Jon’s Bicycle Blog

Date: 2008-11-20
Bicycle: Haro Heartland Express LE
Ride Type: Commute + Lunch + New Way Home
Distance: 13 miles
Total This Month: 153 miles
Total This Quarter[1]: 287 miles

The commute in went fine. I’m still happy how nice the drivers are here. Almost everyone backs up if they’re blocking an intersection.

Work today was very busy. When lunch time rolled around, I was very happy I rode in. I grabbed my bike and took off for a six mile ride to clear my head and let my brain work out some programming problems for me. If I had driven in, I could have taken the Jeep to the beach, but I find riding works much better for relaxing and recharging than just getting away for a bit.

I took some time at the end of the day to find a new way to/from work. My goal is 10 miles a day and I’d like to be able to make that with just my commute. I found a new route that’s 4.5 miles each way, which is close enough. Add in some lunch riding and the occasional evening ride to Honeymoon Island and I should make that target easily.

The new route is much more interesting and the roads are clear enough that I can enjoy myself instead of worrying about traffic. I noticed this evening that I’m getting a lot more “Hi’s”, “Hello’s” and general interest with the new handlebars on the Haro. Also, the cars seem more polite. Perhaps the upright riding position does make people think of me as a gentleman out for a ride instead of a “cyclist”.

The new wheels, in a word, rock. I feel more connected with the road, yet they handle bumps and pavement irregularities better than the old ones. I would guess it’s because the rims are wider and that the double-butted spokes provide more of a spring effect. They definitely deal with my weight better and really inspire confidence in the load-carrying capabilities of the bike. I realized I could feel the old wheels squish a bit when I sat on them after riding the new ones. The tires are the same and I keep the tubes at the same pressure.

Hopefully I’ll have some nice pictures from this weekend’s riding with my aunt. Tomorrow, I’m driving into work to help a coworker pick up a bike he’s buying for a needy child. I hope the kid enjoys his new bike when he gets it!

[1] I’m relabeling “Total This Year” to “Total This Quarter”. I’ve ridden a lot more than 287 miles this year, but I didn’t start logging mileage until October 1st. I’ll change it back to “Total This Year” once we start 2009.

My new wheels arrived today. I ordered a set of 36 spoke 700c Mavic A319 rims with Deore hubs and DT double-butted spokes from Harris Cyclery. I wanted 36 spoke hubs due to my size and my desire to tour/carry heavy loads after breaking a spoke on the factory wheels.

The axels had poked holes through the shipping box, which irked me. Unfortunately, I was away from the shipping location and couldn’t inspect the wheels while the delivery person was present. Thankfully, they weren’t damaged or bent.

I wanted to get them on tonight, as my aunt arrives Friday and I’d borrowed the rear wheel from her bike.

The patient, wearing a borrowed rear wheel.

Hoverbike!

Removing the cassette.

Since I had the right tools, removing the cassette was very easy. I really like the bike toolkit I ordered from Amazon. While it’s not as nice as the Park Tools one, it was a lot less expensive and has had all the tools I’ve needed so far.

Putting the cassette on the new wheel was cake. I tightened it up, but didn’t torque on it, as pedaling makes it tighter. The wheels came with new skewers, which was a nice touch.

Putting on the rim tape was a bit of a chore. The one review of the tape Harris Cyclery recommends mentioned it didn’t stick well. I found that it would adhere properly, but only by working very slowly and rubbing each section multiple times. Once that was done, it stuck very well, though my fingers hurt a bit at the moment.

I put in new tubes, as the new wheels are drilled for presta valves, but I reused the tires. After taking a good look at the tires, I realized I’ll need a new set in another month or two. Ah well. I can deal with that later. I may go with the ones I put on my mountain bike, though the red sidewalls may not match the Haro well.

Finished! Bike Snob NYC would be proud:
no pie plate!

After finishing up, I toed in the front brakes to remove brake shudder and reset the brake clearance on both Haros. Fixing the brake shudder went easily, though it was an adjust, ride, adjust process. Time to relax before bed. Tomorrow’s commute will be the first test!

Date: 2008-11-18
Bicycle: Haro Heartland Express LE
Ride Type: Commute + Honeymoon Island
Distance: 16 miles
Total This Month: 140 miles
Total This Year: 274 miles

It was 50F when I left for work this morning. I’d donned my new knee warmers and headband to augment my normal ride wear of shorts, t-shirt, and sweater. The knee warmers and headband fit well and were very comfortable.

They also worked very well. I’ve ridden to work before when it’s been in the 50s: my knees would hurt and it would take quite a while for my ears to warm back up. I’m happy to say I had no knee pain, my ears were warm, and I was very comfortable.

After work, I headed out to Honeymoon Island. It’s about 13.5 miles round trip, which made for a nice ride with the new handlebars and new clothing. Both were stellar. The upright position, even in today’s high winds, was very comfortable and stable. My knees, even with the windchill, were pain-free and my ears were comfortably warm. I was a little surprised how well the knee warmers and headband worked; I expected more wind intrusion through the fabric.

The light setup worked great too; this was my second one hour ride, plus one or two 10 minute uses, on the same charge. The lights didn’t appear any dimmer than when on a full charge. I think I’d be comfortable taking them on a two hour, entirely in the dark trip. Any longer than that would make me consider bringing another light or only using one of my two new lights at a time.

Tomorrow’s adventure: removing the cogset from my current rear wheel onto my new, 36 spoke wheel and mounting that wheel as well as a new, 36 spoke front.

After my aborted charity ride attempt, I decided I needed “coldish” weather clothing. It’s been in the 40s/50s in the morning for the last week and my knees/ears hurt when it’s that “cold”. I really want to keep up my riding and my work commute, so I stopped by a LBS over lunch on Monday.

I already own a set of cold weather tights, but I think they’d be way too warm for the temperatures here. They’re warm enough that I’ve use them as my base layer when skiing and only needed windbreaker pants to be comfortable when it’s below 20F. I considered leg warmers, which go from knee almost to crotch, but, once again, thought they’d be overkill.

I settled on knee warmers and a headband. Both are easily removable, fold up into a small package, and can be worn with my street clothes. The LBS only had the Pearl Izumi brand, but they weren’t too expensive, so I picked up a set. I’ll write about my experience after my first ride wearing them.

Date: 2008-11-16
Bicycle: Haro Heartland Express LE
Ride Type: MDA Challenge Charity Ride
Distance: 6 miles
Total This Month: 124 miles
Total This Year: 258 miles

I’d like to thank my donor. It was very nice of her to contribute. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting many MDA donations, as the telethon was only a short while ago. I will be participating in a much larger fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in the near future. Please consider donating as a part of Fat Cyclist’s attempt at breaking some records in December.

I timed leaving for the ride’s start/finish line so I’d arrive just after the main 50km group was leaving. I thought I’d be one of the slower riders on that route, as I was riding my Haro and expected everyone else to be riding road racing bikes. When I arrived, the staging area parking lot was a lot emptier than I’d anticipated.

Why? Because it was very windy and very cold (in the 40s). I’d dressed in what I thought was appropriate clothing, but, as I cycled towards the start/finish line from my house, I realized it was going to be a long, windy, and very cold ride. Hopefully the route would be protected from the wind.

I picked up my packet and read the route map. Unfortunately, the 50km route involved two of the busiest streets in this part of the county, with the wind on my nose for the main return leg. The morning traffic should have been light, but the afternoon traffic would be rather heavy. I started out on the route and considered what I wanted to do.

After a few miles, I decided the ride wasn’t worth my getting sick (cold and windy) and headed for home. I’ve never dropped out of a charity ride before and hope not to do so again. But the weather and the route weren’t right for me and the bike I was riding.

Thankfully, all the donations were fixed amount donations, not per-mile ridden ones. Given the look of the parking lot, I get the feeling most of the riders decided not to show.

My aborted ride attempt made me realize that I needed more flexible clothing if I hoped to keep up my work commute and riding habits. This led to a trip to a LBS on Monday…

Date: 2008-11-14
Bicycle: Haro Heartland Express LE
Ride Type: Commute
Distance: 6 miles
Total This Month: 118 miles
Total This Year: 252 miles

A very upright riding position

My first ride with the new handlebars! It was just my normal commute, as my friend/coworker/fellow cyclist’s birthday party was after work, so I didn’t get to ride any extra miles. But the hanblebars felt great and the upright riding position is very nice.

I was concerned it would be unstable, being so upright, but I had great control over the bike. The handlebar position alleviated the stress on my wrists that normal bars put on them. The position I picked for the shifters and brakes worked out very well too.

My darling wife had a full day of presentations and meetings today, which meant she’d get home later than I would.

As I said earlier, I shouldn’t put my new handlebars, handgrips, etc on until after Sunday’s MDA Challenge ride. But I paid for overnight delivery before realizing that fact.

So I arrived home with a Nitto 56cm CrMo Albatross handlebar, cork bar tape, and bar end shifters in my hands and my Brooks leather grips waiting in the shop.

A sensible person would have put everything on a shelf in the shop, gone inside, had dinner, and waited for his wife to get back home.

I’ve never claimed to be sensible.

Though I wasn’t crazy enough to try to wrap the bars and switch to bar end shifters before the ride on Sunday. I’ll write more about the process and whether I like the new setup later. So far, though, I like the very clean look and the new bars and grips feel great.

The pictures do not do the bike justice at all. I’ll try to take better ones over the weekend. Also, I’ll need a new rear view mirror once the bar end shifters are on. Any recommendations?

Date: 2008-11-13
Bicycle: Sun EZ-3 SX Recumbent Trike
Ride Type: Work to the rental place
Distance: 3 miles
Total This Month: 112 miles
Total This Year: 246 miles

Sun EZ-3 SX (Image from Sun’s Flash-only website)

A friend, coworker, and fellow cyclist turns fifty tomorrow. As a part of the celebration, we decorated his office and, as a gag, I rented a Sun EZ-3 SX from Pinellas Trail Bike Rental (PTBR) that we put in his office. Two of us picked up the trike in the morning. I had originally planned on biking down to PTBR, renting the bike, loading it into a coworker’s truck, then biking to work. But it was really humid and overcast, so I drove, as I thought I’d be soaked by the time I got to work.

My coworker got a big kick out of the decorations and the trike. He rode it around the neighborhood and returned with a big smile on his face. After he left for the day, we had to decide how to take the trike back.

The weather had turned sunny and less humid, so I decided to ride it the three miles back to PTBR. It was a lot of fun. The gearing is very low, so I was in top gear fairly quickly. I was wishing for higher gearing until I realized how tippy this type of trike is. The gentle slope of a road cut was enough to make it feel squirrelly; I had it up on two wheels a couple of times.

Definitely an interesting and fun experience. I could see renting a pair for my darling wife and me and doing a leisurely ride up the trail to Tarpon Springs for lunch. The rental bikes/trikes come with locks and helmets, so it would be easy to get out and about on them.

PTBR has two of the Sun EZ-1 SXs, which is the two-wheeled version of this bike. I’ve never ridden a two-wheel recumbent; perhaps it would be fun. I think they’d be very unstable with such a high center of gravity, but I’m willing to give almost any bike a try.

I need to put my bike carrier back on the Jeep. I used to keep it on all the time, but after I started riding more, I took it off. It would have been handy today, as I could have ridden the trike back to PTBR, walked home, and ridden back to work. Instead, a coworker was nice enough to pick me up at the store.

I highly recommend PTBR. The owner was great to deal with and, from what I’ve seen, is great with his clients. All of the bikes are in like-new conditions and recent models. The EZ-3 in the picture is a 2008 and his other EZ-3 is a 2009. It’s nice to see a Florida bike rental shop carrying new, well-maintained, geared bicycles that has a pleasant owner.

Date: 2008-11-12
Bicycle: Haro Heartland Express LE
Ride Type: Night Ride to Honeymoon Island
Distance: 11 miles
Total This Month: 109 miles
Total This Year: 243 miles

I drove to work today, as I had a few library materials due today and I wasn’t sure if I could make it to the library and back over lunch on a bike. I ride often enough now that I feel guilty driving when I could have ridden. Next time, I’ll plan my library returns better so I can bike.

My darling wife is very busy this week with work-related projects, which made this evening the perfect time for my second night ride with my new lights. I grabbed my charged up batteries, hooked up the lights, checked the tire pressures and headed out.

Since the time change, when I ride immediately after work it’s after sundown but not quite dark. The lights are handy at that point, but not really required. Once I hit the causeway to Honeymoon Island, it’s dark enough that lights are a necessity.

The light setup still works great. Cycling along the water, in the dark, was lovely. The breeze off of the bay and the quiet of the night is a great way to relax after work. I need to remember to ride at night more often. If you’ve not ridden with a nice light setup, I highly recommend it. I’m able to see well enough that my mind can relax and I can ghost along, thinking whatever thoughts come to mind, instead of worrying about what’s ahead of me on the road/trail.

Only a few more days until the MDA Challenge ride. I think I have the seat dialed in properly on the new seatpost. I may angle the front up a degree during the ride, but so far it feels fine. I wish I could have the new handlebars, grips, tape, and shifters on the bike for the ride. I think the look will be stunning. But I’d have to rush the job and don’t like making major changes so soon before a long ride. Ah well. There will be other charity rides.

My darling wife got me a gift! She sent me a set of Brooks leather grips in honey. Being the bike nerd that I am, this spawned a new project.

I’ve been thinking about replacing the handlebars on the Haro for a while. I like the idea and look of albatross bars a lot. After reading the praises of them a few times, I ordered a set of Nitto Albatross Chrome Molly ones from Rivendell. I also ordered tan cork bar tape.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone. I really like the look of bar end shifters on albatross bars. So I ordered a set from Rivendell. Once I get them installed and ride a bit, I’ll decide if I want to switch to friction shifting. Index shifting is nice if it’s kept adjusted, but I think I’d like the simplicity of friction shifting again.

Unfortunately, the big charity ride is Sunday, so I won’t be able to work on this project until next week. I may hold off until my darling wife is here the following week. Her insight and company would be a major help with a project like this. Of course, her insight and company is something I always desire and miss very much when we’re not together.