Super Happy Fun Times.

I've been getting some good rides in with my buddy Joe who will be rolling down the Maah Daah Hey trail with me later this year. We are trying to get some more substantial miles in our legs for the upcoming trip. In addition to that I'll be on my bike a lot more as I am moving back to Minneapolis! I scored an internship with the city of Minneapolis and it sounds like I'll have no problems bike commuting to this job. That makes me very, very happy.

Yesterday was the 30 days of biking kick off ride. I had a really good time. I heard a few complaints about it being a slow ride but there was 260(+/-) people there. When you have that many folks, it is not going to ever be a "fast" ride. Despite that, it seemed like everyone had a good time. I was a ride marshal so I was sprinting up and down the line trying to make sure cars didn't take us out. I had a lot of fun doing it and people were being very kind and grateful. I got to meet so many new friendly folks and saw a lot of familiar faces. To some people these rides don't sound appealing for one reason or another but you should honestly go to one of them at least once. The positive vibe of the event was very uplifting. There is something about that many people of all walks of life congregating to ride bikes together that just makes you feel good. From old folks to young kiddos in trailers or trail-a-bikes, fair weather cyclists to hardcore riders, ti mountain bikes to the oldest most beat up Schwinn you can think of, we had it all and it was great. We have a pretty special thing here in Minneapolis, don't take it for granted! I didn't have time to take pictures really but you can find them all over the place. If you have Facebook just search #30daysofbiking

That is all I got for now. Be well.

First outing of the season and other things.

On Friday I took off for a camp at the river bottoms with a new buddy that has been coming to my Sunday rides at Freewheel.

I met him at his newly purchased home and we rolled out. When we got over by the falls between the VA hospital and Fort Snelling, he was thinking his tires were a little too low. So we stopped so he could brake out his pump to add air. Low and behold, the pump was no good. I was able to rig it up a little bit to put some air in there and we were on our way.

Rolling out.

When we got to the trail head I snapped a couple pics of our bikes.

Trail head.

As soon as we hit the trail we figured out this was not going to be easy going. It was really soupy. The snow was soft and nearly impossible to get traction in, especially with fully loaded rigs. So we did a little hike a bike and pushing and riding and kick pedaling. We finally got going and Robert had forgot to shift out of the big ring and was in the lowest gear in the back and snapped the chain. Woops. Cross chaining strikes again! So I start in and pull out my spare master link and chain tool, I remove the busted link and am struggling to get the master link to work. What the hell? Oh crap, he has a 9 speed chain and I have a 10 speed link which is much thinner. So I proceed to ghetto rig the chain. It worked. So we rode a little bit down the path and then hopped off at an undisclosed location.

After hiking across a semi frozen stream we found a nice spot to set up camp. I got my hammock up and Robert got his tent up and while he was getting stuff situated I got the fire roaring. After we were all situated I made some dinner and had a beer. We kept the fire going and chatted a bit before we called it a night.

Fire

Right as we were turning in for the night we learned what the fox actually says. It sounds like someone being murdered. I suspect they were fighting over rights to mate. Who knows though. Later in the night we had the full nature choir going off. Fox, coyotes or some sort of howling dog like creatures, owls, and the foot steps of curious deer and raccoons. It was a good night.

I used my hammock for the trip and it worked out pretty well. I screwed up the ridgeline so my tarp was saggy, but my guylines were pro stock. Thanks to my friend Kinnell who took the time to explain how he set his up, they worked great. The underquilt I bought from Arrowhead Equipment worked so good but I still need to get rid of it. The thing is synthetic so the smallest I could get it would about the size of two footballs end on end. So basically it took up all the room in my backpack, which I didn't like. I need to get a down underquilt if I am going to be doing this kind of stuff again. Other than that the only problem I had was my boots freezing.

I woke up in the morning and forced my feet into the deformed and frozen boots. I got a fire going and stood by it while they thawed out enough for me to get them into place and tied up. I've been pleasently surprised with those Keen boots. They are super warm, even when they are frozen.

Robert and I had some breakfast and got all packed up to hit the road. It had gotten much colder over night and it wasn't warming up too much in the morning either.

Summer sausage, cheese, and oatmeal. Yum.

Packed up and ready to go!

We got back to the path and since the snow had frozen over night it was rideable. Not by much because of all the deep foot prints that were like potholes but it was faster than walking. So we were riding along and I looked back and Robert was nowhere to be seen. So I turned around and went back and he came around the corner holding his chain is his hand. D'oh! He said not to worry about it and he would just walk. I offered to fix it one last time and he said he would be fine. I was cold and wanted to keep moving so I agreed. I pedaled my ass off and made pretty good time.

I got back to my car and loaded up and cranked the heat and then went and got a nice hot coffee. All in all it was pretty successful, except the mechanical issues. Robert ended up running into someone who helped him with the chain and then he rode to the bike shop and got a new chain, a chain tool, a spare master link, and a new pump. I also picked up a pump this weekend because I have been just rolling around with a big air for backup. Kind of stupid when I think about it.

The Sunday Funday ride this week was amazing! We had a really good turn out of people and since it was a little colder and a lot of the good riding areas are all screwed up right now, we decided to do the southern half of the Grand Rounds.

I got to meet a bunch of new cool folks and we had a good time. We rode around down towards the falls via Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet and then ended up cutting over on 42nd to the river road which we took North to the Greenway and then up to the West Bank where Pete was supposed to be there grilling for us but he had food poisoning! Woops! We made the best of it and headed over to Pizza Luce in Seward and had some beers and lunch.

Wow. Much success. Such ride.

Dave Knox, Phil Velo, Robert Brown, Adam Turman, and Charles Youel

My Bike is Weird or The Story of the Fender and the Wheel.

So I've been riding the ECR quite a bit as of late and with the warmer temperatures my face was getting a toxic salt shower. I had decided it was time to get a front fender on this beast.

At first there was a problem with the clip on fender for the front I had purchased, namely the mounting bolt for the dynamo light interfered with the fork crown plug. Not to mention the step up in the fender would interfere with the actual light itself.

It don't fit Pa!

I had also purchased some Cascade 29er full fenders from Planet Bike for when I started touring more with the ECR, so I decided I would try to put them on. The Knards are just too damn wide. The fender wouldn't fit. I got pissed, then I got creative.

I started thinking about all these elaborate plans to modify the fender with a heat gun or make my own set out of a sheet of polypropylene. Then the simplest idea hit me, the one that made the most sense. So the next morning I went to the hardware store and picked up a few supplies.

Mounting bolts and washers and a strip of steel. Let's do this.

 First thing I did was use the big washer and put it near one of the ends and traced the outside of it for rounding the corners of the steel and then marked the middle as well so I knew were to drill the hole. This thing didn't have to be perfect, it just had to work.

The grinder and I getting to work.

After I ground the edges down and filed off the burs, I put the bolt through it and marked where I would need to make the bend in the steel. Once I had my mark I put the steel in the vice and bent it. Then I bent the other side and cut the excess off. Marked another hole and drilled it and did some more corner rounding.

Ready to drill the next hole.

Once that was all done, I found the center on the long side and drilled another hole. I mounted the plastic clip for the fender, put the mounting bolt for the light through and figured out where I needed to cut the bolt off.

Finished mounting bracket.

I mounted it up and it fits snugly, then I had to modify the fender itself a little bit. When I say modify the fender, I of course mean cut it up. So I cut a little slot for the dynamo light bracket to stick out. I did it just right and it fits nice and clean.

Snug as a bug.

No more salt in my face/eyes/mouth.

I rode to class last night and it worked like a charm.Other than one dry knuckle from the grinder throwing hot pieces of metal at it, I had no injuries. I don't take on these projects too often but when I do it is always rewarding to accomplish the mission and have something that works.