Like a kid the night before Christmas...

I just got done tuning the Trucker for biking to work in the morning. This will be my first time on my bike in...I have NO IDEA.

I honestly don't know if I'll be able to sleep - I'm that keyed up and excited by it. I don't know how or why I let this much time pass without riding but I can't wait to snap the fast and get miles under my wheels again.

Two good pieces of kit

Despite the unpleasant weather (40s, drizzle) yesterday I set myself up to bike home. I had my new bags from Swift and loaded them onto the bike to test out.

The first thing I noticed when I got the box a couple of weeks ago was that the bags were beautiful. Swift lets you customize the bags and I couldn't be happier with how they cam out. The attachment is simple - I tossed in a little extra to have a bungie attachment with an S-hook for the bottom so all I did was hook the bungie on the bottom and pull up until I could hook the top bar on the rack. The two bags worked great for what I wanted to carry - my work clothes, computer, and some notebooks. With a second set of bags (which I have) I can easily load enough gear for a short trip (couple of days) without trouble. When the weather turns enough for me to test the bags out with a full tour, I'll let you know.

The other piece of kit I wanted to crow about is my Fat Cyclist woolie (sorry, it's a limited edition and there hasn't been any info on the next version). Like all FC gear it's made by Twin Six, and it's fantastic. Yesterday was the first time I really tested it in poor weather, I'd worn it on cool days before but not in the cold. I was wearing the jersey with a day-glo vest over it and shorts, and within a few minutes I was plenty warm. I will soon be ordering a few more wool jerseys for winter riding.

An almost fully-loaded commute

I have avoided commuting to work on Mondays because I usually have my laptop and a big heap of papers that I've brought home to work on over the weekend. This week was no different, except that the heap was closer to two heaps because of the (work-related) trip to Carson City last week. But I also did some riding there that both 1) reminded me how much I luv my bike and 2) demonstrated conclusively (and emasculating-ly) how much more I need to be on it. So I loaded up last night to make sure I would ride this morning. The result:


The back end is my Two Wheel Gear garment pannier (that I luv almost as much as my bike) and the front end, strapped to the top of my Nice Rack is my backpack with many heaps of papers and my laptop. I'm not a fan of a high load like that, the front was a bit wobbly, which reinforces the need to get some normal panniers that will mount on the sides (and low, an advantage of the Nice Racks) in the near future.

I will post about the rides in Carson. One was on dirt and really fueled my desire to get my hands on a twenty-niner, the other was a solo trek around town. Both were great and both hurt (see note above on emasculation) in that good "this ride kicked my sorry @$$" way. But more on that soon.

My commute

I've been meaning for some time to take my camera with me on my commute home from work (the to-work commute is mostly me in the BART train, not very exciting) and get some pics up. I finally got around to it. I've posted more, along with the little map thingee, at flikr. Keep in mind that I don't have a camera with a GPS, so some of the map placements are rough.

Approaching the Oakland AMTRAK station at Jack London Square

Two-way bike lane on one side of the street to provide access to the ped/bike bridge from Alameda to Bay Farm Island

On the ped/bike bridge

Crew team (one of three I saw) working out in the channel near the Oakland Coliseum

The entrance to the Oakland International Airport

I have a heap more (72 pics total) at the flikr link above. They run from the bike room at work to my workshop at home. Hope you enjoy them, I know I enjoyed the ride where I took them.

Training - a request

I haven't been updating my training lately because I haven't done any. I've been on the road for work and that's going to keep going for the next few months. That brings me to my request. 

Anyone who has followed this thing since I started should know that my primary ride, my Long Haul Trucker, has S and S couplers installed on it. In theory, they should allow me to pack the Trucker up and take it on the road with me. Since I've been and will be traveling to places like Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii I'd really like to have my bike with me. Unfortunately, things haven't worked out as well in practice as in theory.

I have tried exactly once to pack my bike into a case. It was a soft-side, rented from Mt. Airy. Problem was, I couldn't get the bike into the case. There are all sorts of guides on how to do it, but it seemed like the Trucker was just too long to fit. What I'm hoping for is that someone who reads this is familiar with S and S couplers and has packed a bike with them. Or, maybe that someone in the Bay Area can recommend a good shop that works with tourers primarily that might be able to help me out.

I'd really like to be able to use the Trucker as I intended, which means being able to pack it up. Any ideas?

Finally

I have no one to blame but myself for this, but still. Yesterday was the first day in many moons (since September 8 according to my log at Active Body) that I got out for a ride. It wasn't anything special, but then again, it was. This was my first ride of any length on the Trucker, it was my first ride with the racks on the Trucker (unloaded), and it was my first ride testing out my mini-pod tripod as a camera holder on the handle bars.

I had done some short rides on the Trucker, but nothing more than commuting really. Today I did about an hour in the saddle, and went a whopping 12 miles. It was long enough to put me firmly in the "Brooks B17 works right out of the box" camp. It also was long enough for me to discover a couple of odd sore spots (right elbow, left knee) that show me just how long I've been away from biking and pretty much any working out.

You probably can't see it in this picture, but there's a deer running from R to L across the path

All things considered I'm ecstatic to be back in the saddle, and can't wait to do it again. I hope to start doing a few rides like this in the evenings after work, building up to doing some more serious rides on the weekends.

"But the waiting is the hardest part"

With apologies to Tom Petty.

A few days ago I got notice that my racks (Nice Racks, in fact - yeah, I had to go with Surly for the Surly) for the Trucker were on their way from Bikeman in Maine. Now, everyday when I get home the first thing I do is scan the door, mailbox, and stoop to see if there's a "we missed you" tag from UPS letting me know the racks are here.

No luck yet...

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Trucker, fully loaded

I've been riding the Trucker for my commute for a couple of weeks now. (I will repair the rear of the Schwinn, someday.) Over the weekend I decided to finally get off my duff and move some of the accessories over to it.

First I moved the OYB bag. It hangs on a nifty no-tool bag mount that Velo Orange had for sale as NOS for a little while. I thought it might not fit because of where the brake cables emerge from the bar tape, but there was no problem. I also transferred the Polar CS100 computer over. Unfortunately, in order to get the wireless cadence sensor to work, I have to put the computer on the top tube. I discovered on the first ride with this set up that the angle of the stem is such that it obscures the computer. This may be a good thing (no watching the time/distance on longer rides) but I doubt it. Finally, I moved the essentials - the pump (Topeak RoadMorph) and lock (Kryptonite Evolution).

Finally, after too many months, the Trucker is almost complete. Next come racks and bags, then an overnight.

Slow leaks

I can't think of any aspect of bike maintenance that drives me farther up the wall than slow leaks in tubes. Especially with my Speedster. Why that bike in particular?

• No quick release - The rear (internal gear) can't be and the front just isn't, and for commuting that's just fine (it buys me an extra 0.5 seconds) but for replacing tubes it's a pain
• No work stand - The other bikes hang on a rack and I could probably get their (quick release) tires off on there, not the Schwinn because...
• It weighs a lot - This is an old school steel tank, which I love, but the lean-against-the-wall style rack my other bikes are on wouldn't hold it
• Full metal fenders with attached taillight - This makes it tough to just wheelie the bike up and over on the rear wheel, I get about 1/2 way and hit the fender
• Odd tire size - When I had new wheels built I did the cool but not smart thing and kept the original S6 wheels, which makes getting new tires and tubes a pain (that will change soon)
• Tires that don't sit easily - I don't know if it's S6 in general or just the tires I have, but they do not sit well on the rim so pinch flats are a constant source of worry

That's the beginning of the list, but you get the point.

For the last week I've been commuting on the Trucker because the Schwinn is flat in the back. I pulled it off this weekend, couldn't find a hole, put the tube back on and a few hours later (3 or 4) it was going flat again. In the end I will probably pull the tube and replace it, tagging it as leaking and fix it later (when I have access to my dad's fountain to find the leak). I think I'm also going to get new rim tape because the old stuff looks pretty shot, and some of the add-it-yourself anti-flat goop.

The Trucker

As I mentioned earlier, I've been riding my new(ish) Long Haul Trucker to work for the last few days. This is due to a flat rear tire on the Speedster and the fact that it is kind of a pain to flip it over to fix. I need to stop being lazy and buy/build a repair stand so I no longer have this problem, but that comes later. For now, I'll enjoy the fruits of a multi-bike stable (mixing metaphors, oh well).

It was when I mentioned riding the Trucker that I realized I had not actually made a post about the completed version of the bike, so here goes. Because I'm not overly geeky about the parts (and I didn't do much to spec the bike other than give generalities) I'm not going to go into great detail. Here are some highlights:

• S and S couplers to make it possible to pack for travel - Since I built this as a touring bike and I had the frame clean of anything I figured getting the S&S retrofit was a good thing to do. Thanks much Bilenky Cycle Works for the beautiful installation.

• Brooks B-17 - I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. Right on the bike it's been one of the most comfortable saddles I've had. Hard as wood, no doubt, but somehow not painful. This is significant for me given my tweaked left hamstring/sciatic nerve.
• Bar-end shifting - When I was test-riding bikes to decide what I liked I found that I couldn't stand the wobbly feel of brifters. That, paired with the friction-shifting option and how much I like the bar-end shifting on my SuperCourse made this an easy choice.
  

• Reelights - I had them left over from when I got the dynohub installed on the Speedster and figured I'd toss them on here just for laughs.

• Campus pedals - I like the clipless/normal option with this bike, especially for touring.

I have noticed a few things which have reinforced the point a made a few days back, about the need to ride all the bikes in the stable regularly. Not only is it an important part of the proper "care and feeding" (as the Surly people say) but you need to be reminded of the eccentricities of each bike. I've had two small issues on the Trucker that would be easily avoided if I used it more often. The first is that I have been hitting the right (rear) shifter when I stand up to pedal - I'm just not used to where the lever is. The second is that I forgot why it was important to wear bike shorts (I'm talking about support here) while riding on the fat, upright seat of the Speedster.

Live and learn.

The importance of variety

My last post I mentioned both my (not very) expansive three-bike stable, and that I had to commute on my touring bike due to a flat on the commuter. One thing I didn't mention is the odd discomforts I felt riding it.

When I picked up the Trucker and did a brief test-ride it was the single most comfortable bike I had ever been on. For the most part that is still the case. One little thing I noticed is that the muscles at the base of my thumbs are extremely sore now, and while I was riding they felt unpleasant. Thinking about it this really isn't surprising. Most of my riding (in fact 100% for the last couple of months) has been commuting, on an upright. Getting back onto a bike with drops means having to support my weight in a different position, and the body isn't used to it.

For a long time I had only one bike, a mid '90s Trek 930 SingleTrack. I had it set up for commuting (somewhat, slicks and a rack) and I rode it everywhere. My friends were training for a tour and I did their rides on the Trek, I commuted on the Trek, I went shopping on the Trek. Then it was stolen. I ended up getting two bikes to fill its duties - the Speedster and a Raleigh SuperCourse. The Speedster just isn't great for longer rides and the SuperCourse is too much of a road bike (read: extra-skinny wheels) for daily commuting on Baltimore streets. Now I've added the Trucker. Unfortunately, my time lately hasn't allowed for a lot of pleasure riding, so it's nothing but utility, which means the Speedster.

The point? If you have more than one bike, especially if you have more than one type of bike, you need to put some time in the saddle of each of them. Your body will thank you for it and (perhaps more importantly) you'll get to enjoy all of the different types of riding.

Why I have three bikes for just me - or - why I'll be paranoid all day.

I normally commute on my '72 Schwinn Speedster. It's a semi-zippy little tank, banana-yellow, with a 3-speed internal rear hub and a drum brake/generator front hub, a nice NOS Schwinn rear rack and some Wald folding baskets, a a nifty little OYB 5 way bag on the handlebars. In other words, a great city bike. Unfortunately, I couldn't ride it today because sometime between getting home last night and trying to get on it this morning all of the air decided to evacuate the rear tire. Since I was already pushing the late end of heading to work I didn't have the time to fix it. I debated driving and then decided to bring the Trucker instead.

It should go without saying that this is not what my Trucker currently looks like, but I don't have any other pics available online. That actually shocks me, because it means I didn't do a gooey post after it was finished. Anyway...eventually (as in, when I get the rest of the rear) the Trucker will be a touring rig. As of now I don't have racks of bags for it. That meant wearing the mess bag. Thankfully the weather has taken a turn for the cool today and I didn't end up with a monster sweaty back.

The problem, and the reason I'm going to be twitchy all day at my desk is that we don't have the most secure bike parking around. We have a few police barricades to lock up to, in a semi-obscured corner of the garage. There is no reason anyone not affiliated with the building would be in there, but this is a pricey and well loved bike.

Oh well, I'll just make a lot of trips up and down the stairs...

jp

Mugginess, gutter lines, and a test ride

I had a busy weekend, helping a friend move into town and get settled in before she starts nursing school next week. I did find time to FINALLY take the Trucker out for a test ride. Saturday was just about perfect for riding - some high clouds, a light breeze, about 65F. I hit the BWI trail with my friend Karen for the shakedown ride of the Trucker and it was great. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, with my Brooks B17 being comfortable to ride on its first voyage. The barend shifting worked great, frame felt solid as a rock, no real issues. The only thing I need to look into is adjusting the cable on the rear deraileur. When it was set or indexed shifting it had a tendency to ghost-shift on me. That went away when I switched over to friction (I love barend) but I would like to adjust it. I think it's a result of the one (failed) attempt to break the bike down and pack it.

This morning I decided to ride to work, despite a very grey sky. It is definitely approaching summer here, juding by how thick the air was on the ride. It was warm, but felt like I was riding through pudding the air was so thick. I don't know if it was the weather or what, but I also was having a hard time with the gutter lines today. Three or four times I tried to slide from the gutter back into the street and one of my tires got hung up, making me slide along the edge and feel a little unsettled for a minute. I hate it when that happens because I always think about what happened to my buddy's wife in that situation where she did tip. Unfortunately she was using toe clips and her shoe got hung up. She didn't do any serious damage, but ouch.