The Hajj

I made the pilgrimage to The City today. My destination was, of course, Harris Cyclery, the forever spiritual home of the Great Sheldon Brown, may Alla bless his name. Even though this shop is "conveniently located" right off the Mass Pike, I had to drop off some one in Camberville and so decided to take the overland route which just happened to pass right through the Broadway Bicycle School.

First, I want to note a few things that I saw about The City. There were a ton of bikes everywhere. There were tons of bike lanes everywhere. There were also TONS of cars and stoplights everywhere! That, and the fact that there were no real "hills" to speak of made me think that it would be nuts to get around and way BUT bike if I lived in The City. Of course I don't. And that sucks. I think that I would like living in the the City much, much more that I like visiting it, or, more to the point, driving into it! Blech!

Secondly, BBS is fricken tiny! I thought that it would be so much.....more. Initially, I strode boldly into the "shop" only to realize instantly that in this case "Shop" really meant shop and not "store"! The floors were wooden and well worn. The walls were lined with tools and the place was full of cold but happy cyclists and workers, who were much less cold but still appeared to be quite happy. It was cozy. There were very, very few things for sale there, other than a big rack of bikes that I assumed to be refurbished whips. I spoke briefly with a nice man with a beard, smiled inside myself, took a schedule of up-coming repair classes that I will doubtfully attend and left. The overall feeling of the place, to me, was a combination of my grandfather's garage and a ski lodge.

Then, it was off to the "big event": Harris! I drove over filled with a sense of anticipation that seemed appropriate for this season. Had I been on a bicycle I might have made it on time. Sadly, the shop was closed. Even though all I could do was press my nose against the glass and drool a little, I can see why this place is Mecca for cyclist with an "old school" bent to them. Lugged this, Italian that and all kinds of folding something elses. What a place! My father, who rode a Bianchi and always lusted after a folding bike (a more ridiculous and dorky thing I could never imagine in my teen-aged mind) would have locked himself inside before he would have allowed himself to be locked outside of that place! I can't wait to get back there! Simply amazing place AND they have stuff for sale!

Oh my! The new Trek!

Is a bike. Sadly. No more no less. It was not a rocket ship. It didn't let ,me go any faster or any farther. It handles nicer than the Marathon but not as sharp as the PRN-10. There are a LOT of gears, most of which I don't need and some of which are suprizingly far apart from each other. Despite the fact that I "went down" to a 58, I found the reach to the bars to be just a smidge too long. I moved the seat a little forward and hope that does the trick. I only did 5 miles or so. I like the 1500 better than the vintage bikes but not that much better. I guess I just expected so much....more. I'll keep riding it in fair weather. Perhaps as I pile on more miles I'll come to appreciate it more. Right now though it's just alright.

edit: I was reflecting today. Rainy days are good reflecting days. The bike, other than felling a tad too big for me, felt like nothing else at all. This was my first aluminum road bike, and pretty much my first aluminum bike at all. It is certainly my first bike with 23c tires that take 120PSI. I expected a rough, stiff ride. I did not get it. In fact, the way that the bike road or "felt" played no part, either positive or negative, in my cycling experience at all. And that's good. I'll say it agiane; nice bike.

I got a New (to me) bike!

But can't ride it. I just haven't had the chance. Heck, I don't even have any pictures of it! It is a 2005 Trek 1500. I only test rode it up and down the street in front of the seler's house but I can already tell that it is an experience worlds away from the Vintage Steel that I have been riding. I can't wait to get some miles on it before the snow and ice come. There is NO room on this bike for fenders or wide tires. Racey. Fast. Nice.

Cyclocross

I went with friends and family to witness my first Cyclocross today. I had heard a lot of hype about what to expect and I was thinking that it would be much more of a circus than it was. I was expecting it to be muddier than it was. I was expecting there to be more running than there was. I was expecting a lot more of....every thing than there was! What it did have were a lot of racers! There were more people on bikes there than I ever did see in one l place at one time. They were all going to be riding at one point of the day or the other. I think my small band were some of the few pure spectators there. I kind of felt out of place. I was there to support a small LBS owner who had given me a special bolt to fit an old bike. He did pretty well. He was racing Cat-4 and 45+ Masters. WOW! Were these guys fast! I was impressed. I am certainly in no shape ,yet, to even think about a cross race. There is racing right now and the Cat-1s go off in an hour or so. We had to come home because the babies were getting cold and tired. I was thinking about going back to watch the fast guys but I'm thinking that I'll just go for a ride so next year I can move from Cat-6 to Cat-4!

Oh, and PS two things:

1. Those guys are FAST! The cat-4 guys, the over 45 guys, the over 55 guys even the kiddos are FAST!
   
2. I didn't see a single Crosscheck in the pack. FWIW.
   

Boo-O-8

I took my new pride-and-joy out for a peddle today. I had some tinkering to do on it over the last few days and I knew that it was not 100% but it should have been road worthy. I had it on the stand last night and ran it through all the gears and adjusted the wheels and brakes so that, even though I knew the wheels weren’t 100% true, nothing rubbed and every thing worked as it should. I have a fancier model Peugeot that I rode around for quite a bit last year despite the fact that it was much, much too small for me. I guess I had too high expectations for this lowly UO-8.

Something was ticking. Front wheel or back, I couldn’t quite figure this out but I think it was the front. Last night I found a big divot on the back rim that caused one tire to blow out and another to almost explode. I used a pair of channel-locks to ease that ding back into place but it wasn’t a 100% fix so that was my immediate concern. I got off the bike and tried both wheels and they spun clear with no rubbing or real wobbling.

Secondly, there was something wrong with the peddling. As I would peddle through the 12 O’Clock position it would “click” on the left side. I have heard this noise before. I had hear this noise before. When I was ten. The kids with the crappiest bikes made this noise when they were peddling about. It was obnoxious then and it was obnoxious now. Of course, when I dismounted the bike and tried to re-create the sound by hand I was unable to do it.

The bike stopped poorly and handled poorly. It made noises that made me fear that it would explode or fall apart. It was nowhere near the ride of my PRN and certainly not even as nice as my Raleigh Marathon. I could pour a lot of work and money into it and I am sure that it would be a better riding bike! Sadly, I don’t have enough knowledge to diagnose these symptoms , nor the tools to fix most of them. I have a UO-14 in size extra-large that also rides nicer than this turd. That bike I got for free. I’m gonna slap a set of fenders on that and ride that as my winter beater. Perhaps I will make the time and money investment to make the UO-8 special but for the time being it seems as if I made a bad call with this one!

Three Speeds Again.

I dug the old three speed out of the cellar tonight and took her for a little around the block. Last year I never got her working right and I ma afraid that I might not this year either. I also remember thinking last year that three speeds simply were not enough. I think that i may have spoken too soon. I did not try to tackle and of the bigger hill on my usual route but I did some light climbing and first gear wasn't that bad. I suspect that with a larger rear cog fitted it would be fine for most around-town circumstances. I felt that I was going "more than fast enough" in third gear and I would have had to be peddling a lot faster to have been "spinning". The Kenda Cyclocross tires that I fitted to the bike (a mistaken purchase that turned out serendipitously) proved to be plenty grippy and plush on my all steel bicycle.

Sadly, all is no well. My sprung Brooks saddle that is so much the rage on the internet was found to be rather un-comfortable. I suspect that a few simple adjustments wold rectify this situation. Of a more dire concern is the front wheel. It sat tight and spun true when the bike was on the stand, but on the road it wobbles from side to side in the fork. I understand that thee is suppoed to be a certain amount of "play" in the front wheel of a bicycle like this but the amount of play resulted in an unstable feeling and a tire that rubbed against the fender. Both potentially dangerous situations. I have been lax in the past to spend any dough on this bike,not knowing if I had any real use or interest in it as I never got it quite out the door last year. This year, I think it might be "worth it" to have the hub situation looked into. I suspect that they might need new bearings or something. Methinks that this might be the excuse that I have been looking for to make the Pilgrimage to Harris Cyclery that I have always wanted to make. Maybe I'll run into a "certain someone" while I am there!

Dumpy Bicycle

Two days ago I made the "jump" to the "Ten Mile" ride. I had to walk up "The Nemesis" from Juniper road to the top and had to walk up the back side of "Cemetery Hill" but I did it! I was prety stoked. I tried again today, even though I wasn't "feeling it". But it worked out better than two days ago. I made it all the way to Sleepy Hollow Road and didn't have to walk all the way up! I didn't even slow down to get past the cemetery. That's not the story. That's what's supposed to happen. The more that you ride the better you are supposed to get. The story is how I was dressed!



I was dressed like this. I know! How could I? No spandex (hold on)? No "tech" fabric (sorta)? So what the hell was I wearing? My gloves were nice gel-palm motorcycling gloves that made the transition very well thank you. I had on LL Bean hiking socks under tennis shoes. Had it been colder or rainier I would have been wearing them under gortex hiking boots.Tear-away insulated wind pants and a nylon wind breaker with a giant, reflective "N" on the back complete the outer layer. A hooded nylon windbreaker at that. Fuck it. As shocking as it may sound, I didn't even knit my own cycling-specific hat! I chose a DepartMart helmet instead. I'm sure that since it's cycling specific, said hat would provide nearly the same protection in the event of a crash, but I'm not sure. I DO know that it wouldn't blow off of my hair.

As much as I would love to rip on people who get overly involved in the fashion of cycling clothing I will have to admit that beyond a shadow of a doubt a shell worn for cycling should NOT have a big ol' hood, unless it zips securely into the collar. In the best of circumstances it billows out behind you in a way that reminds one of exactly NOT a silk scarf of a WWI Flying Ace. It also impedes one's view of traffic as seen over either the left or right shoulder. Under other circumstances it can un-furl itself (from it's position rolled up and tucked under the collar) as you are descending a hill at high speed. This has several effects. First, it scares the heck out of you when you hear the very loud "SNAP" right behind your (fortunately helmeted) head. Secondly, it creates a great deal of drag that is uncomfortable and slows you down like a parchute coming out of the aft end of a dragster.

Under that exotic mix of clothing I wore my GI issued Poly-pro shirt, and on the bottom layer my (too small) cycling jersey and my bike shorts with the little pad thingie in them. It was 48 degrees out today, according to the Interweb, and I was just on the wrong side of too warm with this outfit. The only saving grace is the humungus neck opening of the wind breaker that made quite a nice vent. I tell you these things not to show how much money I spent on my kit or display how fashionable I looked as I achieved neither of these goals. I show you what I was wearing because I want every one to know, especially thos of us old, fat, and new to cycling, that it CAN be done and done on the cheep and without over much regard to what you fucking look like. True to the original nature and intent of this blog, I also posted them for myself. I did this for two reasons. Foremost, I wanted a before shot. I'm topping in at 232 right now. That is the fattest and most disgusting I have ever been in the whole history of me. Secondly, as I reviewed the photos that were taken today, I realized that I do not look totally rediculous in my little outfit. I'm not going to get hired on as a cycling cloths model, that's for sure but a little spandex didn't make my fat rolls pop out that badly.

So there it is. I got out there and did a good job. I did it without breaking the bank on a bunch of "high tech" event-specific clothing and I did it without breaking the bank on a bunch of "old school" tweedy-wooly crap. I used what I had on hand and looked OK doing it. More importantly, I stayed warm and dry and had a great ride!