on the internets is just a play on words. I know it's not French. That's the point. Sort of like Mr. Sheldon Brown's "Derailer." You know what else isn't French? Grand Bois tires. They're from Japan and that's fine and good.

What also is kinda' a stretch of truthiness is the whole allusion to being a randonneur. 50 miles is about where I top a good ride out at. 30 is better. 70 can be done, but usually not very much enjoyment in it.

And did I mention that I'm pretty slow?

One of the things I am pretty good at is riding on trails on inappropriate bikes. Fire roads, double-track, Jeep-track, whatever you want to call it. I can mostly pick a good line and climb through the rutted stuff, and keep the front end from washing out on the downhills. Whenever I go for a ride, there is usually some dirt involved with it, and I love it.

Most of the time I ride Panaracer Paselas, either 32mm or more common now, 35mm. I also have a lot of miles on Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy tires. They're 28mm wide, last a long time, and are fairly puncture resistant. I've had problems with their tread cracking.

OK, so now you know where I'm coming from and my biases. Here's my quick-impression review of the 30mm wide Grand Bois Cypres: THEY'RE GREAT! Really, these tires just feel perfect. Nice and soft/supple, but plenty fast. Yes, that is anecdotal fast. They just seem that way and you can't tell me otherwise. Blissfully quiet, hardly any vibration transmitted, and they just roll, roll, roll down the street. That's kinda' the opposite of Ruffy Tuffies which have always felt kind of inert, and the Paselas are somewhere in the middle. Remember, this is anecdotal, just my impression of them.

So how 'bout their propensity that you've heard of to self-destruct due to a butterfly flapping it's wings in the Amazon? I purposely rode them on a fairly rutted, rocky-in-places and full-of- tumble-weed (no goat heads though) singletrack section to to find out how they would hold up.

If they couldn't handle that, what's the point, right? The verdict: see above (they're great!). They hold a line on the downhills, even on the center crown of rutted double track. Maintained traction on the few sections of technical climbing I did. Flew through the hard pack, whether uphill, downhill or level.

And they have that Ninja-silence to them on the asphalt. That has to translate into more efficiency over time. I won't turn that down in a product, but it wasn't the point in getting these tires. I wanted the fattest tire I could get that would fit my frame. 30mm actual is about it. The Cypres fit the bill and I'm quite happy with them right out of the gate. Remember, this was the first ride, and I haven't been out to the garage to see if I have any slow leaks from it. I'm hoping for the best, and hope these turn out to last a long time as I have to get my money out of them!

Ban the helmet!

2009-08-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is a great little essay by Adrian Short. http://adrianshort.co.uk/2009/08/24/456/
I wear a helmet about 50% of the time, knowing it could save my life, but also knowing a meteor could fall from the sky and squish me any moment as well.
It's all about the critical mass when it comes to bicycle safety. The Amsterdam/Copenhagen example of when everyone rides, everyone is safe. Someday when oil is $200/barrel we'll all get to know what that's like.

The Missile

2009-06-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well this sucks. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4268555

Missy G. is one of the few pro-athletes I've met, and she was sooooo cool. I was up in Big Bear at Snow Summit the week before some races, and she was just hanging out in the parking lot. Real nice and approachable. For the record, I did not smell any essence of the wacky-weed anywhere near her.

Caffeinated Wheelmen Association

2009-05-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

How's that for cool!!! Just ordered three. Here's the story from the RBW list:

"Are you a member?

So here is the story...turning the "way-back" machine to about 1996,
some friends and I were sitting over coffee after a ride and started
to recount how many times we had done this. As it turned out, it was
apparent that not only had the vast majority of our rides (bike,
motorcycle, skateboard, snowboard...) started or ended over coffee,
but many of our good friends and riding partners were met at the cafes
we were frequenting. We had a pretty good network that spanned darn
near coast to coast. An "Association of Caffeinated Wheelmen" I
blurted out while simultaneously sketching out a logo on the
napkin....

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, I was digging through some piles
of artwork looking for something, and stumbled on my original sketch.
All of the patches and hats we had originally done up were long
retired, lost, or given away...so I got in touch with some of the
original ACW's and told them I was going to mint some lapel
pins...everyone chipped in to beat the minimums.

Our whole thing was very tongue in cheek, but we wanted it to have an
"old money-secret society-unleash the hounds" type of feel to it.
Anyway after finding the iBob's / ROB's and meeting so many awesome
people and reading about the network that exists between the riders, I
thought it would be cool to expand the ACW.

It's all for fun and conversation, and really just a bit of decoration
for the bags, hats etc...but wanted to offer them up. I have @ 20-30
or so left of the lapel pins, but we can do more if interest is there.
We were also contemplating doing up some patches too?

$6/pc shipped to you. Trades for your "club" pins is good too. For
that matter no interesting trade would be turned down. Drop me line
hbclick (at) yahoo.com or just paypal me there with your info!

Stay thirsty my friends....for coffee. ;)"

Copehnagen City of Cyclists

2009-04-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

I can see my little bitty town of Redlands becoming cycling friendly. There's no reason for it not to. Year round riding. No snow, not much rain (fenders/mudguards!). Yeah, it's hot in the summer, but it's cool during the morning commute time, and you can take a shower after your ride home.

Most of the town is flat, although there are a lot of homes in the hills. The 75% of the town in the flats has no excuse!

Copenhagen - City of Cyclists from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

Look what the mailman brought.

2009-04-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

No, not a Look 556 crabon bike, something even better:

So how cool is that? Harry H. on the RBW list and flickr thought I needed a cloisonne magnet (which I do!) and sent me one.

Now the trifecta is complete!

Best April Fools yet!

March Rivendell Ride

2009-03-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was a blast! A small group met up in Oceanside and rode various portions of PCH, ended up in Dana Point for a turnaround. I was pretty sick earlier that week, but recovered enough to get out there for a portion of it. I met the group at the north end of old PCH, just above Trestles in San Clemente. Then rode through S.C., down to the pier, and along their WONDERFUL beach trail that goes up to North Beach. Dared to cross PCH into the sheltered bike lane which covers 90% of the way to the beach trail in Doheney State Beach.

Fun observations:

Jim Thill from Minneapolis thought the bike lanes out here were pretty cool. That's good to hear!
Doheney Beach staff are awesome. They had a marine mammal display out for folks to check out. Everyone liked it!
Rivendell Bicycle Works List people rock! Getting five people that live between San Diego and Santa Monica and Minneapolis is a bit of logistical nightmare, but soooooo worth it (carbon footprint excluded of course).

If you're in SoCal and interested, follow the Flickr group for future get togethers. Bikes, beer and pizza all in one place!

Watch it, out there!

2008-10-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

Virtual friend Ken was just used as a hood ornament...

Damn.

I wonder if it was angry pharmacist that did it?

Leader of the free world (tm)?

2008-10-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

http://palinaspresident.com/

It's all in the details...

Handicapping the field

2008-09-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

So just in case you haven't been paying attention, the big news is that Mr. Armstrong is back in the mix.

I think that's fine and good, not so much about L.A.'s career, but because it keeps cycling on the front page of the magazines here in the States.

Tarik S. has a great write up on why Lance has a great chance of pulling it off.

In a nutshell, the rest of the competition pretty much sucks.

I kinda' like wheels with 32 spokes...

2008-09-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

YIKES! This was making the rounds on the RBW list tonight.

Sorry, wheels should not do that when you hit a pot hole. Pinch flat, sure. Bang up the rim, even bend it really bad, sure. Catastrophic failure, I'm not buying it.

I'm retro-grouchy for a few reasons... avoiding extended stays in the ICU is one of them.

Organic Produce Buyers Club

2008-08-22T04:53:00.000-07:00

Now in Redlands: http://organic.meetup.com/100/

Think I may go check it out. The alternative is planting a garden, and you know, that's work and all.

Bike Accident Reporting Tool

2008-08-22T04:29:00.001-07:00

Hopefully none of us will ever be involved in an accident, but at some point we may come close to getting hit. There will soon be an online database where accidents, near-accidents and problem areas can be logged. The data will be viewable and searchable.

Bike Portland has more information here.
Keep an eye on their site for more information.

Be safe.

Two Mile Challenge

2007-12-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big mile cyclist (30 works out perfect for me) and I don't commute to work. What I attempt is to really, really, really try to do all my in-town recreation and errands by bike though. Basically everything is within a couple of miles and it's great.

This is the Two-Mile Challenge, and it's a great little vid, plus the website has a neat map showing everything within a two-mile radius.

Doing it British Style

2007-11-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Excellent videos (part 1 & 2)

and

2007-10-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

Unable to ride or really do much of anything outside for the last week due to the fact that most of Southern California is on fire. A bit of rain today helped clear out a LOT of the funk that was in the air, although our eyes are still burning most of the time...

Another way to use up the valuable minutes in my day...

2007-03-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

A Blog. Something I said I would never do. I don't have time. It's vain. Nobody cares. When it came down to it, I just wanted to reserve the name "cyclotourist" so it couldn't be snapped up by a less deserving individual. It's vain.