Category: cycling

No Bike Commuting Today

Published June 24, 2010

As of last night I’d wholly intended to ride my bike to work today, packing it and getting everything ready to go. Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning I realized that I simply couldn’t. My throat is hurting a bit, I feel physically run down, and I’ve got a constant, groggy / spacey feeling. Either I’m getting sick, or I just need a good, long sleep. I’m hoping that instead of being sick the cumulative lack of sleep from the past week, and a whole weekend of not sleeping well has done me in and I just need some proper night’s rest to feel better, but as I’m rather accustomed to working on little sleep I fear it’s actually illness. If I’m not feeling any better soon I may have to call off my plans for the rest of the day.

I just hope that I’m feeling better for Saturday morning for the River Bends Park Trail Day with the MMBA where we will likely be finishing the first segment of new single track trail. Along with some other folks I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past couple months planning it, marking the route, working with the township, and doing initial cutting and clearing of the trail, so I’m really looking forward to seeing this first piece finished.

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Paint Creek Trail Dust

Published June 21, 2010

This has been a good weekend. After my sister’s wedding (to a nice guy who I think is all right and will be good for her) I ended up back home on Sunday with some time to work on my bike and go for a ride.

So, after cleaning up the drivetrain (it’s been almost six months since I got the Titus Racer X 29er) I took a quick ride from Rochester Mills (Beer Co.) up the Paint Creek Trail (and via some back routes) to Bald Mountain Recreation Area (North Unit) and back. After getting back to Rochester I took a quick spin through the two-track at Bloomer, located the hole-in-the-fence access out the back side of the park, then headed back to my car.

As seen above and in this photo, riding the Paint Creek Trail leaves quite a bit of limestone dust on one’s bike and parts. I’ve had people warn me that such grit will ruin bearings quite quickly, but I tend to think that the grease on such parts will do its job and keep the grit out of the important areas.

Riding through Bald Mountain itself left me covered in both bug bites and irritations from plants. Some of the trail (in particular the connectors) is becoming quite overgrown, and riding through them means a few minutes of continuous rubbing up against all the local foliage; Some of it even reaches out and grabs your bike, as happened today when the metal cap on the rear derailleur cable went missing.

Worse than the botanical irritation is the flies and mosquitoes in Bald Mountain, which fly fast enough to land on you at 10 MPH, and swarm behind you (waiting for you to slow or stop) at 12 MPH. The occasional downhills are the only savior, as one can then lose the flies. Still, despite all of this, I ended up with a horse fly in my helmet. Thankfully it didn’t bite and just allowed the mosquitoes to do their thing.

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Riding Problems!

Published June 16, 2010

I seem to be having problems riding my bike lately. First, I fell last night, toppling over after failing to ride over a log pile at Stony Creek. I made it up the one side, lost momentum, and was in too high of a gear to pedal and just fell over. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but I fell right on the multi-tool that was in my jersey pocket, landing with it between me and the log that I fell on. Now I’ve got a sore butt, with the injured bit being right where the toilet seat sets when I’m sitting down and having a chat about horses. When falling I also landed on my backpack, and while instinctively trying to keep my head up I pulled some neck muscles. Thankfully this should all cease hurting by the weekend.

Today when out riding at Stony Creek I just happened to get a pinch flat on my rear wheel, causing it to lose all of its air in a few seconds and leave me stuck at the side of the trail swapping out a tube. Thankfully I had a bottle of 100% DEET with me, so I was able to mostly keep the mosquitoes at bay for the few minutes that I was stuck fiddling with things. After fixing the flat I hadn’t quite pumped it up as full as needed (a test ride showed this), but thanks to the KLM Stump Pump I had no problem filling the tire up properly before riding back to downtown Rochester.

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To Work and Back

Published June 8, 2010

With the weather forecast saying that rain shouldn’t start until after 7pm it seemed like a good weather day for bike riding. Despite having my car back I fitted the pannier setup to my bike, and set out for work. I set out just after 7am, arriving at work just over 1:06 later. As the day wore on and rain got closer, the forecast rapidly changed to having rain arrive sooner, so I left work a bit early, riding quick, hitting rush-hour traffic, and made it home in four minutes less than it took to head to work. After getting home I was then able to finish up work before heading off to the grocery store, then to Sherwood Brewing Company to meet some friends for dinner and beer.

Here’s a couple photos from today, all of them better than the weird, blurry, self-shot photo of me riding on the Clinton River Trail, somewhere between Hamlin and Adams:

· Riding down the Clinton River Trail, heading east, between Hamlin and Adams.
· My bike propped up against a column under Rochester Road along a branch of the Clinton River. I stopped here briefly while riding home from work.
· My bike outside of VGs on the bike rack which they installed after I asked them to fit one. I rode up to buy beer and bagels after riding home from work.

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Bike for Commuting / Errands and Trails

Published June 5, 2010

This past Thursday I managed to get a great deal on some Ortleib Back Roller Classic panniers for my bike. I’d wanted some for a while, and the ~$120 sale price for them at REI couldn’t really be beat. Sure, I could have picked up cheaper ones, but these seem like they’ll be quite nice, will keep things dry, and will have a good resale value if I decide that I no longer want them.

Here they are fitted to my bike, along with a small Topeak trunk bag. I intend the trunk bag to hold bike tools, phone, and wallet while the panniers hold whatever else I need, be it work clothes, groceries, packages going to the post office, or whatever. The bike also has a NiteRider MiNewt USB light on the bar and two rear blinky lights and I’ve got a roll of black Scotchlite tape which I’ll be adding to the bike, along with a pack of firefighter’s reflective helmet strips which will be applied later. Between these I should have no difficulty being seen from multiple angles while riding at night.

I’ll probably also fit the bike with some smooth tires (Continental TravelContact?) to make for smoother rolling. However, the nicely worn Specialized The Captain Control tires aren’t terrible, and leaving them on keeps the bike multi-purpose, better for riding both paths and trails with a variety of surfaces.

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Bob’s New Black Sheep

Published June 4, 2010

Last night my friend Bob picked up his new bike (a 50th birthday present to himself) from the shop and brought it over. I adjusted a few little things to get it working nicely, then took some photos of it for him. Those photos can be seen here, in the Bob’s Black Sheep album.

This bike is currently outfitted as follows, although some parts (bars, tires, stem, seat post clamp) will likely change:

Frame: Black Sheep Bikes Stellar 29er (semi-Custom Geometry)
Seat Post: Black Sheep Bikes Infinity
Fork: Rock Shox Reba Race Team w/ Remote Lockout
Stem: Thomson Elite
Handlebar:Soma Clarence
Crankset: Truvativ Noir (Red)
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT
Rear Derailleur: SRAM X.0 Long Cage (Red)
Cassette: SRAM PG-990 (Red)
Shifters: SRAM X.0 (Red)
Chain: SRAM PC-991
Saddle: Brooks B17 Aged
Pedals: Crank Brothers Eggbeater SL (Red and Black)
Brakes: Avid Elixir CR
Wheels: Chris King Hubs, DT Swiss X 470 Rims
Skewers: Crank Brothers Split (Red and Natural)
Tires: Schwalbe Racing Ralph, 2.4″ Front, 2.25″ Rear
Bottle Cages: King Cage Stainless Steel
Grips: Ergon GP1
Stem Cap: Purely Custom, etched with “More Tortoise Than Hare”
Bar End Caps: Soma (Red)
Spacers: Toronto Cycles Carbon Fiber

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Ant Hill at Bald Mountain

Published May 31, 2010

Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, North Unit has some slightly less morose things to see too, such as quite-large ant hills like as the one above. These are a common site along the mountain bike / hiking trail, often found in slightly sunny sandy areas. Today I took a fast turn a little wrong and almost ended up hitting one, which would have been in no way good. (They are super-soft, likely to cause a crash, and filled with likely-to-be-angry ants.) Thankfully I avoided it and did not fall, continuing on my way.

This one here is found on the east side of connector from the orange loop to Predmore Road, between numbers 16 and 17. (Map) This connector is commonly used to avoid the low laying and frequently wet trail between the old ranger’s house and the lake. As the trail was mostly dry I rode that segment, but used this section to get back to Predmore and thus back to Addison Oaks where I had parked for today’s bike ride.

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Loose Horst Link Pivot

Published May 30, 2010

Today while washing my Titus Racer X 29er I found the rear drive-side Horst link screw loose. If this had come completely apart the bike would have gone very floppy, but not failed catastrophically.

Thankfully Titus publishes the Titus Racer X Torque Specs (mirror on nuxx.net) so I was able to reset this screw and check the rest. Everything else was spot-on already, save for the top of the rear shock which I’d previously undone (to route brake lines) and done by feel. That shock mount doesn’t matter much, though, as the bolt itself carries very little load.

Now, time to figure out a place for today’s riding…

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Schwalbe Racing Ralph

Published May 30, 2010

Starting last week when up at Big M and the NCT I’ve had a set of Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires on my bike. Thanks to a nice (and fair to all) deal worked out with a MMBA forum member and my friend Bob I ended up with a nice, fat 2.4″ tire on the front and a quite sufficient 2.25″ on the rear for $75. This is quite a good deal, as these tires are normally $70/ea in local shops.

These are definitely different feeling from the 2.0″ Specialized The Captain Control tires that I’d fitted earlier in the year. They both seem to roll faster and grip better when the bike is leaned way over, and their extra volume makes things feel a little bit more comfortable on trails. I’ve found the point at which they let go a few times, but haven’t fallen yet. The super-fat (for me) front tire also means that it floats over sand quite nicely, which was very helpful at Big M and Bald Mountain; both trails known for having unexpected patches of the typical Michigan pine forest sandy soil.

I think I’ll keep these on the bike for a while.

For what it’s worth these tires have plenty of clearance on my bike:

· Here is a photo of the clearance when a 2.4″ Schwalbe Racing Ralph is used on a Fox F29 RLC with a 23.9mm DT Swiss X470 rim.
· Here is the clearance of the 2.25″ Schwalbe Racing Ralph as the rear tire on a medium Titus Racer X 29er.

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Cabin #2 at Bald Mountain State Recreation Area, North Unit

Published May 26, 2010

Turn your time machine back to 1991 and I’m sure that few of you will have difficulty remembering Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the pathologist who (per his claims) helped more than 150 people to end their lives. Two of these assisted suicides took place in an area where I frequently bike, Bald Mountain State Recreation Area‘s North Unit, located just off of the Paint Creek Trail in Lake Orion.

One of the locations along this trail are two rustic cabins. The one pictured above, Cabin #2, was the place where Dr. Kevorkian helped Marjorie Wantz and Sherry Miller end their lives. Knowing their story, never having visited them, and out riding the trail alone yesterday evening I decided to detour past the cabins and take a look around. This photo was taken then, just as I was to head back out to the trail. The cabins are unremarkable, and appear to contain simple wooden bunks and a general open area with a chimney on one end, nice looking fire pits, and easy (albeit rather unmaintained) access to Tamarack Lake.

(Please note that I’m not completely certain this is Cabin #2 as they are not numbered, but since it’s the second one on the road I’ve made that presumption.)

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