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Entmoot

20 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

20th Annual, basket, bicycle, brooks, cycling, entmoot, Grant Petersen, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Hunqapillar, rivendell, sackville, Seattle


Last week, I left Seattle for a 4-day trek down the coast to the Bay area for a special ride with folks from Rivendell and the RBW Owners Bunch .

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I left on Thursday around 3:30pm, and after some initial slow traffic out of Seattle, hit Portland around 7:30pm to pick up some guys from last year’s Seattle/Portland Riv Rumble.

Loaded for the Entmoot

I also met the infamous Coconut Bill and Hugh Smitham from SoCal!  Both were up in Portlandia scoping out a future.  Hugh grabbed a ride with us on his return south, so we had a full truck of bikes and bike nerds!

Around 2:30am we ran out of steam just south of Shasta (northern California) and pulled into a rest stop to… well… rest?

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We unrolled the bedrolls and slept under a tree until I felt some rain drops around 5am and sounded the alarm.  A quick pack up in the cloudburst revived us enough to make it all the way down to Rivendell World Headquarters by around 10am.  It was Aaron’s first time to HQ, so he rode every bike model they had (OK, Andy and I rode a few, as well).  Vince was great in accommodating us making us some tasty espresso, and helping with the bike fitting.

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This is where we parted ways with Hugh, who was going to meet up with some pals at Samuel P Taylor State Park on Friday night.  Andy, Aaron, and I had other plans, however.  We had to ditch the truck (Thanks Tommy!) in San Leandro, and BART back to Walnut Creek for a special ride with Tommy, Manny and friends up to Shell Ridge for a bit of guerilla camping under the stars.  This was a serious blast, and actually an inaugural S24O for me and my Hunqapillar.  I finally got to load ‘er up and ride up some hills!

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Manny (Manuel Acosta) is an active list member who is known for his photography of the local Rivendell riding grounds around the bay area (Shell Ridge, Mt. Diablo, China Camp), and his amazing adventures on his summers off with pals (he is a teacher).  He certainly lived up to his reputation – a natural ride leader with boundless energy and enthusiasm.  He welcomed all of us like old friends, and took us on some amazing trails in Shell Ridge, an area a mile away from Rivendell HQ.  His Sam Hillborne is an amazing testament to hard use and beausage (beautiful usage), as well.  He’s done everything from camping/touring to mountain bike racing to 300k brevets on this thing.  Talk about versatility!

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We camped out on a flat hilltop in the wind-burned dry grass.

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A few of us followed Manny and the locals for some mountain biking around the area, and I found out how much fun a fully rigid bike is on these trails.  Even with a large basket on front, and a big back bag!  Tire note – the Clement MSOs ripped it!  No issues with traction or flats all weekend – and plenty of sharp objects and dusty washouts were traversed.  The Albastache bars were spot on for this sort of riding, as well.

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At this point, I was pretty popped, so sleep came quickly.  We had a great breeze, and a few folks stayed up chatting into the night, but the SEA/PDX crew crashed hard.

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The next morning we had some coffee and a few dry bits of food, and headed back down to the BART station to rendezvous with folks in San Francisco for ride up to China Camp, the official site of the Entmoot.  Here we loaded up on some breaky and hardy bits to bring camping, and also met the next level of the list contingent.  Lots of amazing people came together for this ride.  All sizes and shapes! Manny (5’er) rode Amit’s (6’7″?) Bombadil, and there was much laughing.

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After the full assembly and some photos, we headed off to cross the Golden Gate, and rode north through Sausalito, Larkspur, and San Rafael, before arriving at our destination.  This was a fun ride – easy, low-key, and allowed us to really see the north bay area.  Lots of bikes, and all were met with Manny ringing his bell, and Amit ringing and waving!  This caught on to the whole group.  We definitely looked a bit out of place from the lycra crowd, but everyone was friendly.

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At China Camp, we found five folks from Rivendell, including Grant Petersen himself, as well as Rich Lesnik (wheelbuilder) joining us for the overnight.  We got ourselves unpacked and situated, and just walked around talking and meeting all the great folks we had gotten to know only through their list posts.  It’s really amazing how cool this group of folks is in person!

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I was lined up to do a demo of harlequin bar wrapping with some bars that Joe Bunik brought along, but I had to try to catch Manny and his cohorts, who had taken off on another mountain biking trek in the hills surrounding China Camp.  This riding really reminded me of the trails in Seattle, only much, much dryer!  I never did catch them, but I passed a couple guys climbing the ridge in full gear on dual suspension bikes.  I’m sure they were surprised by my helmetless, sandle-wearing, basket/bagged Hunqa thundering by them up the ridge.  After dusting up my legs, I returned to camp and had some dinner, meeting more folks in the process, including Hugh who had returned from the other state park.  I had some great chats with Grant P about his new HAR racks and bags, and Rich Lesnick who had started his career at Boeing in Seattle.  Then it was time for the bar wrapping session with Joe.

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This was interrupted (hope you got the bars done, Joe!) by an amazing raffle that the Riv folks held for the Entmooters.  We all got a patch commemorating the event, and several of us were lucky enough to win some cool gear including soaps, bags, and even a hatchet!  I came out of it with a reflective triangle for the Hunq.

We had to hit the trail early the next morning so as to make the 9am ferry out of Larkspur.  I was up pretty early, so brewed up a few shots of coffee on the Trangia.  Great stove, BTW.  Roger checked out my Seattle beans and compared the roast to his home-roasted batches.  Wow – coffee and bike geekery is a common thread here.

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I got a couple of last goodbyes and photos with the folks that made this all happen.

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After some rejuvenating beverages, we headed on out for a fine morning ride back to the ferry and civilization.  S48O complete!

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The ride back up to Portlandia and Seattle was fairly uneventful, although more could be written about this adventure as it involved cleanup and lunch bought by Tommy’s dad when we returned to the truck, a three-hour last stop at Bike, Book, and Hatchet, and a search for a good liquor store where I could find some nice Islays, and other strange drinks for Aaron (??).  We had a beautiful sunset on the way past Shasta – it always seems to be a picturesque place when I go through this part of the country.

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We made it to within 90 miles before I became bleary-eyed and had to stop at another rest stop for some shut-eye.  Up to Andy’s early and a goodbye breakfast at Bertie-Lou’s (um, yum!).  Great trip!  I really can see this becoming an annual trek.

Photos from the Entmoot

Backdrop:  in 1994, Grant Petersen left Bridgestone when they folded their US bicycle operation, and started a small mail-order bicycle business that he named after a backpack company and elf city of literary fame.  The business slowly grew with like-minded cyclists who feel steel, leather, lugs, and Grant’s relaxed geometry exemplifies a quality ride.  As the internet became popular around the same timeframe, a newsgroup was formed and dedicated to discussions of Rivendell bikes and ethics.  This branched out of the original iBOB list (Bridgestone Owners Bunch) that had quite a following. RBW was born, and has blossomed into 2000+ users.  It’s a real community of like-minded, friendly folks from around the world.

 

Low Trail Rides

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

650b, bicycles, bikes, Boulder Bicycles, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, FreeRange Cycles, Grand Randonneur, Grant Petersen, low-trail, Mike Kone, randonneur, rivendell, Seattle, Soma, Velo Routier


Having the good fortune to live and ride in Seattle near good local bike shops has its blessings.  I stopped in FreeRange Cycles on Tuesday and tried out a couple of new rides that sport a low trail geometry with a bent towards the randonneuring crowd (me).  Both are a bit of a departure for me in that they are TIG welded steel frames.

Soma Grand Randonneur

The Soma Grand Randonneur was recently shipped, and is a very compelling deal.  It is a $500 frame/fork combo that was designed by Mike Kone of Boulder Bicycle and Rene Herse fame.  Note: Soma is doing some great combo design deals lately.  First Grant Petersen‘s design on the San Marcos, and now a low-trail guru’s take on a commodity frame.  You’d be hard pressed to not want both!

The bike I rode is a 55cm (small for me) with a large porteur rack on the front.  Good to add some weight and see how it feels with a bit of front load.  In my short ride, I felt immediately at home on the bike, and really felt some of the benefits of the different front-end geometry.  It was quick handling, but forgiving – not twitchy.  As I slowed to a stop, I noticed there was none of the flopping I have on my higher trail bikes if I let go of the handlebars.  OK – that’s kind of nice.  But the thing I liked more is that on a slow climb, I didn’t have the bars slightly twisting back and forth with my pedal strokes.  It tracked well at low speeds.  Hmmm – I may like this sort of thing.

On turns, at medium and higher speeds, there was no uncertainty of where I was going.  Perhaps it didn’t feel like it was “on rails” like my Rivendells, but there was no bad effects I could ascertain.  As for riding no-handed, it was about like my Miyata.  Not great, but doable, and I wonder if it’s not due to the high saddle, low bars on this slightly too small frame for me.

Cycles Toussaint Velo Routier

On to the other bike – a new effort out of Canada. Cycles Toussaint is a Calgary company recently formed (2012) with two bike models.  The version I rode was a demo Velo Routier sent to Kathleen at FreeRange to see if there is interest in the area.  It’s a smart-looking white frame that was nicely built up in a traditional rando effort.  It was slightly bigger at 57cm, so more in line with my size (I would probably go with a 59-60cm frame).

The only real difference in ride character this bike had in comparison with the Soma GR is that it tracked better for me no-handed.  I won’t guess why other than perhaps the lack of a rack, the size being more in line with what I normally ride, or some build difference (tires?).  Other than that, the bike handled much like the Soma.  Deliberate, comfortable, and non-eventful.  At $500, this bike is at the same price point, and it may come down to looks for you if you are in the market.  To my eye, the Toussaint is prettier, and I liked the additional seat-stay peg so you can choose to mount a top-tube frame pump, or a smaller seat-stay pump.  Overkill?  Maybe, but I like pump-pegs – call me nuts…

Similarities:

  1. Steel
  2. 650b
  3. Low 30mm trail
  4. Integrated fender mounts
  5. $500!
  6. Threaded 1″ steerer tube for threaded headset (yeah!)
  7. Room for fenders and 42mm tires
  8. Tubing – both are double-butted with .8/.5/.8 on small sizes, and .9/.6/.9 on larger frames

Differences:

  1. Color
  2. Tube diameters – thinner seat-stays on the Toussaint
  3. Fork bend – prettier curve on the Toussaint
  4. Bottle bosses – 2 on Toussaint, 3 on Soma
  5. Front rack mounts – Soma has rack and low-rider mounts, Toussaint has rack mounts
  6. Sizes – Toussaint comes in 4 sizes – 51-60cm, Soma fits more riders with 6 sizes from 49.5-65cm
  7. Rear hub spacing – 130mm for Toussaint, and 132.5 for Soma

Bike Writers

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bike writers, cycling, Grant Petersen, jan heine, randonneur


Jan and Seattle Randonneurs

There has been a lot of debate in the steel bike internets about Grant Petersen and Jan Heine, which one is “right” about bike design, and various merits of their writings.  I have been following both since 2008, when I moved back to Seattle and started commuting again in earnest.  Now I should express full disclosure that I’m a Rivendell owner (obvious from my posts), but I have also ridden a few low trail bikes like the Rawland rSogn and VO Polyvalent with and without front loads.  OK – not an expert by any means, and I certainly won’t try to resolve this debate here…

I see Grant and Jan as modern writers akin to sports/hobby guys such as those I read as a youth growing up in the Midwest.  Back in my formative days, I was very interested in hunting and voraciously read all there was to read in the journals of the time.  I still hunting as a romantic, meditative soul-soup activity that recharges me from time in the rat race, but I also get this from bike riding, randonneuring, and build/mechanic work.

Grant is sort of a Jack O’Connor (writer for Outdoor Life) who has great stories, and likes classic bikes that are designed in a certain way.  His bikes use steel, lugs, oversized tubing, mid-trail geometry, large tires, leather saddles, and upright bars and riding positions.  He likes bikes that are fun to ride everyday, and useful for a wide range of folks.  He especially fits those that are on the larger or smaller size physically, and really tries to keep his designs consistent for his riders whether they are 6’6″ or 4’10”.  He puts a lot of character (and characters) in his writing, and talks about other loves like cameras, fitness, and camping overnights.

Jan does a great job of appealing to the more technical or race oriented riders, and his love of the romance of the randonneur and the long rides fuel his efforts in soulful stories that inspire people like me to try endurance cycling (whether we should or not).  Kind of an Elmer Keith who comes at things from a different angle but goes into it a bit more heavy on the “science”.  He designs components, like Keith (who designed bullets and magnum handgun cartridges).  His style is, in my opinion, more authoritative or perhaps parental which can put folks off when he pisses on someone’s dream bike, but I believe he tries to be fair, and just has an opinion he really believes to be true.

What I really like about both of these guys is that they work hard to put out a lot of interesting content, they both run successful businesses that rely on the reputation of their word, and they aren’t afraid to express themselves.  I hope they continue to inspire bikers for a long time to come!

Bosco Bars

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

albatross, bosco, dirt drop, Grant Petersen, Miyata, nitto, rivendell


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Bosco, a set on Flickr.

I’ve added a new bar to the mix. This went on a bike it was seemingly designed for. I have an ’88 Miyata mountain bike that is long and low, and was built as a downhill racing bike for the mighty Greg Herbold. I had used Nitto Albatross bars on it for a few years, and they were almost perfect, but I felt that I couldn’t get low enough as I used a “dirt drop” stem to get them up high enough for upright commute duty. The Grant Petersen designed Boscos do a great job of giving two extreme positions that is really the beauty of a good drop bar. If I hold the flat center position, I get a stretched out, low profile, and If I want upright, the swept back portion is high and mighty long. So far, so good.

Two considerations in going with this bar. I put a 13 cm stem on it to get it far enough forward so the back of the bars don’t impale my legs. It also helps stretch me out. I also had to really crank the stem down on the bar to keep it from moving. This bar has some serious leverage!

Grant Was Here

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bicycles, dan boxer, Grant Petersen, jan heine, just ride, kent peterson, rivendell, unracer, unracing


Grant at the podium

We had a visit in May from the unassuming hero of steel, leather, and twine.  Grant Petersen made a stop on his book tour for Just Ride at Free Range Cycles in Fremont, Seattle, WA, USA, Universe.  We had a glorious sunny day to welcome him, and it brought local luminaries like Jan Heine, Kent Peterson, and Dan Boxer (among others I am surely missing) to wish him well and listen.

It was standing room only

His half-hour talk was a personal recollection of his path from young bike racer, to becoming an un-racer who is out to enjoy riding for its own sake.  The crowd flowed out the door at the small Seattle bike shop, and after his discussion, we all went for an easy ride along the ship canal to the Ballard Locks and back.

Grant at the locks

He had to leave for the airport by 7:30pm, so we had to get him back within an hour according to his “agent” who was going to hold yours truly personally responsible for this.  Hmmm – me responsible for Grant’s safety for an hour.  That’s funny…

Kathleen and Grant

I saw some friends from prior “riv rides” and was able to meet some new friends, as well.  I’m wishing I had taken some better photos of the whole event, as Jan had ridden his infamous Alex Singer, and there were so many nice Rivendells and Bridgestones, I lost count.  I’d like to thank Kathleen at Free Range Cycles for having an awesome LBS, as well as giving me the opportunity to “lead” the ride after the signing.  Truly one experience I won’t soon forget!

 

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