Out with the "old" (and in with the new). IE - FOR SALE

I'm clearing some bikes out of my house. Not because they're broken, or in poor shape, but because these bikes don't fit into the riding I'm discovering that I really enjoy. The first is being sold because it's a size too small for me. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably hang onto it. Due to the size issue, I don't enjoy riding it. The second bike is being sold because it's being replaced with something a little more off-road worthy. It's a solid bike with some nice upgrades and has been well taken care of.

If you fit either of these bikes, leave a comment and lets see if we can make a deal.


1990 Schwinn Paramount
56cm frame
Waterford hand built OS steel frame
Silver and red
Chris King Headset
Dura Ace Brakes
9 Speed Dura Ace drivetrain w Campy ergo shifters
Selle Italia Flite Saddle
American Classic seatpost
Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedals
Weight - 20 lbs
(Photo is with older set of pedals and tires)

Asking $1100. Open to a reasonable offer.


Olive Green Surly Long Haul Trucker

The LHT has been SOLD to a good home.

Slow and Sloppy

Friday's ride didn't turn out quite like I expected. The photo is a good summary of the 75+ miles of gravel I rode on my way to Whiterock Conservancy. Wet, sloppy and sandy. Pair that with a bike that was, once again, loaded too heavily, and it made for slow, if steady, going. I made it a point early on to not display anything but my map on the Garmin. I didn't want to know how slowly I was going, how far I had gone, or what time it was. I gave in slightly north of Redfield while I was drinking some tasty coffee and eating some pop tarts. 32 miles in 2.75 hours. This was going to be a long day. Made it into Panora about 1:30 PM. (5-ish hours for 55 miles). Stopped at the grocery store to get some garbage bags so my sleeping bag would stay dry. After stop for lunch and some time at the laundromat to dry out my sleeping bag, I was on my way again. My next stretch took me 20 miles straight north. It was rough going, and by the time I hit Cooper I felt my energy waning. I opted to take a short break and head north on the Raccoon River Trail for a few miles to give my legs a break.

At the point I turned west, I ate an apple and finished the last of my (still hot) coffee. With my energy levels as low as they were, I should have ridden the 3 miles into Jefferson and grabbed an additional meal at a cafe. Instead, I turned west and planned on refueling at Coon Rapids. After a very slow 10 mile, I had stopped to take a rest when Gil, a local, pulled up next to me and asked if I needed any help. I explained what was going on and he offered me a ride to the conservancy. I told him that once I got some food in me, I'd be in good shape. Gil ran back down the road to snag some granola bars for me and I continued my trek west. By the time he got back, I had decided to throw in the towel, rather than be out another 4 hours in the cold and rain. Gil wouldn't accept my offer of filling his truck up, but he did accept the case of Busch Lite came out of the convenience store with me. (Score one for being observant when getting in someone's truck). A few minutes later, and I was in the campsite, with Squirrel grinning at me once he saw my face inside of Gil's truck.

The Long Haul Tucker worked out well as a gravel grinding platform, especially with the wider tires. I had no issues with seat or hand discomfort during the ride. I did notice the extra drag of the Panaracers. Despite the sandy wet conditions, I think that I would have been just as fine using the Continentals. I would REALLY like to see WTB build a Nanoraptor in a 1.9" width. Again, I managed to bring too much stuff with me for a two day stay. I'll eventually get the packing right for a short 2 day trip. Too many tools and bike parts are with me "just in case", but I figure a little weight is better than being stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I have also decided that I need a lighter rain coat as it was at least a pound by itself. My Friday morning switch over the the Arkel Samurai panniers was a good idea. Nothing inside of them got wet, and they stood up to the sand well too. Some additional planning around waterproofing of certain items (tent and sleeping bag) will make another ride in the rain better. Since this was my third camping trip on the bike, I still have a bit of learning to do. I do feel like I'm getting closer to having things dialed in. My eventual goal is to be able to be ready to leave for a one or two day camping trip within two hours.

So, 200 miles planned, 75 or 80 actually ridden. Instead of being even on gravel centuries, I now find myself even further behind than when I started. Lots of riding to do in October and November if I'm gonna get a cup. Damn that Mable all to hell. :)

I took some photos along the way. Some good, some pretty plain. Enjoy.

Experiments

Been thinking more about this Fargo, and the whole adventure bike/monster cross thing. I had some time after coming home from the IMBCS time trial, and went to work in the garage.



The 2.1" WTB NanoRaptors are SO close to fitting that it's not even funny. Plenty of (well, enough) clearance in the front, and a slight bit of rubbing on the chainstays due to the side knobs. Even if I file them off, it's gonna be pretty tight. I'm going to try and track down some 1.8" tires this week and mount them up and see how it goes. If I can get them to fit, I'll break the setup on the double gravel century this weekend.

Back Home

Combine 10 days on the road, a 100 lb touring bike, 650 miles of riding and you have a heck of a vacation. I'm back. More to come as I sort through the 500 photos and try to recall the details.

The pilgrimage

Leaving tomorrow to make the annual trek across the state. My Long Haul Trucker will be the trusty steed that gets me to the start and through the event. All loaded up, the LHT comes in at right around 100 lbs for this trip. Tomorrow we ride to Redfield, meet with more of the sandal class, and work our way to Marne on Friday.

Day 3: Tipton to Galesburg, IL

I woke up about 5:00 AM Thursday. My concern about someone discovering my stealth campsite and the constant noise courtesy of the local avian population meant that I was done sleeping. At least the early morning call of the ring-necked pheasant made it feel somewhat like home. In 20 minutes, I broke camp, packed, cleaned the mud off of my cleats, and headed into town in search of food and a place to clean up a bit. Thankfully, the Tipton Family Restaurant opens at 5 AM during the week. I parked my bike on the sidewalk, grabbed a change of clothes along with my camera charger, and sat down in a booth close to the front door. I was the cafe's third customer of the morning. The others were two local farmers having breakfast before making their rounds for the day. I was feeling fairly hungry, so I ordered coffee, orange juice, two pancakes, and a side of corned beef hash. While my order was being prepared, I plugged in the battery charger then went to the rest room to splash a bit of water on my face and change into some new riding clothes. I had a quick chat with one of the farmers about my planned route to Muscatine. He confirmed that I shouldn't have any issues with road closures on the roads I was taking. A few minutes after I sat down in the booth, my breakfast arrived. A nice sized plate of hash and two of the largest pancakes I've seen in recent months. I opted to eat slow and try and get as much food in me as possible to fuel today's ride. This had the side benefit of giving my camera battery some additional time to charge.

Riding into town, I happened to look up and notice that Tipton had already installed their RAGBRAI banner at the entrance to town. Tipton is one of the overnight stops on RAGBRAI this year and the residents are quite excited about the event. While I was finishing my breakfast, more of the locals were coming in for their morning coffee or breakfast meetings. There was interest in my trip and whether I was going to be back again at the end of the month. One person walked in and commented that my bike appeared to be loaded up and ready to head to Sturgis for Bike Week.

Leaving the restaurant, I noted the still cool and humid air along with the northeast wind. Since I was a bit chilled riding into town, I decided to give my new arm warmers a try. I had discussed the merits of arm warmers with Chuck from Kyle's bikes on our night time gravel ride just a few days earlier. Hopefully, they'd both keep me warm and keep the sun off my arms. Fueled and clothed, I headed south out of Tipton on IA Hwy 38 and was immediately greeted with more rolling hills. The good news was the grades were a gentler since this was a main route to I-80 and beyond. The bad news was this was a main route to I-80 and beyond, so the first few miles were filled with cars and a number of semi trucks heading both north and south. After crossing the I-80, the road flattened considerably since I was close to the flood plain of the Iowa River. The ride into Muscatine was pleasant and non-eventful. I did run into a three mile stretch of gravel not too far outside of town. At this point, the appearance of a gravel road didn't require anything other than a downshift and slightly looser grip on the handle bars. At 8:30 AM, I found myself descending into Muscatine. The route was considerably flatter than last year's trek from Dyersville during RAGBRAI. I had planned on stopping for a snack of some sort in Muscatine. Once I arrived, I wasn't hungry and I wanted to keep moving so I could reach Galesburg by a reasonable hour. I headed north a few blocks to the Hwy 92 bridge and started to cross the Mississippi river. Traffic on the bridge was much lighter than I expected. I stopped on the bridge for a number of minutes and took a number of photos without any concern for my safety. Another nice feature of this bridge was the metal plates on the shoulders that covered the expansion joints. This allowed me to ride across the bridge without catching a tire in the joint itself.

After crossing the bridge, Illinois 92 has a nice paved shoulder that made for comfortable riding without needing to be concerned about traffic. About 2 miles from the river, I turned south onto a very smooth county road and cruised with the tail wind. Before I turned east to the climb up the bluff, I stopped to have a drink and a Clif bar. At this point, the gnats descended on me. Recent rains have caused the gnat populations to explode everywhere in the midwest. I decided that I should minimize any further stops to keep the insects at bay. I climbed back on the bike and started the climb. It was long, but not as steep as I was expecting considering I was on a county road. With the load I was carrying, it was still a solid bit of work and I was happy to reach the top. There's nothing like a friend to greet you at the end of a hard effort. Today, my friend was the northeast headwind, flowing unchecked across the corn and soybean fields of western Illinois. Since I was heading primarily east and south today, I decided the best thing to do was find a comfortable gear and keep spinning. For today, this turned out to be a 36x23 or a 36x20. I continued riding east to the town of Buffalo Prairie, cursing the headwind but rolling along at a steady 12.5 - 13.5 MPH.

Once in Buffalo Prairie, I stopped for a cold Coke and a short rest. Buffalo Prairie is the quintessential small rural town. The building I stopped at was a combination feed store, grocery store and post office. The town's other business was a combination meat locker, elevator and sandwich shop. I drank my Coke while talking with some of the other store patrons about my trip. They found it hard to believe that they were halfway between Tipton and Galesburg, or that I had covered close to 45 miles on a bicycle already that morning. After some additional talk, I bought another Coke for the road hit the road again. After enjoying the tailwind for a few miles, I made the next turn on my cue sheet which took me on to a gravel road. After pausing for a couple of minutes to make sure my directions were correct, and to take some more photos, I started down the road into the valley below. Crossing a small bridge, I came to an intersection and turned right to scout the next section of road. I was going to be riding a beautiful tree shaded section of gravel. Unfortunately, it was also going to be up a hill that was soon to peak at 10% grade. I am used to riding a 2.1" tire on gravel, not the 37 mm Continentals that came on my LHT. The tires, combined with the weight of all my "stuff" made for a challenging ride. As I rode onto the slope of the hill I quickly shifted into a 36x34 and kept my legs moving while wandering around to stay on the firmest part of the road. Eventually, I made it to a flatter section near the top of the climb. On my left, I noted a very poorly maintained mobile home with a yard full of junk, some long forgotten cars, and a large dumpster. Forging ahead, I rode up one more short, steep section of gravel before being deposited back onto the chipseal roads that are common in this part of rural Illinois. The remainder of the morning was uneventful, finishing with some additional east and south segments and depositing me into Aledo. It was almost noon, I was tired, and it was time for lunch.

I took a quick loop through the business district surrounding the town square, noting any eating establishments. I finally settled on The Garden Family Restaurant, not far from where I entered the square. Judging by the number of cars pulling up as I dismounted, I had picked a good place to eat. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with swiss, a small bowl of beef and noodle soup, fries and a glass of Mountain Dew. The soup was salty, which I found quite enjoyable after the morning's effort. Once the main course was finished, I had a piece of apple pie with ice cream. Nothing spectacular, but it was certainly edible. Looking at the staff, it was obvious that this was a family owned and operated business. The father and one other man were running the kitchen, while the mother and daughter waited on customers, with the help of one young man who obviously was not related to any of them. I drank a glass of water, had another refill of Mountain Dew and then headed back outside to apply some sunscreen and continue my journey. I had a brief chat with a rather wildly bearded man in overalls and a wide brimmed hat about the flooding that had hit the western part of the county. He seemed somewhat accepting of the hand that fate had dealt him. He said something to me in what I am pretty sure was Klingon, and wandered up the street. I guess my friend Bill was right when he said Aledo was an interesting town.

I rode south out of Aledo, past the high school, the country club, and other points south. Soon I would find myself riding on chip seal into the east wind. I passed through the town of Sunbeam and almost missed it. I am pretty sure that it consisted of a church and a house. Further east, I found myself on the outskirts of Burgess, a town consisting of three north-south avenues and two cross streets. There are many small towns in this part of Illinois. Not long after passing Burgess, I turned south and few minutes later, rode into the town of Alexis, the penultimate town on my journey. I found a convenience store, and bought some Gatorade (2 for $3 here too). During the time I was in the store, three other customers came in, and all of them, including a woman in her 60's, left the store with at least one case of beer in their arms. People in Alexis evidently know how to celebrate the 4th in style. The road out of Alexis wandered south and east with a couple of small hills and eventually I found myself on Illinois Route 164, headed into Galesburg.

Cyclists are rare in Galesburg, other than those that are riding to or from a bar. Cyclists that are assertive and take the entire lane confuse people. I had a lot of people giving me dirty looks as they had to use the left lane to get around me while I was riding down Main Street. While I was riding in the left hand lane due to a right lane closure, I had one driver who decided he'd rather cross the double yellow on the four lane street rather than wait the 30 seconds for me to clear the construction zone.

As I got closer to my sister's house, I decided to stop at a grocery store to get some tasty adult beverages to celebrate the end of my journey. As I was loading a case of beer on my front rack, an older gentleman walked up and asked me about my ride. He's retired, and one of the things he does to pass the time is look for people with stories to tell. Fully loaded touring bikes mean a story of some sort. He assumed initially that I was on a cross country trip. I gave him the Cliff's Notes version of the last few days, and after a few more minutes of conversation, I thanked him for the conversation and excused myself. A few minutes, and a few side streets later, I arrived at my final destination, not more that 30 minutes after my wife had arrived in one of our vehicles.

I relaxed with a couple of cold beers, took a shower, and then took my sister and brother-in-law out for tacos and margaritas at a local taco house. The night air was perfect, so we sat on the patio to eat. A couple of hours later, I was laying in a comfortable bed, already thinking ahead to RAGBRAI later this month, as well as other opportunities to take more trips like this in the future.

Route for the day is here.

Photos from the day are here.

Day 2: Montezuma to Tipton

I woke up around 5:30 AM Wednesday. I went through my normal morning routing of changing into my biking clothes and brushing my teeth. Damn. Pulled the toothpaste out of the drawer and didn't pack it in my kit. Oh well. Broke camp, packed everything up and headed out of the park. Exiting the park, I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise. After snapping some photos and swatting away the gnats, I headed into Montezuma for some breakfast. A couple of pancakes, some scrambled eggs and coffee allowed me to get the morning started properly. I had some conversations with the locals about my bike trip. I encouraged the waitress to think about a day of RAGBRAI, and just think about it as a series of 8 - 10 mile rides with breaks in between. It makes the day within reach of people that normally don't ride a lot.

I headed east out of Montezuma with a SW wind helping to push me along. The road was fairly flat and boring until the highway climbed onto a ridge, dove down over a small stream and then quickly climbed into the town of Deep River. Exiting Deep River, I kept heading east at a steady comfortable pace, the overcast skies keeping me comfortable as I rolled along. I managed to pick a fairly uninteresting route for this portion of the trip. I followed the same road for close to 40 miles. There were no towns of any remarkable size, and, with a few exceptions, not much along the route that was really photo worthy. I took a brief break in Parnell to eat a doughnut, drink some water, and put sunscreen on my face, hands and my now oddly striped feet. I continued rolling along near the flood plain of Old Man's Creek, enjoying the tail wind and the flat roads. A couple of miles outside of Iowa City, the road turned northeast, climbed out of the valley, and followed a ridge. Looking ahead, I spied another cyclist coming towards me. It was then that I saw the valley he was climbing out of. I quickly shifted into a 36x30 before diving down the hill. After the speed bled off I found myself standing on the pedals, refusing to let myself walk my bike up what turned out to be a 10% grade. After a brief break at the top to catch my breath, rest my legs and take a photo of a cool abandoned house, I finished the ride into town.

I stopped at a convenience store for a drink (2 Gatorades for $3 is the deal this summer), checked my email and eventually located the address for Geoff's Bike and Ski. I cruised down Gilbert Street to meet the infamous Steve "GPickle" Goetzelman, whom I had failed to cross paths with in May at the Dirty Kanza. With the shop buried in repairs due to the short week, Steve had no time for a mid-day lunch or beer. However, Ira Ryan was in town. Both he and Steve were planning on heading to West Branch at 6 to visit Tom Teesdale's shop. Since I was heading the same direction, I decided told Steve I'd give him a call if I decided not to go for some reason. I headed up to the Dubuque street mall for a tasty Panchero's burrito, and spent a couple of hours in the public library working on the previous blog post, uploading photos, and taking a short nap. About 4 PM, I went across the mall to the grocery store, pulled my book out of my panniers and sat under the shaded veranda and read while drinking a couple of beers. I met Steve and Ira back at Geoff's around 5:30. The shop closed at 6 and all of us (shop staff included) hung out while waiting for the approaching storms to hit. After an hour or so of waiting, and not a drop of rain, we decided to head out to West Branch. We decided to take some gravel since it was the most direct route to West Branch. The conversation on the way out was entertaining, with G Pickle and Ira sharing numerous stories about the cycling culture and events around the Iowa City area. About 2 miles from West Branch our luck ran out and I started to feel rain drops smacking my helmet. This quickly turned into a complete deluge and the gravel immediately started looking more like a river than a road. We took shelter in a granary at the top of a hill and waited for the line of storms to pass. Once they were finished, we continued on and arrived at Teesdale's shop, wet but happy.

Tom Teesdale has been building bike frames for close to 30 years. Ira has been building bike frames for a number of years, and Steve is a bike shop wrench. I was definitely the odd man out once the three of them got together, but it was extremely cool listening to Tom and Ira talk about the merits of filleting vs brazing and various issues that are encountered when building and designing frames. We watched Tom quickly install two braze-ons into holes that Ira had previously drilled into Steve's fork Afterwards, Tom looked at both Ira's bike and asked me some questions about mine. Dark was quickly approaching, thus we left Tom's shop so Steve and Ira could make it back to Iowa City before dark. I parted ways with Steve and Ira soon after leaving Tom's shop and headed north out of West Branch.

With my Dinotte lights blazing and blinking, I rode over the rolling hills that lay north of West Branch. With only one of the three bridges allowing access into Tipton still operational, I made my right turn onto Cedar county F36 and was confronted with a road of damp gravel. After double checking my maps and ensuring that I was on the right road, I soldiered on to the east. I met a number of oncoming cars on this road, and almost every one slowed considerably once they got close to me. I'm sure the sight of a single slow moving light approaching got the drivers' curiosity awakened. A few miles and a number of soft muddy spots later, I was back on pavement. I made a quick left hand turn and soon I was plunging down into the darkness towards one of the few passable bridges remaining over the Iowa River. After crossing the dark watery chasm, I started the long climb out of the valley and kept marching on toward Tipton.

After 6 more miles of long rolling hills, I reached Tipton around 10:30 PM. A quick spin around downtown showed that the only places to eat at were Hardees and a bar. I was too tired to think about drinking, so trudged into Hardees with 30 minutes left before closing. After a quick burger and a large Powerade, I headed back to the motel I spied entering town. The lights were out, and the manager did not answer the doorbell. Not good. I rode around around town for a bit looking for alternatives. A campground was located five miles east of town, but I had no desire to ride one more mile, let alone five. I attempted setting up camp behind the glare of the security lights at the high school, but the spot was directly at the business end of a downspout. I cruised back to the motel and tried the motel one more time. No luck. By this point, I was tired and getting cold and I needed to find a spot to sleep, so I started riding towards Muscatine, figuring that I could find a quiet spot somewhere along Highway 38. About a 1/2 mile outside of town, I located a paved road that dead ended in a freshly mowed field. I set up my tent, spread the ground cloth out inside and quickly crawled into my sleeping bag, hoping that the county sheriff didn't wake me up in the middle of the night. The night was cool and comfortable, though a bit humid. I quickly fell asleep, attempting to rest for the next day's long ride across the Mississippi and into Illinois.

So 50 or so easy miles, 12 miles of hills and about 10 miles of gravel. The Long Haul Trucker is handling it all with aplomb. I love this bike.

My route for today is here.

Photos are here.

Day 1: Johnston to Montezuma

I left the house around 8:30 after packing the final couple of things in my panniers and topping off the tire pressure. I took a steady but easy pace as I headed east towards Saylorville. This is supposed to be a vacation and I have nothing else to do other than ride my bike. I might as well make the day last. After a couple of hours of riding, I stopped at the Mitchellville Casey's and ran into Richard who was out for a 50 miler. We had a good chat about touring bikes and the LHT in particular. He was interested in getting a touring bike for RAGBRAI as well as some other rides he has planned for the next year. I really have nothing but praise for mine so far and had no issues recommending that he purchase one.

Leaving Mitchellville I headed towards Colfax and then into Newton, following the route from RAGBRAI in 2006 (other than skipping the big hill in Colfax). This was a good route to take considering how hilly they are saying this years RAGBRAI is going to be. The road from Mitchellville to Newton is filled with rollers and some long hills. It was a good opportunity to practice my spinning, as well as getting used to seeing single digit speeds while climbing. I had to keep reminding myself that I had no particular time to get to Montezuma, other than "before dark". I stopped at the Midtown Cafe in Newton around noon for lunch on the recommendation of two guys I talked to at a stoplight. Turned out to be a good recommendation. The service was quick, my chicken sandwich was quite good and the malt I ordered was top notch.

Leaving Newton, I tuned south towards Reasnor. More rollers and a bit of a quartering wind since it was blowing out of the SW. I took a quick spin through town to look for a convenience store. Striking out, I headed east and started the climb out of town and worked my way towards Sully. More rollers and big hills on this section of road, with some really nice scenery at the tops of a few of the climbs. I stopped in a church parking lot and put on some sunblock after I noticed my arms and hands getting very red. I opted for the SPF80 to minimize the amount of damage for the rest of the day.

I arrived in Sully around 2PM and was really looking forward to finding a bar and having a beer. The weather was in the mid 80s and it was a bit on the humid side. I was shocked to find out that neither Sully nor Lynnville further up the road has a bar. With this bit of information in hand, I headed for the Casey's and grabbed a Gatorade along with a tasty adult beverage and re-hydrated myself. The ride into Lynnville was pretty uneventful. More rollers and hills and more heat, although the sun was starting to lose a bit of it's punch late in the day. The final stretch into Montezuma was, again, full of hills, as well as a number of concrete trucks. I could hear them coming up behind me from a distance, and usually pulled over onto the shoulder if I thought I was going to have them behind me going up a hill. I'm all for taking my lane, but the drivers were generally in no mood to slow down or give me a lot of extra room as they went by. I opted for living to fight another day, rather than try and make my point on the roads of rural Poweshiek county. The last bit of road going into Montezuma was nice, as the shoulders were fully paved on both sides of the road. I kept the bike in the middle of the lane going downhill and then moved to the shoulder once I started reaching "minimal velocity" on the climb.

I stopped at Diamond Head park and registered for a camping spot. $10 for a site with no power, which seemed in line with what I had heard others paying on their trips. After registering for my camp spot, I opted to head to town and find someplace with a cold beer (or two). I ended up at the County Line bar on the square. Talk of the evening centered around the smoking ban (which went into place yesterday) and how long people were going to last before they needed to go outside for a smoke. Quite a bit of curiosity about me being a lone biker out for a trip that's not RAGBRAI. All the typical questions were asked and answered. One or two cold beers turned into quite a few more after the owner and others decided that I needed another one before hitting the road. I finally left around 7:30, grabbed a quick sandwich and something to drink at the local quick mart and headed to the park to set up my campground for the evening. After setting up my tent and camp chair, I took a well earned shower, applied bug spray, checked in with the wife and sister and ate dinner.

I had a nice conversation with some other campers that had ridden a a few days of RAGBRAI and some other other of the social / party rides around the state. Afterwards, I snagged a couple of pictures of the lake at sunset, read a book for a bit and then turned in for the night. After a few minutes the noises of the other campers (and their air conditioners) faded into the distance and I was fast asleep.

My route for the day is here.

Photos are here

Truckin' (like the do-dah man)

Heading out tomorrow morning for a 3 day tour of Iowa and east central Illinois. Everything I need for shelter, clothing and relaxation is loaded on the bike and ready to go. This is the first time that I've toured by bike, so I've likely packed too much stuff and over prepared. Better safe than sorry I guess. The weather is looking decent, if a bit warm. 260 miles to my destination, with the final day being close to 100 miles. This trip will let me trim out my load for RAGBRAI at the end of July. I'm planning on a sedate but reasonable pace so I can stop and enjoy a meal or take photos along the way. The severe flooding in the eastern part of Iowa has required multiple adjustments to my original route. I'm expecting to have to make some additional changes as I head south towards Muscatine. I had planned on riding along the Mississippi once I rode into Illinois. That plan has changed as well. Better luck next time I guess

Hope everyone has a good week and a good 4th of July holiday weekend.

Midweek info

Have ridden to work every day this week. Feels good. Took the LHT the first 3 days, loaded down with all of the bags. I notice the weight going up hills but the bike is very comfortable to ride with the bags on. Showed up and rode the Ritual Ride in full kit last night. I got a few odd looks from people, but had no issues completing the loop, even with the couple of hills that were tossed in. It was a good way to see how the bike would feel after a longer ride. I rode the big ring other than when climbing, so my legs were pretty tired after I got home. Not sure what my average speed was since I don't have a bike computer on it either. That will be fixed when the UPS driver shows up with my Garmin 605 sometime tomorrow. 

Took the 53 Schwinn into work today. I wanted to ride something different, and I also wanted to ride it before my short route to work is closed off until sometime this fall. It was definitely a different ride. The seat could stand to be moved back a bit, but other than that the ride wasn't bad. 

Taking the Karate Monkey to work tomorrow with the Bob trailer full of tools in tow. Heading out after work to help with some trail maintenance on the Center Trails. Then headed down to Banner on Saturday morning to help with the final stretch of work there. Here's hoping that the rain stays away long enough for us to be able to work.

Another week

Monday - Rode LHT to work. Rode home, changed clothes and rode to Denman's. Rode Denmans and J11 from 6:00 - 7:30. Rode to CITA meeting. Rode home and pulled in at 10:15 PM. Damn it's dark w/o a headlight.

Tuesday - Rode LHT to work. Rode to Rassys, picked up my rear Surly Nice Rack. Rode home Installed and admired.

Wednesday - Rode Karate Monkey to work. Rode to Rassy's for Taco Ride at 6. Good sized group (10 - 12). Denmans, Squirrel's Nest, Rhythm, Hillside, beer break, Rollercoaster, J11. Rode to Windsor Heights on the trails and then home in the car. Paul Jacobson and gravelo make it down from Ames to join us.

Thursday - Drove to work. Left at 3:45 to help with PRC Duathlon. Enjoyable afternoon/evening watching people run and relaxing by Big Creek Lake.

Friday - Rode LHT to work with the new racks and trunk bag. Polk County Sheriff squeezes between me and an oncoming car while I'm riding 3 feet off the white line. I'm not pleased. Arkel Tailrider trunk bag rocks for the work commute. Drove to Ankeny. Visited Kyle's bikes and hang out for a while. Pick up a 53 Schwinn Traveler that I found on Craigslist earlier in the morning.



I have a habit that needs intervention. Get home from dinner and finish the installation of my handlebar bag on the LHT.

Saturday - Took 83 Schwinn Traveler down to DM Bike Kollective as a donation. Check that a bike is ready for delivery and help move some benches around at the Kollective. Stop at Rassy's and get some bar tape for Conor's road bike. Later in the evening, install the bar tape on Conor's bike. Photograph and weigh the LHT. 40 lbs w/o bags. 57 lbs with. 5 lbs of that is the Surly racks. Prep Karate Monkey for Sunday's IMBCS race #2 at Ingawanis. Pack and stack the other stuff that needs to go with.

Nice Rack (and a taco)

Blur of activity yesterday. Quick set of emails to the CITA mailing list resulted in the first Taco Ride of the year. Four of us (Jim, Jim, Sam and myself) left Rasmussen's at 5:30 PM for a solid 90 minutes of dirt riding on the Center Trails. They are MUCH faster without a foot of snow on them. Even after the rain last weekend they were in good shape. We picked up a few riders here and there on the trail, and ended the ride with five of us sitting at Griff's in Valley Junction drinking a couple of beers and eating a couple of tacos. My legs felt really good yesterday. It appears that the Denman's beatdowns that Cam and Pete gave me this winter have paid off. Every one else was ready t go for tacos, and I was ready for more riding since the weather was good and it was still light outside. I still need to work on my bike handling obstacle jumping skills a bit more. Tight turns on the 29er still feel a bit sluggish.

My Arkel pannier order arrived yesterday. I picked up a set of their GT-54 touring panniers, along with a small handlebar bag, and a Tailrider. I have had good luck with their (now discontinued) Samurai bags when I had my trike, so it was easy to go to them again for additional bags for the Long Haul Trucker. The quality and attention to detail on the bags is exceptional. If you need panniers, I highly recommend looking at their lineup. They are not the cheapest panniers available, but they are top notch and they come with a great warranty as well. To get the handlebar bag to fit, I think I'm going to need one of these. I wish it came in silver to match the rest of the bike hardware, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

My Surly front Nice Rack arrived at Rassy's yesterday as well. Took a look at it and started the install after getting back home from the Taco ride. I quickly decided that I needed to wait until I was a bit less tired to keep working on it. It took a bit of time, and some reworking of my front fender mounts, but it's mounted, and not moving anywhere for the forseeable future. The rack comes with a dizzying array of mounting hardware. For my install, I used 4 offset brackets, some 3 mm and 2 mm spacers, and the appropriate bolts. I used two longer bolts to remount the brackets for the front fender stays since the rack used the same moubnts. I can definitely feel the extra 3 lbs of weight moving the bike around the garage. Once the back rack arrives, I can get it installed and then load up the panniers and take it out for a good test ride. I also took the time to make some more adjustments to my Brooks B17 saddle. Feels much better now that I'm not sliding down onto the horn so much.

Busy week ahead. Mayor's Annual Ride for Trails on Saturday morning. Fun Hater's Ride Saturday afternoon April's Dirty Century on Sunday. Fit session with DQ on Friday morning and then help with TransIowa through Sunday. Gonna need to keep the coffee pot well stocked this week.

Easy day

Rode to work today, guiding the Long Haul Trucker south into today's endless 25 mph wind. I wore street clothes again, because I could, and I wanted to. Took my share of the lane, because it's my right, and I wanted to. Left the office, rode to Barr and picked up a chainring bolt tool, and two new chainring bolts. Headed west (young man) on the Clive Greenbelt trail, turned north onto NW 142nd, rode north on NW 128th street and then home. The tailwind allowed me to spin out the LHT while in street shoes. Solid steel feels great rocketing along smooth pavement. The brakes are not quite up to slowing down, so it's time to look into some Koolstop pads before calipers are harder to get to.

Legs feel pretty good after Sylvan Island, but I can tell that the race worked them over good. Still not happy with how I feel, so I called DQ and arranged a fit session with him next Friday morning, before I leave to help out with TransIowa.

Hump Day

Finished up the fender install on the Surly last night. I think I have about 3.5 hours into installing the fenders. Not that I couldn't have finished them sooner, but I wanted the installation performed properly, so I took the time to do it. Getting a longer bolt for the fork crown and spacers for the rear fenders took a bit of time (and an extra bike ride) as well. However, I'm happy with the results. The rear fender was definitely harder to get lined up since it covers more of the wheel, there were more attachments to deal with, and I had to think about how I wanted to deal with the rear fender stays and their interaction with the quick release and derailer. I ended up using the rack stays and eliminating all of my issues. In the spirit of the internet, I tracked down excellent installation instructions and photos from both the Velo Orange Blog and from SconnyBoy's blog.

Rode the bike into work this morning and I'm pleased with the results. The only noise I heard was when a rock was kicked up into the fender. We'll see how they hold up long term. If I run into issues with the bolts getting loose, I'll add a bit of loctite to the recipe. Speaking of commuting, for the first time ever, I rode into work with "normal" clothes. No lycra, no performance fabrics. Just jeans, a t-shirt, light coat, street shoes, gloves and a helmet with a hat underneath. It was definitely a different experience, and the weather was perfect for it this morning at 28F or so to start. I kept the jacket unzipped a bit, and rode at a fairly sedate pace. It was an interesting experience. I think I'll be doing more of that, or just changing shirts when I get to work . It's quicker, and a lot less hassle once I get to the office.

I'll likely spend tomorrow going over the Karate Monkey in preparation for the Sylvan Stampede this weekend in the Quad Cities. Looking at the forecast, it's going be wet through Saturday evening. Chances of the race happening don't look too good.

Beautiful day

Good day today. Took off at 7 AM with my son Conor for a 25 mile ride, with a stop at the Saylorville Township Fire Department for a pancake breakfast. This was Conor's first ride of the year, and I was really proud of how well he rode. He was smart and asked to take a break when his legs or butt were getting a little weary. He kept a good steady pace for all of the ride, and didn't complain about the hills we rode up. Leaving the breakfast we rode home into a pretty stiff SSW wind. I let him go first as we were on riding on 66th Street, which is a pretty busy two lane road, and he kept trucking into the head wind. I hope to get out on more rides with him as the year progresses. For me, they are generally recovery level rides, but I enjoy spending the time with him. The scary part is that he can wear most of my clothing, and is getting close to me in bike size.

During the afternoon, I attempted to install the fenders on my LHT without much success, then rode with my wife to the grocery store to put our first load of groceries (and a 30 lb box of cat litter) in the Bob trailer. The Bob is going to take some getting used to. I like how it tracks when unloaded, but with heavier loads, it really tries to drag the back end of the bike around a lot more than I expected, especially going around corners. Headed to Denman's tomorrow morning for some trail work, so I'll hook it to the Monkey and see how it handles. I'll toss some tools in the Bob and head out for coffee in the morning, and then make my way to the trails for the work at 10:00 AM. If anyone else has nothing going in, we can always use an extra hand or two. The more the merrier.

I'm feeling Surly today

My Surly Long Haul Trucker was ready to pick up from Rasmussen's last Thursday. Due to the lovely spring mix of rain, sleet and snow that was blanketing the fair city of Dead Moans, I decided to return on Friday to pick it up. I have used it as my commuting bike the last two days. I also managed to take a nice hour and a half ride on it. My impressions about it so far are positive. Surly really hit the nail on the head when naming this particular bike. You sit high, just like you would in a truck. You get a chance to look around at your surroundings a bit more rather than concentrating on the wheel or the pavement directly in front of you. javascript:void(0)

The bike has a pace and momentum that is all its own. It feels slower to accelerate than any of my other bikes, including the Karate Monkey. Once you get it moving the bike automatically settles into what I consider "the right pace". This pace is not too fast, nor too slow. It's a pace that really makes you think that the time you arrive at your destination will be the right time, no matter what the clock might say. It's also a pace that doesn't want to make you dive into corners aggressively either. Once the bike has the racks on and loaded, or I have the Bob trailer (which my wife told me to order) attached and loaded down, the gearing is going to be about right.

The Brooks saddle and bar tape were two things I changed out from the stock bike. I really like how the honey Brooks B17 looks on the bike, and the extra expense of the Brooks bar tape was worth it to make the bike look complete. The Brooks will take a bit of adjustment to get so it feels good. Everyone complains about how hard the Brooks saddles are, and after my ride yesterday, I can understand it to some extent. However, I also know that issues were related to my position on the saddle, rather than something about the saddle itself. I moved the saddle forward a small amount before this mornings commute, and I hardly noticed it was there. I'll put a few more miles on this weekend and see how it feels. I ordered some nice wide metal fenders from Velo Orange earlier in the week. They should be here on Friday. Having commuted without them in the light snow on Tuesday, I'm anxious to get them installed. They definitely keep the bike cleaner, and my feet drier.

Friday and all is well

Commute steed was the single speed again today. 40-ish all day. Head wind coming in, bigger headwind coming home. Glad I checked the weather and took the thicker windbreaker this morning. Sterling called from Rassy's today. 58cm Surly Long Haul Trucker is on it's way, along with a honey Brooks B17 saddle, matching Brooks bar tape and the rest of my parts. Should be in on Monday, and ready for me on Tuesday. I can't wait for it to get here, move my fenders over and start riding to work on it.

My friends Bill and Karen, and their son Stirling, are coming down tomorrow. We are headed to Connecticut Yankee Pedaler in Chariton so Bill can look over and try out their selection of recumbent trikes. They carry and stock a number of major brands. Should be a good time.

The smallest things

Got up this morning and looked out at the roads. Wet looking, like it had maybe rained some last night. That, or the warmer temperatures are driving the last of the winter moisture out of the pavement. Was ready to just drive in this morning when I happened upon this. Great photo with a great write up below it. After reading it, I closed my laptop, got dressed, and rode the the trusty single speed to work.

Left the office a bit early and rode the pavetrail over to Rassy's to chat with Sterling about my LHT. The custom build came in a bit higher than I wanted, so I decided to go with a complete bike, along with racks and pedals. They happened to have a 60cm frame in Olive that came in for someone else, so I had a chance to tool around the parking lot on it a bit. After some measurements, I'm can fit either a 58 or a 60cm frame. Sterling will talk it over with Donny Quixote tomorrow and give me a call with the decision.

Weather is going to be a crap shoot tomorrow. Hopefully I can ride. But with weather issues in the forecast, I'll likely be on the lead sled for the commute. Once the LHT gets here, the lead sled will get it's original parts back, and be donated to the Des Moines Bicycle Kollective and from there, it will go to a new owner.

Another great (if wet day)

Tossed a fender on the single speed and rode it into the office this morning. Temp was 32 when I left. so I was on the lookout for ice on the way in, especially on skinny tires. Also was noticing yesterday's ride in my legs. It was very tough to do more than just turn the pedals over this morning. I might need to look into a smaller chain ring on the front, or put the 18t back on the rear for a while. Made it in fine, though I'm sure the people behind me were not happy at points. I figured wrecking in front of them on the ice would not make their morning commute or mine any more pleasant.

My new wheels for the Bacchetta showed up at the office today. A set of barely used Aclass 320DX Tri wheels. 16 spoke front, 20 spoke rear, all bladed spokes. Should be a good thing to go out and do some time trialing on this summer. I haven't decided if I'm going to run the disk cover on the back or not. I'll likely try it both ways and see how it works out. I need to get some tires bought for them and then get them on the Corsa.

Left the office at 5, welcomed by 62 degree weather and 13 mph wind. sending my backpack and the wheels with Kathy in the Explorer, and headed over to Rassy's to talk to Sterling about my LHT build. The roads were wet, and I remembered quickly that I didn't have a front fender. I also forgot that I should not get to close to the main roads when approaching them from a side street. I saw the car coming from my left, but failed to see the large two lane wide puddle that was in front of me. Next thing I see is a large wall of water headed towards me. Soaked, I made my way to Rassy's over the remaining wet streets. Had a good chat with him about other stores around town and the bike biz in general after the store closed and he was working on inventory. He's a good guy with a good head on his shoulders. Left him a with a wishlist of parts to get pricing on for me and that will likely determine how I'll go with the build.

Went from there to poker and movie night. Came outside to another flat rear tire (second slow leak in two rides). Guess this means I'll be inspecting the tire and rim for the culprit this weekend. Also means another trip to work on the lead sled tomorrow.

One good thing about DST...

is that there is more time to ride after work. 32F as I left the office tonight. Wound my way over to Rasmussen's Bike shop to check prices on a new Surly Long Haul Trucker. It's odd thinking about a second bike from the same manufacturer, but something about the LHT is just drawing me in. Not sure if I'm going to buy a full bike, or build a frame and fork up from scratch. The new bikes are reasonably priced, but I'm not completely sold on how they look from the factory. I'll probably end up getting the frame and fork and putting the parts on it. Colors for this year are blue or olive. I like the olive, which is good because the blue does not excite me at all. Last year's red is really nice, but I can't get that any more. Not that I need another bike, but having something that can haul a ton of stuff is something that just makes me a bit giddy. Taking an extended weekend to go do some bike camping just has some allure to it. Thinking something like this, but in olive, with a lot of black everywhere else. other than the saddle and the handebar tape.




Left Rassy's, stopped in to visit the Mostly Reverend, but he was either not home, or he was passed out from taking too many pain killers. :) Since it was a nice night, I swung through Bike World and chatted with Tom for a bit before heading home. Good 90 minutes of just cruising around town on filled with lead Schwinn Traveller, enjoying the sunshine and the late evening light.