Down Trails and shaded glens

I've been riding, just kind of low key instead of outright hyper on the bike culture-thing like I was last year.

Zwartehond, my Workcycles / Azor   Kruisframe/Pastoorfietsen has some updates, after correspondence and business with Henry Cutler.  Gone is the ridiculously heavy and complex Nexus 8.  Instead mounted is a SRAM automatix, a 2 speed hub that jumps from 100% direct drive to 131% or so, once the rear wheel is spinning around 11mph.  The Automatix also features a coaster brake, and is not particularly heavier or larger than the stock standard Shimano CB110 coaster hub.  Supposedly the Automatix is based on the older Fichtel and Sachs, and is generally designed to last forever.  I'm liking the simplicity.

The crank went down to 38T and I upped the rear sprocket to 23, so everything is nice and easy to pedal at in the 100%.  Front nexus rollerbrake is retained.  I added a Travel Agent to use more classy looking Velo-Orange levers.  Grips changed for coke-bottle. Crane bell added.

Gotta be about 10lbs lighter at least. Also removed the cafe-lock, as I don't operate in a particularly high crime area. I can use the cable, or U-lock or even still attach the cafe lock, depending on circumstance required.

I took the trail north for 40 miles last Sunday, to check my endurance. Of this only 1/3rd of the total 83 miles was paved.  Gravel, or even just grassed double-track got old pretty quickly.   Lots of food, lots of fluid.  My butt was sore, by the end of the ride, and I courted bonk at one point.  My Garmin GPS said I burnt 3311 calories.  Yow!

I originally intended on taking my new bike, a Virtue "Ortho" on Ragbrai, based on the assumption I'd lose lots of weight this summer, getting back down to a trim 135-140.   Yeah, didn't happen.  Still 190ish.  So Zwartehond it is, self-supported.  To increase cargo carrying, I purchased a Carradice Nelson Long Flap, and moved it to the aft position, moving the Carradice College up front.

This bridge could probably still carry a model-T, which was the car en vogue when it was built. Nowadays...

Carrying the bare minumums, Tent, Amana 6pt wool blanket, waxed chore coat, camera, film, tool kit, 2 pairs Wool knickers and Linen shirts, stockings. few toiletries, lights, a book and a sketch book, opinel, some soft canteens, powdered lemon, sugar, a good book, and whatever ad-hoc snacks I score en route.

'Was initially planning on doing the whole week of Ragbrai, but driving all the way out to Council Bluffs, and then suffering an 85 mile 4000ft climb day in the sun-blasted west prairie seems more like an exercise in masochism.   So I'm just going to pick it up in much closer Des Moines, and ride the remaining 4ish days.

 Hopefully I won't get completely zoned out, while being surrounded  in the sea of lyrca.

One of the things that bugs me about Ragbrai, is that the course hours are generally 6am to 6pm. 6am is fine-  but in July, in the midwest, it is essentially still light to 9:00pm and typically cooler in the evening.  Seems like they should be encouraging mid-day siestas and evening riding.  Oh-well.

ShadowPandas

Shadow Pandashot

As I was bicycling home today, I took particular note of my shadow-self, pedaling away in exaggerated perspective. As soon as I reached a particularly vacant section of cul-de-sac out came the camera.

Everything is 100% good with Zwartehond. The Ritchey liquid torque worked great, and the Brooks single rail seatpost clamp, flipped around and backwards allowed me to use the lovely sprung B.67 again. The classic style seatpost and clamp, allow for about a 40mm drop over the stock kalloy micro-adjust.  I spent Saturday morning going back and forth on the local crushed limestone trail, dialing everything in. I stayed off the big dutch-belgian beast until today, and when I climbed into the saddle this morning, it was like an old friend. Perfect fit, perfect reach.  As I commuted to work, the phrase
that came into my mind to describe my impression of the bike:  'The Big Easy'.

I rode the Felt Cafe3 quite a bit last week, and on Sunday as well, biking up the 12 miles from downtown in the 95F heat.  Not too bad.  This was the first time I had done this stretch of trail on the Felt, and it was suprising, just how swiftly the light Aluminum 3 speed took me. I stayed at least at 15mph. Zoom. Maybe I overdid it just a tad, as I had consumed a large lunch, as I ended up feeling slightly ill, even though I was hydrated. Ahwells.  Sometimes fast is good, sometimes it is good to take it easy.

Kruisframe Impressions

Gracious, what a big enormous beast of a bike.  I feel like I’m perched on top of the world- because I pretty much am. I found myself at the same eye level as the drivers in  most pickup trucks and SUVs.  The steel frame combined with the big Schwalbe Marathon tyres, and the Brooks B67 minimizes road-discomfort, a good thing too, given the quality of the roads around here.

The Shimano Nexus 8 speed is interesting, it certainly has a lower bottom end than the Nexus 3, and that’s probably a good thing, given that hills are a bit more of a challenge.  It also has no freewheel noise.  I snuck up behind some of my coworkers who were on a stroll,  and gave them the bell at 3 feet.

There is a bit of plastic on it, in spots I dont like, and I’ll be working on replacing that with metal or leather, I’m trying to really make it more 1920s appropriate.
It feels like a comfortable assuredness, riding the bike. A certainty that as long as you keep leisurely spinning the pedals, it will take you to whatever destination you wish. I love it!  

I was skeptical about the Brooks B67, the first few rides were rough.  I spent several hours tweaking the positioning, and now it is pointed just right and pretty comfortable, even though the leather is as hard as a rock.  I ordered another Selle An Atomica Titanico -X anyways. I’ll see how it goes.  The bag on it is a Carradice College, ordered from VeloFred, I’ll do more of a review later perhaps. I can admit however that on Tuesday evening, I rode home with a rotissere chicken, cornbread muffins, a can of cranberry sauce, and a change of clothes.

I tossed a coin for which bike I would take to work today, and the Felt Cafe3 won. Getting back on it after 4 days of Kruisframing was an eye opener. How fast and agile and insubstantial it felt. How quickly I could accelerate. How bone-shakingly brutal the ride is. I went all over heck and back on it today, about 18 miles, and ended up having to tighten up the fenders- some of their bolts were loosening up from road vibration.  Need to get some blue loctite.  The Felt is a good bike, my gateway bike… and now I’m cyclo-addicted.

What next? well, one goal- if I manage to get back down to my ideal weight of sub 145lbs-  I’m going to reward myself with a Highwheel bike. Yes, just to be that obtuse.