15 Riding Days ’til Christmas

After not working a single 5-day work week in November, I have 3 straight full weeks of work between now and the extended Christmas break, starting today.  Weather (and health) permitting, I’m hoping to turn that into 15 rides.

This morning was my first ride of the season that truly felt like winter.  It was sunny and in the upper 20s.  I rode around 17 miles, out to New Cut Rd. and through Patapsco State Park.  I wore a head band for the first time of the season.  There were a couple spots where my chin got cold (mainly going downhill) and I could have used a balaclava.  I did bring a balaclava, and almost stopped and put it on, but most of the ride was comfortable enough without it.

It’s been a bad autumn for jackets.  One of my main winter jackets is a Performance “Transformer” hi-vis shell with zip-off sleeves.  The zipper on one of the zip-off sleeves broke, and no longer engages, so the jacket is only good as a vest now.  It’s a cheap jacket, but all the same, it’s only 2 years old, so I’m a bit disappointed with it.  Over the break, I may dust off my sewing skills and try to see if I can replace the zipper.  In the meantime, I’m getting by by wearing the vest over an old dark green windbreaker, which works OK but adds an extra layer that I don’t always want.  On top of that, I lost my Marmot rain jacket last month.  Yesterday I went to our new REI and bought a Patagonia Torrentshell jacket to replace it.  It’s a similar jacket, maybe slightly better made, and it was also available in a brighter shade of green than the Marmot, which should help with visibility on the bike.  Based on the weather forecast, it’ll likely see its first action tomorrow.

Fixed Gear Comfort

I’m beginning to notice a trend.  The more often I ride my fixed-gear bike, the more comfortable it seems to get.  Last week I took my first ride on it in about 3 weeks, and my shoulders and wrists were bothering me after the first half hour.  Now, a week and about 5 rides later, I’m not having the problem any more.

Here’s my theory.  On a fixed gear bike, it’s impossible to coast.  On a bike with a freewheel, you can “take a break” and coast when going downhill.  When coasting, you can support most of your weight with your legs, even if you’re tired.  On a fixed gear, as you get tired, most of that weight ends up going to your arms/shoulders and rear end, particularly when spinning downhill.  As you start to get “used” to riding fixed, your legs start to pick up more of the slack, so the bike gets more comfortable.  My observation is that I start to lose this conditioning with any significant time off the bike (say, more than a week).  So, more so than with other bikes, it’s important to keep riding fixed regularly to maintain conditioning.

Single Track

I rode on single track Sunday for the first time in around 15 years.  I had forgotten how different it was from road biking.  I woke up Sunday morning with a bit of an upset stomach, so I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous, but I wanted to get out and test-ride my newly rebuilt ’93 Specialized Rockhopper, and I was hoping to find a trail connection between Belmont and Patapsco State Park.  I hopped on the bike and rode from my house out to the Morning Choice Trail head on Landing Rd.  I rode around a mile on the trail, out to just past the northern end of the Belmont property, then turned around.  It was a successful test ride, but I wasn’t able to find a way through Belmont from that area.  It’s all fields.

Compared to my road bikes, the mountain bike felt small, particularly on pavement.  Once I hit the trails, it started to get a bit more comfortable.  I think the frame is a little small for me.  For road riding, I may want to think about a longer seat post.  I rode with standard pedals and Power Grips straps, the same setup I use in snow.  The brakes worked fine; the Kool Stop pads did the job nicely.  The new fork worked fine, although with no suspension, the ride was a bit punishing in spots.

I did some more reading online trying to find out about the Belmont trail connection.  Local riders call it the “farm loop.”  Apparently one end of it intersects Morning Choice right near Landing Rd, and the other end ties in with Rockburn Branch Trail further to the east.  It’s an unofficial, un-blazed trail, and the Patapsco trail map has stubs in the spots where the trail appears to intersect “official” park trails.  It looks like the trail cuts across Belmont Woods Rd, so my next time out, I’ll ride down Belmont Woods and try to find the trail from that direction.  All of this is on the south side of Belmont, which explains why I couldn’t find a connection on the north side.

Warm November

November hasn’t been a very prolific month for riding to work.  Looks like I’m on pace to top February, but that’s not saying much.  I was out the first 2 weeks of the month, and it’s already a shortened month due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  As a matter of fact, weather permitting, I may actually be able to ride more in December, which is saying something.

Still struggling with my fixed-gear bike trying to get it more comfortable.  I’ve been pretty happy with the Forté Classic saddle on my road bike, so I tested it with the fixed, and it seems pretty good.  So I think I’m going to swing by Performance and pick one up.  Then there’s the issue of seating position.  I suspect that with this bike, I’m going to be more comfortable with a more upright seating position.  To that end, I’m going to try raising the bars up a few inches.  To do that, I’ll need a steer tube extender, which can be had for around $20.  And at that point, I’ll probably want to swap out my bullhorn-style bars with a set that has a bit more drop.  I’m considering trying a set of mustache-style bars.  Soma Fabrications makes a nice-looking mustache bar that looks similar to the popular Nitto bar, for around $40 less.  The bike is also going to need a new chain and new tires soon.  It currently has Bontrager Race Lite 700c x 23s, and I’ve been happy with these.  However, considering this is my main winter bike, I’m thinking about switching to a set of Specialized Armadillos, and maybe going up to a 25.  Armadillos are about the most flat-resistant tire on the market.  They’re on the heavy side, but weight isn’t really a concern with me with this bike.  The only concern is whether a wider tire will create clearance issues with my fenders.

Mountain Bike Almost Ready

Got my old ’93 Rockhopper almost to the point where I’m ready to ride it.  To recap, I’ve replaced the fork, headset, stem, chain, brake shoes, and brake cables, and cleaned and adjusted the hubs, derailleurs and brakes.  I also put a rear rack on it.  This weekend I’m hoping to take it out for its maiden voyage, with the two-fold goal of testing the bike out and finding a quick way into the Patapsco State Park trail network from home.  According to the trail map, it looks like the Morning Choice Trail runs along the back edge of the Belmont property, so the initial plan is to ride into Belmont and try to find the trail.  My eventual goal is to plan a commuting route to UMBC that is mostly single track.  I also want to be able to use the bike for commuting in wet and/or snowy conditions.

Once I get a feel for the bike and re-acquaint myself with the local trails, I’ll add a set of fenders, swap out the platform pedals for SPDs, and possibly also swap out the tires.  I would like to find a set of tires that rides well on both road and dirt, although I’m not sure such a beast exists that doesn’t compromise one for the other.

In other news, I’m back to a weekly commuting routine, at least for the next week and a half, until Thanksgiving.  Today will be my first ride home in the dark, although it’s still early enough that it’ll be mainly dusk/twilight.  The headlight and flashers are ready.

Back in the saddle

After 2 weeks of business trips, I’m ready to get back into the riding routine.  I managed to sneak in a quick ride around the BWI trail on Monday.  I have today and Friday scheduled as vacation days, but I decided to go in today because it was a good excuse to ride my bike (and I also need to turn in my expense report).  I got an early Christmas present from Baltimore County today..  they re-paved the really bad section of South Rolling Road in Relay that I was always complaining about.  That was always my least favorite part of the commute home (it wasn’t as bad in the other direction, partly because it’s uphill), and I’m sure my rims weren’t crazy about it either.

We’re now officially back on Eastern Standard Time, which means my commutes home will be in the dark until around mid February.  My headlight is charged and I put a few extra blinkers on the bike, so I’m ready for it, but today I’ll probably skip out before it gets dark, as I’m not officially on the clock.

Catonsville Route Tweak

Today was my last day at the office, and my last bike commute, until November 15.  Lest I go into serious withdrawal, I’m going to try to work a couple of recreational rides in over the next couple of weeks.  Come the 15th, my afternoon rides will be in the dark again, so I’ll need to remember to load my bike up with even more flashers than it’s already sporting.

I switched back to the road bike today and rode out Landing Rd., down Beechwood and Bonnie Branch Rds. and then out to Oella Ave. via River and Frederick Rds.  I tried an alternate route to get from Catonsville to UMBC, and it looks like a winner.  In the past, starting at the intersection of Mellor Ave and Bloomsbury Ave., I would go straight onto Hilltop Rd.  Then at the Valley Rd. 4-way stop, I would either continue straight and go into UMBC via the Wilkens Ave. traffic circle, or turn left on Valley, right on Wilkens, and left on Walker.  I always hated taking Hilltop because of the terrain, traffic, and nonexistent shoulder.  Last time I rode it, I noticed another biker cutting through Spring Grove, and I figured I’d give it a shot.  From Mellor, I turned left on Bloomsbury, then right on Asylum and into Spring Grove.  The roads in Spring Grove can be confusing to navigate, but I just kept bearing right and ended up coming out the entrance onto Valley Rd.  I made a left on Valley and then right on Wilkens, and left on Walker.  It was much, much, much nicer than taking Hilltop, so much so that it may inspire me to come in through Catonsville more often.  The only real downer to this route is crossing Bloomsbury at Mellor Ave., where you can’t see very far either to the left or the right.  I’ve always thought there should be a 4-way stop there.  I have a couple ideas for ways to avoid this intersection, which I’ll try out and report back on soon.

Saddles for Fixed Gear

Faithful readers (all 6 of you) may recall that I’m still trying to get the fit right on my fixed-gear commuter bike (a Masi Speciale Fixed).  The initial problem was that I was leaning too hard on my wrists, and they were falling asleep after about 1/2 hour of riding.  Raising the bars 1/4″ or so helped a bit, but not enough.  Next I tried angling the seat back a bit more, to keep me from sliding forward.  That actually helped quite a bit with the wrist numbness, but the stock Masi saddle was uncomfortable in the new position.  I tried swapping it out for a Selle Italia “gel” racing saddle I had lying around, and it was marginally more comfortable, but still not quite what I was looking for.  This morning I tried the saddle from my road bike, a cheap Forté (Performance house brand) “Classic” saddle which I’ve always found comfortable.  The jury is still out, but it seems like we’re getting closer with this one.

One thing to consider, is that the same saddle that’s comfortable on a freewheel bike might not be comfortable on a fixed gear, and vice versa.  With a freewheel, it’s easy to shift weight to the legs while coasting downhill, whereas with fixed gear, the legs spin rapidly downhill and more weight gets shifted to the saddle.  So if anything, saddle comfort is more important with fixed gear than with a freewheel.  I’ve often wondered whether a leather saddle, like a Brooks, might be the thing for fixed.  I’ve hesitated trying one because I’m not crazy about taking an expensive leather saddle out in the rain.

Still also working on the rebuild of my old ’93 Specialized Rockhopper.  It has Dia-Compe 987 cantilever brakes on it, and my initial thought was to swap these out for V-brakes.  However, after some consideration, I think I’m just going to stick with the cantis.  There’s nothing functionally wrong with them, and switching to V-brakes would have also required swapping out the levers.  However, my new fork didn’t have the cable stop needed to use standard cantilevers.  Some net surfing revealed that there are essentially 2 options:  A bolt-on stop that attaches to the brake hole in the fork crown, or a stop that clamps to the steerer tube.  I ended up going with the former, because it puts the stop in roughly the same spot as it was on my old suspension fork, so I should be able to use my existing brake cable housing.  The part is on order and I’ll give it a shot when it arrives.

Wet Leaves

This morning’s ride featured rain and leaves..  an autumn institution in the Mid-Atlantic.  Seems like every time I ride in these conditions, I end up getting a leaf stuck in one of my fenders.  Initially, the leaf will stick to the tire, and I’ll get a periodic squeak-squeak noise as the leaf brushes the fender.  The pitch varies with speed.  Then eventually, the leaf will either wash off the tire (riding through puddles helps), or it’ll get lodged in the fender, usually near the clip that secures the fender to the brake bridge.  When that happens, the noise changes to a constant irritating whistle-squeak.  The only way to get rid of it is to stop, locate the offending leaf, and remove it, sometimes with the help of a stick or other handy object.  Then, hop back on the bike and wait for it to happen again.  The fun never ends.

Still working a bit on my old Rockhopper.  I’ve decided I’m going to get it to where I can ride it, then swap out parts as the need arises.  Initially, all I should need are a chain, a couple of tubes, and possibly a pair of pedals and toe clips.  I’m thinking about converting the bike to single speed, but before I do that, I want to make sure a single speed setup will be practical for single-track commuting through Patapsco State Park.  There are some pretty serious hills on some of those trails.

7000

Just hit 7000 miles on my road bike computer this morning.  I was on Selford Rd. heading west, just before the I-95 overpass.  Looks like I’m doing 1000 miles every 6 months or so.  Multiplied by 2 bikes, that comes to roughly 4000 miles per year, 2000 per bike.  That’s a lot of wear and tear on the bikes.  One of my bikes is about due for a new chain, and could probably stand a new set of tires too.  I am going to try to stagger things out so I’m not replacing parts on all of my bikes at the same time, because tires, chains and brake pads do start to add up.  But I have no problem spending the money, knowing how much I’m saving on gas and other car-related expenses.

Been doing a little bit of hill work lately.  It started out as a way to stay out of morning rush-hour traffic.  A lot of the less traveled roads in this area just happen to be hilly.  Last week I did a climb up Ilchester Rd. and followed it up by going up Gun Rd.  Today I did Landing Rd. followed by College Ave.  I figure the more I ride on the really steep hills, the easier the less-steep hills will seem.  Time will tell I guess!