Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.
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I’m not going to complain about a trip to the ATM and UPS drop box expanding into an hour+ ~14 mile ride that involves meeting Danielle for frozen custard, but platform pedals and sandals weren’t the best choice. Next time I’ll wear something better.
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Yesterday I met up with some friends from MMBA / mountain biking stuff and recorded this video of one lap of the current single track at River Bends. It starts out with me following a guy named Jim (who provided the camera), until part-way through (after ripping his shirt on a tree) he drops back and I follow Vlad to the end of the single track trail. This does not show any of the pavement, seasonal loops, or two track return trail.
Click the image above or here to watch.
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Having worn out the chainrings on the Titus I took time to tear down the bike, check torque on all fasteners, bleed and change the fluid in the brakes, and generally give it a mid-year cleaning. I also fitted the Wickwerks chainrings seen above, a Mountain XC Compact set acquired in this bundle. (The cranks were used on the Salsa El Mariachi.)
Erik and Nick are both using these rings, and I’d heard nothing but great things about them, including how (incredibly) quickly they shift. Having fitted them and gone for a test ride, I’m very impressed. The specially ramped rings quickly lift the chain, making shifts happen much faster than traditional rings where a pin or two will lift the chain. Whether or not high performance front shifting is really that important is definitely debatable, but with the rings being a good price (in the bundle) I’m considering them worth it.
What’s particularly interesting is something that Erik pointed out. When on the bike stand the front chainrings seem to shift just about as well as any other set. However, once on the bike and under load they shift much, much faster.
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I just received thirty (30) SIO connectors. Why, you ask? For the next batch of SDrive NUXXs that I’m going to build… It’s been about two years since I shipped the last built any and a brief straw poll shows interest in another run. So, I think I’ll put some more together.
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While riding this past week I had a few occurrences of what seemed like a bit of chain suck which quickly corrected itself. I’ve also been having a problem with the chain dropping into the smallest chainring up front, telling me that it’s time to look at (and readjust) my drivetrain. Looking over the rings this evening I found this large burr on the middle ring, along with a whole bunch of wear†, which means that it’s time to replace the middle chainring. I also got to looking at the cassette, and it’s likely due for replacement too, with small burrs forming on the more commonly used cogs. The chain is fine, with Park Tool’s CC-3 indicating less than .75% stretch, and thus safe to continue using.
When I built up the Salsa El Mariachi I used a Race Face Deus crankset purchased on a deal from Wickwerks which got me the crankset and a triple set of Wickwerks rings for just under $200. With the crankset now fitted with a Surly ring I have the Wickwerks rings left over and ready to go on the Titus. While the smallest and largest rings aren’t worn enough to replace I think I’ll replace them anyway so that I’ve got a matching Wickwerks set along with it’s high performance shifting.
I’ll probably do this all sometime later in the week, as tonight’s going to involve going to bed early. In the mean time I’ve got two other excellent bikes to ride.
† Photo of worn, almost hooked middle chainring from the Titus’ original crankset.
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This past weekend was the Lumberjack 100 (LJ) race up north, and I headed up with Erik, Kristi, Nick, and Marty to both volunteer for the race and watch Nick and Erik finish. We stayed in a nice (and rather remote-feeling) cabin, everything went according to plan, and I was able to get in a bunch of nice riding on both the North Country Trail and at Midland’s City Forest. It was a very nice weekend.
On Thursday after work I headed up north, meeting Erik and Kristi at Shay Station, a very nice coffee shop / restaurant place in Cadillac. We headed to the cabin, met up with Nick and Marty, then had a lazy evening and Friday which mostly involved final bike maintenance, eating good food (thanks, Kristi!), and relaxing. Then, Saturday morning was Lumberjack.
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I woke at 4am, as I had to be at the trailhead at 5:30am to work my first volunteer shift in the parking lot. Just after this wrapped up the 337-strong pack of racers passed me (pic · pic) and the race was on, so it was time for me to head to the aid station for the first shift there. This was a great place to be, as it allowed me to see all the leaders come through on their first lap and then help out any of those who stopped and needed assistance. Working at the aid station mostly involved filling up people’s hydration packs and bottles, getting them food, and just generally helping them out if the needed anything. It was quite nice, and something really fun to do as opposed to sitting back in a tent and waiting for people to finish.
After the aid station shift I took a short break, then spent some time handing out patches. Everyone who finishes LJ gets a dated patch commemorating their completion of the race just as the cross the finish line, and this was also a great (albeit slightly hectic) time since I got to see quite a few people I know crossing. After a few hours of this (and being able to give Erik his patch) I turned the job over to someone else and hung out back in the Trail’s Edge team tent. Not long after Nick came across the finish line (pic) for his first LJ finish. That evening we celebrated with beer and bratwurst (Garlic/Kraut and Jalapeno) from The Dublin General Store, but due to the long day (albeit not nearly as long as Nick and Erik’s) I soundly fell asleep pretty early.
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The next day after we all packed up and parted ways, and I headed off towards the Timber Creek Trailhead to ride some of the North Country Trail (NCT). Not knowing much about the area in which I was riding I ended up heading north for 45 minutes, then turning back towards the trail head. After reaching the trail head I wanted to ride some more, and a quick look on the map showed a river access not far away, so I headed south down the NCT to the Upper Branch Bridge River Access and spent some time wading around in the water before returning to the car.
This was an absolutely wonderful segment of trail to ride. Very beautiful but with nice rolling hills and great views. I’d really like to do it again, but next time riding straight through from one of the other trail heads. That’d put it at roughly a 40 mile ride, so there’d be a need to stage cars for this.
After leaving the NCT I stopped off at Midland City Forest on the way home, just for a bit more riding. The trail was much drier than the last time I was there and it was a bit more fun to ride, even though I was quite tired and got turned around (read: lost) a few times.
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Yesterday afternoon Danielle and I received another one of the gifts on our Amazon Wedding Registry, but this one is something that I’d specifically picked out: a Baratza Virtuoso coffee grinder. For years now I’ve been grinding and brewing coffee fresh every morning, and Danielle has started to do the same. The coffee grinder that we had (well, still have) was a basic Mr. Coffee model that worked, but leaked grounds, had static electricity problems (read: grounds would fly out and cling to things when opening it), and would clog a couple times a week.
After doing a bunch of research, this grinder seemed to be the most cost effective model, while still holding a goodly quantity of beans. Having received it I’m not disappointed. It feels very solidly made, is much quieter than the previous grinder, has a more consistent grind, and doesn’t build up a bunch of static. I’m really looking forward to using this. Hopefully it’ll be the end of having to listen for the telltale sign of the grinder starting to clog and running to the kitchen to stop it before it plugs and starts heating the grounds and turning the clogged bits into powder.
Thanks, Bennett!
2 CommentsFor those of you with a Google Nexus One who may find your phone in PUK Lock mode (as I did today), the sequence (once you obtain your PUK Code) is as follows:
**05* (PUK CODE) * (NEW PIN) * (CONFIRM NEW PIN) #
The code can be acquired from your mobile provider, and is tied to your SIM. That is, it won’t change as long as your SIM doesn’t change.
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It seems I forgot how to ride single track in the dark. These scrapes and dent on my old helmet are from failing to account for a lack of depth perception (or shadows) when riding with only a helmet light, hitting a small downed tree at the very beginning of the River Bends trails, and falling on my shoulder and the back/side of my head. I also smacked the inside of my thigh with the top tube and that’s a bit sore.
I’m fine, but it sure was a quality fall and yet another reminder of why one should wear a helmet while riding in the woods. It also did a fine job of reminding me that obstacles disappear when your only light source is on your head. Oh well!
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My new bike rack, a 1up USA Quick-Rack arrived today. I’ve had my eye on these for a while because they are well-engineered, well-made, simple, US-made, all aluminum and stainless steel racks that hold both wheels at once. Ever since getting my first real mountain bike at the beginning of 2008 I’ve used this Thule 917 T2 rack. While it works sufficiently, I didn’t like how it held just one wheel, it’s inability to fit in the trunk without folding down the seats, it obscuring my license place when folded up, and the amount of work required to fit two bikes on it without the bars and seats hitting each other. After Erik picked up one of these 1up USA racks for his new car I got to seeing how nice it is and I decided to finally get one for myself.
Along with the one-bike rack I picked up an add-on to allow a second bike to be carried. Because of how the arms work the bike’s position isn’t fixed side to side, and coupled with the second rack being slightly taller than the first it’s trivial to fit two bikes. This photo shows my single speed and the Titus easily fitting on the rack together, something which would require unbolting and adjusting the bars on the Thule, or turning the bars so they didn’t hit the other bike’s seat. This rack also folds up small enough that I could put it on the floor of the back seat behind one seat if needed.
The biggest downside to this rack is that there’s no built-in system for locking up bikes. The Thule had locks on the tire-holding arms, and while these are easily defeated† I can’t help but think the presence of a lock provides a slight deterrence. As such I’ll likely be getting a U lock and cable so that, if needed, I can easily lock the rack to the hitch and then string the cable through the bikes. While I wouldn’t drive with this setup (for fear of cable rub wearing needlessly on paint) it’d be sufficient to keep the bikes from walking away while parked. Even just a simple cable through the rack, bikes, and tow chain loops may be sufficient as well.
If you’d like to see more photos of this rack, including the packaging it came in, please look in this album: 1up USA Quick-Rack
† To remove a bike from one of these racks, simply deflate the front tire slightly and the arm will be free. It is also often possible to remove the front skewer, lift the rest of the bike off the rack, then pull the arm down over the tire.
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