The old days are still here.

     I think is had been pre-Covid since this group of vintage bike enthusiasts had gotten together for a ride.  It had been nearly an annual thing to ride the White Pine Trail from Grand Rapids for a 40 mile trip to Sand Lake and back.  But Tom Parker was the one to motivate 16 of us to get together for a mid day ride through the trees of Michigan.  

     We started from Dwight Lydell Park in Comstock and rode north casually along the trail, there was plenty to talk about as the season ended.  Everybody was an experienced rider who had been around much longer than their vintage bikes and most of us agreed it's easier to ride 50 miles than get out of a chair after watching TV.  

The beauty of riding the trails is the availability of pit stops 

and plenty of reasons to stop along the way.

There was a lot of great gear to admire

 but the show stopper was the new custom

Grand Boise which Tim Potter brought, 

built by a small shop in Kyoto Japan.  It's a beautiful green metallic with 

every classic nut, bolt and proven technic meticulously in place.

We stopped along the river in Rockford for a group photo on the way home.

At the end of the road we had lunch at Nick Fink's bar,

 storied to be the oldest in Michigan.

Conversation there led to tales of racing triumphs and jokes about the failures in years past.  It seems everybody else took up cycle racing somewhere in their early days.  After a while Tim Potter(knowing the answer)  asked me if I had ever raced "back in the day. " I said, "No, I've never thought of cycling as a competitive sport."

Empty silent stares, 

After a few moments I explained that I started in college when I was so busy with classes and a job I needed some recreation that blended into my schedule. "It's just a fun way to go places."

More empty stares.

It always happens that way, but I am always a little surprised.

Old and new

 September took off well., Jim Townsend organized a four day ride through trails in West Michigan. Five of us showed up for this credit card trip of CV enthusiasts. They tolerate me and my faux vintage Rivendell.

The five of us met at Jim's house near Sand Lake for a wonderful breakfast served up by his wife. Weather was cool at the start but it was a damn nice day on The White Pine trail to Cadillac Michigan.

 

So, we had a bunch of crazyoldguysonbikes taking their time on a trail. I was the only one who had ridden 50 miles or more in a day this year, so there were plenty of scheduled and unscheduled stops along the way.  

The trail is in great condition except for a 10 mile stretch between Big Rapids and Reed City where the roots were rebelling and trying to break the asphalt. It was a teeth chattering experience on 35 mm tires the guys riding skinny tires must-have been

 suffering. Jim said it was like riding 10 miles of rumble strips.

We did meet a couple visiting the trails around Cadillac. They'd been traveling the country, living the camper life and camped in Cadillac for over a week while their truck got repaired.

We did make to Cadillac in time for dinner. At 73, I had ridden my age so I assume the  rest did also. The subject of cramps came up (surprise!),I mentioned I relied on V8 juice as a preventative, Dan mentioned that a mustard packet would cure cramps in action. I'd never heard of that, but I trust them.

We had expected rain for day two, and we got it, lots of it. The temps were warm enough that we weren't uncomfortable, and what is a rainy day without a flat tire? We got to Reed City in time for a great lunch buffet at the local Pizza joint. Dan's wife drove up to get us there so our trip was over. The others continued on for two more days of fun.

There's synchronicity in this world! The following day I went out to get my hair cut

And found this reminder on the bike rack.

And,there's more promise for the future. When I went to work for the for first time of the school year, I found the bike racks full. I'd never seen that before but it makes some sense.

These are kids who learned cycling in middle school PE class. Thanks to Specialized providing bikes and funding, they learn to use modern bikes that actually fit. Maybe there's a new generation of crazyoldguysonbikes in training.

Beatin' Heat

This month has been a deadly scorcher. August is usually hot, but weeks exceeding 90 is rare. My relatives in Florida laugh at me, but here in the midwest, 85F is EMERGENCY TIME!

The asphalt in the city was becoming a bit much, so I loaded the Hunq to take the trail out to the coast for a few days of respite.

It's so nice to pedal through the shade trees for 40 miles to one of the best coastlines in the world.

The tourist town of South Haven provides enough amenities to entertain yourself and cool off for a few days.

I'll leave it for the academics to explain, but we humans never seem to tire of big blue bodies of water.

Traffic on the beaches and in the shops and restaraunts was slow, it was a weekday, mid August, kids are getting ready for school, families are in turmoil, dad's credit cards are maxed out from the summer and everybody is trying to get organized. But I was enjoying the lower traffic on the beaches.

Gear I'm using for camping hasn't changed much, but in the past year I've added a Trangia cooking kit. I was using some small backpacking pans and a Trangia alcohol stove for years. Now, cooking with the full kit has been an upgrade.

The windscreen is a piece of engineering, focuses the heat really well

and the kit includes two pots as well as a non stick frying pan. All this stuff nests together neatly for travel,

it's bulkier than the backpacking stuff, but with it you can put together a real meal. Of course that depends upon what the local groceries have to offer. Most of us know that food can always be found but it's hard work foraging for nutrition at Dollar General.

After a few days of cooling off in the water and watering holes, the ride back was hotter but still enjoyable. I stopped often and didn't get in a hurry to test myself. So it was all a nice break.

The Stable

N+1 is the formula we all use to justify our bikes. Some of us are figures of blatant American consumerism, some are collectors and some try to explain it as practical. Most bikes have some overlapping abilities and are not really pigeonholed into one specific use. At 73 I'm still riding as frequently as ever if not as fast or as far. but I have developed a collection of bikes purely around the theory (or pretense) of practicality. My bikes are all of the multi use designs, which of course could mean I don't "need" them all, but that's poppycock. "Oh reason, not the need!" screams Shakespeare.

The Rivendell Hunqapillar is a heavy duty all terrain touring bike. Designed by Grant Peterson to be ridden on any terrain and field tested on the Continental Divide trail from Canada to Mexico,it's a wonderful machine that I've ridden thousands of miles fully loaded on self supported tours. It's also good around town, to work, the store and, despite being heavy, I've ridden a number of group rides at 15 mph or better. Riv's are incredibly comfortable bikes. They are famous for their fancy paint jobs and lugwork, but the quality of the ride is what keeps us on them.

After riding the Hunq for a season I HAD TO HAVE the lighter faster version. The Sam Hillborne from Rivendell was the best choice. The basic difference is in the tubing. It's lighter, the geometry is nearly the same, but it sports narrower tires and is not built to carry the load the Hunq will tote. It's a fun everyday bike, and is the bike of choice for charity/club rides or credit card touring. I'm not a fast rider at all, but I've ridden this bike on several metric centuries in less than 4 hours and run with group rides averaging 18 mph. It's only as slow as the rider and good for gravel, asphalt, rail trails, commuting,just about anything.

The SOMA Buena Vista is a modern take on the Mixte frame design. I built it as a brisk cafe racer to ride around town. The nice convenience of a Mixte is being able to step over the top tubes (something you appreciate as you get ah...more mature). This guy gets a lot of activity during the school year going to work.

Rivendell Yves Gomez is another take on the Mixte design. This is my "luxury" city bike. Like the Soma Mixte it's capable of riding a brisk group ride but it's really a classy, comfortable town bike.

The Brompton is the legendary folding bike. I've never had a bike that was easier to ride. It's surprisingly comfortable, this year I rode it in the 5 Borough Tour in NYC. It was 50 miles riding and I was comfortable all day. Folding as it does it's easy to transport by car, train, bus, subway or airline. Every thing considered, it will probably be the last bike I ride simply because it is so versatile, easy to transport, mount and ride. So, I'd like to believe I've reached the end of N+1. For now the selection I have is all I could want, certainly more than I need. But, Brompton did just release the G-Line model...