LHT Exploring photo dump

Just thought I'd drop a few pictures from some recent exploring I did around my house last weekend. I figured there had to be some decent riding around the canals (other than what's directly behind my house) and all I had to do was go out and find it. I didn't have much more than an hour, so I'm not sure of the extent of the riding, but for fast training rides and such, there is plenty of nice gravel and double track.

My Surly constrictor clamp on my Karate Monkey snapped, so I rode the Trucker. I would rather have had the KM, but the trucker was capable indeed. I just don't like riding as hard on the LHT, because I don't want to destroy my Schmidt E6 or any of the racks. A single speed 29er is far more resilient when crashing. I just tried hard not to crash.

This is where my ride started. It's a 5 minute bike ride from my house.

Nice sweeping gravel corners
Cattle to the left

LHT 10' above the water

Heading toward the golf course

Obligatory panda shot

I think this is the widest bike path in the world. It has to double as emergency vehicle access to the back part of the golf course, hence the width. It's a great place to ride with kids when they're learning.

Fort Lauderdale

Down in Florida right now for a quick business trip. Mostly just hanging out at FLL airport and hitting the local restaurants. Breakfast at Lesters sure beats what they call " breakfast" at the hotel.
www.jeromes-bikes.blogspot.com

I like the looks of this!

Check out the new Allez Double Steel from Specialized. I think there has been a serious lacking of decent steel go-fast race geometry bikes out there. MSRP being $610 USD, it looks like a sweet option. I loved my Allez and I think with my reverting to the way of old, steel frames, I'd love this one too. Nice to see.

Basket Bike in the Morning Light

Last night I hauled up the basket bike from the basement. Now that the garage is painted, and I've started into the organization process, I can liberate some of my machines from the basement. I had a coffee meeting with Cory today, and I figured if I have to haul a couple of extra larges to his house, I better use the basket bike. Every time I ride this bike, I'm always impressed with how handy the Wald basket is on the front. This bike also was a bit of a process for me, and represents about 2 years of various parts collecting to get it together. Sort of a different feeling about this bike than I have about ones that I purchase new. Not better, just different. But, I've been saving some decent components for a while, and this bike is by no means a junk pile junkie. Nice vintage Shimano all around. I added some new cork grips last night from Rivendell. Very comfy for sure. I plan on twining them tight and following that up with some shellac. I've also got a nice sturdy set of chromes steel fenders I'm going to install. Just need to polish them up first.

The light was very warm, rich and yellow this morning. I love riding my bike in the mornings.

Blogger is limiting

I'm having serious thoughts of moving this blog to somewhere else........

Blogger is just too frusterating sometimes!

Garage Work

This past weekend we opted out of camping, and with all the rain we had I was glad we did so.

I took the opportunity to get a project done thats been bugging me for quite some time; my garage. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t unpack my garage stuff (still sitting in my dad’s motorcycle trailer) until I have my garage painted. This is the only way that I can ensure I actually get to it. Once I hang one tool up on the wall, that’s it. It would forever be bare drywall. I hate that. Besides, in 10 years it’s almost un-paintable and you’d basically have to redo the whole thing. So, work late Friday and Saturday nights, and start organizing at a leisurely pace Sunday afternoon. First order of business, bicycle storage. I need more than this, but it’s a start. I’ve still got 6 bikes in the basement. Maybe I need to cull the herd a little more intensely? Na, just get a little more creative with bike storage. I was also planning on building custom shelving and work area, but when I saw the price of this hammer and bash together stuff, I’d be crazy to give up 3 more weekends just to get the garage usable. This system will work fine for what I need. Mostly just bike maintenance and the odd wood working or electronics projects. Still adding a few more shelves and organizing a bit more, but hopefully it'll be all done this week.

Next on the garage list, hook up my Sony surround sound so I can wrench in musical bliss!

Rainy

We just had sod installed in our yard, so I'm not complaining right now.

Rough Riders

Taking a short cut to the bank after lunch. Opted for the fixie, just for the performance advantages. Don't say 28s can’t go off road? I appologize for the poor photo quality. This was taken on my blackberry.

My Long Haul Trucker

Quite possibly the best bike I've ever owned. There just something about the way it keeps on rolling. Smooth, but tough. Rugged and yet refined. The fit getting closer and closer to perfect. Ah, what a bike.

It's all about Performance

Check it.


Good for a laugh.

Found the problem

The front wheel of my LHT was built up with a Dyno hub by Peter White. I have the stock front wheel hanging in my parts department. There was some type of rim tap installed (not sure if it was I who put it on or PWC) but it was pretty thin in a few spots. The ridges of the spoke holes were sticking through in a few locations. I was able to determine exactly which spoke hole was causing the problem (props for matching up the logo on the tire with the valve hole and careful removal of the tire and tube while changing flats) and installed a new rim tape from MEC. I combed over the rest of the rim and the inside of the tire just to be sure, and they looked fine. We’ll give her a week or two to see, but I’m pretty sure that this little problem should be gone now.
On the fixie, I found that I had a failed presta valve. No tears in the rubber or anything, just the air leaked through the valve itself until it was down around 15PSI. I know you can tighten up the little valve inside the stem on a Schrader valve, but I don’t think this is the case with a presta. New tube on there and we’ve got both bikes back on the road again. Thank goodness!

Mechanical Woes

First, I seem to have an issue with the seat post on my new Karate Monkey. After finally tightening the crap out of the collar bolt, it still slipped down about an inch on my last ride. It was only 11 miles, and while it was gravel, it should never move. I posted it to the LHT and CC Google group, looking for anyone who may have had a similar experience, and I did learn of others having such problems on other bikes. There was a case where the same thing happened with a LHT, and Surly came to the table and ended up sending a new replacement frame. Good on ya Surly. I need to measure my seat post and make sure that it is the correct diameter. If not, I’ll head to my LBS where I bought the bike and see if we might be able to try a few sizes of seat posts. Hopefully one slightly larger size will do the trick. If not….hhmmm…..I hope to be able to get a new frame to change out. That’s the worst case scenario, and I’d rather not think about that.

Second, not such a big deal, just flat tires. First one was about 3 weeks ago on my LHT. I rode it to work after lunch as I always do, same old route, and when I went to leave that evening, the front tire was completely airless. As I was changing the tube, I was careful to remember where on the wheel the flat happened so I could inspect the wheel and indeed there was something in there that was suspect to me. I forget what that was though. I remember thinking that I’ll just wait and see if I get another flat and then I’ll know I’ll have to deal with whatever the possible cause was. Well, yesterday, that other flat came. Now I really wish I remembered what the suspect cause was. I guess I’ll find out when I take the wheel off.

Third was after lunch today. I drove my truck to work this morning (shame shame shame) and picked up the LHT. (I could change the flat at work, but I’m a wuss and by far prefer working on a stand if I have any choice at all) and was planning on riding my fixie back to work. Went to put on my race blade fenders to help keep the water from jumping up at me. What do I find? A flat rear tire! Argh. I go from having no flats in 3 years, to 3 flats in 3 weeks. Frustrating. Kind of makes me want to just run out and buy some of the toughest most flat-resistant tires I can find (think Schwalbe marathons). Before, while running any tire, even tires I found for free at the recycling yard, I’ve never had a flat. Now, these three. Oh well, I guess we all have to deal with our share of mechanical headaches. I just don’t know why I got all of mine in one lump sum.

Santiago Chile

I was disappointed to not have much free time to take photos while I was in Santiago last week. It's a great city with wonderful architecture, and would have made for hundreds of great photos. Any shots I could get off were while in a car, or while waiting for a car. This one was in front of our hotel while waiting for a car to take us off to one of the too many meetings. We stayed here. Flickr pics are here or on my photoblog.

Gravel Cruising

Finally got out on a bicycle since my return from Chile. What to ride? Gravel of course. On the Karate Monkey. This bike was made to be a gravel eating bike. As one who has logged some miles on 700c (38) and 26" wheeled bikes on gravel, I can say that these 29 X 2.3 are the best I've ridden on the gravel yet. mmmm what fun.

Siggs Arrive!

I received my little care package from Sigg while I was in South America.

The wide mouth looks very interesting. I live the idea of being able to add ice, and it should also be easier for mixing up energy drinks and whatnot.

The middle is the same classic Sigg style, the same as the one that was in question.

And, a new sport bottle that will fit into cycling water bottle cages.

I also received some cleaning tablets and a cleaning brush. The big thing I noticed is that the cardboard rings on the top of the bottles now say that they are dishwasher safe. When I bought my other Siggs, it came with recommendation to not use the dishwasher. This obviously was quite inconvenient, and I'm not sure if they now use a different lining making them dishwasher safe, or if testing has proved them to indeed be dishwasher safe. Either way, this alone should make a huge difference in using the Sigg water bottle.

Now, I just need to get off my but (I do have the excuse that I've been out of the continent though) and get mine sent in for testing. I'll keep ya posted.

Cheers.