The rider took an old pair of drop bars, flipped them over, and cut off the drops.  Bolt on an old pair of “safety” levers, and you’re good to go!

Since the X bike was now assembled with the Plug, dyno system, and new tires, I opted to pull that out and climb some hills.  I soon discovered that my legs are not nearly where they need to be, and was huffing and puffing well before I expected.  But once I hit the flats, things got better and the bike responded well.

I stopped at the lake to admire the view and snap a few pics. 

It was somewhat overcast, so I flipped on the Cyo mainly just to test the electronics.  Additionally, I turned on the GPS and plugged it into the bike.  What I discovered is that the lights draw enough current off of the dyno to force the GPS to battery, unless riding at speed.  Also, my slow ascent up some hills, even without lights, took it over to battery as well.  So if I ever get into randoneuring, I’ll need to depend on the batteries for GPS power overnight (I’m not too worried this will ever happen!)  None of this is unexpected, given that this is the original version of The Plug and the power output is limited.

I also took note of the Vittoria tires.  They roll well and the bike felt like it was accellerating a bit faster than when I was using the Pasela Crosstowns.

Later in the ride I spotted this awesome wood carving back in someone’s yard.  It’s the Madonna, and my camera’s electronic zoom doesn’t do it justice.  I couldn’t get any closer without trespassing – but the detail that I could make out is impressive.  It’s not that far from the Patriot carving.

‘rolled into home feeling good mentally, but my legs were telling me that I have a lot of work to do if I’m going to be taking any longer rides.

Distance: 18.5 miles  2013: 136.2

While waiting for the traffic to clear off a bit, I went to the basement and lifted weights beforehand.  It’s all upper body, so I didn’t think it would matter; but I discovered that my shoulders and arms were aching a bit from leaning on the bars as I rode.

It was also pretty apparent how out of shape my legs are – definitely from not riding much.  I’ll need to change that.

But…it was a great evening to cruise out Lisburn Road and back in along the Yellow Breeches.  Stopped to admire the view and take a few pics:

College graduation this weekend, but fingers crossed that I can get out for a short ride or two between rain showers.

Misc. Miles: 7.7

Distance: 17.6 miles  2013:  117.7

It was an overcast night and pretty dark, so conditions were good.

The first thing that I should note is that the cache battery had drained in the few days  that the bike had sat.  This means that with the light on, the beam is initially dimmed slightly as power is diverted to re-establishing a charge.  So as I wheeled down the driveway after turning the light on, the beam is “underwhelming” for two reasons.  There is the charging as I described, and there is the fact that my lack of speed tells the Luxos to emphasize the “near field” beam.

Let me describe the beam, because I see two distinct parts:  the near field, meaning that area closest to the bike, is a large U shape covering the width of a two lane road.  With the Cyo, this is the area partially covered by spill light; but with the Luxos the beam is intentional.  It’s really nice because it eliminates the tunnel effect experienced on especially dark nights when travelling at speed down country lanes.

Then at the top of the U, there is a distinct focused rectangular patch of light, much brighter than the near field.  I call this the distance beam.

Luxos U Beam

So at slow toodling, the near field is a bit brighter, but the distance beam is de-emphasized.  But once I both rode a few minutes and then built up speed, the cache battery was charged and the distance beam gets noticably brighter.  At this point, I would compare it to the regular Cyo beam, but with slightly more defined edges.  If the near field got any darker at this point, I didn’t notice.

I played around with the angle of the light somewhat, and ended up shooting the distance beam out at least 50 feet with no degradation of the light quality of the near field.  The entire street was well lit.

Every so often I’d click on the “flood light” whereby the cache battery is engaged to provide some extra power.  I’d say that the near field beam increases by 20%.   I didn’t notice the distance beam getting much brighter if at all, but that could be relative to the overall brightness.

Turning the light off and on, and turning on the flood light, is all done with single clicks of the button/USB port mounted on the stem.  All of the functions (light on, rear light indicator, cache battery charged, and flood light) are signalled via a colored LED either on the Luxos itself, and/or the button.  All of the other changes to the beam occur automatically, based on the current detected from the dynamo.

Overall I have to say I’m impressed.  I don’t really need the near field/distance beam changes, but the overall beam, where the entire road is lit up, is super nice.  It’s bright, it’s wide, and in the right places.  Add the USB charging feature to all of that, and I foresee this being a real nice addition for touring and night riding.

One of those frugal purchases was on Ebay, where I picked up a Herrmans H-Track tail light to go on the X bike.  At $20 delivered, domestic shipping, and uber brightness; I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this piece of Finnish technology.

Now that the Luxos is mounted on the Trucker and the Cyo is on the X bike, the H-Track is bringing up the rear, bolted to a Nashbar front rack (on the back.)  Wiring the light proved no harder than any other dynamo tail light I’ve used.

I’ve only toodled around the neighborhood after dark, without having had the chance to take the bike on any longer night rides just yet.  I’m impressed with the brightness.  The light has 3 LEDs illuminating the outer ring, which then spills over into the center reflector.  One review actually believes that the LEDs are too bright, creating glare for anyone riding behind, and thus do not recommend the H-Track.  I’m going to have to say that this light is actually brighter than the Busch and Muller Topline on the Trucker.

If there is a downside, it’s the lack of an off switch.  There is a capacitor that powers the standlight feature – that’s a good thing.  However, at the end of the ride, when I reach up and flip off the Cyo, because it has a capacitor as well; the H-track remains lit.  Now so did the Topline, but that model has a small switch hidden away underneath that you can easily reach down and kill the beam.

The H-track remains lit until the capacitor has drained, which should be around four minutes.  This is probably no big deal, and the price of the light reflects the lack of a switch.

So overall, I’d recommend this light for anyone looking to build a dynamo system on a budget.  I like the looks and features of the Topline better, plus it just feels better built, but the H-track is a good backup.  I’ll let you know how it holds up in the long term at a later date.

I should have checked out the spot before I reserved it on line, because it was clearly made for a camper parked on the pad, with things pretty tight along the lake shoreline.  ‘good thing we had small tents.

Still, we managed to enjoy our dinner and get set up before dark.  The park wasnn’t crowded, but there were a fair amount of car campers who were active until about 10pm. 

There were also some fishermen about, not having a lot of luck.  But as soon as the sun went down, the fish started jumping all around us, and kept at it all night long.  Given the sound of some of the splashes, there were some pretty big ones out there. 

In the middle of the night an owl came through that was very loud, and the echo off the water made it even louder.  I didn’t hear it, but Scott says that a giant praying mantis was trying to get in his tent.

The forecast called for the temps to drop into the low 40′s, and I figured probably a little lower along the water.  I went with my Montbell bag and the fleece liner, and wore a thin layer of wool.  The thermometer recorded 40 degrees for the low.  Around 4am I noticed that I was a little chilly, but not a lot.  I had also packed a Patagonia down sweater and pair of Compressor pants, so I think next time I might try those instead of the liner to see how they work.

I used the BA Dual Core pad and didn’t feel any cold coming off the ground, but Scott was using his BA Insulated pad and felt the same.  The Dual Core is inflatable, but also has a layer of internal foam.  It’s supposed to take the temperature way down, but the downside is that it packs to about twice the size as the insulated inflatable. 

Because I set up the tent on a slight grade, I had an issue with sliding down the pad throughout the night.  If I decide to keep the Dual Core, I might have to treat it with silicone like I did with the other.

The plan was to sleep in, but around 6:00 I had to pee, and since I was already up and had this view…

I just stayed up and watched the sunrise.

My breakfast was coffee and oatmeal ala Esbit.

Once Scott got up he noticed my drooling as he made bacon and eggs, so he shared.  Nice guy, that Scott.

This is the first I’ve used the BA Seedhouse since attempting to dye the rainfly last year.  Once seeing it in the woods, I now realize just how much darker it is.  I was pleased to see this.  It blends in far better than it used to.

Neither of us were in a hurry to be anywhere, so after getting cleaned up and breaking camp, Scott suggested that we take a more scenic route back to my place.  I took him out Pinetown Road and then into Silver Lake before cruising through Lewisberry.

Scott on his perfect utility tourer.

We rolled in around 10:30 or so, no worse for wear.

Misc. miles: 7.8

Distance: 22 miles  2013: 92.4

Having the Cyo mounted out on the end of the front rack created great illumination, but worried me about getting broken off.  The Luxos is mounted on the handlebars in front of the stem, which I like a lot better.With the wires coming up from the dynohub, going back to the rear light, and to the USB plug/control button, it gets a little cluttered; but I don’t see anyway around that for everything it does.Both the light and the control button have color-coded LEDs built in that give you a status check.  Yellow is basically light on, blue is high beam, green is rear light is on, and red means that a charge is available via the USB.

The regular beam is nice, although I haven’t fully experimented with it yet.  It’s very wide with lots of spill light, but that’s only riding around the neighborhood slowly.  If I ride faster, the beam changes to have less light shooting at the pavement, and more further out front.  And if I press the high beam on, the cache battery kicks in and lights up the area.  Like most lights today, it has a stand light, and something I’m not used to; a light sensor.

If I turn the main light on during the day, the main beam remains off, but there are “running light LEDs” that create a “be seen” effect.  As the day turns into night, the sensor will switch from running light to the more traditional headlamp; ala the speed activated changes referred to above.  Pretty spiffy.

So the Cyo is now on the X Bike, which I’ll put in another post and update the bike page when I can get to it.  Both bikes need cleaned up before I take any nice pictures.  I’ll post more about the Luxos U as I get to use it more.

Right now the Sloth is signed up, and there’s always room for more.

So some minimal breakfast stuff and coffee fixins, but I’m also planning on some insulated clothing and my bag liner to see what’s comfortable.  I need to remember to grab the memory thermometer off the back porch to record how cold it actually does get.

There’s a ton of yardwork waiting for me on Saturday, so I won’t be able to hang out too much at the park.  Still, I’m already getting antsy, and started pulling out gear last night.

I’m no fan of the anonymous comments that appear with just about any article, about anything – there are some real losers out there who have nothing better to do than post hurtful comments.  But what saddens me is that the hatred, and I’m accurately using that word, towards cyclists is based, not on perceptions, but on at least a grain of truth.

Too may cyclists, whether it be roadies, commuters, or recreationalists; are riding rudely, dangerously, or in an illegal manner.  That’s hurting cycling in general, because it provides leverage to the hateful comments referred to above.

It’s really easy to point a finger back at a driver, and say “you’re even worse”, but that doesn’t solve anything, and it doesn’t address the problem.  I drive, and I get impatient with other drivers, I see people doing stupid things behind the wheel, and I’ve done stupid things behind the wheel.  It happens.

But I do far less stupid things on my bike.  Part of that is because I recognize my vulnerability in a car-dominated environment; part of it is because I have less distractions; and part of it is because I totally love riding and don’t want to do anything to mess it up.  If anything, I want other people to experience the same joy I am.

There is merit to claiming one’s space on the road.  It’s a safety thing, and it’s also a rights thing.  I’m not going to bail into a drainage culvert just because I have a car coming up behind me, but I’m also not going to take the middle of the lane if I have a smooth berm.  I do my best to avoid high traffic roads, and if there’s a way for me to “get out of the way” without putting me at a disadvantage, I do.

None of this makes me a perfect cyclist, especially to those fools who think bikes belong on the sidewalk; but it does give me the moral high ground to demand my spot on the road.  If the peleton crowd is going to refuse to give up a lane, and if others are going to blow through lights, then the fight for equal access is going to be more difficult.  All we need is one lawmaker with a sympathetic ear for a group of drivers whose frustration has devolved into hatred, and we’ll have laws further limiting bike access just when we need it more.

To quote a renowned car thief and crack head, “Why can’t we all just get along?”