Kind of warms the Cockles...

...of my heart.

Yesterday I received an email from Bryan, the guy who bought my Sequioa. He mentioned that he was going to take it on a trip right away. I thought, yeah, that's a nice idea, but wasn't really expecitng him to actually do it. Well, below is the email he sent me with a few pictures of my (uh, his) Sequioa. I'm so glad it went to a good home and that someone is appreciating that bike.

"Hey dude, this is Bryan, the lad who purchased your old Specialized Sequoia. Two days after I purchased it, I departed from Creston on route to the Sunshine Coast. I made it trip in 6 days and a total of 783km. The bike was amazing and the trip went a smooth as can be, a little too smooth. Definitely a trip of a lifetime....really. Ill have to send you the whole story, but I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of that bike. The day after I returned to Radium, I completely tore it down and rebuilt it, packed the bearings, headset etc. That bike is part of my family from here on in i think, just something about it. "

Thanks for the update Bryan and I'm so glad you're happy with that fine bicycle.

Early Morning Ride

With the summer season ending, fall fast upon us, the time has come when lights are now pretty much mandatory for any type of morning commuting.

I was up at 5:30 and couldn't believe how black it was outside. Right now, I run a planet bike rechargeable light that is no longer in production and I forget the model. It works well though. With 3 output modes and the brightest being 15w and close to 2hrs run time on the brightest mode, it's perfect for commuting. I can run on low output and get a little more than 10 hours and 8w of light. Pretty decent. The only draw back is that it takes 12hrs to charge. It's also heavy, but who really care about that anyway. I've also got a petzl headlight on my helmet and a planet bike superflash on the back

It had been a while since I'd ridden in the dark, and there something fun about it. Kind of reminds me of when I was a kid and how much fun was had from playing with a flash light while camping. I guess it's pretty much the same thing.

I'm looking into different options for a dynohub right now, and I think that would accompany my upcoming bike quite nicely.

I've also given my winter commuting a second thought. I was pretty sure that my bike commuting was coming to an end for the season because it is getting close to freezing at nights. I've already scraped the car windshield twice this year! But, last night while getting my gear ready, I pulled out some of my winter riding stuff. This morning when I left my house it was 4 C (39.2F) and I was very comfortable the whole ride. In fact I ended up unzipping my outer shell to let some heat escape though the neck. I sort of forgot about all of the great winter gear I've accumulated mostly for winter running over the past several years. I remember when my commute was only 3 miles one way and I would do it every single day. The coldest did that distance was -32C. This year I rode to work when it was -36, but that was only about 1 block so it doesn't count.

I've come to the conclusion that I've still got some pretty good bike commuting ahead of my this year, and as long as the roads aren't icy or snowy, I should be able to ride. I've set up a little goal to commute at least 3 times a month, every single month of the year. It'd be fun to get three 50 mile days on the bike in January and February and all those other nasty cold months when I ride mostly short distances and exploring rides. The right gear makes all the difference and often can be the difference between riding and not riding.

Two other great things I was thinking about with the cooler weather settling in.

1: I've got a sweet S/S snow bike that's just waiting to prove to me what it can do.

2: Hockey. I took up hockey after Christmas last year, and found myself as a back up goalie for both of the teams in Rockyford. I was playing 2 and 3 times a week. I won't commit that much time this year, but I am stoked to have people shooting pucks at me again. The best is when you can make the swear after robbing them of an open net. Great game.

eeny, meeny, miny, mo

In my deliberations of whether or not to keep my volae or sell it, I’ve been wondering ultimately if the bike would suite my needs for a long distance commuter. Being that my ride to and from work is 26 miles each way; I do care about having something fast. I’m not a speed freak and don’t get all anal regard the grams of one component to another, but I do want something that is going to be not slow.

I’ve been recording very closely my times, weather, efforts of my commutes on both my Volae and my Sequoia. They are both very different bikes obviously, but they could both be very well suited to a long distance commute. The only one really up on the chopping block though was the Volae. If the Sequoia didn’t come out number 1, it’d still be kept as a touring bike, or to change it up with the Volae for commuting. It also makes for a great bike to head out on a Sunday afternoon with a camera.

If the Volae didn’t come out on top, I was going to sell it and use those funds to buy a Bike Friday tikit folding bicycle. My theory was that I could use the tikit for days when I can’t commit 1.5+ hours to getting to work and 1.5+ hours to getting home from work. My in-laws live about 7 miles from my work, and I could just drive to their house, leave my car and ride my tikit the rest of the way.

So, who won you ask? Well, in a way neither. But the Volae did come out as the fastest most comfortable way for me to get to work under my own power. I am consistently 10 minutes faster on the Volae, and on all except the steepest hill on the way to work, the volae was actually faster! Maybe I’ve just really developed a good set of ‘bent legs’. I’m not sure. I was quite surprised when I was motoring up the hills faster than on the Sequoia and with what definitely felt like less effort. The sequoia certainly does the job very well also. Just a wee bit slower and a wee bit less comfortable. If I had never ridden a recumbent though, I don’t think I would ever know this.

There is one monster hill for about 1km that the sequoia does out-perform the Volae on. I’m sure that has something to do with the fact that the Volae is about 8lbs heavier than the Sequoia, and I can and do get out of the saddle and hammer the hill when I’m on a DF bike. I do now and then hammer it on the Volae, but it’s a bit different than on a DF bike.

Comfort; this was a hard one too. I’ve said before that the Sequoia rides like butter and I’ve set it up with very relaxed geometry. That being said, there is still less area of contact with the bike as there is on the Volae. Less contact area means higher contact pressure. I don’t think you could ever get a DF bike to be as comfortable as you could get a recumbent. Obviously proper fit has a huge role to play, but that goes for both DF bikes and recumbents. The Volae fits me very well, so does the Sequoia.

So, I’ve decided to keep the Volae. I’d still like to make a few changes to the way that I carry gear on the bike, but that’s about all I want to change. The bike feels so good when I ride it. I’m also quite interested in putting on a dinohub, but that’s down the road.

As for the tikit, I’ll have to wait for a while until I save the pennies. On the other hand, I found a car mount bicycle rack at the recycling yard and it fits and works well on my car. So, I don’t have the excuse that I would have to take my truck to my in-laws if I wanted to ride just the 7 miles on a DF. Hey, I’m thinking this might just be the perfect task for my lately all too neglected fixie.

Lost it

After close to a month not riding to work, the ride today almost killed me. I've been riding a little hear and there, but nothing more than a few miles. You really lose the base you build up when you don't ride much. Time was still only 1hr 47min for the 26 miles, but I was crying up the hills. Taking too many stop breaks. Not breaks for photos or water, just breaks to stop pedaling for a few seconds. Shame shame shame.

Oh well, just need to pick up me britches and ride more. Easy problem to solve.

Sequoia is feeling so so great though with that sky-rise Nitto stem. When I installed them I had to put new brake cables on, and I trimmed them to match the stem at full extension. I can always go lower with it, and I'd be covered if I like it nice and high. So far,I like it nice and high. No sore neck, no sore wrists, just a comfortable touring ride.

So many bikes, so little cash

Well, I should first start of by saying it's not like I'm broke. I've got a decent job and have been very fortunate.

The problem I have is that I have this never ending obsession with owning new and different bicycles. I want to try them all. To test them. You can't get to know a bike and how it feels in a bike shop or even on a short test ride.

The other problem is that my taste in bikes is probably like most anyone who would be reading this. Not BSOs that can be had for $199 at Walmart. I'm talking a decent "budget" bike that run $1K or more. Face it, any decent bike that has any components worth speaking of is going to set you back at least one g-note. That figure by some standards is cheap. I could very easily list 10 bikes in my memory I've seen that are over $3K and have seen some sub 15lb machines that run you up in the 10 to 15 K range.

So really, my bikes are cheap aren't they? That problem with the wanting to try them all comes into play here. I would say I've spent around $7K on bicycles in the last 3 years. The problem is, I could quite easily spend $7K more in the next 3 years buying bicycles that are very different and I genuinely think would be so different to the point of justifying keeping the bikes I have now and getting the $7K worth of new ones. They're all different and fill a different niche.

Here's a few questions I'd like to put out there.

1. Do you or would you sell bikes that you currently have that you like, but don't "love" to finance the purchase of new bikes that you're curious about. I mean very curious about.
2. Have you found a bike that you absolutely would hate to get rid of.
3. Do you think you ever could find that just one bike that you think might work for every area of your riding?
4. If so, what bike and why.

I knew a guy I used to motorbike with who changed out his ride at least twice a year. Here in Calgary with such a short riding season, that's often! He would just buy a bike, ride it, make some notes, tweak it mildly and then move on to the next one. His wife always commented that after 23 years of marriage, she's just glad he feels that way about motorbikes, not her.

Part of it is contentment also isn't it? I think it's incredibly important to be happy with what you have. If you are not, you will forever be lacking, because you will never have it all. No one will ever have it all.

I'm getting very close to finding a bike that I absolutely would hate to get rid of and I think it's my sequoia. I still need to put many more miles on it and I've only had it about 2 months, but so far, it just feels so good. It almost feels so good that I don't need a recumbent. The recumbent feels so good too. I wish I could just take 1 month off of work and ride my bikes all day, everyday. I think by the end of that month, and day and after day comparison, I'd have a clear mind.

In fact, I'd probably decide I need to keep them both, and just buy another bike.

Gettin all Nitto with it

I've really enjoyed my Specialized Sequoia I recently purchased from Pat. Great tube set, great geometry and the drive train and brakes are tight. I was very surprised with how great this was, being as I was buying it second hand. One always thinks things must be worn out, brakes not graby, drive train not shifty. Not the case with this ride. Everything works and feels like I think it probably did coming off the showroom floor. I bought several brand new bikes, and this one feels just as good as any of those. The only thing I've wanted to change was the stem. I think this frame is a little on the small size for me, but somehow it seems to be working out. Even if a bike looks small (based on seat post and stem extension) if it feels right, it's right. Right?
I had an old Nitto Technomic stem kickin in the parts bin for a while. Problem was it was for a 25.4 handlebar, and the other 4 decent drop bars in my parts bin were 26. Until I remembered a bike my neighbour brought over for me out of the county dump/transfer station. I also remembered that it was actually a nice vintage Nitto bar. Could it possibly be a 25.4? That would be too sweet. Too sweet it was! I was actually thinking of buying the Nitto Noodle bar which while holding in my hands were very comfy, sure they would be on the bike also. But, this one seems alright. Undamaged and in great shape.
Slap on the lovely cork tape (I've always loved the look of khaki bar tape) that Cornell gave me with the bike, and I think I'm in business. I rode it around last night for a wee little bit and this feel ridiculously comfortable. Down on the drops would be comfy for and extended period of time, riding the hoods is nice and relaxed and up on top of the bars feels a bit cruiser like, perfect for simply taking in the scenery. I might end up sliding the stem down a little, but I thought I should start out as high as possible when installing the new brake lines.
My thinking is changing a lot as I ride more. I've adopted the Rivendell philosophy of bicycle fit and I'm quite enjoying it. I'm not a racer, I don't even do club rides. Most of my riding is done on a long commute, and every now and then I'll head out for a rec ride mostly to take pictures and enjoy being outside. My bikes are starting to reflect that. I sold my Allez. Bought this steel bike, and love commuting on my recumbent. Still have a thing for fixies. That bike is very comfy too. I think that more people would cycle if there were more bikes like my sequoia available from bike shops. I really don't get a kick out of my LBS anymore and generally only make a stop there when I need a part or accessories. To find bikes more like this, it's either search classifieds to find a decent version, or roll out the doe on the Internet. Steel is real, and feels great. Just as a bike should.