Ride Report: 11.25.09

I was able to complete most of my pre-Thanksgiving house cleaining assignments the night before, so that left a few hours to get in a ride on Turkey Day.  Cool and overcast, but very comfortable and virtually traffic-free – certainly something to be thankful for.

Returned to manage the finishing touches before the crowds of in-law types arrived.  The smell of the upcoming feast was cause for motivation and excitement.

Red outdid herself this year.  The bar is set high, and now I shall never be content to go to one of these “family style” restaurants again and have to tolerate dry bird and anemic bread stuffing smothered in clear paste gravy.

Turkey now must be soaked in fruit and basil brine for a day, stuffed with smoked sausage and vidalia onions, and basted in a loving manner.  I won’t get into the vegetables, other than to say that brussel sprouts can rock.

I hope all had a great day, and your ride was a pleasant one.

Misc. miles: 1.6

Distance: 18.5 miles  2009: 1105.0

Ride Report: 11.23.09

Go West young man!

Recently I got to thinking about a ride to Gettysburg and back next Spring.  The route would mainly be Old Gettysburg Road, but I wasn’t sure how to get there.  Investigating different maps and Google, I put together a route that looked fairly level and not too heavily traveled.

Overcast with showers predicted.  48F.  Set out late morning to find a place on the map called “Deardorff.”

Rode past Pinchot, on through Wellsville, and along some beautiful country roads.  Eventually I entered Adams County, which was a first, and got into some sloping hills, but completely manageable.  Eventually I came across US 15, but wasn’t sure where Old 15 was.  There was an intersection on the eastern side that looked promising, but the road sign was missing.  To make sure, I crossed the 4 lane and checked out the roads west – nothing.

Back to the east side.  My original plan was to do an out and back, but I knew that traveling on Old Gettysburg Road (15) would take me to Dillsburg, and I was feeling pretty good.  I took the mystery road, and soon confirmed that it was Old 15.  Not a bad road, but not as level as the earlier trip.  There was no berm, but the road was lightly trafficked as well.

I had to cross US15 again and climb a few more hills, but then I started seeing signs for Dillsburg.

‘turned south into a strong headwind and headed home along Old York Road.  By then my legs were rubbery, so it was low gears.  Around Rossville the rain started and was stinging off my face for the rest of the ride.

Things of note:  The trip through Wellsville into Adams County is great: good roads, nice scenery.

Dead things: 5 cats, 1 mouse, countless squirrels, and other very flat things.  I figure the squirrels didn’t get the memo about hibernating and the cats are all excited about it.

If I go all the way to Gettysburg, I might just have to camp overnight somewhere.  I can just picture a cool spring afternoon with everything turning green.

Distance: 40.3 miles  2009: 1084.9

Ride Report: 11.21.09

Cool Saturday morning, no work details scheduled for the Church Youth Center, and the road beckons.  My original thought was to cruise out Lisburn Road and turn down to McCormick for about an 18 mile, fairly level jaunt.

True to form, I kept on going a little bit and went on to Messiah, to the Yellow Breeches, and relaxed with my mug of coffee.  It was such a nice time, I snapped a few pics as well.

This is my new rear wheel: Shimano XT hub 36sp laced to an Alex Adventurer rim.

‘not the best shot, but it shows the track spikes that I screwed into the Grip King pedals.  It’s a great improvement on an already good pedal.

I spent twenty minutes just relaxing on a bench, admiring the scenery…and the bike.

The trip home was laid back.  Around the 20 mile mark I could feel my legs get heavy; but I managed to make it home and spend a few hours splitting fire wood.  It feels so good to be out on the road again!

Distance: 23.4 miles  2009: 1044.6

Ride Report: 11.17.09

I took another easy ride around the township to stretch my legs, ending up with a stop at the grocery store for a gallon of milk.

Distance: 7.5 miles  2009: 1021.2

Ride Report: 11.16.09

Since the basic premise of this blog is about riding bicycles, I figured it might be useful if I actually tried doing that again.  Last night I took a short fitness ride after dark.  Heck Hill Road, across Quaker to School House, over to the Observatory, in to Lewisberry via Silver Lake.

I didn’t notice anything different with the new rear wheel, which I suppose is a good thing.  I’m still getting used to the new gearing, however.  With the lower big ring, I’m now using the small gears on the cassette much more than I used to, so having the bar end down as far as it is now is a bit unsettling.  Plus, it seems the shifting is spaced closer together as you get up on the cassette.  Getting used to that, along with the changes to shifting up front, will just take some miles.

The Grip Kings are also now sporting some cleats.  Rivendell has a short blurb on drilling out the pedals and installing their threaded inserts, which they sell for around $15.  I took a good look at the pictures and realized that the pieces they were inserting were spikes for distance running shoes, and the rounded off ones were for rubberized tracks.

Well, before I biked and before I rowed; I ran track in high school.  I was a respectable distance runner with the 1/2 mile and mile being my specialties.  And because I ran as much as I did, I had several pairs of running shoes with a full assortment of spikes for different surfaces.  That got me to thinking, and then rummaging through my rowing gear.  For whatever reason, I had a brand new pair of Reebok shoes tucked away downstairs with a vial full of distance spikes and a spike wrench.  I think the Reeboks were given to me to try, but back then I preferred Pumas, which I think are long out of business.

So using a drill and the spike wrench, I installed two spikes per pedal side and then filed off the sharp tips.  They are an improvement.  I think having a tap and die set to insert the spikes would have made it easier, but it was nothing a little machine oil and elbow grease couldn’t take care of.  It’s the attention to detail that makes the difference.

This morning my knees were sore, but I’ll credit that to just being out of shape.  Hopefully, I can sort through all of the wool I purchased last winter and get back into the habit of some night rides a few times a week.

Misc. Miles: 11.3

Distance: 10  2009: 1013.7

Silence!

It was the toe-in.  And coming from the Big Honkin Hammer School of Technology, I fiddled around with the Kool Stop Salmons for about ten minutes before my patience wore thin.

The solution involved removing each pad assembly from the canti arm, clamping the threaded post in my trusty Harbor Freight big arse table vise, and leaning down on the pad to insure that the front would make contact with the rim first.  It took two tries, but now there is just the pleasing swish of the pads doing their job against the rims to bring the Trucker to a perfectly modulated and purposeful stop.

No calipers, no levels, no torque wrenches, no problem.