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Category: cycling

Pre-SF Shakedown Ride

Published September 13, 2013

When riding the Macomb Orchard Trail, I’m finding that I prefer starting out at the 25 Mile and Shelby intersection, not the traditional Dequinder trailhead and Onyx parking lot. Particularly with riding after work, this eliminates the need to cross two busy roads during peak traffic and makes the drive from home quite a bit easier.

Needing to do a bit of a shakedown ride on the Jamis Nova before shipping it off to San Francisco I decided to ride pavement to keep it clean, and this ended up being a really nice time. Rode out to Richmond first, trying to keep my heart rate in Zone 2 and cadence between 90 and 100 RPM. This worked fairly well, and after returning to the 25 Mile and Shelby intersection I carried on to the trail head at Dequinder and back, using this as a cool-down so my legs wouldn’t get immediately sore after stopping.

Here is the Strava data for this ride. There was no stopping save for traffic and a brief break to urinate. Even the Richmond end was a gentle loop around the paved circle at the end before heading back. This felt good, and once I got to the car I could have continued on quite a bit further, but with the sun being down and serious cold for this time of the year (mid-40s) setting in I was ready to be done.

The bike behaved almost fine, but I’ve got a little bit of drivetrain adjusting to do (and another test ride) before it gets packed up. Things were mostly fine, but somewhere around the middle of the cassette the chain wouldn’t shift smoothly, so I need to check the derailleur hanger and give things a final tweak.

This evening’s weather was almost perfect for riding. By wearing knickers I was quite comfortable, although I could have used slightly heavier gloves as post-ride I was having difficulty using my phone and signing the receipt for dinner.

This was a good ride.

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King Cage / Tallac Design Kargo Cage

Published August 30, 2013

I’ve been having difficulties carrying everything I want on my Jamis Nova without putting it in jersey pockets. An under-saddle bag is working okay, but fully filled it occasionally brushes my thighs, which is rather uncomfortable. I also don’t really care for putting things in my jersey pockets, so I decided to try out a King Cage Kargo Cage (same product on Tallac Design’s site), mounting it on the down tube (alternate view).

This device is a combination stainless steel bottle cage and tool pouch holder, with the pouch being large enough to hold a tube and other bits. I chose the larger 9″ size designed to hold a 29er tube, as I figured I could use the extra 2″ of pouch length for things besides a tube. In the photo above I have it carrying a road tube (inside an old sock), Novara patch kit (with chain links inside), and two Park Tool TL-1 tire levers, zipped shut with the zipper pull tucked inside. I’ll probably add some nitrile gloves later, and maybe a small bottle of chain lube.

The pouch itself, manufactured by Tallac Design, snaps nicely to nylon straps which are mounted to the screws between the frame and cage itself. This holds it firmly in place and with a nice, sleep look. Unsnapping the bag is not the fastest operation so it will be a bit difficult to remove, but I intentionally chose for it to hold the supplies that I rarely need (but really don’t want to be without on longer rides), so this shouldn’t be a problem.

The model of Kargo Cage seen here is a newer design than the one pictured on both the King Cage and Tallac Design sites, as it has snaps instead of plastic buckles. I have slight concerns over the snaps rusting, but a light coating of grease on them will hopefully mitigate this. The snap setup seems simpler than the plastic buckles, and it seems like the bag could sag with the previous design whereas this one seems a bit more solid. Because the snaps sit next to the frame and brush it as the bike is jostled I put a piece of UHMW polyethylene tape on the frame behind the snap to eliminate scratching and cut down on potential noise.

It remains to be seen how useful this Kargo Cage is for me long-term, but I have high hopes for it. I am slightly concerned about how it sticks out about 2cm to each side of the down tube (photo) as I suspect it’ll catch a lot of dust and mud, but being vinyl-lined it should be washable. I need to leave it on the downtube for now, as the longer 9″ bag length keeps it from fitting on the seat tube without getting very close to the front derailleur. I’ve emailed Tallac Design (who makes the bag piece of it) asking if I can buy a separate 7″ bag so I can try it on the seat tube and see how that goes. It might also be useful to have two separate bags that I can swap out depending on the kind of ride that I’m doing.

Even with this I’ll still likely keep a small seat bag on the bike, but I only intend that to hold my keys, wallet, multi-tool, and any other small incidentals. Or, I might just put these items in jersey pockets. By moving the tube and repair supplies to the frame I’m allowing the saddle bag (or what is carried in pockets) to be smaller and more useful, while allowing the tube to be sock-wrapped to cut down on wear during storage (as other parts rub against it in the bag). There wasn’t enough room for this before.

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Flying Pain

Published August 22, 2013

While riding the Macomb Orchard Trail this out to Armada evening around dusk (Strava data) some manner of insect hit my right helmet strap and the side of my face. This has left me with a rather painful, slightly swollen, bright pink sideburn area.

I’d really like to know what it was that got me. Throughout this part of the ride — somewhere just east of the old train trestle — there were a number of large jellybean-size dark insects hovering over the trail. When I’d approach (at 18MPH) they seemed to veer towards my face, almost as if they were IR-seeking. I’d dodged a few of them, but one got my face. Riding along, looking at the scenery, I suddenly heard a sharply interrupted buzzing in front of my ear, almost as if something was caught in the helmet strap.

Right as I reached up and brushed  it away I felt a sharp pain on the side of my face, and I knew that something stung me. Having been stung before and regularly riding in deer fly areas I’m not unfamiliar with such interactions, but this one is different. Sitting here writing this I keep having waves of pain from that spot, and there’s creeping pain up to my temple and over behind my ear.

I seem to recall that Jeremy got stung by something out at River Bends a month or so back, and it was red and painful for quite a while. I wonder if this is the same insect… But what is it that’d just hover over the warm air rising off of trails, waiting to strike? A horse fly? Some sort of bizarre mutant June Bug? I really don’t know…

I thought about grabbing one out of the air to see what it was, but I didn’t want to risk my hand getting hit as well. For now Ibuprofen, diphenhydramine, and a bit of beer are doing a fine job keeping it under control. Hopefully the pain disappears by morning.

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Blah at Highland

Published August 18, 2013

Sometimes you have those days when riding where things just don’t click. Climbs aren’t made, previously-ridden descents are walked, you don’t feel great, and things just don’t click. Today at Highland State Recreation Area was one of those days. I set out for a ride by myself, but things just weren’t as keen as I’m accustomed to. I could blame the heat, perhaps being dehydrated, staying up too late with beer and popcorn watching Breaking Bad, but it’s really just a bad day. Those happen.

Here is the ride data in Strava if you are interested. I attempted to ride to Milford for some of the Milford trail (aka Highland Loop E), but needing to pick Danielle up from volunteering at The 3-Day I was short on time and turned back after reaching the Milford city limits. The route between the two is quite easy and straightforward. Hopefully I’ll actually do a Highland A-B-C-D-E later this year.

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Another Broken Spoke

Published August 14, 2013

I had the following bike problems this evening, in order:

  1. Riding up the sidewalk to Stony Creek with the group, a spoke breaks near the J bend. I stop and twist it around an adjacent spoke and decide to ride with it.
  2. Once I get into The Pines I notice the broken spoke nub is binding the freehub and keeping me from coasting. I leave the group and walk the bike out to the two track.
  3. Deciding that I can ride without coasting, I poke around Stony Creek two track for a while in a very tall gear constantly keeping the freehub engaged.
  4. After riding to the group’s meeting point at the end of the route I remove the wheel to get the spoke nub out; it’d already fallen out. Upon reinserting the rear wheel I find that the brake is now binding significantly.
  5. Looking in my bag I don’t have a multi-tool (nor spare tube) as I removed them for Sunday’s dirt road ride.

After the group arrived I was able to borrow a multi tool and get the wheel spinning freely again. I then rode an easy lap of The Pines and back to the car. Now I need to find a 295mm black DT Swiss Competition spoke and get everything back in order… Hopefully I can find one tomorrow, as I was really hoping to ride this bike over the weekend.

(I strongly suspect this spoke broke after being damaged during the chain dropping at Lumberjack. It then lasted for a while, but today after riding Bloomer and while applying torque up a paved path it decided to go. Better there than somewhere remote, at least…)

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Three Washers

Published August 12, 2013

By adding three washers to each end of the trainer quick release I’m able to keep the trainer from making contact with the frame on the Jamis Nova. Without these washers the ends of the mounting arms just barely contact the frame, and with the bike moving around while on the trainer I could see it causing a bit of paint flaking and/or damage over time.

I’ve got no interest in riding on the trainer now, but this was a problem that I wanted to resolve long before cold weather arrives, and now it’s done. I’ve also got a trainer tire and appropriately-small tube, so I should be ready to go whenever I decide that riding the trainer sounds fun. I can’t imagine that’ll be any time soon, though.

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A Nicely Useful Outhouse

Published August 12, 2013

Today I rode my bicycle from home to my parents house, taking a dirt road route that I put together a couple days before. The ride went great, and the only difficulties I encountered were feeling a bit blah at the start, then having to ride on freshly graded roads for a while neat the end. The weather was excellent, traffic was light, and I had no problems with cars. The rotating cue sheet that I put together last night worked great, and I think I’ll use this technique for other rides in the future. I even happened across this conveniently located portable toilet in the construction zone on the southeast corner of Van Dyke and Boardman roads where I stopped for a few minutes and had a bit of home made protein bar to eat before carrying on.

At one point while heading north on Dequinder I was kept company by these tire marks, which seemed to alternate between Specialized The Captain and Maxxis CrossMark patterns. I think that two people, alternating position, must have ridden through there shortly before I did. Other than this, I didn’t encounter anyone else riding outside of parks or rail trails.

Other eventful things included: being near lots of cows, seeing a bunch of beautiful houses and orchards along Boardman, watching a crane stand in a fresh-cut lawn watching someone finish mowing, and being briefly chased by a dog. Mostly all good things.

Strava data for today’s ride can be found here.

 

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Rotating Bicycle Cue Sheet

Published August 10, 2013

I once saw a cue sheet like this somewhere online, so I figured I’d give it a go for tomorrow’s ride. I’m hoping that instead of the MOT I’ll be able to take dirt roads for a round-about path to my parents’ house in Richmond, and this illustrates the roads that I’m not already familiar with.

Instead of a flat page and some manner of holder this is a basic paper loop around the bars, listing turns one after another. It can then be hand-rotated to advance the list. I currently list the name of the road, which direction I should be going on it, and if it’s at the end of the previous road (a T intersection). Next time I may make the font smaller, better clarify the intersection type, and note the distance on each road.

While I could have put a cue sheet into my Garmin bike computer it takes a fair bit longer than printing a basic note, and when I last tried it with a slightly older Garmin (Edge 500 vs. my current 510) it wasn’t the most reliable, so I’m hesitant to try it again. The paper band has the limitation of font and bar size dictating the upper capacity limits, it’s not really waterproof (laser printing only goes so far), and it could get torn off. But it’s also super-easy to do.

Hopefully the ride will go as planned and the cue sheet will be a positive contribution.

UPDATE: This worked out very well. I’ll be using this cue sheet mounting technique in the future.

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Google Maps Bicycle Routing Issues

Published August 2, 2013

Google Map Maker allows most anyone to edit Google Maps. Someone has been using it to add all of the trails at Stony Creek, including the very small paths and foot-only trails. In general I’d think this is a good thing, but for some reason they are ending up being listed as bicycle routes. Some of these (such as the MTB single track) are inappropriate for general bicycle route designation due to their rugged character, while others (such as the Nature Center Trails) are simply closed to bikes.

While putting together some route ideas for a ride tomorrow I ran into my first actual issue with this; Bicycle routing directing me to the Nature Center hiking-only trails while making my way through the park. (See the image above or here.) While I know to avoid them, I suspect this is going to be a growing problem for some with finding bicycle routes in the area, particularly for those who aren’t willing (or prepared) to ride off road. I could also see it leading to conflicts with some users insisting it’s open to bikes “…because Google said so”.

Time to file some bug reports and get the bicycling designation removed…

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