'Tis the tweason!

It's another one of those damn times in Michigan.   Daily seasonal changes become a season of their own and happen a couple times a year. The November tweason means it's sunny, cloudy, foggy, rainy and snowy in a matter of hours and we just have to adapt because it will change soon (fifteen minutes according to legend). 

But  real winter is around the corner which turned into NOW this year. It's enough to send the spandex hamsters to their spin classes and video cycling.  I'm spending the Thanksgiving holiday giving the bikes a cleaning and tuneup before putting most away for a few weeks,

The Park Tool Cyclone cleans my chains.  I've seen many internet "experts" claim that this gadget simply does not work.  My question is; If it doesn't work, why is it full of  grease and grit when I'm done?  I don't normally worry about getting my hands dirty but the gloves keep my fingers warm when the garage temps are in the twenties.

The brakes on the Soma needed adjustment and it's a simple method to use a small clamp to hold the pads to the rim.  Then adjust the barrel adjusters to about 50%, loosen the cable bolt, pull the cable taut, re-tighten the cable bolt, remove the clamp and loosen the barrel adjusters until you have exactly the brake tension you like. There is a tool called "Third Hand" to hold the caliper, but I found the clamp works better since it's adjustable, the Third Hand is not.

It seems a bit early, but I'm swapping the regular tires on  the Brompton for the studs.  It's possible we'll have snow and ice on the streets until March, so err to the cautious side. Now I can choose between the winter beater with 50mm studs and the Brompton with it's 32mm studs. the Riv's and Soma will rest in the rafters until we get a  thaw.

That wasn't the best way to spend a holiday weekend, but I am several weeks ahead and ready for any day that gets warm.

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.