More Progress

Here she is.  This is the “new build.”  It’s a Surly Traveler’s Check.  That’s their Cross Check frame, with the S&S couplers.  The frame couplers make it possible for this bike to perform a pretty neat trick.  (More on that soon.)

Here she is, in current trim.

Another, and slightly more flattering, view.

For now, this is a neat bike.  It’s a single speed, or it’s a fixie.  The magic is in the rear hub.  That’s a SRAM Torpedo.  The special thing about the hub is that it can be a fixed gear, or a freewheeling single speed, with the flick of a common screwdriver.

I’ve now put about 25 miles on the bike, and so far, I’m completely delighted with it.  This is a versatile frame.  There's a lot of clearance, for larger tires, fenders, mud, or whatever.  The bike's handling is sure, but delightfully responsive.  Rare, for me (with my huge feet) I don't have to worry about toe strike when cornering sharply!

In the very near future, I’ll be showing off, letting you see the bike’s big trick.

Like most projects, this one evolved and changed as I was working on it.  It is both more, and less than I envisioned.  Will this one be one of the "great favorites"?  Or will this become just another passing fancy.  Time will tell.

Next Project:  Now I have to build up the old frame, from years past, for this year’s Spin Class Season.  I have to get that done quick.  There’s some down time coming, but I’ll be instructing as soon as I get back.

Conflicts of Interest

How do we balance our lives?  We who ride bikes, and do so passionately, are faced with some challenges.  We all lead many different lives.  There is our work, which demands a lot of us.  Family and friends make their time demands on us.  We need to spend so many hours each day and week, doing the simple basics of living.  Cycling is a notoriously “time hungry” sport.  It is hard to “do it all.”

One thing I’ve noticed.  The dedicated cyclists among us generally haven’t a clue as to what is happening on Dancing with the Stars or other “reality TV.”

To maintain basic fitness requires at least five to seven hours of exercise per week.  Do less, and fitness suffers.  Do more, and fitness is increased.  (Of course it’s more complicated than that.  We’re talking fundamentals here.)

There is a question I get, fairly frequently, that I do not understand.  It is this.  “Are you riding today?”  The answer is,  “Yes.”  And on this particular day, I’m going riding, instead of blogging.

See ya!

Into the Swing of things

Here we go again.  It’s Monday.  It’s mid-October, and just about mid-Autumn.  Halloween is barreling down the road, coming right at us, and chasing the break are the Holidays!  In the meantime, let’s ride every chance we get, and make the most of those rides.  The time is right, the world is waiting.  It’s Autumn in north Georgia, and that’s about as good as it gets.

Holiday Gift Hinting:  For any of you who are working on gifts for the cyclist in your life, or who want some help hinting to others, refer to a previous post on the topic.  Gift hinting    

One week until MidFall Celebration Night Ride!  I’m stoked up about this one.  The route is going to be a blast, and the timing is right.  Expect to need to dress a bit warmer.  We’ll plan to make a stop to allow riders to pull on more clothing, about midway through the route.

Recommended:  Good lights, as always on these rides.  Watch the weather and dress accordingly.  Those of you who have the option, plan to bring your more rugged, more touring oriented bikes.

The New Build is Done!  Keep watching this spot.  I’ll have pictures and discussion up on this one soon.

Watch this space, and watch the Tuesday Tome!  We're adding a lot of seasonal rides.  Plans are in the works to bring back the Dawn Patrols.

Friday Follies ~~ Winter Mountain Biking

Winter is coming.  I think we can all feel it.  We’re enjoying a truly spectacular Autumn, but we know that it won’t last.  It will get colder, and darker.

Over the many years, I’ve suggested that one great way to get some Winter cycling done is to go mountain biking.  There are a lot of arguments for this.  The speeds are not as great, so one doesn’t encounter as much wind chill.  In among the trees there is more wind shelter too.  Mountain biking subjects us to steeper climbs, so we tend to make more body heat.  That helps too.

There are more serious aspects.  Mountain biking, off road, cross-country riding develops and hones bike handling skills.  Those skills just could come in handy on the road.

But more than any practical reason, it is just plain fun to get outside, into the woods, and play on a bike!

A good friend of mine is a pretty dedicated mountain bike rider.  Jim is an all around good guy, but he loves to get out into the back woods, preferably in the mountains.

Jim is a good bike handler.  He is not a crazy-nuts dare devil, but he has good skills.  More, he has an unusual talent.  Jim finds water.  He likes to get wet, and he has a positive genius for finding stream crossings.  Go riding with Jim, and you come back with wet feet.  I haven’t done this, but I am certain that, if Jim and I went for an off-road ride in the Mojave Desert, he would find a way to get us into water.  It would turn out that the stream was too wide to portage, and there would be no other way around it.

I should add, temperature does not deter this man.  I have been with him when it was in the mid-30s, and there were were, up to our knees in a wide stream crossing.  Ice was floating by, and Jim was grinning his head off.

Now I am not averse to water.  I know how to dress for cold temps.  But the combination of wet and cold is pretty tough.  Yet, my friend Jim seems to thrive on it.

A couple of years ago, Jim and I led a group on a mountain bike adventure weekend.  It was a blast.  It was in the late Fall, and it was up in the north Georgia mountains.  We hit Smith Gall woods.  Multiple stream fordings.  Deep water.  Chilly morning.  We even managed to find some wet stuff in Unicoi State Park.  I have this memory of stopping to pull my winter riding boots off and drain them, ring my socks out, and pull the whole sodden mess back on.

It’s been a while since Jim and I managed to coordinate schedules and get into the woods together.  It’s getting cooler out.  I’m thinking about going off-road riding.  I guess it’s about time to get my feet wet again.

Thursday Thoughts ~~ Presumptuous Assumptions

There’s something I have to get off of my chest.  So I’m engaging the Rant Mode.  Feel free to skip this post if that kind of thing bothers you.

Entering Rant mode…  NOW.  {*}{*}{*}

Before I go any farther, I must state this.  I’m not picking on any one person, and this is not aimed at any individual.  That said, some of you might have been guilty of this from time to time.

Let me paint a picture.

The shop is closed.  It’s almost ride time.  There are a group of riders gathered in front of the shop.  I’m among them.  We are waiting for the tick of the clock, for the official start time.  And someone comes up to me.  They want advice, or they want me to open the shop, or to “just look at this old bike I have.”  Basically they want me to go to work.  More, they want it outside of my working hours.  More, they want it for free!

I know others who encounter this kind of thing.  Doctors.  Lawyers.  Plumbers.  It happens.  I really feel for them.  I’m especially careful not to do this kind of thing to acquaintances and friends in other professions.

I work in a bike shop.  I do so because I like working, and I like working on bicycles and with bike people.  But the central reason that I work in a bicycle shop is that I ride.  Anything that interferes with that, with the riding, is going to be resented.

I might add, when this kind of thing happens, it’s apparent that the individual in question is not working.  I often wonder what would happen if I asked the intruder to do some free work, in their field, right then and there.  I’m certain such a request/demand would be resented.

Sometimes cyclists are just as guilty, or even more so.  I know that, in the heat of the moment, it seems like the most important thing in your world.  You simply have to get that flat fixed, or that balky shifter attended to.  But the shop is closed, and I’m on my own time.  Don’t even think about asking!  (The one question that might be appropriate, is,  “What are the shop hours and when are you going to be in there?”  Do not start to describe your problem!  Save that for working hours.  Do not presume to think that your failure to plan for your upcoming event constitutes a special case, and requires my immediate attention.

Listen folks.  I love you.  I want you to ride your bikes and get healthy, and strong, and happy.  However,  that desire does not mean I am willing to give up my ride time, and the time of others, to attend to your particular problem.

Respect.  There is a huge lack of respect involved in the act of approaching someone and expecting them to drop what they are doing, in their hard earned leisure time, and jump to a task.  This says that the individual in question feels they have some reason to expect to be treated as a special case.  The usual rules do not apply to them.  They obviously feel that they are somehow entitled to something outside the norm.  The demeanor of this kind of individual clearly states,  “I do not respect you, but I am entitled to a greater amount of respect from you.”  The last time I checked, we don’t have any royalty in this republic.

When it comes right down to it, there’s a whole lot of disrespect going on in our society right about now.  Cyclists show a lack of courtesy and respect when they blast through intersections, disregarding traffic laws.  Motorists fail to respect cyclist’s space on the road.  Politicians… Well, I won’t even go there.

People, let’s all show a little respect, courtesy, and a bit of consideration for our neighbors.  Okay?

Done.  {*}{*}{*} Rant Drive Off.  There!  I feel much better now.

Have a great day, everyone.

Autumn Expectations

We are actually having an Autumn season.  We can expect odd weather from time to time.  That’s part of living in north Georgia.  We are inland, and at a surprising elevation.  These things affect our weather.  There is no nearby large body of water to moderate our temp swings.  Most of our weather comes to us from somewhere else.  A lot depends on just which air masses get here, and in what order they arrive.

All that said, there is a La nina pattern in the Pacific.  This is sort of the opposite of an El Nino.  What it means for us is that we expect to see warmer than usual average temperatures, and drier conditions for the Fall and Winter.

Please notice the use of the word average.  We can expect to see big temperature swings on a daily basis, and over weeks too.  The averages will be higher, the swings will, likely, be wider.  It should be drier than the “normal,” but that doesn’t mean no rain.

What does that mean for cyclists?  We’re going to see some more really good riding weather, but we’ll need to be prepared for a wider set of conditions.  This is especially true for long rides.  It may start out quite cool, but the same day could turn very warm.  Expect to see plenty of days with a 25 to 30 degree temperature swing.  That means we’ll likely have to wear, and then carry, more clothing.

The long dry stretches will be tempting, but carry your rain jacket.  The rain, when it comes, will often do so without a lot of warning.

Learn to handle weather.  It’s going to be a good season to work on those weather skills.  For those who haven’t attempted colder riding, night riding, or Winter weather riding in general, this season presents opportunities.    We should see a wide range of conditions (sometimes all in the same day), but they should not be especially severe.  That should provide us with opportunities to attempt riding in varied situations, and yet not risk diving into something too harsh to handle.

It’s been gratifying to see how many folks have talked night riding this year.  Now how about night riding in cooler weather?  Rain?  Hey, maybe some will even attempt commuting.  Who knows where this could end?  We might even see some serious all season cyclists come out of this year.

Got Brakes? (Part 1)

Let’s start with one concept and a few terms.

The brake is the thing that slows you down and stops you.  It does this by using friction to convert mechanical energy to heat energy.  One concept should be kept in mind.  Friction always means wear.  By their very nature, brakes cause something to wear away, and eventually to wear out.

The control that you grab to apply the brakes is the brake lever.

Modulation:  This is the ability to vary the brake force.  A brake should be able to be modulated from barely slowing the wheel to a full lock up.

Center Pull Caliper:  A type of brake found mostly on older road bikes.  There is a straddle cable between two brake arms.  The brake arms rotate on a common pivot, and cross each other to apply force to opposite sides of the rims.

Side Pull Dual Pivot Caliper:  This is the kind of brake found on most modern road bikes.

Cantilever:  You find these on older mountain bikes, on some touring bikes, and on many cyclocross bikes.  These consist of two independent brake arms, with a straddle cable running between them.  Each arm rotates around it’s own pivot.  The pivots are on the forks, or the seat stays, on opposite sides of the wheel.

Linear Pull:  The Shimano proprietary name for these is V-Brakes ™.  Two longer arms, each on its own pivot.  These have a stiff steel “noodle” leading the housing to one side, and a cable between them.

Disk Brakes:  Found on many modern mountain bikes, and some heavy duty road bikes.  A rotor, is a disk of steel, bolted to the center of the hub.  There is a caliper mounted on the frame.  The caliper contains one or two pistons, which move small, high friction pads against the caliper.

There are two basic types of disc brakes.  Mechanical Discs are operated by a brake cable just as the other brake types are.  Hydraulic Discs are not cable operated, but use some kind of brake fluid to operate them.

Drum Brakes:  This is a much less common type of brake.  It has a pair of brake shoes inside a housing, called a drum.  The shoes are move outward to press against the inner surface of the drum.  These are generally a mechanically actuated brake.

There are advantages and drawbacks to every one of these brake types. We’ll be discussing those aspects in some detail in the near future, and we’ll have some tips on maintenance.