Category: making things

This Is How It Gets Done

Published November 17, 2013

A scant 3.5 years ago the MMBA Metro North chapter, now known as CRAMBA-IMBA, finished completion of the first phase of official mountain bike trails at Shelby Township‘s River Bends Park. Today we had another trail work day to give the trail a nice autumn cleanup and the rerouting of a couple problematic spots.

It’s pretty amazing to me how things like this come together. A group of us, who generally all get along and work well with each other, came together and worked to make something that we enjoy even better. Even though the specific mechanics still baffle me, this is how it seems to work: people with a wide variety of skills but a common interest come together, self-organize, then volunteer their time building publicly accessible facilities that the entire community can enjoy.

As a community we essentially have two ways of making new public resources exist: we can either pay for something (via taxes, with all the overhead of getting this to happen), or we can make it happen ourselves doing the work without direct compensation, something generally known as volunteering. Parks typically don’t know what mountain bikers actually want, so for building new bike-accessible trails the best way is for us to get like-minded folks together and work with the parks to make it happen. This is what we did, and just like countless other locales across the country there are now trails that we all enjoy.

The trails at River Bends aren’t particularly challenging, but more people than I can remember have told me about getting started riding these trails. This was the goal, and it makes me, and surely everyone who has worked on these trails, very proud. We do good work.

(The photo above shows, from left to right, a number of people who were out at today’s trail day. In the top row: Mark Johnson, Erik Silvassy, Mark Senyk, Roger Class, Mike White, Rob Wedding, Bob Costello, Jeremy Verbeke (Co-Trail Coordinator at River Bends), Rodney Gullett, and Deanna Velasco. Second row: Aaron Burgess, Steve Vigneau (me, the other Co-Trail Coordinator at River Bends), Art Fleming, and Jeremy Kozak. Down in front is Jude, who is Mike White’s son and a perpetual presence at trail work days. Not pictured are the folks who were had to leave early or were out grabbing food for the rest of us, including Greg Kuhn, Chris Goddard, Erik Silvassy, Kristi Heuvers, Erick Mile, Katie Mile, Nick Shue, Marty Shue, or Pete Kresmery.)

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Remarking the Seasonal Loop at River Bends

Published November 11, 2013

River Bends is going to have a bit of remarking at the CRAMBA-IMBA trail day this weekend, and in preparation I removed most of the the wrong-way signs from the segment formerly known as the Seasonal Loops. A number of these signs were no longer necessary, and a handful of them had been shot with airsoft pellets to the extent that they weren’t very readable from a distance.

At some point in the next year or so I hope we are able to replace many of these with more permanent Carsonite-type fiberglass markers (such as this one at Bloomer), but for now it’ll be more of the same corrugated plastic and vinyl markers, color coordinated with the map.

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Home-Made Chili Powder

Published November 9, 2013

This past week I removed all the furnatire from the porch, cut down the past year’s dying flowers, and brought the perennials in the house. One of the plants to trim was a chili (of which type both Danielle and I forget), which grew very mild, nice fruits. Since there were some chilis left on the plant I cut them off, tossed them in the food dehydrator, and this evening after they were sufficiently dry ground them into chili powder.

The photo above shows the tops and seeds that I cut off them poured out before putting them in the spice grinder, something I did because I didn’t want seed-heavy spicy powder. The result is a very gentle, almost buttery tasting paprika-like powder that’ll go wonderfully on eggs and other light-tasting food. I think it also might do nice things on popcorn.

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Repurposed Carsonite and Fiberglass Splinters

Published August 24, 2013

Over the last year Bloomer Park‘s mountain bike route has become increasingly better marked, but unfortunately some of the installed signs had become vandalized. The former Trail Coordinator saved some of these, and today I finally got around to cutting them down into smaller pieces that can be screwed to posts or trees.

These should be quite useful at Bloomer, as there’s a few places which could benefit from additional marking, and it makes me happy to repurpose what had been scrap into something usable. I imagine that when River Bends undergoes its next round of marking we’ll use something similar to what Bloomer will end up with: a combination of tree/post based markers like these and the typical ground-inserted marker.

Out of three 72″ Carsonite Dual Sided Markers I was able to salvage 16 11″ markers and two 8″ markers. With the reflective decals being 3″ tall this should allow for the taller pieces to hold three decals and the smaller to hold two†. Each piece had a 1/4″ hole drilled in the top and bottom, centered, 1/2″ from each end.

While cutting these I made sure to wear a dust-filtering respirator and safety glasses, but I should have worn some nitrile or perhaps leather gloves. I seem to have ended up with a few fiberglass splinters which are small enough that I can’t see them, but whose presence is clearly known whenever I touch something. I hope they work themselves out soon.

† Sizing based on Rockart, Inc’s Tree Hugger marker recommendation that markers be chosen 2″ taller than the combined height of all decals. This is to allow room for the drilled holes and decals while keeping the marker compact.

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Fruit Flies!

Published August 16, 2013

The kitchen has a bunch of fruit flies in it, and apparantly they are coming from (or at least feeding on) the hole in the top of this banana. Based on their light color I suspect these are very young fruit flies, so they are probably breeding in there as well.

After sealing it in a zip-top bag I’ve thrown out the remaining bananas, but not after taking the most-rotted upper section and putting it in a pint glass, covering the top with foil, and piercing it with a toothpick (photo). Hopefully this will work nicely as trap for the remaining flies that seem to be lingering in the area. Ten minutes or so have passed since I assembled the makeshift trap and it already contains four flies, so it looks promising.

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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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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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Home-Made Protein Bars

Published May 26, 2013

Earlier this year I asked Danielle if she’d come up with some manner of food / energy / protein bar for me to eat while doing longer bike rides. She took this Protein Bar recipe from Good Eats and adapted it to use things we had around the house, and they came out quite nice. I’ve eaten some of this stuff on all of the long rides I’ve done recently, and it seems to help quite a bit by getting some solid food in my stomach.

Once baked these have a nice, slightly fruity and peanut butter-y taste, and by cutting them, putting them in individual sandwich bags and freezing, it’s easy to take one out and thaw it before (or on the first part of) a longer ride. I’ve found that a large pizza cutter (rolling style) works very well for cutting these into individual pieces.

Here’s what goes into them — the adapted recipe:

4 oz. Vanilla Protein Powder
2 1/2 oz. Oat Bran
3 1/4 oz. Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
11 oz. Dried Cranberries (Substitute other dried fruit as desired.)
1 oz. Sweetened Coconut Flakes
12.3 oz. Soft Silken Tofu (Typically one package.)
1/2 cup Carrot Juice
4 oz. Light Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs, Beaten
170g Peanut Butter (Natural as possible, peanuts and salt only.)

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a 13″ x 9″ baking pan/dish with parchment and coat with oil.
In a large bowl combine protein powder, oat bran, wheat flower, and salt. Whisk together.
Coarsely chop the dried fruit. Set aside in a small bowl.
In a third bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth, then add the carrot juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter and process until smooth. A stick blender can help with this.
Slowly add the the protein powder mixture into the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Fold in the dried fruit and coconut flakes.
Pour into pan and spread into an even layer.
Bake for around 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 222°F.
Remove from oven, cool completely, then cut into the desired number of pieces.

Nutritional info for the entire batch, for the original recipe, which should be close to the modified version:

Calories: 4008 kcal
Total Fat: 120 g
Saturated Fat: 24 g
Protein: 192 g
Total Carbohydrates: 552 g
Sugar: 336 g
Fiber: 72 g
Cholesterol: 432 mg
Sodium: 1896 mg

I typically cut this batch into around 12 pieces, resulting in ~334 kcal and around 16 g of protein per bar. Most of them go into the freezer in individual plastic bags, and then I just take one two on each longer ride.

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New Bike: 2013 Salsa El Mariachi Ti

Published April 25, 2013

Today I finished assembling my new bike, a complete 2013 Salsa El Mariachi Ti, size medium, that I purchased from Trail’s Edge. For quite some time I’ve wandered a dedicated, geared hard tail 29er, and so back in September 2012 I ordered this one. It was originally slated to ship in mid-December 2012, but (apparently due to Salsa’s growing popularity) it slipped until this past week (April 2013). Regardless, I’m happy to have it.

This was purchased as a complete bike and received it in the box so I could put it together myself. This worked out well because I both like assembling my own bicycles, and it allowed me to swap out the parts I was immediately wanting to change, like the saddle, handle bars, grips, and tires. I end up spending around 12 hours on the initial assembly of a bike this way, but then I’m comfortable with how it went together and how it’d been tuned, and when something goes awry I’m ready to take care of it.

The only problem I had during this assembly was with the tubeless setup on the rear wheel. I’d originally intended to use a Specialized Fast Trak Control tire, but I had enough difficulty getting it installed that I headed over to Rochester Bike Shop mid-assembly and picked up a Kenda Small Block Eight and used it instead. During the install I found the Specialized Fast Track on the Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Arch EX rim was such a tight fit that it was very difficult to get the tire fitted, and then it wouldn’t seat. Using my High Volume Inflater I attempted to overinflate the tire to get it to set, but before it did that the other side blew off the rim with an incredible bang, with enough force to bend and crimp the tubeless valve inside the head of the inflater. Thankfully the rim wasn’t damaged, so after getting the new valve and tire everything went together just fine.

I’m happy with how the bike came out thus far, with two exceptions, one minor and one major. The minor exception is that I don’t like the red logo on the side of the stem. It’s not terrible looking as there is some red at the bottom of the fork, but the bike now needs something red on the rear end to balance the color. This may get replaced, though, as the major problem is one of reach. While I’ve got the seat/crank area setup properly, the Salsa Bend 2 bar is not a drop-in replacement for the Ragley Carnegie’s Bar that I prefer.

The Bend 2 is both a little wider and doesn’t sweep back as far as the Carnegie’s Bar, and when measuring from the nose of the saddle to the bolts in the grip (same saddle and grips on both bikes) the El Mariachi Ti has 45mm more reach (saddle to grip) than either my steel El Mariachi or Titus Racer X 29er. It’s only a smidge longer than on the Mukluk 2, so I will give it a go for this weekend (scheduled for 8.5 hours of riding total) and see how it feels. I’ve thought that I’m perhaps a bit too upright on either the Titus or steel El Mariachi, but they’ve also felt fine for many, many hours of riding. Since the Carnegie’s Bar is no longer made and nearly impossible to find for sale I may have to investigate a stem change and trimming the bars if the current setup doesn’t work out. At least that should take care of the red color imbalance.

As with many tubeless setups the tire loses air for a while until a few rides can get the sealant wholly distributed, and this caused me one problem. When I got home from work today I found that the rear tire had lost its air, causing the bike to fall over in the stand. In doing so the top tube brushed a table leg, putting a small scuff in the finish. This is probably nothing compared to damage which the bike will incur from kicked up sticks and rocks, but it’s a bit frustrating for that to have happened before I even got it on a trail.

Finishing off the bike I topped the Niner YAWYD with a cap from Southern Tier Brewing Company. This black bottle cap with a shovel and traditional wood mashing paddle fits very nicely on the bike, and is a (admittedly non-Michigan) brand that I really enjoy. I’ve taken the bike for a ride around local neighborhoods to bed in the brakes and get the Garmin Edge 500 to auto-calculate a rear wheel size, so it’s ready to ride this weekend. This proved that the Elegant Cadence Magnet that I’d posted about earlier works great, even using a lower profile magnet than the one pictured before. It’s much nicer than a magnet sticking off the back side of the pedal, secured with adhesive and a cable tie.

So far I’m really happy with this bike, and I expect this to continue as I ride it more. There’s a little bit of fit tweaking like with any new bike, but I think I’ve got it pretty close, and hopefully it’ll work well for the foreseeable feature, allowing me to successfully complete a number of long rides. Weighing in at 26.16 pounds (as pictured here, including the Garmin) it’s also one of the lightest bikes I’ve ever owned.

I’ve got a few parts leftover that I probably won’t use (Salsa Back Country Lock-On Grips, WTB Pure V saddle, too-short Salsa Pro Moto 1 Seatpost, Salsa Pro Moto 1 Carbon Flat handlebar, Continental Trail King 2.2 tires) on this bike, but they’ll be good things to add to the spares pile. I’ve also got a SRAM X7 S1400 2×10 crankset without bottom bracket (it was stock on the El Mariachi Ti, I replaced it with the X0 that I picked up a few months back), but as it is 104 BCD I can see myself using it on another bike as a single speed or 1×9 crankset.

A bunch of photos of the bike, including stock photos and some of the parts added to the base build can be found in this album: Salsa El Mariachi Ti. Photos of the complete bike can be found here.

Here’s the exact components on it, as of this evening:

Frame: 2013 Salsa El Mariachi Ti (Medium / 17″)

Fork: Fox Racing Shox OE, CTD w/ Open Bath Damper

Headset: Cane Creek 40 ZS44/EC44

Bottom Bracket: Truvativ GXP (XR / Black)

Crankset: Truvativ 2011 2×10 X0 GXP (00.6115.422.070, Blue)

Rims: Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Arch EX 29er (Blue Accents)

Tires: Front: Schwalbe Racing Ralph HS 425 (29″ x 2.25″, New Style, TL-Ready), Rear: Kenda Small Block Eight (29″ x 2.1″, DTC, non-SCT, K1047)

Hubs: Front: Shimano HB-M788, Rear: Shimano FH-M785

Spokes: DT Swiss Competition (Black)

Handlebar: Salsa Bend 2 (23°)

Stem: Salsa Pro Moto 1 (100mm)

Seatpost: Thomson Elite (Straight, 27.2mm x 410mm)

Seatpost Collar: Salsa Lip-Lock (32.0mm)

Saddle: Specialized Phenom Comp (143mm, Grey / Black Underside)

Grips: Ergon GP1 BioKork (Large)

Shifters: SRAM X9 2×10 Trigger

Front Derailleur: SRAM X7 High Direct Mount

Rear Derailleur: SRAM X0 Medium Cage (Blue)

Cassette: SRAM PG 1070 (11-36)

Chain: SRAM PC 1051

Pedals: Crank Brothers Eggbeater 3 (Blue)

Brakes: Shimano XT, Levers: BL-M785, Calipers: BR-M785, Front Rotor: SM-RT67-M (180mm), Rear Rotor: SM-RT67 (160mm)

Bottle Cages: King Cage Iris

Other Accessories: Mirracycle Original Incredibell, Niner YAWYD Top Cap, Planet Bike Superflash Stealth, Scotch 2228 (Chainstay Wrap), Race Face Crank Boots, UHMW Tape for Cable Rub and Heel Rub, Garmin GPS Mount.

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A Clean Closet

Published March 17, 2013

The closet in the office has always been a bit of a dead space. It’s housed a filing cabinet and been used for a bit of storage, but ever since moving in here eleven-some years ago it’s been rather neglected. It was originally a basic particle board shelving closet with the curved metal faces to hold hangers, but something more was needed. Previously I had fit a plastic filing cabinet and old wood CD rack in one side, and two cheap shelves and the printer on the other side. This worked, but something more was needed, so with Danielle here we decided to make better use of the space.

By picking up a HON 510 four-drawer filing cabinet the plastic filing cabinet could be replaced and more stuff filed away. ClosetMaid-brand wire shelving was installed as shoe racks in the lower half of the right side, and the upper half was fitted with a rail-based adjustable shelf system. This provides much more storage on the upper part of the closet, better filing of paperwork and things that I want to save such as old manuals and receipts, and a place to put shoes that isn’t right next to a door.

Total cost for this project, including the filing cabinet, was $343.78, with $178.47 of that being the new filing cabinet (after tax and shipping, purchased on a sale at Costco) and $165.31 being the wire shelving and some extras that Danielle wanted for the bedroom closet. This also provided the impetus for cleaning out the closet and disposing of a fair bit of old paperwork and media that I’d let accumulate over the years. I still have a bit of filing of old data and audio CDs to do and some cables to put away, but that should only be an evening’s work.

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