Crazy clothes

Ok, we got here,

and after one of the worst weeks of snow I have seen, we're gonna be here for a while.  I don't care what the sacred groundhog says, I live in Michigan and we will have winter for 6 or more weeks.  Now we get to hear all the chatter about how hard it is to dress.

"My winter kit has more layers than a wedding cake." --Bike Push

"In the winter it takes 30 minutes to dress for a 60 minute ride."--some anonymous guy on Facebook.

It's hard to even imagine what they are going through.  I don't go on any fitness expeditions in the winter, but I do ride nearly every day for some reason   What would normally be a twenty minute ride in city side, can turn into 45 minutes if the streets are in bad shape.

The only extra layer I wear is 

long underwear beneath the slacks.

That's it.

When it's time to mount up, I wear a winter jacket and gloves or mittens. 

The biggest challenge I face is overheating.  It works a little like this; I walk to the garage thinking "I'm out of my f...ing mind!"  Three blocks from home, I'm zipping down to get cooled off a bit.  In the worst of weather I wear a neck gaiter to pull up over my ears and face a bit.  The other day I rode like that INTO  an -11 windchill without any discomfort.  All you need is enough to protect from the wind and lock the body heat in.

But the rest of the world, sees it like this.

"April is the cruelest month..."

     April always feels like "Are we there yet!"  A couple hours at a time we are teased to wear shorts and t-shirts only to go back to long johns and sweaters.  "Hope it doesn't rain," is what we cling to every time we choose to ride.  A little cold ain't bad, a little rain ain't terrible but together are just plain dangerous.

Of course the puddles and mud give the bike some real character, dirty the way a bike should be.  And, it's still a relief from the ice and abominable snow tires.

Turkeys are brave near the trails but scamper off to the safety of their natural camouflage. They go off in a huff, at the sight of an intruder on "their" trail.  

We get to welcome a new trail segment which, although only a mile long, 

connects an east/west route free of cars

all the way across town. 

Streams and ponds are coming awake

and a chorus of frogs is out to entertain.

After last year's tornado devastation 

the forest will be in recovery for years

while the early blooms are trying to wave goodbye to winter.

I did it again!

    Some people have noticed I writ me another book.  Well, really, it's more of a booklet. It'll only be an e-book.  That makes it cheaper and easier for more people.  this one focuses on the the experiences I've found urban cycling over the past 50 years and the hows, whys and whynots to use a bicycle rather than slump into a sedentary lifestyle around town. Like the first, it'll get under the skin of a few people (hopefully a lot), but if you don't piss somebody off, you're not being honest. 

 

NBD

 New Brompton Day!  

    I'd been toying with the idea of upgrading my Brompton with a 6 speed model for quite a while.  I was in the Chicago dealer (JC Lind) a few months ago and mentioned that.  The owner, Jon, told me to do it in the following six months because Brompton is changing the drive train specs and the six speed would not be an option for long.

    After looking at the new options, I decided the 6 speed was what I wanted.   I kept an eye on their website and snatched up a bargain before it disappeared. 

It's the six speed model marked down $200 with $300  in accessories thrown in.  I would have liked a different color, but red and black is OK.  In fact it looks pretty sharp for the strange bucket of bolts that is Brompton. Any way it's January,  so the first business was replacing the tires with studs, then rust proofing the frame with Cavity Coater, change the grips and give it a once over with turtle wax.

 

The first ride was on the snow but I like it.  I took it with me to Chicago, 

a few days later and the extra range is a real pleasure.  The six ratios are reached by way of a 3speed IGH with two external cogs. So. It's a 3 speed hub with a high and low range. The range is selected with this curious derailer. 

  With the 6 speed the range is 33-100 gear inches compared to the 3 speed range of 47-85.

Although the gear selection isn't really needed in Chi-Town, I leaned to the lower range riding the heavy, slow studs in the heavier icy sludge on the streets.  

    It was a sunny winter Saturday in the Loop and people were out and about making use of the cold at the Millennium Park skating rink.  

    By the time I returned home from the city, it was a dark winter night for the ride home and the optional light I'd gotten for free proved itself.  Not only is the 500Lm light (made for Brompton by Cateye) penetrating on a totally dark icy street, Having it that low to the ground over the 16 inch wheels provided details that really enhanced the safety for the few miles home.

    A new bike in January is tough to deal with, it just looks at you like a puppy waiting to go for a walk, but it will be held to grocery-getting until I take the studs off.  "It'll only be a few weeks, I promise."

 

Baby, it's cold inside!

 So we had a cold snap a week or so ago. It's Michigan, it happens, like for months sometime.  Temps were down in the teens, wind chill in single digits. Schools were closed one day but not the next. I went to work and back without any discomfort. Winter jacket up top and base layer under my slacks and was perfectly comfortable.

After work, I had an appointment and two quick errands to run.  The streets were still frozen, icy and rutted, the temps in the teens and it was getting dark early. I decided to drive my car in the evening.  Sitting in the car, in the same clothes, I was freezing and shivering.  In and out of the car, bundled up as I was while riding my bike, I was totally uncomfortable while I was perfectly comfortable riding my bike in the same temps and clothing. Sitting to go places ain't good. Biking is the warm cold weather sport.

A couple good books

      I managed to squeeze a couple good books about cycling into my frantic summer reading schedule.  

      The first was Camageddon: how cars make life worse and what to do about it.   The author, Daniel Knowles, is a journalist who lives in Chicago.  Thanks to his globe  trotting assignments writing for the Economist magazine, he is able to provide an expansive look at the effect the automobile is having all over the world.  His vision compares experiences in cities on every continent. 

This very well written book explains effects the automobile has had from Mumbai, to Kenya to Houston, New York and elsewhere.  It provides a macro world view of social problems, air pollution and concrete everything that has developed to support the auto industry.

     The second one is The Immortal Class; Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power.  The author, Travis Hugh Culley, is also a Chicago resident.

His is a more personal, gritty, street level look at urban cycling.  A former theater student who needed "A JOB" found his way into the life of bike riding for a profession.  It's a beautifully composed story of sweat, confusion and success living and racing on dangerous streets at high speeds.

     Carmageddon is a cold blooded analysis of the global insertion of the auto into urban life and the challenges it is creating for the future.  The Immortal Class is a shot of adrenaline straight off the street reaching the same conclusions.  They're both a pleasure to read.

Some determined advocacy.

I was invited the other day to an "input session" with the West Michigan Trails organization.  It's a group dedicated to the development of an integrated trail network throughout the region.  The two hours or so were filled with a slide show and commentary on all aspects of trail design and development.  

There was some excellent discussion about way fare signage and an overall discussion about developed, in-construction, in-development and proposed trails.  

A lot centered around current obstacles that groups and different jurisdictions were encountering now that nearly all the abandoned rail beds have been used or disposed of in different ways.  Now, trail groups are attempting to develop trails on private properties where they are running into problems.  Obstinate owners and gold digging holdouts are preventing a lot of development and making some connections look like futile bong dreams.  

Then there is the money.  It was noted that the days when an available rail bed could be developed for $150K per mile are long gone.  The prices these days are north of $1M per mile, in one case $5M per mile was noted.  All this attention makes me feel really good since I've been a cycling enthusiast for over 50 years and am amazed that this much serious attention is being placed on cycling infrastructure.    After the meeting I left with the impression that the goal of connectivity will be better developed with more attention paid to identifying and marking reasonable on road bike routes to connect the developed trails. On the other hand, I know there are a lot more uses to a trail than cycling. So it will be continually frustrating.

 And, of course, of the 30 or so advocates in the meeting,

one was on a bike.

 

The latest in the stable

A few months ago, my friend Leah Peterson was chatting online with a biking acquaintance, Michael Downs, and noticed a frame in the background of a photo he sent her.  When asked about it, he said he might be interested in selling it.  She sent me a photo and I immediately bit the hook. 

It's a Rivendell Yves Gomez with a limited edition paint job.  It was the first run of factory made mixte bikes after the Wilbury/Glorious became too expensive.  I got it in late fall and spent the winter getting parts together.

It came together beautifully, the cream colored fenders were raided from my Sam Hillborne and look much better with the dark green.  I added Baby Bosco bars, VO Gran Cru brake levers (which are as sensitive as the Paul levers I put on my Hunq), Soma interupter levers and Brooks leather tape to finish them off.

I had a Sugino crank which I converted with a chain guard into 1x9 drive train with a Shimano Deore derailer and pulled a Sunrace thumb shifter out of the parts bin which works perfectly.  The saddle is a VO leather saddle which wasn't being used and I may change later after some longer rides and a different seat post.

I ordered wheels from Velocity and Schwalbe Kojak tires.  Tektro brake calipers and MKS pedals from the parts bin finished that off.

To make it practical, I added a light Tubus rack and a HUGE Wald basket.  The basket  weighs next to nothing and is a great convenience

since I have a bag that was designed with that basket in mind.  After a few hours of riding with the empty basket it held $75 worth of groceries with no problem on the way home. 

I'm really surprised at how spritely and light this bike is.   The Kojak tires are extremely fast slicks and the only 35mm 650b tire I could find.  There are several 38mm and larger tires out there for 650b wheels, but I've used these before and liked them.  I'm looking forward to a lot of time on this bike

and even found a helmet to match.

 

Growing pains.

      Remember how growing up seemed really exciting,  then you got a job, mortgage, kids and everything kinda sucked?  When you pass all that there's a new phase.  At 71, after reading for a couple hours, I've found it harder to get out a chair then it is to ride a bike 35 miles.

     This time of year is especially interesting.  When the snow has fallen along with the temperatures, I shuffle across the parking lot to the garage telling myself how stupid I am until I've ridden a few blocks and need to loosen my cuffs and pull the hood back to cool off.  

It's not a 35 mile ride this time of year,  the roads are barely cleared for cars let alone bikes so it's a unique challenge to get around town, but the sense of smug superiority it provides is well worth it.

On the other hand our city does a responsible job of clearing, or at least trying to clear the trailways.  The result is an icy mtb track protected from traffic where we can enjoy overheating under our parka for 25 miles or so.  It's a limited pleasure and a change of pace for a few weeks.

More on a winter project

      So I was innocently floating in the emotional delusion of N+0, feeling very comfortable with my collection of bikes all of which have their unique practical qualities while providing a variety of riding styles and options, when my world was upended by Leah Peterson and her obsession with Rivendell mixte's.  Leah was involved in an internet conversation with Michael Downs, a Riv kinda guy in Brooklyn.  During that, he sent her a photo of a bike in his shop and she noticed a Rivendell in the background and asked about it.  He told her he was thinking of selling it since he wasn't using it anymore and sent her a photo of it.   She sent me the photo along with his e-mail address and I told him : "I want that bike!"

     It's a limited edition Yves Gomez mixte which was Rivendell's first foot in the mixte puddle after the Wilbury/Glorious models became waaaay too expensive.  It's in nearly pristine conditon, almost the same size and geometry as my Hillborne and after a couple of weeks wrangling around the logistics there it was on my dining table. 

     Why Grant would name it after a french philosopher is a mystery, unless it's a reference to the extensive use of mixte's in France.

     I touched up a couple knicks, added my personal touch and polished it.    I raided a few parts from my Trek (which I rarely ride), ordered a few and have gotten as far as putting the handlebars on,

 but it's going to be staring back at me for months, because I'm not putting it on the road with winter right around the edge of the door.

So I'll have some fun figuring it out for the spring thaw.

Surprise!!!

 

It all seemed innocent and very low key.  Our local club decided to gather a few people to ride the new cycle track through our downtown area.  The track has, of course, inspired bike haters to complain.  Ignoring the fact that the changes made, reducing and narrowing motorist's lanes, were made for their safety, they focus on the existence of bike lanesto justify their protest. 

 I expected 6-10 people would show up in support of the new cycle track. Instead we found a gathering which rivaled a critical mass ride, well in our community it would qualify.  Over 65 people came and created a very visible crowd of support for the cities new development.

Even non cyclist spouses came out to be part of this transportation sub culture and participate along with the crowd whose ages spanned 6 decades.   

John Knowlton, the club's president tapped me out to drive this bus and I was helped by my two Rivendelian friends, Leah  Peterson and "Doc" Rehkoph.  

It didn't take long for the group to be broken into several groups by the new bike signals which have been installed.   Bike signals are a new curiosity here in Kalamazoo and a major source of conversation among the riders. 

Every kind of bike and rider was represented somewhere in the group. We had a few dedicated roadies, vintage, custom and modern along with Dutch cargo bikes, touring, Big Dummies and trikes. 

After the ride everyone was invited to participate in a survey to be sent to the city, hopefully to be read rather than ignored.  To say it was a successful demonstration of support would be an understatement, hopefully it will help the public accept the benefits they receive from it.

Septuagenarian cycling

      That was a mouthful just writing it down, but since I'm officially qualified to talk about it,  I thought I'd try.   Having seven decades behind me I really don't know what to say.   Things don't seem much different except that I either need or get more rest.  Being an old guy, I just had blood drawn and analyzed,  the lipid and metabolic panels look just like they did when I was 30 , weight and blood pressure the same.  Medically, I'm boring.  How much is the result of exercise, genetics or diet is as much your guess as mine.  I just have to l live with it.

       Today I rode to work at the local high school where I substitute 3 days a week.  It's a 6 mile ride and, since it's April, in Michigan,

I'm still wearing a base layer some days and we had a little sleet to deal with, nothing to think about.   After a day joking around with teenagers who get a kick out of the "crazyoldguyonabike," there was a quick dash through the trails along the creek and mid day traffic downtown for a brief meeting followed by a stop for happy hour before going home.  It added up to 20 miles of riding between places and working up a bit of sweat enjoying clean breezes and the sounds of birds slowly migrating back while spandex hamsters play pretend racer, communing on Zwift to avoid 40⁰.  We could just sit around inside worrying about getting older, but, apparently, cyclists don't qualify.   

It's springtime in Michigan

...and who knows what kind of weather we will find in the morning. It's a bit of a challenge to dress when it's 30 something in the morning and 60 in the afternoon. And let's not talk about snow or rain, they happen interchangeably throughout the day. It is a real relief to get off the studded tires and get the Sam Hillborne out and enjoy riding without the ice. Studded tires provide a lot of freedom when the roads and trails are nearly impassible, but they are so heavy and slow. The Buena Vista becomes my city ride of choice,

the zippy quick performance is a pleasure on the city streets and the step over frame is a real convenience. Rain capes become a real convenience in the Springtime. They provide great protection from the elements but open circulation from beneath so you don't get overheated and sweaty. They kinda suck in the wind, but who rides THAT fast on wet pavement? On the other hand, downwind is a real pleasure with the cape providing the sail to speed you along. Around town I use one made by Cleverhood. It's really a damn nice garment. It has a Houndstooth weave that makes you look over dressed for anything, no matter what else you wear.

It's called the "Electric Houndstooth" because there are reflective threads woven into the fabric that light you up like a giant light bulb rolling along in front of headlights.

It also has a sling bag to store it when the rain quits so you can stuff it into a bag, or just throw it on your back as a light backpack. The bag can't be counted on for carrying anything else but it's a convenient option.