After hemming and hawing about whether or not I was going to ride at all, I ended up riding the PB to my parents house which makes for about a 27 mile ride. I managed to make a new benchmark for myself riding fixed on this ride. I didn't touch the brakes once. Today my left Achilles tendon is a bit tight but it was pretty cool coming down the biggest hill on the way and not using brakes. It makes me want to go brake-less just for the aesthetic, but I know that would just be foolish and asking for trouble at this point. By the time I got there I was pretty out of juice.
Today I will likely go for a fairly easy ride to loosen up my tight leg. I need to do a little shop time too, to clean up, get the tools all in order and re-clear out my work space, for the 90,000,000th time.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Just riding in the Rain
Did a few miles on the Pirate Bike on Christmas Eve. I put my one pair of SPD pedals on that bike and it's a totally different ride. I can actually skid that bike without brakes when clipped in now. The roads are a little crappy now that they've been sanding so I'm thinking of moving up to some wider tires, probably some 32's that just so happen to be on sale at Performance.
Today it was raining so I broke out the tour bike that I recently added some Planet Bike Freddy fenders to. While the fenders were a pain in the butt to mount, they rule. No up spray, no spallter all over my legs and feet, I rode right through some long deep puddles just to see how well they worked and I have no complaints. This was the first rain ride I've ever come home clean from. I just need to finalize some drive train treatments and the Raleigh will be a fantastic foul weather bike. Tomorrow I'm going to ride to my parents house for our Chirstmas get together. Up in the air on which bike; it may snow. I'm leaning towards the Pirate Bike, but if it's real crappy I just may go back to the Raleigh.
Today it was raining so I broke out the tour bike that I recently added some Planet Bike Freddy fenders to. While the fenders were a pain in the butt to mount, they rule. No up spray, no spallter all over my legs and feet, I rode right through some long deep puddles just to see how well they worked and I have no complaints. This was the first rain ride I've ever come home clean from. I just need to finalize some drive train treatments and the Raleigh will be a fantastic foul weather bike. Tomorrow I'm going to ride to my parents house for our Chirstmas get together. Up in the air on which bike; it may snow. I'm leaning towards the Pirate Bike, but if it's real crappy I just may go back to the Raleigh.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Been Awhile
Oh yeah, I started a blog. Now that I've remembered I started a blog this spring, time to revisit it. This summer I have cranked out a bunch of miles, built two bikes, and also had the miracle of my wife getting into cycling (like really into it!).
The new bikes.
First, I built up a new road bike. I went with a Nashbar (Leader?) frame. The final build can be seen on the Nashbike page (I'm Sam K). I had an utter blast sourcing the parts and building the bike up. All told I pretty much exploded the myth that you can't build a bike cheaper than you can buy off the shelf. I love the way the bike rides. I have named this bike "Woof".
Secondly, I caught fixed-gear fever in a major way. First I took my old beater of a Schwinn Varsity and stripped it down and JB Welded a cheap track cog onto the hub. I took that for a ride and damn near killed myself, BUT I was instantly hooked on riding fixed. The Schwinn is a bit small for me so I moved my fixed wheel over to the Hawthorne and did a few miles on that. I could see that this was not going to stand up to my new need. So I started sourcing some parts here and there. A wheelset, moustache bars, eventually a frame. It's all based around an '06 Trek Cruiser Classic aluminum frame. It's all black and to me, it's hot. I'm still working on some cosmetic details to add a bit of a pirate theme to it. We've been calling it "the pirate bike". I love this bike. It's got a looong cruiser wheelbase, 44in! Running 700c wheels, 39x16 gears, and 19mm tires for the hills round here. I rode it 30 miles to my parents house on Thanksgiving. That was a glorious ride and it may become the topic of another entry.
The new bikes.
First, I built up a new road bike. I went with a Nashbar (Leader?) frame. The final build can be seen on the Nashbike page (I'm Sam K). I had an utter blast sourcing the parts and building the bike up. All told I pretty much exploded the myth that you can't build a bike cheaper than you can buy off the shelf. I love the way the bike rides. I have named this bike "Woof".
Secondly, I caught fixed-gear fever in a major way. First I took my old beater of a Schwinn Varsity and stripped it down and JB Welded a cheap track cog onto the hub. I took that for a ride and damn near killed myself, BUT I was instantly hooked on riding fixed. The Schwinn is a bit small for me so I moved my fixed wheel over to the Hawthorne and did a few miles on that. I could see that this was not going to stand up to my new need. So I started sourcing some parts here and there. A wheelset, moustache bars, eventually a frame. It's all based around an '06 Trek Cruiser Classic aluminum frame. It's all black and to me, it's hot. I'm still working on some cosmetic details to add a bit of a pirate theme to it. We've been calling it "the pirate bike". I love this bike. It's got a looong cruiser wheelbase, 44in! Running 700c wheels, 39x16 gears, and 19mm tires for the hills round here. I rode it 30 miles to my parents house on Thanksgiving. That was a glorious ride and it may become the topic of another entry.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Stupid Rain
Well, I'm sure getting sick of the crappy weather. Between traveling for a few days and some crappy weather, I haven't been riding a whole lot. This morning was a pretty good ride in, I rode the Raleigh in, I didn't feel quite up to riding the singlespeed in, didn't sleep well, the dogs were being freaks all night. I'm to the point where it's warm enough that I will likely begin riding even if it is raining, I just plain need more time in the saddle.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
On the Road Again
So I haven't ridden in over a month and I'm not feeling too good about it. I rode my single speed today, after getting rid of the chain tensioner that turned out to have a defective spring (that's why it's never worked!). I'm now riding at 40/15 with perfect chainlength, which is cool. Cruising speed is up a little from the higher gearing so that's nice too, though hills provide much more of a workout now. Aesthetically, I love having no tensioner on the chain, it's very clean looking. Well, clean from a design standpoint, the bike itself is filthy and needs a good scrub ;) Anyway, it's good to be riding again. It was a nice cool morning and traffic wasn't bad.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Dry mouth
Haven't ridden in a few days for stupid mundane reasons. Very windy today. Ride in this morning was good. First morning ride with shorts. I wore my wind shell, but didn't really need it. It was about 50 degrees. Got pretty warm by the time I reached town. I stopped a few miles in to adjust my saddle, this was also my first ride on a new saddle and seatpost combination. I love the seatpost, my first carbon fiber purchase. The saddle is nothing special, but I think will be quite comfortable once I get it in the right place. The combination is 80 grams lighter than before, or roughly equivalent to two sips on a water bottle.
Ride at lunch was pretty good a felt a good pace in my legs, though I seem to have pulled a muscle in my leg and I'm not entirely clear on what the muscle is called. Will probably get to ride tomorrow too.
The ride home was pretty brutal. It wasn't any longer, but it was a lot windier than normal. I got blown off the pavement once and into the freshly graded shoulder. That could have been bad if it weren't for the fact that the wind had already slowed me down so far.
Ride at lunch was pretty good a felt a good pace in my legs, though I seem to have pulled a muscle in my leg and I'm not entirely clear on what the muscle is called. Will probably get to ride tomorrow too.
The ride home was pretty brutal. It wasn't any longer, but it was a lot windier than normal. I got blown off the pavement once and into the freshly graded shoulder. That could have been bad if it weren't for the fact that the wind had already slowed me down so far.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Spring is here, finally.
OK. It's been fairly warm the last few days. On Tuesday, I rode to work, then rode at lunch with Jim. Still a bit nippy in the morning, but I have been able to do without a neck fleece and just a windshell over a jersey. Riding at lunch totals up to about 24-35 miles for the day when added on to the commute. On Wednesday, the commute absolutely sucked once I got close to town because the road crews were out working in the shoulders. The bridge was plain dangerous on the way home because they had swept the sidewalks off into the roadway, thus rendering the bridge shoulderless. It got a little tight near the end of the bridge and I got tapped by a pickup that was crowding me on the edge. Luckily they swept the shoulders overnight and now the roadway should be better than before. The wind has been up the last few days. Yesterday it rained so no riding. I did do some drivetrain cleaning. I can hear the grit in there when I crank it around so I think I'm going to have to disassemble the drivetrain and give it a good deep cleaning. Today's lunch ride was pretty good, sunny, warm, slight breeze. Ordered up a new seatpost and saddle. This should let me get my saddle height up to where it needs to be and we're adding a little bit of cool factor since it's carbon fiber. The saddle is sort of TT style with a wider nose, I think I'll like that. We'll see.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Back in the swing
Another 35° ride this morning. Having to stop to shed layers after a few miles just can't be helped. It's just plain too cold to start out with out the extra insulation, and when the sun comes up it warms up fast. Good rides today though, I can feel a little bit of the power coming back into my legs. Tomorrow begins our lunchtime rides at work. It'll be nice to get out in the full sun and warmth of the day; they're saying it'll be 65° today.
Did a little wrenching tonight. I put my saddle little farther forward to get a little more power out of my position, and raised the handlebar via the stem quill by about an inch. I think this is going to make for a much more aerobically productive combination. When I went to raise my seatpost just a hair, I did discover that I have been riding for years with my seatpost above the minimum insert line, it seems to be a short post. That kind of sucks, but at least I have a valid excuse to get a new one...
Did a little wrenching tonight. I put my saddle little farther forward to get a little more power out of my position, and raised the handlebar via the stem quill by about an inch. I think this is going to make for a much more aerobically productive combination. When I went to raise my seatpost just a hair, I did discover that I have been riding for years with my seatpost above the minimum insert line, it seems to be a short post. That kind of sucks, but at least I have a valid excuse to get a new one...
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Pretty cold
Anticipating one day of decent weather between days of snow/rain/cold I decided to take advantage of one day of just cold. I bundled up with a short and long-sleeve jersey, my , shorts, untights, windjacket, hat, neck fleece and full finger gloves. It was 30 deg F when I left, pretty nippy for a ride. I warmed up after the first hill and by the time I got to Sparrow Farm, I actually stopped to take off my neckwarmer. Crossing the bridge was a little hairball. I was fairly far back in the line of traffic at the light so we were steaming right along by the time I had to make the turn. I probably should have waited for the next cycle.
Ride home was pretty good, it was warmer than on the way in. I met up with my friend the North Wind, for a fairly stiff headwind towards the end, but the highlight was the car that cut me off to cross in front of me to get in her driveway instead of just waiting a moment to let me cross. She realized how stupid it was to turn across me when she saw just exactly how close we were. If I did not jam on the brakes, I would have ridden right into her door. I could see by the look on her face that she would likely not do that again. Le Tour 2005 disc 1 was waiting for me at home. So I finally get to see Robbie McEwan's head butt, Zabrieski's ill-fated crash, Lance passing Jan in the TT, and some of the other priceless moments that happend early in the Tour last year.
Ride home was pretty good, it was warmer than on the way in. I met up with my friend the North Wind, for a fairly stiff headwind towards the end, but the highlight was the car that cut me off to cross in front of me to get in her driveway instead of just waiting a moment to let me cross. She realized how stupid it was to turn across me when she saw just exactly how close we were. If I did not jam on the brakes, I would have ridden right into her door. I could see by the look on her face that she would likely not do that again. Le Tour 2005 disc 1 was waiting for me at home. So I finally get to see Robbie McEwan's head butt, Zabrieski's ill-fated crash, Lance passing Jan in the TT, and some of the other priceless moments that happend early in the Tour last year.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Trainer time
Raining cats and dogs. No commute today, 30 minutes on the trainer instead while watching Bertie & Jeeves. Supposed to snow tonight, so it'll probably be the trainer again tomorrow.
Monday, April 3, 2006
Banana Foam?
Nothing like burping banana bread foam during a ride... It was good bread, teh first time. Probably won't ride tomorrow, it's supposed to rain/snow and be way cold, it is definitely not warm enough for a rain ride. Maybe I'll set the Raleigh up a for a good soak in degreaser to shed some of the pounds of greasegrime that I never cleaned off last fall. Then again, maybe I'll be feeling insane enough for a single speed ride...
In other useless thoughts I've got the Jones for a new bike, that's a bad thing. Worse yet, I want to build one. Not having the cash for that makes it much easier to not blow money on it.
In other useless thoughts I've got the Jones for a new bike, that's a bad thing. Worse yet, I want to build one. Not having the cash for that makes it much easier to not blow money on it.
Saving Daylight
Yowza. First commute in Daylight Saving Time. Temp around 35 deg F, with the sun just peeking over the trees. Pretty nippy starting out. I changed the brake pads on the Raleigh this morning. Not bad, 9 years for an OEM set. The new ones are Aztec mtn pads. Changing the pads wasn't too bad, the cantilevers are much easier to work on than the ones on the Bridgestone. It made for a nice ride to know that I could stop when I wanted to. Warmed up after about 3 miles. Gotta do something about the seatpost. It's either nose up or nose down. I can't find the happy place in the middle.
Saturday, April 1, 2006
First rides of the season
Two simple rides. The first, I figured I would use as a simple shakedown of my touring bike. I had to drop the truck off for inspection so I just rode a couple miles from the garage to work in the morning. I discovered on my first shift, that my rear STI shifter was not in the mood to work, so I got to ride in one gear. Had I chosen to actually ride my single-speed this would not have been an issue. Temp was around 45, this was the first time using my new Zephyr jacket, it's the first Pearl Izumi item I have ever paid full retail for and I'm glad I did. At lunch I picked up some WD40 and gave the rear shifter a quick squirt, that was all it wanted to shift normally, so the ride back was better, though I guess I pushed too hard up the hill and stopped too suddenly because I nearly passed out at the garage... this was a two mile ride. Yeah. I think my blood sugar was waaay low, I pushed too hard up the hill, and I haven't done much cardio this winter since I've been working on the house.
Next day, first full commute to work of the season. The ride is only about 7 miles and change. Still loving the new jacket. Sun shining, no breeze, the wind on my face was a little nippy till I got warmed up after a mile or so. The new pavement and wider down in Randolph is going to make for a much nicer commuting season. Now if they'd just finish the job on 126 I'll be all set. There was a goodbye party at work for someone leaving the company, so after a beer at the pub, I had a nice ride home. First heckle of the season. The 2nd mildest of all heckles. A simple "Hey" as a minivan loaded with teens sped past. All in all a good first ride. I'm looking forward to the season.
Next day, first full commute to work of the season. The ride is only about 7 miles and change. Still loving the new jacket. Sun shining, no breeze, the wind on my face was a little nippy till I got warmed up after a mile or so. The new pavement and wider down in Randolph is going to make for a much nicer commuting season. Now if they'd just finish the job on 126 I'll be all set. There was a goodbye party at work for someone leaving the company, so after a beer at the pub, I had a nice ride home. First heckle of the season. The 2nd mildest of all heckles. A simple "Hey" as a minivan loaded with teens sped past. All in all a good first ride. I'm looking forward to the season.
Getting started
I intend this to be a journal of my cycling activities. Probably not terribly exciting reading material but that's what I've got for you. I love biking, plain and simple, and that's what this is going to be about. So what follows will probably be a mix of entries concerning my commute to work, fun rides, fitness rides, some prattle about working on bikes and maintenance, and maybe even some general bike related musings. The bike I am riding on a given day will greatly affect the type of ride I am on, so here's little about my bikes, currently my stable consists of:
- Raleigh R300 touring bike: my graduation present from high school (I'm now 27). British racing green. This bike is mostly original. Only the pedals have been changed out for clip-less pedals. I have also added some clip on aero bars for some extra hand positions on long rides.
- Bridgestone BB1 pseudo-mountain bike: I have converted this bike to single speed from being a 21 speed, also, the only things left from the original bike are the frame, stem, crank arms, and front wheel. Everything else has either been replaced or removed over the years. I have thousands upon thousands of miles on this bike. Before it was a single speed I rode it from Maine to Cape Cod. This was my first brand new bike when I was in 8th grade, luckily I only grew an inch since then and I can still use the frame!
- Hawthorne (department store brand of Montgomery and Ward) English style 3speed: From the 70's, it has the internal geared hub they made back then, the kind where you have to stop pedaling to shift. The paint is gold and all the parts are chromed. It's very slick when all shined up.
- 1968 Schwinn Varsity 10speed: I paid $5 for this bike last year at the fire department auction on the 4th of July. It's that really great green color. Everything on it is pure original, even the tires and tubes! It's a tad small for me, it's only an 18" frame, which would be fine for a mountain bike but the seatpost is just a bit shy of where I need it to be I am considering replacing the seatpost with a longer one so I can ride it a little more often. It's 42 pounds of classic American road bike.
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