Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: cycling

Crooked Tree

Published August 15, 2008

Another (quite blurry) view of my bike leaning against the crooked tree on The Snake at Stony Creek.

I really like riding past this tree on the portion of the mountain bike trails known as The Snake at Stony Creek Metropark. This tree keeps leaning further and further over, and I imagine that soon it’ll actually fall and make for a log to be crossed. There’s something I really like about coming around that corner and having to lean under it.

Yes, I know the photo is really blurry. Sorry, it was getting dark and 1/7th of a second is hard to hand hold, especially after climbing a bunch of grinding hills. Here is a clearer photo of the same tree and my bike, but from an angle which doesn’t show the tree and trail as well. Also, a few more biking photos have been posted to my catch-all biking around local places album, if you’d like to see them.

Next time I’m out I’ll try and take a picture of the corner at the top of The Snake which I previously couldn’t make it past, but was able to easily ride through twice (out of two attempts) tonight.

A friend of mine is having problems with his Garmin Edge 305 GPS. He’s reported that it will periodically turn off while riding, which seems to be attributable to the battery contacts in it losing contact briefly, so he asked if I’d take a look at it. It seems that the unit has a set of pressure contacts which connect the battery, speaker, and USB connector to the main board, held in place when the unit is glued shut. This set of flexible pins has to make contact with this PCB while the whole unit is mounted on a bicycle bouncing down rocky and rooty trails.

I think that to fix this I’m going to fit two wires for power from the non-contact part of the pads on the back panel to test points on the main PCB. This should ensure that the power connectors are always good. USB and speaker probably aren’t as critical, and I don’t want to try and cram too many wires into a housing not designed for them. I’ll give this a go tomorrow as tonight I’m relaxing.

Leave a Comment

Dogfish Head Exclamation Mark Cap / Niner YAWYD

Published August 10, 2008

Looking down on the stem, Niner YAWYD top cap, and Dogfish Head exclamation mark bottle cap on my bike after fitting the cap. Once I get a less worn cap I may change it out.

After fitting the Niner YAWYD last night and drinking the 120 Minute IPA at IPM I had a nice yellow Dogfish Head exclamation mark cap for my bike. It is a bit more worn than I would like, but it was the best looking bottle I could find yesterday.

After test fitting the cap on the Niner YAWYD I carefully bent the crimped edges of the crown in a bit further then snapped it back on. It works pretty well as can be seen above or here with the cap staying nicely in place.

Being yellow the cap is the most obvious thing on my bike. I was originally hoping to get a nice black cap with the Jolly Pumpkin logo on it, but it turns out that all of their caps are plain ones. Oh well. There is something nifty about a warning sign on a bike, though…

Leave a Comment

Niner YAWYD

Published August 9, 2008

The Niner YAWYD top cap on my bike, ready to have a bottle cap snapped in place.

Despite its horrible name the Niner YAWYD (You Are What You Drink) seems like a pretty nifty device. It is a replacement top cap for one’s bike which allows a bottle cap to be snapped into place. Yes, I will freely admit that it’s a hokey way of meeting both the good beer and mountain biking cross marketing cross section which I seem to fall in. That said, it does strike me as a bit more interesting than some of the other decorative bike accessories available.

Tonight I’m hoping to have a bottle of Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA and use the nice yellow dogfish exclamation mark cap on my bike. This cap can be seen in my photo of a glass and bottle of 120 Minute IPA here.

This was purchased from Paint Creek Bicycles in Lake Orion, MI when Danielle and I headed up there today to see what they had on sale. There was a really nice looking (but red) Raleigh XXIX fully rigid 29er single speed mountain bike for $500 which I took for a few test rides but couldn’t bring myself to actually purchase. I need a new phone more.

Anyway, once I get the aforementioned cap, or possibly another one fitted to the bike I’ll post more photos of it. In the mean time, here’s the ones I took of the Niner YAWTD and my bike today:

· Front of the Niner YAWYD (You Are What You Drink) pacakge.
· Back of the Niner YAWYD (You Are What You Drink) package as purchased from Paint Crek Bicycles for US$13.50.
· The bottom of the Niner YAWYD, which appears is milled from 6061 aluminum.
· Top of the Niner YAWYD. This is the side the bottle cap snaps on to.
· Detail of how I found to best remove bottle caps without damaging them…
· Looking down at my bike’s handlebars showing the original plain top cap, computer, etc.
· The screw holding the top cap in place is removed with a 4.5mm hex (allen) wrench.
· Looking down into the steerer tube showing the star nut.
· Detail of the screw and original top cap.
· The Niner YAWYD top cap on my bike, ready to have a bottle cap snapped in place.

Leave a Comment

When Bridges Fail

Published August 3, 2008

One of the bridges in The Pines at Stony Creek came apart while I was riding across it. My front wheel went between the planks and I went over the handlebars.

Today’s bike accident was clearly in honor of Minneapolis. When riding through the Pines at Stony Creek with my sister (her first time on the single track there) and heading across a bridge, one of the boards slid to the side and my front wheel dropped down about six inches between it and the one next to it. As expected I hit the next supporting timber and went right over the handle bars. Whoops.

The board appeared to have nails holding it to the timbers, but they no longer extended through to the other side. In order to keep someone else from suffering the same fate I set the loose board off to the side of the trail. Hopefully others won’t have a problem riding on just two of the three boards.

Oh, and yes, I did email the listed maintainer of the trails there so he’d know about it. Hopefully it’s not a problem.

Leave a Comment

I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore

Published August 3, 2008

My bike at the end of the path at Metro Beach. Downtown Detroit can be seen in the distance across the water.

Yesterday my friend Brian () and I rode from my house to Metro Beach and back, taking the slightly longer (46.6 mile total) route. Brian has my old Forte FastCity ST/K tires on his bike and we wanted to take paved surfaces as often as possible because they are nearly unrideable on grass / dirt.

The ride was a little difficult through Dodge Park because of Sterlingfest. This three day outdoor party / fair had REO Speedwagon playing last night, so making our way both directions through the park involved lots of walking bikes through crowds. Other than that, the ride was pretty uneventful. There was a good bit of wind and not haven ridden for a month Brian was pretty exhausted at the end, but it was otherwise good.

I used my new CamelBak for this ride which worked out pretty well. One fill of water lasted the whole ride , and thanks to easy use of ice and insulation, having icy cold water was nice. Being able to carry a camera was once again nice, although I think I need to find a way to make it more accessible.

I did get a couple interesting photos and a couple dull ones. I’ll let you decide which is which:

· Brian standing with his bike in front of Freedom Hill park when we stopped in the shade.
· My bike at the end of the path at Metro Beach. Downtown Detroit can be seen in the distance across the water. (As seen above.)
· Brian checking his bike computer in the gazebo at the point while some families ride past and sit on the benches.
· Stopping near the McDonalds at Metro Parkway and Crocker to eat a gel I found a bunch of cheap vodka bottles in bread bags in the trash.
· Brian reading the nutritional information from a Gu-brand Vanilla Bean gel.

When first taking the photo of Brian reading the gel packet I got some really odd CCD noise which almost looks like, but isn’t, lens flare. Unless maybe somehow it’s lens flare caused by only yellow-ish light, but not.

I also found that my bike is having a hard time shifting between two of the gears in the middle of the cogset, but when I went to adjust things this afternoon I found that it only happens under load. So, I think that the chain and maybe cogset are finally wearing to near replacement. I guess it’s understandable as I’ve put more than 941 miles on my bike since its purchase.

Leave a Comment

MMBA Wednesday Night Stony Creek Ride

Published July 31, 2008

The only photo I took on the 30-Jul-2008 MMBA group ride at Stony Creek.

Despite carrying my camera with me, here is the only photo I took during last night’s MMBA Wednesday Night group ride at Stony Creek. I don’t know any of the people in the photo and they are just a small part of the ‘fast’ group. There were a bunch more folks who arrived at the top of the hill, after winding up The Snake, after this was taken.

Oh, and that photo is taken on the top of Mt. Sheldon (not a real mountain), the highest point in the park, which is where I took this photo from on Monday while facing the opposite direction. Just ahead of everyone there and to the left is The Roller Coaster, the really nice piece of multi-segment lengthy, winding, flowy, mostly downhill single track.

Leave a Comment

Blimp!

Published July 29, 2008

A MetLife blimp is flying over my workplace for some reason.

There is a blimp flying over my workplace. I don’t know why. Thankfully the camera in my phone still works well enough to get a photo of it. I really could use a new phone, though.

I’ve also posted some other new Moblog images, including the blimp one. Interested in seeing them? Here they are:

· A MetLife blimp is flying over my workplace for some reason.
· Beautiful storm clouds seen from outside of Rochester Mills Brewery on 21-Jul-2008.
· A Surly Cross-Check set up for commuting, parked outside of Rochester Mills Brewery.
· The brewery floor at Rochester Mills.
· A Dyson Airblade in the men’s bathroom at Rochester Mills Brewery.
· People sitting around at Rochester Mills Brewery in the back room for the MMBA Metro North chapter meeting.

Leave a Comment

Biking is getting easier…

Published July 28, 2008

The entrance to The Pines trail in Stony Creek standing at marker #6.

Since I’d picked up a CamelBak yesterday I decided to give it a try today, but only after removing the rack and bottle cages from my bike to make my bike as light as (realistically) possible. While I previously didn’t like biking with a backpack, one of the cycling-specific CamelBaks isn’t too bad. Yes, I got a good bit hotter and sweatier, but after the first couple miles I didn’t really notice it was there.

The lack of extra weight on the bike made it (much) easier to hop over logs and handle log piles, although I did find that the extra weight on my body caused me to stand up a little less, and my butt was getting a bit more sore. No numbness in a bit over 15 miles, though.

While reading a bit on line about cleaning CamelBaks I found that a number of people just empty the bladder then throw it in the freezer. This keeps things from growing in it between uses so one doesn’t have to wash/dry it every time. I tossed mine in the freezer and hopefully it’ll work out well.

It was also suggested to me that I try to ride in the center chainring more often, because it makes it easier to keep one’s speed up which is quite often the key to getting through tricky areas. I spent most of today’s ride trying this and it really did work out well, and I was able to make it through a particularly difficult uphill rutted switchback comfortably. I don’t know if it is this different gearing contributing to more speed, more experience, or both, but I’m feeling much more comfortable covering routes at Stony much more quickly. I hope this feeling of comfort on trails applies elsewhere.

Oh, I also brought my camera (the Coolpix 5400) along with me today. One of the nice things about the CamelBak is that there is plenty of room in it for my normal set of tools, camera, food (if needed), and things like that. Since I was out there alone there wasn’t much to take pictures of, but I did grab that photo above (also here) at the entrance to The Pines, a switchback filled but not too hilly part of the Stony Creek trails. I also grabbed this photo from the top of Mt. Sheldon, the highest point in the park, looking out at Crittenton Hospital in Rochester, MI.

If you’d like to reference things, here is the MMBA provided map of Stony Creek, and the entrance to The Pines is marker #6, the top of Mt. Sheldon is marker #25.

Leave a Comment

CamelBak M.U.L.E. (Coyote / Black)

Published July 27, 2008

Camelbak M.U.L.E. in Coyote / Black color, purchased from REI for US$85.

Today while out and about Danielle swung by REI where I used one of those silly VISA gift cards to purchase a CamelBak M.U.L.E. hydration pack. I’ve been contemplating getting one for a while now, but I finally decided just to get one and see if I like it. Because it was purchased at REI, if I really don’t like it I can just take it back.

I had wanted the orange / charcoal colored one, but it wasn’t in stock so I went with coyote / black, which is a nice brownish color. I figure that black would be a bit hot to wear and it’d also show all acquired dirt very easily, whereas this brown should be considerably lighter.

I also picked up a US$1 brass Presta to Schrader adapter to keep in my bag. Last time I was out riding I happened across someone with a flat who needed to borrow a pump, but as my pump doesn’t do Presta very well (getting the fitting on is a huge hassle) I couldn’t help him out. Also, my sister’s bike has Presta valves and if I’m out riding with her I need to be sure that I can adjust her tires as well.

Leave a Comment