Taillight Wiring

07 Monday Apr 2014

Tags

a. homer hilsen, bicycle, bike, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, dynamo, dynamo lighting, dynamo taillight, fenders, hilsen, light wiring, rivendell, taillight, wiring

Since I haven’t sprung for a custom bike with wiring guides or internal cable routing, I’ve had to improvise on my taillight wiring schemes. The first few times I just strung the wire along the down tube, chain stay, and up the fender stay to the light. I fastened it with zip-ties. This was fairly clean from the drive side view, but resulted in some zip-tie mess on the non-drive side. The last few times I’ve wired up rear lights, I’ve managed to put them under the fenders, eliminating the mess from the down tube. The key has been aluminum tape and careful fender drilling. Someday, I may get up the courage to drill into the fork or frame, but for now, I’ll play it safe.

You can see the white bike in the background has a similar setup, but instead of routing the wire up the fork leg with zip-ties, I glued shrink tubing on the inside of the fork leg, and the inside of the front rack. This is used to guide the wire without the use of tape. Note – on the white bike, the electrical tape I’m using to fasten the wire to the down tube is starting to peel off a bit after a few hundred very wet miles. It may be replaced soon. That is one area that the zip-ties win – I haven’t had one come loose yet. I’ve even taken to loosely tying the wire to the derailleur cable. Only an issue when you change cables, and the small zip-ties are pretty unobtrusive.

Bahn Mi Brevet

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

300k, acorn bags, brevet, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, harlequin wrap, nitto, noodles, rando, randonneur, Seattle, Selle Anatomica, SIR

190 miles in a day is a long way to ride your bike! I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that part of randonneuring. It’s a simple fact that most people will look at you funny when you talk about doing this sort of thing. I hate to say it, but I feel that way when folks talk to me about running 20+ miles. I think “why would you want to abuse your body like that?”. I am a serious hypocrite.

This guy doesn’t look particularly abused, right? He was in great spirits for the first 100k while I rode with him. He was chatting with me and several other riders. Jason really loves these rides for the social aspect, I’m sure, as do I. We were riding side-by-side for 10s of miles in the rain and wind when drafting would have been the prudent thing to do, just chatting about bikes, trips, rides, work, etc… We were having a great time even after we bombed down a brutal climb (500+ feet at 13%) only to realize we should have studied the queue sheet harder at the control up top. We had missed the turn and ended up climbing up Lorde Hill again with 3 bonus miles and an extra half hour on our day.

At the first control, an espresso stand, I realized I had forgotten my wallet. After a short moment of panic, I decided the prudent thing to do was continue. I had a lot of drinkable food (Perpetuem, Tailwind) and knew that I would be able to stock up on some goodies at the lunch stop. Calories were not going to be the problem. If I didn’t have a major bike issue, it was simply a matter of getting the ride done. It did feel a bit strange to not buy anything at the couple of controls where I had a cashier sign my brevet card. I’m sure this is really just my own issue, right?

This seat continues to rock. I had no saddle soreness. When you are pedaling for 15+ hours, that says something. There is no way any of my other seats would have been this comfy. As for the other contact points – no issues there either other than wetness. Even with “waterproof” gloves and booty covered shoes, both were soaked by mid ride. I am especially amazed that my hands were not numb with only a thin glove, and cotton tape wrapped bars. The diamonds really help with hand comfort! ;) As for my knees, they ended up not tightening and bothering me on this ride. I would like to chalk it up to the 100k, 200k, and hip abductor exercises I’ve been doing, but I’m sure the Aleve helped.

Luckily we had sun on Camano Island at the apex of the route. Several hours of dry weather, even. That made things much more tolerable – I almost dried out, even…

Turkeys were out. Also, hawks, rabbits, lots of worms on the road, and a couple crazed barking rural road dogs that surprised the heck out of me and 3 others riding nearby. Luckily we were at enough speed to get past without incident. I would expect that Darwin will take care of those guys before we pass by that way again.

As I was pedaling out of Arlington and joining up on the Centennial trail for a really nice woods ride, it started pouring again, and didn’t really stop until I was back in Seattle. I’ve got to work out a better way to see the queue sheet at night. With this much moisture, it was wet (from having to change it in the rain), and was fogging up the plastic cover on my rando bag. The tiny light was OK, but my odometer was off enough at that point that the math I had to do in my head was becoming a chore for my weary brain. I ended up teaming up with Bill and Patrick for the ride back to Woodinville and the Burke Gilman. At that point I knew the way back, so it was auto pilot. At one point Bill came up behind me after a bit of a weave and asked if I was OK. That was a good wake up! Shortly thereafter we just about ran into this tree/bush that had blown down across the trail.

flic.kr/p/mB5uDF

That last encounter kept me awake for the last few miles home…

The Little Things…

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

5-10, a. homer hilsen, brooks, fitness, gluteus medius, iliotibial band, randonneur, Selle Anatomica, Sidi, sitz bones, Toussaint

As I ride more long brevets, I start to really notice the subtle things that hurt/irritate on a bike. Right now, my biggest issue is my knees – they seem to start bothering me just beyond the 50 mile mark – mainly on the outside Iliotibial Band (ITB). I was able to get through a 200k with a bit of discomfort, but I now know that I need to work on either fit, or fitness to go too much farther, or I will be hurting. I’ve started working on my gluteus medius muscles after reading how weakness here can impact your ITB. We shall see how it goes, but it may take some time to balance out my legs enough so my knees aren’t paying the price.

As for the seat and shoes, I have so far been lucky with no issues. The Selle Anatomica just works. No soreness on the sitz bones, and no numbness after the 200k. On the other hand, after 10 miles on my Brooks Pro, I was ready to bust out the benjamins for another SA. Wow. My shoes are also great – both the 5-10 sneakers, and my Sidi Spyders have been stellar with no numb or irritated toes/arch. Good stuff.

On the neck front, I did get a little stiff at 200k. The bars on my Toussaint were about 1cm lower than on the Hilsen, so tonight I raised them as I didn’t have issues with this last year. This next week will likely bring a 300k attempt for me, so we’ll see how this change pans out. Oh yeah – I’m going to drop the seat just a half cm or so, as well. That may help the ITB in addition to the new exercises…

2014 – Escape from Seattle Brevet

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

200k, bicycle, bike, brevet, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, harlequin wrap, low-trail, nitto, noodles, rando, randonneur, Seattle, Selle Anatomica, SIR

Yesterday was iffy. I wasn’t going to do this ride if it was going to be starting out raining. Luckily, most of the day stayed dry, so I went out and enjoyed it. There were 99 folks signed up in the pre-registration, and I saw several folks there who hadn’t been on the list. A 100+ turnout is huge (for me). I started out slowly as my knees were sensitive after last week’s 100k. This time I had a bit of soreness at the halfway point – nothing a bit of ibuprofen didn’t take care of.

The bike functioned flawlessly, and I was comfortable to the end. Great frame, saddle, pedals, tires, and fit. I can’t wait to test this on a longer ride.

The amazing thing about a brevet – it seems like 10 miles out, you hardly see anyone anymore. Folks spread out quickly at these distances. There is a lot of time to catch up with old and new acquaintances, and meditate (as I did on the beautiful mossy green forested road along Lake Roesiger between Granite Falls and Monroe).

At the finish, there was chili and beer, and then a short 1 mile hop back to my home.

Great day to be outdoors!

Full set of photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonehog/sets/72157642413443174/

Ride map: http://cyclemeter.com/51cfa6724f84c700/Cycle-20140315-0657?r=e

Brevet Season

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

650b, brevet, Chilly Hilly, Cycles Toussaint, SIR, Velo Routier

I know – misleading title for some of the folks who never stop doing long rides…

For me, the brevet season is getting started here in the Pacific Northwest. My first long ride was the Chilly Hilly. This is a course that circumnavigates one of the islands near Seattle in the Puget Sound. It includes a nice ferry ride with hundreds of bikers taking up the car deck.

The official distance is 33 miles, but I ride to the start, so my distance is more like 55 miles. This year was an overcast day starting in the 40s, and ending in the 30s Farenheit. It started raining hard after the ride, just as I was departing the ferry in Seattle. This made the ride home a bit miserable, but I felt pretty good, however, and it was a great start to the season.

I rode the Hunqapillar to try out flat pedals. No knee problems encountered, and I didn’t really notice the extra weight of the bike except for the amazingly steep hills on a few sections of this infamous ride. I also went without any hand pain using the Albastache bars. It was a nice and comfy ride!

Next up was the Spring Populaire put on by SIR.

This is a 100k ride (around 62 miles) and starts nearby in the Greenlake neighborhood. I rode to this one, as well, so added a few miles to the ride. It was my first long ride on the new Velo Routier, and I was excited to get some miles on it to get a feel for 650B, low-trail, rando geometry. The bike was ready to go with lights (though I wouldn’t need them) and all the normal gear. I did forget a pen, however – kind of a faux pas for a seasoned rando like myself (sic).

I saw a few friends at the start, but after we took off, I was on my own for the whole ride. The bike handled great, and I was towards the front of the 100 or so riders that showed up for the ride.

I quickly made my way through the controls, and was having a great time. The tires floated, and the scenery rolled by. I was feeling good, and eating/drinking enough to feel strong. The rain started to become oppressive, and I was soaked through by the midway point, so at a bathroom stop in Renton, I took off my outer wool jersey and put on my rain jacket. I had to wring out my gloves, so I put on my extra pair. Not much could be done with the shoes, however. They were a brand new pair I had gotten for the ride. I wanted a light pair of hikers with a stiffer sole, and they fit the bill, but by the time the ride was done, my feet were soaked and numb from the cold. Hmmm – time to rethink this?

About 40 minutes from the end, I picked up a flat tire from a glass shard. It was a slow leak that I quickly found, but it still took nearly a half hour for me to get the tire changed and pumped up. Nothing like new tires to make you work hard! At this point in the ride, it had been raining hard, and I was cold and wet, so the I-90 bridge I was under made for a nice umbrella. After the change, I had one more mechanical. As I was climbing up Lake Washington Blvd towards the arboretum, I downshifted to the small chainring. The chain stuck to the large ring, however, and managed to come up and past the derailer. I had a sticky ring incident before, so I was trying to be careful. Luckily, there was no damage to the derailleur, and I was able to pull the chain back around the cage. I’m going to follow up with Compass – I may have some oversized chainrings from the first batch…

Back in business, I nearly missed the “secret” control, and had to backtrack a bit – thanks to the cyclists that warned me! By the time I got to the final, I was so wet, I bypassed the pizza and beer, and just got the card signed. I headed back home and spent the afternoon drying my bike, clothes, and self. This was a really wet ride. Not one of the memorable brevets, but I felt OK at the end, and the bike was comfortable and fast. After I get a few things adjusted, it should be ready for some really long trips. This is a track of the ride route:

http://cyclemeter.com/51cfa6724f84c700/Cycle-20140308-0829?r=e

Someone was definitely glad to see me at the end!