Lactic Acid Threshold

Bonus Days

2012-01-28T18:53:00.001-08:00

One of the things about being back in school is that there is very little time to ride. I spend most of my free time looking at eyes, reading about eyes, and memorizing facts about eyes and the drugs we can use to the various diseases that eyes can get.

While I do like what I am studying--I better!--I do miss being able to take a ride whenever I want to.

This has been a strange winter for Oregon. For one thing it has been fairly dry. For another, we've seen the sun. For me, though, seeing the sun happens when I look out the window. When I have had free time, it has been raining. My time and the weather just can't seem to coincide.

Until yesterday.

I came out of class and saw this:

Sure it was chilly, but the sky was so blue! And there were no clouds! And I had nothing pressing to do! Tests are about to start coming at a furious pace, but right now, I had some time.

It was truly that rarest of beasts, a Bonus Day. A day when everything lines up just right to enable a ride. Outside, no less.

So, I walked briskly home, pulled my bike off the trainer--with a smile--and, after swapping the wheels to something road worthy, went for a ride.

The roads were clear of traffic. In fact, it was as good of a road ride as I've had in a very long time.

Even better, the Fargo performed like a champ. Not a single miss shift or squealing brake the entire ride.

The ride wasn't very fast, but it was perfect.

A true Bonus Day.

As an aside, I've been riding on Continental Travel Contacts whenever I spend time on pavement these days. Frankly, I love this tire. I reviewed a set a number of years ago and ever since it has been my go-to tire for mixed pavement and gravel riding. They wear like iron and I haven't had a flat on them ever, despite pulling glass and debris out of them from time to time.

Is This Thing On?

2011-12-22T17:23:00.001-08:00

Holy Cow, time has flown. I follow the rss feed of this blog, even though it is my own, since Jon also writes (wrote?) here, and the lack of updates has been nagging me.

For quite some time I've been meaning to write and have had ideas swirling around the ol' noggin. But, as optometry school has taken over my life--quite literally--so many things have fallen by the wayside.

However, as the year is rapidly coming to a close, I thought I'd catch up. So, pull up a chair, grab a beverage of your choice, and let's wrap up the going's on.

Because I need continuing education credits each year, I loaded the family into the mini-minivan and drove out to Optometry's Meeting in Salt Lake City in June. And just as one cannot simply walk in Mordor, one cannot go to Utah and not go to Moab!

So, Jon and I went to Moab.

It was hotter than expected, but despite the near heat stroke, we had a fantastic time.

In late July, I finally got around to replacing my trusty Cannondale cross bike, with something more... capable. (The Cannondale cross frame is for sale, in case you are looking for a disc only cross frame)

The Fargo is the perfect do-all bike. It can handle any cross country singletrack, albeit at a slower pace than my Rush. The steel frame is wonderfully smooth, and the big tires will roll over anything and can be run at ridiculously low pressures. Due to budget constraints (that whole student thing, again) I'm running tubes, but the Stan's rims are set up for tubeless.

Other than that, the rest of the year has been largely bicycle free. Sadly. I've been riding local trails, but only when time permits.

A bike like the Fargo, though, stirs the imagination and has me thinking about some multi-day bike packing trips. This thing has more water bottle bosses than I thought possible. All it needs is a small rack fore and aft, I could head off into the hills.

I have learned why I like the bluer LED lights compared to the yellower halogens of a few years ago (better color rendering). And, if any light manufacturers still read this blog, there are some frequencies that you can flash a light which will make it appear brighter than it is. Useful for tail lights.

All in all, it's been a great year, and I look forward to seeing what 2012 brings, if the world hasn't ended. But hey, on the bright side, if the world does end, I have the best bike for it, and I won't have to pay back my student loans, right?

A Friday Afternoon Ride

2011-04-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

After riding on the rollers inside so often, I was beginning to think the only reason to ride a bike was for a chance to watch another re-run of 24. The first few minutes on a road bike after training only indoors for months is quite exhilarating. It's incredible how light and nimble my bike felt. I felt like a rocket with my legs wanting to surge underneath me. Of course, by the end of my 21-mile ride my legs didn't feel that way. (Felt more like 30, actually.) In fact, I actually found myself checking the rear wheel to see if it had slipped in the drops and was rubbing the brakes. Odd that it wasn't.

Also odd: While riding, I came across some construction. That's not the odd part. After passing through many detours and roughly patched areas, I came upon a sign that read, "rough road ahead." "Huh," I thought, "haven't all the roads I've been on today been pretty rought?" Yes. They all were. But I found out what they really meant by "rough road" was gravel. I've been riding road tubeless, though, so it really didn't bother me.

Still, I'm thinking if I'm going to continue to live and ride around here (I am) and if Utah is going to continue to be in a perpetual state of construction (apparently, they are), I think I'm going to opt for wider tires next go around. 25c at least. Maybe 28c? That might be pushing it, but something wider than 23c.

My Birthday Ride

2010-12-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday, and I'm getting old. Naturally, I set out to prove to mother nature that gravity hasn't won yet! I got out and rode at lunch today.

There was some mud on the lower slopes of the ride, but it turn to snow-only as we climbed higher. By and large, the conditions were super nice for this time of year.

I forget just how difficult it is to ride in the snow, though. It takes much more energy (like sand would), but it also takes more coordination and just paying attention to your bike. I believe it really exaggerates any poor handling habits you've lived with over the years (I have many). When you start out on the dirt from being stopped, for instance, you don't really care that your bike isn't exactly perpendicular to gravity. When you start in the snow, if your bike is leaning at all, you're likely to wash out before you get your second foot on the pedal. I also find that going fast (and turning as large a gear as you can muster) helps to keep you from wallowing in the snow and sinking. (Don't forget to lower the pressure in your tires, as well.) Overall, I believe it takes a lot more upper-body finesse to keep things upright. It was quite a workout (which has nothing to do with all the over-eating I've been doing lately--in case you're wondering).

Here are some photos (courtesy of Ricky and his mobile phone):

Magicshine, The Recall

2010-11-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

Magicshine has, for some time now, been known as the king of inexpensive lighting. Being a knock-off light, there is more than one way to get them: direct for the far east or via the local distributor. When we first posted about the Magicshine 900 there was some discussion about whether to order from Deal Extreme or from the U.S. distributor, Geomangear.com. We recommended the latter. Why? In case something went awry.

Well, it seems that something has indeed gone awry with the batteries. And Geoman is stepping up to the plate. From his website:

Geomangear temporarily has stopped selling Magicshine lightsets due to our concerns regarding the safety, quality, and performance of Magicshine's lithium-ion battery packs sold by Geomangear between July 2009 and November 2010. We have determined that these Magicshine battery packs do not meet Geomangear's high expectations regarding product safety, quality, and performance. We have notified both the manufacturer of Magicshine lightsets and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission that Geomangear intends to voluntarily recall all Magicshine battery packs sold by Geomangear.

A couple of things to note. First, this is a voluntary recall. Second, Geoman has sold quite a lot of these lights, I suspect, so have some patience in working with them to get your lights back into good working order again.

Kudos to Geoman for stepping up and tackling the problem head on. See Geomangear.com for the full recall notice.

More Fun Than I Could Handle

2010-07-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

When my wife approached me about camping with her folks at Clear Lake--which is near the beginning of the McKenzie River Trail (MRT)--it didn't take a whole lot of convincing. I believe that the conversation went something like this...

Wife: My parents would like to camp along the McKenzie river and would like us to join them.

Me: Do they mind if I bring my bike?

Wife: Nope.

Me: leaves to go pack and make sure lights are charged.

It was like a dream come true. All the riding I could handle... and some I couldn't.

Clear Lake is such a nice spot. The trail around the lake is 5 miles. The water is very clear (hence the name) and very cold. 34 degrees Fahrenheit most of the year. Since our camping coincided with hot temperatures, the cold lake was refreshing to wade in.

On the first day, after getting camp set up, I rode around the like twice. Once clockwise and then counterclockwise. It is much easier clockwise. There are some nasty rock sections that are much easier to descend that to climb.

Like this one:

I had plenty of time to take this picture, since I ended up walking this section.

The next day, I decided to the MRT proper. I left from camp with the plan to ride down the trail to Trail Bridge Reservoir and then turn around and retrace my route back up. I could have continued, but after Trail Bridge, the trail turns more mundane and I was interested in riding the technical bits both directions. The last time I rode up the MRT I was training for riding the North Umpqua Trail in a single day. Fitting, I suppose, that I have plans to ride the North Umpqua Trail in a few weeks--but taking two days, this time.

The ride started as planned, albeit a tad later in the day. The weather was warm, but not too hot. I had a full 70oz hydration bladder on my back and a bunch of energy gels. I felt on top of the world.

My first stop was Sahalie Falls. If you've ridden the MRT, you've stopped to look at the falls. They are beautiful.

As I continued on, my next stop was the Blue Pool. Such a... blue... pool.

By now, the day began to be hot and I realized that I had not been drinking nearly enough nor eating enough. I was starting to feel the ride.

I usually don't ride alone, and after this ride, I realized that when one rides alone, one does not stop as much as when one is riding with a group.

I downed some water and an energy gel and pushed on. I wasn't far from my turn-around point (2 miles) so I didn't want to stop long here. Shortly after the blue pool, the trail gets technical. This is what I was on the trail for. It was awesome, but really took its toll on me.

I was feeling the bonk coming on.

I continued to my turn-around point and turned around. By the time I got back to the technical section near the blue pool I was feeling wasted.

I sucked down even more water and energy gels--as many as I could stand. I knew that it wasn't going to help. I had ignored the warning signs; I had let my energy deficit get too large. There was no recovering while I was on the trail. For the next hour and a half, I had to slowly ride--sometimes push--my bike back toward camp. My legs began to cramp about 2 miles from camp--just below Sahalie Falls. I was in a world of hurt and the only way out was to continue slogging up the trail.

I ended up making it back. I didn't--but I thought about--hitch a ride the last mile to camp, though I did bail out onto the road after crossing back over the river upstream from Sahalie Falls.

What should have been a simple out and back turned into a death march. Next time, I'll drink more and eat more--sooner and more often. I'll have to plan for the hotter weather better, I'm too used to riding in the cooler temperatures that, until fairly recently, have been the norm.

I am happy to report that I recovered enough to do a night ride around Clear Lake before we broke camp and headed home. What a long weekend that was. Very fun, and very frustrating at the same time.

Exploration, Part 2

2010-07-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

A quick recap... I went exploring on the road bike, ended up on STEEP gravel hills. Clearly, the wrong bike.

I decided that what I needed to do was head out again, but this time armed with the 'cross bike.

It seems like a yearly ritual. Every summer, I get to shed the fenders from my 'cross bike, making it look like a lean machine, rather than a sedate commuter bike. This summer's de-fenderization coincided with this exploration, making a follow-up ride to last weeks road-bike-on-gravel-roads jaunt doubly sweet.

I started by heading back up the hill that caused me so much pain before. From the other side, the climb isn't nearly as bad. Before dropping down onto the closed road, I took a look at the hillside surrounding me. Some of it had been clear cut. While an eye-sore, this time it was just what I was looking for. You see, they had to get the logs out, which meant gravel roads... and lots of them.

Sure enough, after a brief stint on asphalt, I found my road.

As is typical around here, it went up.

And up.

And it was steep. often surpassing 20%. But, that was why I was on the 'cross bike, after all. So I climbed. Whenever the road branched, I chose to go up. All of my effort was not in vain. Once I reached the top of the ridge, I was rewarded with views of Mt. Hood, Mt Saint Helens, and Mt. Ranier at once. Pictures do not do the view justice. Especially pictures taken with my phone. But, since it was all I had at the time...

(Hood is to the far right, Ranier is to the far left and Saint Helens is a little in on the left.)

Now, I just need to find some local singletrack.

Exploration, Part 1

2010-06-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Now that school has wrapped up for the summer and my family and I are now--mostly--settled in our new home, I figured it was time to go explore the surrounding area for some riding.

Having heard that this was a road cyclist's area, I headed out on the road bike to look for some interesting routes. Last Friday, I went out on a local loop and wanted to mix it up a bit. Armed with the GPS, I started the loop as normal, but one point I decided to deviate. Looking at the screen, I saw that the road I was on hooked up with one of the few roads in the area I knew: a two lane highway that connects Forest Grove to main road to the coast.

The climb was a bit of a doozy, but not an issue. Once on the highway, I was flying. I had a tailwind, the road was smooth, and sun was out. I tell you, life was good.

However, the highway back to town was closed.

Huh. Well, I thought, it takes quite a bit of construction to make a road closed to a bicycle. So, I pressed on. It turns out that there was no road to ride on at all. It was dug down to the road's foundation, about 10ft below the road surface. That's the type of closure that would stop a bicycle. Now I was left with a choice. Do I retrace my path, or do I take a road to the left that looks go up and around the closed section? On the GPS, this side road is shown as a dotted line, but where I was standing, it looks good.

I decide to take it, but it wasn't 500ft before I see a sign like this one:

That's not good. Not only did the pavement end--I'm on my road bike, mind you--it got steep. At its steepest, the grade was over 20% and none of it was under 10%. Because of the gravel, I couldn't stand but had to remain seated, s-l-o-w-l-y turning over the cranks.

I made it up--with much cursing aimed at my standard road gearing and my recent loss of fitness--and, thankfully, the remainder of the ride was downhill to my house.

But, that was my first taste of gravel since moving and I needed to find more. Next time, though, I'm not taking the road bike. Wheels were turning in my head... on the highway, I passed areas that had been logged recently. It was time to break out the 'cross bike. It was time to search for some local off-pavement routes.

Stay tuned...

Never Quit

2010-06-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

The weather was exceptional on Monday. Even when the sun went down I still found it delightfully warm. All day long I wanted to ride, and here I was, sitting on my bed at 10:30pm, wondering if I should suit up, put lights on my bike, and head to the hills. Finally, my desire to ride got the best of me. I got dressed and went outside to get my lights sorted.

After digging around for quite some time in the dim light of my garage, I found both the light head and the clamp to get it on the bar. 15 minutes later, I managed to scrounge up enough small rubber shims to actually give the light a solid fit on my handlebar.

Then I realized I needed to head back in to fill my water bottle.

Back outside, I realize my rear tire is sitting at around 6 PSI. I pump it up and shoe-horn my Jekyll into the back of my Cruiser. As I heft it, I think, not for the last time, that I wish I was on my old F4000—it is so much lighter. (However, for some reason, that bike has enjoyed a nice run of ripping valve stems off the front-wheel inner-tubes lately, so I’m back on the Jekyll. (No tubes = no torn valve stems!))

I climb in the Cruiser and realize I don’t have the right keys. Back inside to get the right keys.

By the time I get to the trailhead, it’s around 11:30pm.

My ride begins normal enough. Sure, I’m looking over my shoulder every few seconds to see if I’m about to be attacked by a Mountain Lion, but that’s fairly normal when I’m out riding at night alone. Actually, though my bike was riding well and the air was cool.

There’s a section of trail at the beginning of Dragon’s Back that’s fairly challenging. It isn’t that I can’t clean it, it’s just that sometimes I don’t, and I always have to give it my full attention. Perhaps I didn’t give it my full attention last night because part of my attention in a night ride is always devoted to watching for Cougars.

Part-way up this short section, I lose my momentum on a large, loose rock and put my foot down. My right foot. Only it slips (it’s steep there) and I find myself in the bushes next to the trail. That’s fine, I get up, clip in, and start up. Only it happens again and I tip the other direction. I fall to my left.

My left foot doesn’t leave the pedal (Egg Beaters) for some strange reason and so I catch myself with my hip on the rocky trail. Ouch. The pain is very brief and quickly gives way to frustration. I now decide a do-over is in order. Back down the trail, turn around and…

Let me check that cleat on my left shoe. Everything Tight? Yep. Both bolts are in there? Yes. Okay, weird.

Back up the trail. This time, I’m going faster and I’m full of a little more angst. I hit a rock, my rear tire slips out and I fall to my left again. Ouch, again. I’m lying there in the trail and my shoe refuses to detach itself from the pedal. Huh.

Evidently, tonight is not the night to ride Dragon’s Back.

That’s fine, I have loads of trails at my disposal, and there are plenty more available from this very spot. I’m off down the gravel road towards a sweet bit of single-track that used to be the location for a weekly evening race. As I flow through the twisty single-track, I’m not really watching the trail any more than I have to. I’m trying to see if I can pop my left foot out of the pedal. I mean, my right foot comes out with ease. Can’t get it out. Period. It’s stuck.

Another tight corner and I’m at the cross-roads. I can climb up to the fire road above (and another network of trails), or I can loop around and start the race track again. In lieu of either, I decide to sit down at the crossroads and trouble-shoot my shoe.

I’m amazed that my shoe came off the pedal before my ankle broke. I wasn’t sure for a minute there. I sit down in the dark, turn over my shoe and …

No cleat. None. Wha…?

Okay, so, it must have popped off or something. I start digging through the late-Spring growth on either side of the singletrack and I can’t find it. Of course, it’s after midnight, and even with my bike lights, there may be no way for me to find it. I happen to glance down at my bike and there it is.

Still attached to the pedal. I examine the shoe again, no broken sole (which is remarkable considering how old they are). The bolts, still in the cleat, also look fine. Strange.

So, with the bolts trapped in the cleat attached to the pedal, and no way for me to get it unstuck, I pack it up and coast down the mountain to head for home.

Remaining questions:
1) How did the cleat come off my shoe?
2) Why was the Egg Beater so tenacious in holding on to the cleat?
3) How could a cleat that was so solid suddenly detach itself from the shoe like that?
4) Does the fact that my shoe escaped unscathed mean I can’t yet justify another pair?

Photographic evidence:

Here it is, attached to my cheapo Egg Beater.

And, another shot for good measure.

Here is a piece of grass stuck to my rear derailleur.

And here's my bike leaning against my cruiser.

I think these photos speak for themselves.

Bontrager

2010-06-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

I remember Bontrager parts back when Keith Bontrager started making them. It was very cool stuff. Once Bontrager was purchased by the Great Trek Bicycle-making Conglomerate, I kind of lost track of them. At that point, they became run-of-the-mill house-brand OEM parts to me. Sure I knew there was nothing wrong with them, but I never saw anything interesting, either.

Maybe my impression of the parts was accurate at the time. I'm not sure it is now.

A few riding buddies of mine ride various bikes made by the Trek congomerate. I noticed they always had nice-looking Bontrager components. I figured the "XXX-Lite" line was probably pretty nice, but again, I wasn't excited about it.

Am I the only one who has largely ignored this parts-company-within-Trek?

Then, the other day, I was wondering how Ricky's road bike could be so light. After all, he was only running house-brand Bontrager XXX-Lite wheels with other matching Bontrager parts.

So I did a little research and found their stuff is really light. I mean, crazy light. Now granted, light doesn't always mean good, but consider this: The people I know whose bikes came with Bontrager parts haven't replaced them. And I know some fairly bike-abusive people.

They also look to have some nice road tires coming out. The R4 Road tire utilizes 220 tpi casing and weighs a paltry 165g for the 700x23c version. They also have an interesting sidewall design that fits around the bead of the rim for a more seamless sidewall/rim interface--supposedly great for improving aerodynamics.

For wheelsets, they have an impressive array of carbon-rimmed clinchers--though, they aren't priced like house-brand wheels. They even have carbon clincher mountain wheels (26 and 29-inch varieties).

I admittedly have very little experience with Bontrager parts, but I'm definitely going to do some investigation the next time I'm buying.

Go check them out at www.bontrager.com and let me know of your experiences/impressions/feelings about Bontrager.

Moving

2010-05-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well, the time as come to bid adieu to the Mid-Willamette valley. I'm exchanging:

for:
in order to attend Optometry school this fall. This means that I'm picking up my family and relocating a bit to the north. Given the volatility of the housing market, we put ours up for sale early and--amazingly, to me--it sold withing a few days. So, we're moving sooner than expected, and before I'm done with school at OSU.

But that's not the sad part. The sad part is that I'm leaving behind fantastic riding--both road and mountain--that starts right from my door. I'm leaving behind my core riding group, the guys that I spend my nights with evaluating lights and tearing up the trails after everyone else is in bed asleep.

I'm leaving behind trails like this:

And this:

And gravel roads like this--ideal for winter riding:

While I won't stop riding--day or night--I'm pretty sure that I won't have trails as good or, more importantly, as close. I'll actually have to--GASP--drive to the trail head. I hope I can manage.

It's been great living here and now I look forward to the next part of the adventure.

Against All Odds

2010-05-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature doesn't like me. And she has powerful friends.

The weather has been nice, but I haven't been able to secure any daylight hours for a ride. Finally, fed up with my lack of bike-time, I got out my rollers so I could at least pretend like I was riding. Of course, with my children a) in bed and ii) taking up all the bedrooms in the house, I was left with the garage as my only option. It's been a while since I've set up my rollers in the garage. A few things have happened since then.

The largest of which was replacing my little Mazda Protege with a Toyota Land Cruiser. Now there is less room than there was. We also have a second fridge wedged in there. There happens to be just enough room between the imposing bulk of the cruiser and a structural pole.

Once I found a place for my rollers, I needed to find a place for my laptop computer so I wouldn't tear my eyes out with the tedium of working hard at not moving for 45 minutes. A few more minutes of rummaging around produced an old cooler that was fairly clean on top (my laptop is less than a week old). (Note that I refer to my laptop using a generic term. I've learned that when you use an Apple computer, you identify it when talking computers. When using a PC, it's just a computer.)

More digging. More searching. Extension cord. Headphones with extension cord. Water bottles. Crap, no movies on this laptop. Searching (home network), copying, saving. Grab the bike down from the ceiling hooks, attach the pump. Pumping up a tire that hasn't been inflated in more than a few weeks.

And then it turns from tedious to ugly.

You see, Mother Nature made some nice weather for me. Sunny, warm. Dry roads, dry trails. Mother Nature doesn't like it when you're not grateful. She gets downright spiteful. She's friends with the god of flats.

Try as I might, that tire/tube held no air. And of course, it was the rear tire. Although I was already suited up, I had to start to search for tire levers (hometrainer tires are a bear to get off) and a spare tube. When I finally wrenched my tire free, it was easy to find the hole. You see, it wasn't a hole so much as a quarter-inch gash. That was no accident. These wheels/tires never see pavement. They're only ever exposed to smooth round drums. And the gash was on the inside of the tube.

At this point, if you know me at all, you'd expect I gave in and called it a night. I did not, though. I changed my tire, mounted the wheel on the bike, and attached all the little things necessary to get my computer to both show me a movie and convey the sound into my entertainment-deprived ears.

Yes, Mother Nature, I rode in a dirty old garage. And as painful as that process was, and despite finishing after midnight, I was happy to have won that round.

The Problem With Spring

2010-04-28T12:40:00.001-07:00

As you may--or may not, depending on your local--have noticed, we're in the middle of Spring. I love Spring, mostly because it heralds the approach of my favorite season: Summer. Blossoms are blooming, everything is green again--here in western, OR, anyway--and the days are longer.

But there is a very serious downside to Spring, not counting those afflicted with pollen allergies.

The problem with Spring is that it is a mixed bag.

Winter, is rainy and cold-ish very nearly all the time. Oh, you'll have good days now and then, but you can usually count on bundling up before riding. And, you'll take that bike with the full fenders if you are headed outside.

But then, right around the middle of April, the clouds part, the sun comes out and the ground starts to dry out. You pull the road bike off the trainer and get in some rides wearing sunglasses! Then, the rain returns.

In the winter, the rain isn't so bad, it's expected after all. But once I get a taste of riding in short sleeves and feeling the warmth of the sun overhead, getting out on the now-filthy fender-ed bike just doesn't seem as nice. I have tasted summer riding and I want it now! I am unwilling to wait until June--usually the middle of--before the weather is consistently good.

Unlike the winter, any amount of rain will drive me indoors and onto the trainer. I know that the plants need the water, and it keeps my water bill down while simultaneously keeping my yard green. I know these things. But at the same time, I am reminded of the line from the musical Camelot that states--roughly--that in Camelot it never rains 'til after sunset and by 10am the dew has gone.

If any weather gods are reading, that's how I'd like western Oregon to be in the Spring, please. Except on the nights we have a night ride scheduled.

Thanks.

Ready for 10?

2010-04-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

There has been a ton of new product news from Sea Otter, but, to me at least, one of the more interesting bits has been about the new Shimano XT and SLX components.

If you've been around mountain bicycles for any length of time, you'll likely recall drive trains moving from 8 to 9 cogs in the rear cassette, or even from 7 to 8. The move from 7 to 8 wasn't very controversial since the space between the cogs didn't change, but going from 8 to 9 sparked quite a bit of conversation among mountain bikers.

The main points of contention were that the narrow chains would be more prone to wear and it was generally thought that chains and cassettes wouldn't last as long. Additionally, there was less slop built into the system, so derailleur adjustment had be more precise.

In general, these initial concerns did, in fact, bear out in practice. The chains don't last as long, are more expensive, generally, are the rear derailleur has to be kept in adjustment. This didn't stop it's wide adoption--thanks mostly to the use of 9-speed on new bikes--and today you'll be hard pressed to find an 8-speed bike in good running order.

And now it's all happening again.

The new XT and SLX groups are going to be 10-speed. Unlike SRAM, though, the new Shimano groups will still run a triple up front. Depending on which cassette you choose to run, the range will be wider than any existing 9-speed set up--this is with the 11-36 cassette. Or you could end up with smaller jumps between gears.

All this is fine and dandy, but all of the old arguments are being made now. Why do we need 10-speed? The chains are narrower, less durable and will likely need to be replaced more often. The space between cogs is narrower so the adjustment on the rear derailleur will have to be more precise to maintain shifting quality. Finally, there is cost. The current SLX cassette costs $55, the new will supposedly cost around $77*. If the new one wears out faster--it might not--then that increased price will be felt more often, too.

More than likely, like the 8 to 9-speed jump before it, 10-speed will become the norm, whether we like it or not.

However, in one way, this represents a major shift for Shimano. Up until now, 9-speed was 9-speed, whether road or mountain. Any 9-speed shifter worked with any 9-speed derailleur/cogset. The new XT and SLX are not compatible with 10-speed road. This a big deal for some 'cross and touring bikes, which have at times mated road shifters with mountain derailleurs and cassettes.

What's your take? Is this a good thing, or not?

The only pricing I could find online was on BikeRadar.com and it was listed in British Pounds, so take the price with a big ol' grain of salt.

Light Review Update -- "I'm not dead yet"

2010-04-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've been asked "whatever happened with this year's light review?" and I can tell you, that is a good question. One that I've been asking myself, actually.

It's still in progress.

That's the bad news. The good news is that I've used the snot out of all the lights in all sorts of conditions. I've used them in freezing temperatures, rain, dust, etc... So, while my opinion of the lights is pretty solid, I just haven't gotten it all typed up.

Earlier this year, I was tied up finishing up a school term--read: finals--getting into Optometry school, and getting my house on the market--it was a fixer upper that we never really got around to fixing, so it required quite a bit of work. Through all this, I was continuing to ride--more night rides than anything else--and working on the review, just not writing the review.

That's all wrapped up now, and I'm halfway through the writing portion. The beam shots are done, the run time graphs are done, I just need to get the thing finished!

So, hang in there, we're on the final stretches now and it'll be complete soon.

Costs

2010-04-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

A long time ago I convinced my wife that the great thing about cycling is that once you have the bike, you're basically done spending money.

Ha!

Okay, so I love upgrading parts (who doesn't?). And, thanks to the superb marketing and continual drive for "innovation" of the leading manufacturers in the industry, there's plenty of things I need to buy.

That's right, I said "need." However, even though I need these things, I avoid buying them--which shows how much sacrifice I'm willing to endure for my family.

Needs
There are, however, a few actual needs that cyclists have if they a) ride bikes, and #2 want to keep riding them. These include, but are not limited to, new tires, new tubes, pedal cleats, clothing (c'mon Assos, at that price I should be able to wear this stuff the rest of my life--and I look good enough in it that I might), grips/bar tape, drivetrain stuff, cables, etc. Besides that, I've learned from long experience that I can't bleed brakes to save my life (and believe me, my life is in the balance when I bleed brakes and then go ride a white-knuckle descent!). So, while that isn't a "part" as such, I need to pay someone at least $50 to bleed them.

Though I could go on and on about the woes of buying tires (a tire sponsorship would honestly be enough for me, I'm not greedy), that's not what I want to focus on. No, I want to call out that little tiny thing I fairly glossed over with the words "drivetrain stuff." Here's what's bound to wear out in your drivetrain fairly often: chains, cassettes. Of course, if you don't replace those, then you'll be looking at chainrings too. Actually, if you stay on top of the chain, you should be able to extend the life of your cassette. Well, that and if you keep your chain clean.

But I'm not here to talk about proper drivetrain maintenance.

The truth is, other things will wear out eventually, too. When you're laying down the kind of power I am, you'll find that the expensive Dura Ace cassette you've been rolling with just disfigured your expensive (light-weight!) aluminum freehub body on your expensive (light-weight!) wheels. So now you're all-of-a-sudden looking at a chain, a cassette (expensive and light-weight!) and a new freehub body. Can I get mine in buttery-soft aluminum, please?

Stable
On a separate thread, I'm also, secretly trying to own as many bikes as possible. Not because I'm trying to one-up my neighbor (I'm looking at you, Rick!), but because I love bikes so much. Unfortunately (sort-of), three bikes does not equal three-times the drivetrain maintenance costs. Oh no. You see, I'm the kind of guy who also likes to have multiple wheelsets. I mean, I need one for the rollers (who wants to be swapping out tires all the time?), and one for the road. Ideally, I'd like one for racing on, but since I don't really race much, I can put that off for now.

So, now that I finalized my order, I'm starting to regret not measuring my chain to see if it's stretched.

The Smell of Love

2010-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

I was in a hunting store with a friend of mine a number of months ago. He was showing me the different cleaners and lubricants he uses for his guns. It was here that he lifted up the most plain-looking, non-descript bottle of gun solvent--I believe it was Hoppe's No. 9. He opened it up and said, "Smell this." I did. It smelled like some sort of oil/solvent/cleaner. "This is one of my favorite scents of all time," he said in my fuzzy memory/flash-back. "If they made a perfume just like this, I'd totally make my wife wear it."

My new rule for buying bike supplies/parts/accessories is simple: Throw in a tube for good measure. I recently placed an order for a new cassette and some helmets for my two oldest children. Of course, I threw in a tube.

I love new road tubes. Mountain tubes, I could care less. But road tubes are so light and compact; so easy to fit into a tiny seat pack or jersey pocket.

Also, I love the smell. Now, I'm not sure I want the woman in my life to smell like butyl rubber, but there's something about the smell of a new inner tube.

For this purchase, I decided to go with a Michelin AirComp Ultra Light tube. Now, fortunately for me, all my tubes are made of the same material, I've got a pretty good feel for the weight based on how compact it is. This one? Well, although it seems quite small, I've had smaller. So, is it light? Yes. Ultra? No.

Now, the cassette I got. It's just a plain old Ultegra (6700) 12-25 cassette. However, a new cassette--pristine, unspoiled, dry--is a beautiful thing to me. I mean, just look at it.

See what I mean?

And that got me thinking more about my love of bikes. Evidently, it goes beyond transportation or riding. For me, it's much deeper than that. If I can get excited about the smell of a tube or the clean, mechanical lines of a 10-speed cogset ...

Love the smell of that Hoppes No. 9.

SRAM Launches New X7

2010-03-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've often wondered some of the product decisions that SRAM makes. I mean, first they came out with two road groups: Force and Rival. A year (or was it more, can't remember) later they introduced the real flagship road group: RED. Interesting that they didn't go after the top-end market first. Or, maybe they did and RED was just a plan B. Either way, RED is fantastic. (Of course, it is also interesting to note that the weight and quality difference between RED and Rival isn't nearly as big as the price difference would suggest.)

SRAM has had, for many years, a flagship moutain group: X0. X0 is really, really nice. Shifts great, super light. What more could you want? 10 speeds? Fine. So, SRAM launches XX. Ligher, 2x10 gearing. Even more expensive than X0.

Naturally, you'd expect X0 to also get a revamp a year or so later, and for the 2x10 technology (including the 12x36 10-speed cassette) to show up in short order.

Today, however, SRAM surprised the industry (well, surprised me, anyway) by launching a new X7 group.

Yes, X7. Not X0, not even X9.

What does X7 have? Lighter weight. 2x10 gearing. Exact Actuation technology. Here are some highlights. (Photos pulled from a PDF--sorry about the poor quality. We'll post better photos when we can get them.):

X7 Shifters
The biggest change here is the Exact Acutation 10-speed borrowed from The XX shifters. Even the front is strictly 2x10. Additionally, the X7 shifters are now compatible with Matchmaker (allowing you to use one clamp for brakes and shifters--saving handlebar space). Cable changes are also proportedly simple with the, I kid you not, "Top Cap Cable Change" system. Wow.

X7 Front Derailleur
No longer is there just SRAM front derailleur. This is specifically an X7. What's new? dedicated to just two rings. Most likely there's a different profile to be better suited to 2 rings. Slimmer and lighter body.

X7 Rear Derailleur
Okay, hold on. A carbon cage? In X7? Yes and yes. Again, this is a 10speed derailleur with their Exact Actuation Shifting. Compatible with 36-tooth cogs. Keeps the same nice-looking grey finish the whole group shares. Lighter and better-looking? What more could you want?

S1400 (X7?) Crankset
There still seems to be some strange confusion between TruVativ and SRAM. I mean, this thing isn't labeled X7, though it is clearly meant for this group. OCT Hollow Forged crankarm. Only 2 chainrings (duh!), which utilize X-glide technology. I admit that I don't even know what that means. Sounds good, though, right?

GXP Bottom Bracket
Again, this is TruVative. Whatever. This isn't the same-old BB, but has been redesigned. This bottom bracket utilizes a new Gutter Seal. To explain this, let me use their words:

"While other systems rely on side loading the bearings to eliminate play, which causes premature bearing wear, the GXP system is diferent. The GXP system captures the left side bearing between the spindle and the left crankarm while allowing the drive-side bearing to foat axially on the spindle, thereby eliminating the necessity to side-load bearings during adjustment. The simplicity of installation is refined: once it is tightened to the proper specifcations you are ready to roll with a worry free BB. The GXP system uses two bicycle specifc cartridge bearings and eight seals for a smooth and long lasting ride."

Available in Ceramic, Team and XR.

PG-1050 (X7) Cassette
10 speeds. Enough said. I'll say more, however. Available as 11-32 or 12-36. This isn't using the PowerDome technology found in XX and RED, but uses a traditional semi-spidered design. Steel cogs.

Other Odds and Ends
Tried and true Elixr R brakes painted to match the rest of the group (levers and calipers). Cartridge bearing hubs--supposedly the first hubs to use cartridge bearings at this price.

All in all, I'm excited to see SRAM bring this technology to the X7 price-point which is, according to SRAM, their mid-level XC group. Why they didn't put it in X9 or X0 is beyond my understanding. Unless the market is having mixed feelings about 10-speed on a mountain bike. I'm too much of an early-adopter to have such heretic thoughts. Hopefully, we'll know the MSRP soon so we can post it.

Mapping for Bicycle Routes?

2010-03-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

I love Google Maps. Anytime I am heading somewhere I've never been, I look up the route on Google Maps and figure out the best route, how long it will take, etc. I love that I can drag the blue line--indicating the route--and make a new, more interesting route just like that (snaps fingers).

But, using Google Maps for bicycle routes is more problematic. For one thing, I don't always stick to surface roads when riding. In my town, there are a few bicycle paths that allow me to bypass traffic and get me away from the constant drone of cars. Google has options for public transportation and walking but not bicycling... until today.

Via the Official Google Blog, Google announced that they now provide directions for those of use travelling by bicycle.

As far as I can tell the difference is that it takes hills and traffic in to account (attempting to route around them both). As before, that blue highlighted route is adjustable, just grab onto it with your mouse and drag it where you want to go.

While I don't see any immediate use myself--I know the area around where I live pretty well--I can see it being useful if you were to relocate or visit an unfamiliar town.

Now... is there a way to force it to seek out the biggest hills and form a route including them all?

Riding in the South: Mountain

2010-02-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

Forward:
Much of the time I'm not on my bike, I think about bikes. This sounds obvious, I know. But why don't I think about the trails or roads? After all, the bike (hopefully) stays the same. (Although, since I wrench my own bikes, this isn't the case in practice, only in theory--this is the subject of a different post, though.) Mostly, I think, it's the reviewer in me. I'm trying to rid myself of the habit. In December, I found a cure-all: ride an entirely new trail.

The Story So Far:
As I posted about many moons ago, I was in the south over the Christmas season last year. Besides a fantastic road ride, I got to taste the sweet goodness of a purpose-built mtn. bike trail.

Honestly, I had no idea a trail could be so much fun. I naturally assumed that a trail like this would be quite tame--so as to accommodate less-experienced riders. I was pleased to report that wasn't the case. What I got was an ear-to-ear perma-grin for 9 miles of challenging, swoopy, technical, fast-paced, steep, smooth, rocky trail. There was an extended climb to get your heart pumping. There were fast, technical descents to keep your heart pumping for entirely different reasons. There were rock gardens and bridges. There were stream crossings and sandy bits.

At one point, after climbing a short section, one of my riding buddies encouraged me to turn around and go back down the way I had come. "Trust me," he said, "it's worth making this climb again." He was right, it was beautiful. Just enough places to lean back and launch the bike, followed by a few tight curves to keep you on your toes.

The trail was perfectly groomed, but never boring. All of it wound through beautiful forest. That ride convinced me that even if that were the only ride available, I'd never get tired of it.

I was feeling so good that day--so, in the groove--I didn't even hesitate when Terry and the Beast stopped to warn me about "Blood Rock" up around the next bend. Sure enough, I came around the corner and there was an area marked with red paint and lots of warnings--at least, that’s how I remember it. I didn't slow down; I didn't stop to think about it. I made it through that particularly wet, rocky section without leaving any of my own blood on the rocks. I felt fantastic.

To top it all off, there were bike showers at the end to clean your gear off before loading up the cars.

Thanks again to Terry and the Beast for taking me on one of the best rides of my life, for providing me with a bike, and for riding me again to a state of utter exhaustion. I can't wait to go back.

Notes:
-The ride was Oak Mountain, I believe.
-You can read Terry's more detailed write-up of it here: http://ridesandroads.blogspot.com/2009/12/over-river-and-through-woods.html
-The bike I rode was a classic Trek Y-22. No water-bottle holders and me without a Camelbak. Once again, Terry and the Beast came through for me by letting me steal gulps out of their packs.
-The Beast did some of those climbs in the big ring--not the middle ring even--and I'm not even joking. If he wasn't so nice about stomping you into the ground, I'd have taken it a little harder.
-We passed a guy who was fixing his second flat and gave him a spare tube. Later, we passed him again (obviously after he'd passed us) and again, he had a flat. He wasn't having as good a day as I was. Hopefully, he lives closer to the trail so he can get back there and have a better day.

Prime

2010-02-10T15:12:00.001-08:00

You may, or may not, have heard by now that Hayes is introducing a new brake, the Prime. According to the folks there, they've been benchmarking the best brakes on the market and are setting that as the minimum acceptable performance. We here at LAT (and GearReview.com) have been using Hayes off and on for a number of years and have generally found their performance to be very good. They were one of the original players in the disc brake scene, so their experience should be quite an asset as they try and make the best brake on the market.

The new Prime will come in two models, with the breakdown as follows (stolen shamelessly from their Prime website):

As you can see, both levels feature tool free dead lever throw adjustment, something first seen on Avid's Juicy brakes. The Pro has up-spec'd material that should reduce the weight over the standard Expert level.

I had no idea what Titacon is, so I looked it up: it's a combination of POM, PTFE and Aramid fibers. Aramid fibers are better known as Kevlar, PTFE is better known as Teflon and POM is the plastic polymer polyoxymethylene. So the bushing is a very tough (kevlar), slippery (teflon), plastic. Should make for a good bushing that will last quite a while.

So hop on over to Hayes' Prime microsite and check it out.

Some Follow Up--Beams!

2010-01-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

The weather gods have been kind to me. Not only have I been able to enjoy relatively mud free rides, but I have been able to take beam shots. Normally, this time of year, I am either waiting out rain or fog. Earlier this week, I had neither. Therefore, I grabbed the camera and set off for my favorite spot to shine the lights.

Man, I have a lot of pictures of this one spot of the county park. Which is closed at night. I keep waiting for the local constabulary to tap me on the shoulder and ask what I'm doing at night in a closed park, but so far, no-one has.

Let's run through the Ay-Up lights first, then we'll hit the upgraded Lupine's and see how they fair against NiteRider's best.

Here is the spot beam:

As usual, click on the image for the bigger version.

Intermediate beam:

And, the first time for us, wide:

As you can see, as the beam spreads out, it loses its throw. That's just the breaks of having a finite amount of light to work with. So far, I like the wide beam off the bike best, with the intermediate and spot beams handling bike duty.

Now, on to the Lupines. These are the lights that I upgraded in my last post. Let's start off with the Wilma (now with a claimed output of 1100 lumens). To compare to the older set up, see HERE.

As you can see, it is still a bit of a spot... but brighter. The Betty was also bumped up in specs:

My initial thoughts are that I can't help but think that Lupine could have taken all of that light and spread it out more. It now has a (claimed) 1750 lumen output. I kept expecting the tree in front to catch fire. It is crazy bright, but all that light is placed dead center. To be fair, when paired with the Wilma, it makes a fantastic set up that allows you to ride as fast as you want. But I was hoping for something more like NiteRiders Pro1200 (below). You know, good projection and some beam spread. There are 7 LEDs to work with after all.

What do you think?

Upgrades

2010-01-20T19:54:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned last time, we received the upgrade kits to Lupine's Betty and Wilma. I've now had a chance to perform the operation, and both patients were a success. The last time we did an upgrade it was to an older Wilma, so I thought that this time I'd document the Betty.

First make sure that the light is disconnected from the battery!!

Thanks.

Now, remove the front lens by unscrewing the bezel--righty tighty, lefty loosey.

Next, remove the screws using the included hex key and remove the lens/collimator.

I tapped the light head on my palm--face down--to dislodge the circuit board that contains the emitters.

The new one is on the left and the old one on the right. I found the differences in emitter size to be amazing. Not only are the new emitters brighter, they are much smaller. This is why the old lens doesn't work. The new one is made for the smaller LEDs.

Reverse the process to put the light head back together, lining up the collimator over the new LED board and screwing in the screws.

After the light head is back together, plug in the battery and make sure that everything works as it should--that is, that the light actually turns on.

That's it. It took longer to type this up than it did to perform the upgrade. It's that simple.

New Lupine and Ay-Up

2010-01-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

This week we had a visit from both UPS and FedEx. Anytime that happens, it's a good week. Especially when what they bring are lights.

First up, Lupine.

Rather than send along totally new lights, Lupine sent us the upgrades for the Wilma and Betty.

I haven't installed the new emitters, yet, but I'll document the process when I do. Like I did with the last upgrade kit we looked at. I should have that up shortly after MLK Day.

Next up, Ay-Up.

Ay-Up sent us their latest in a killer box. Their new case is the toughest I've seen, by far. I'd have no problem dropping this thing off the roof of a moving car*. It's that tough.

This is their V4 Adventure kit and comes with two light heads, two bar mounts, a helmet mount, the Gecko battery mount, headband and three batteries. Oh... and the Saxon cap, to turn the lights red. The charger can charge two of those at once.

The lights included in the kit are the same intermediate and narrow beams that we looked at last winter. They also sent a wide beam light head, so I'll have that in the beam shots, too. The batteries are their new High-Low-Flash batteries. No longer are they just on/off.

Low

2010-01-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to determine the run time of the Magicshine on low. And so I did. But before we go there, I'll explain why I normally don't do run times on any setting other than High.

First, it takes a very long time. Running the lights on high allows me to test more than one in an evening. The low beams can literally run all night.

Second, the data is noisy. Very noisy. This is due to what's call pulse width modulation. Essentially, the lights are not dimmed like a light in your house, but are turning off and on very, very fast. This can yield interesting results.

The voltage from the photo-voltaic cell--the lights shine on the cell and I log the cell's output voltage--started out looking like this:

The horizontal spacing is 0.333 seconds per square. So here, the computer is sampling the light very quickly, 240 times per second.

Once the light warmed up, the pattern settled to look like this:

Our eyes cannot see this pattern--though sometimes it appears to give a spinning tire the "strobe" effect.

The problem with this is that for graphing purposes, I log every minute. Depending on where in the cycle the light is, this could be at a peak, a trough, or somewhere in between. This results in a graph that looks like this:

As you can see, it's a jumbled mess. However, the light ended up lasting a whopping 14 hrs and 10 minutes before shutting off.

If you are walking, you could use the light to walk all night long. If you aren't riding singletrack and/or are doing a lot of slow speed climbing, dropping the light to low will really extend your riding time.

WIWTBT Vol. 11

2010-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

Wow. Winter again. For some reason, while I'm enjoying beautiful mountain passes on my road bike or pristine singletrack on my mountain bike in the Summer and Autumn seasons here in Utah, I forget about Winter. Winter can really suck. If I do nothing, I get fat[er] and lazy[er] and, most importantly, slow[er]. What's worse, I never really got fast this year, so I know that if I let myself slack off over the winter months, I'll be super slow. This is not good.

Of course, there are things I can do. I can do some cross-training (read: not cycling). I can get on my rollers more often. Ultimately, of course, the best solution is to spend a lot of money to solve my problem.

Which brings me to what I currently want to buy. This:

(photo courtesy of Speedway Bicycles)

I give you, the FatBack. Yes, it is a snow bike. Very similar, in fact, to the Pugsley I reviewed a couple of seasons ago. There are a few differences, though. Most notably is the complete lack of asymmetry. That is, instead of using asymmetric wheels (with the stays and fork matching) in order for the chain to clear the tires, the FatBack uses a 160mm rear hub and a 135mm front hub. Wide. Fat. Good for snow.

But, I'm not really willing to stop there. Oh no. I also want to build up a second set of wheels (with similarly-sized hubs, of course). This second set, however, will be built with some Stans 29er rims (which would fit nicely in this frame). A second set of rotors bolted to these wheels would be nice, too.

See, it's hard to justify a bike just for the dark, dismal winter months. So, why not spend even more money to get a bike that's Mr. Hyde in the Winter, and Dr. Jekyll in the Summer?

Cue the evil laughter in the background.

Riding in the South: Road

2009-12-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

Last week, a wedding dragged me and my family out to the beautiful South. I say dragged, but I was glad to get away from the sub-freezing temperatures of Utah and see some family I hadn't seen in a while. It was just pure good luck on my part that Terry (http://ridesandroads.blogspot.com/) lives near-by and through various connections and under-the-table deals was able to hook me up with a nice 56cm Scott CR-1. Though it had seen many, many miles, it was in fantastic shape. It was much nicer than I had dared to hope for in a loaner bike.

Though I usually look forward to dropping down in elevation and riding with people, I'd been down in the lowlands for almost a week before I did any riding--which was more than enough time for my blood to get weak and thin from all the oxygen in the air. I expected to suffer--what with my general lack of fitness and such--but I had banked my hopes on the general dearth of "mountains" in that area. I knew none of the climbs they'd subject me to would be longer than a mile or so.

As it turns out, they make roads differently in the South. Whereas, here in Utah we concern ourselves with such trivial matters as snow and ice when planning out roads, they don't seem to do that in the South. Might be because of the lack of snow and ice, but who knows? What this means is that they make roads steep in the South. Very steep. Steeper than they really ought to make them.

The ride started out innocently enough--for the first 1/4 mile anyway. After that, it quickly ratcheted up to a 8-9% grade. No big deal, really. I mean, We get that around here lots of times. What caught me off-guard was when I realized that was the easy part of the climb. That's right, within a mile of starting the ride, I already was looking at 9% grades as easy. This particular road jumped up to 16-18% right away. Soon thereafter, it managed to show us just who's boss by reaching a grade of almost 25%! Sure, the whole climb was pretty short (less than 1.5 miles, I think), but when you're going that steep, an inch feels like 25.4 millimeters! Or, possibly even 26!

Actually, it feels more like a mile.

After that, there was a nice steep and short downhill. Looking at the road ahead, I learned a valuable truth about road riding in the South. There are NO flat rides. Sure, we never climbed what I'd consider to be mountain, but there were hundreds--nay, thousands--of tiny rollers. The thing is, they weren't like the rollers here in Utah. No, these actually got quite steep. They just were short enough that you didn't really think about them. Until you were about 25 miles into the ride and you started to do some estimating in your head.

I couldn't find a nice rhythm because there was no consistency. I never got to just spin in a single gear, but was constantly working to find a good gear. It wore me out much more than I would have expected. Overall, in the 35 miles we rode, we gained about 2750' of elevation--none of which was gradual.

But it was such beautiful riding, I couldn't get angry. The sun was out, the temps were up (around 60-ish). The trees, the rolling hills, the exposed rock down by the river. It was an incredible ride! And, thanks to some going easy on the part of my riding companions, I was able to stay with them most of the way.

Thanks to Terry and the Beast for the spectacular scenery and the hard workout. And thanks for hooking me up with such a nice bike to pedal around on.

Short Day = Long Night

2009-12-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Today is the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. What better way to celebrate than to charge those lights up, and see how long they last. Take your time, these newer lights run for a very long time.

I'm out for the rest of this week, and all of next, but I'll be back in the New Year with more light news. Enjoy the holidays and from us here at Lactic Acid Threshold:

Quick Update

2009-12-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

First off, there was supposed to be a post last week, but it never happened. The reason it never happened was that I was taking some finals and they drained me. You see, I am back in school--have been for a year--and getting a blog post out just wasn't in the cards. Now, on with the post!

I'm getting the first round of run time graphs complete and I'm happy to report that so far, every light is beating their run time claim.

It seems like--when it comes to batteries at least--manufacturers are more conservative. Keep in mind, though, that I test the lights in a room temperature environment and more than likely, you'll see less run time out in the cold.

Here's an example. The Magicshine 900 is rated at 3hrs, but I ran it for 3:42--quite a bit longer.

Not all of the other light's run times exceed their claims as much as the Magicshine, but any time a light runs longer than claimed I am happy.

I've also had the wonderful opportunity to use all of the lights in the rain--something we get plenty of here in Oregon--and aside from some fogging of the lenses, I've experienced zero problems with prolonged rain use with any of the lights. None have cut out and not one has refused to work after a good soaking.

Aside from the NiteRider Pro 600 and 1200, Exposure accessory lights and the Magicshine 900, I'll be checking out the upgrades kits for Lupine's Wilma and Betty lights and Exposure's Diablo.

Look for more info on the new lights in the coming weeks.

Storm Damage

2009-12-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to admit that winter is not my favorite riding season. However, it is the BEST time--at least in my neck of the woods--to ride during or just after a storm, be it a wind storm, rain storm, or the occasional snow storm. While I try to avoid riding in the worst rain storms, riding in the forest during a wind or snow storm can be... interesting.

A few years ago, Jon and I rode a section of the North Umpqua trail on New Years Day.

One of the nice things about the North Umpqua Trail is that it drains well, so year round riding is usually just fine, especially on the sections at the lower elevations. We thought it would be fun to ride one of the lower sections (I can't recall which one, but not the lowest or Western-most section) so off we went.

It was quite cold for that part of Oregon. The roads weren't icy, and the trail had running water on it, but there was ice buildup on the trees and it was snowing. It wasn't getting any warmer, that's for sure. We had to ride a section we didn't plan on due to a downed tree that took out a power line, leaving it draped across the road. We knew that this would not be a normal ride on the trail.

There was so much water on the trail that we were soaked in short order. Oh well, we were having fun, so we pushed on, heedless of the cracking and popping of the trees around us. There was quite a bit of ice piled up on the branches and they couldn't take the load. Trees were, literally, cracking around us.

The danger of the ride was driven home on the return leg of the out and back. There was a new tree across the trail. To date, this is the only ride I've ever been on where there were more trees across the trail coming back, than heading out.

We were frozen and even though the ride was short, it highlighted the danger of riding in the forest during a storm.

Not that that's stopped us since.

And it took us the whole way back to town to thaw out.

Jon--who has images to prove it--should relate the time we were caught in a flash flood in Moab. He and I are usually together when semi-dangerous rides happen.

And when I get speeding tickets.

My driving record has improved greatly since he moved to another state.

Be Prepared

2009-11-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

So there I was, grunting through another climb with a huge grin on my face. I was surrounded on both sides of the trail by golden grass dried stiff by the season. Above me, a cloudless deep blue sky hung bright. It was cool, but definitely not cold with the sun out in full force. I was glad for my gloves, but the winter shoes were probably over-kill.

It actually took me some time to prepare for this ride. I haven't been out in this cold of weather yet this year. A few weeks ago, and just before I left on a trip to the southern hemisphere, I looked at the weather and saw storms and cooler weather on the way. I remember on my last ride that week saying to those riding with me, "Well guys, this is probably it for me for the year. What a great ride." (And it was!)

After a week away, I came back to find that, though the temps had dropped, the trails were in excellent condition and neither mud nor snow was a problem. So, here I was, out in 38-degree weather with a silly grin plastered across my face.

Was that my last day out on the trails for this year? Probably not. I'm determined to milk this season as long as possible. And thanks to this ride, I feel just a little more prepared for tomorrow.

For the feast. I mean, The Feast.

Exposure Eyes

2009-11-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true, I was planning on having this up last week. But... well, it didn't happen. That's the bad news. The good news is that I am posting it right now! With beam shots! On with the post...

Lets say that you picked up an Exposure Joystick MaXx 2. You wanted a helmet light that was lightweight and didn't have a separate battery. Now, about a year later, you're finding that it just isn't quite bright enough. Or, you need a new tail light... what do you do?

Exposure has just the thing for you. These are add on lights that are powered via the charging port on the Joystick, and clip onto the body of the light.

First up, the WhiteEye (silver light above). This little light doubles the output of the Joystick MaXx, upping from 240 lumens to 480 lumens (all lumen ratings are claimed).

Without the WhiteEye:

With the WhiteEye:

The larger red light, the RedEye is plenty bright (85 lumens), it'll get you noticed, but doesn't flash.

Or, if you only need a small light, the RedEye Micro:

This tiny light weighs hardly anything at all!

The other plus? These accessories are inexpensive. The WhiteEye and RedEye are $45 each, and the RedEye Micro will only set you back $15.

These accessories are just the thing to extend the usefulness of the Joystick.

A Few Beam Shots

2009-11-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

You've asked.

I've heard.

There was a lull in the weather, allowing me to run out and get these. I had to change the camera settings a little, since the lights are so stinking bright. (My settings were: F5.6, shutter at 1.3seconds and an ISO of 800. I just now realized the ISO bit, and since I am a rank amateur with the camera, I'm going to have to read up on how to change that.) Here's the lineup:

Lupine Tesla

Magicshine 900

Lupine Betty*

NiteRider Pro 1200

NiteRider Pro 600

*It may seem like I am picking on Lupine. I'm not. The Tesla is in here because the Magicshine is a knock off of it and the Betty is included because it is the brightest headlight I've got laying around and I had to have something to compare the Pro 1200 to. Note though, that this is an older Betty, not the new 1750 lumen (claimed) version.

Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, on with the images.

The Lupine Tesla:

The Magicshine:

The Lupine Betty:

The NiteRider Pro 1200:

The NiteRider Pro 600:

And there you have it. I'll be back later this week with some Exposure Light stuff.

With a Name Like Magicshine...

2009-11-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Last time we looked at NiteRider's new entrants in the crowded LED light market. This time we're going to look at Magicshine's latest.

What... you've never heard of Magicshine?

Don't feel bad, neither had I until recently. Turns out, Geomangear.com is importing these lights to the U.S. market at a very low price.

There are two things that I find very interesting about the Magicshine. 1st, it seems to be a direct knock-off of the Lupine Tesla. I mean, you'd have to try HARD to get it more similar.

As you can see, while the Magicshine is slightly larger, both sport the silver bezel, black body, and O-ring attachment. Both locate their switch on the back, dead center. Both use a similar emitter, though the Magicshine's appears to be a lesser bin. The reflector on the Lupine is--in my opinion--better, but the Magicshine does have an "orange peel" type finish, to help smooth out the beam.

There is, though, one HUGE difference between the lights. The Magicshine is $85+shipping. The Lupine is $420.

Yes, the Tesla is made in Germany and the Magicshine is from China, if that matters to you. To be honest, I'm a little torn about this light. On the one hand, it's a bit of a rip off of Lupine's work. On the other hand, it seriously lowers the cost of entry for real night riding lights--and I consider that a good thing. At $85, nearly everyone can afford to run a light that is bright enough for real riding at night.*

*I define real riding at night as riding the same trails and very nearly the same speed (or faster) than you ride the trails during the day.

This light, I am sure, will introduce many mountain bikers to the joy that is riding after dark. It will also cramp the style of the do-it-yourself crowd, since--and let's be honest here--you, the individual, cannot build a light for what it costs to buy this one (don't forget to add in the batteries and charger).

Have you got any questions? Post them in the comments and I'll see what I can do.

I know you want beam shots. I can hear you chanting "beam shots, beam shots, beam shots." I'll have some later this week or early next, of the Magicshine, the NR Pro series 1200 and 600 and the Exposure stuff I'll talk about next time.

Do It Yourself

2009-10-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

As some of you have noticed, thus far there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about lights this Fall. There is a very good reason for this.

A VERY good reason...

And I'll tell you about it another time. But for now, I've got some light news to share and that will have to take precedence. This week I received lights from NiteRider, Exposure Lights, and Magicshine. Today, I'm looking at the new NiteRider lights, then we'll go through the rest in turn.

So, on to the NiteRider Pro 1200 and 600.

I previewed these lights way back in May, and now I have them in my hands. Both of them.

My first impression is one of quality. These are well made lights. Each of the reflectors is different. The Pro 600's reflector is optimized for its single emitter, while the Pro 1200 has two different reflectors, one wide and another narrow.

The light head itself is a massive heat sink with channels for air flow. In some ways this is similar to Light and Motion's Seca lights. There is a lot of room for air flow to keep these lights cool.

The battery uses a cradle attached to the bike. The cradle has the cord attached, so removal of the battery does not require undoing any cords or Velcro; just slide the battery out of the cradle.

The charger, as seen above on the left, is unlike any other. This charger doesn't just charge the battery, which slides in from the top, but has a port for a USB plug, and a connector for the light head. This is command central for the Pro series. Using the NiteRider DIY software, you can change how you, the user, interacts with the light.

You can store up to 4 different programs in the light head--that can be used at will--and each of these programs is totally custom. You set the low and high intensity, up to 6 steps from low to high, and what the run time will be for each setting.

I like keeping it simple, so my first program for the Pro 600 is a simple high and low beam. According to the software, my high beam is 600 lumens, while my low beam is 200 lumens. On high, the software says that I can expect 5hrs and 40 minutes from the 8 cell battery, while on the low the light should run for a staggering 16hrs. That's long enough for even the longest nights.

Unless you are living in Alaska. Then you might want to get a second battery, should you decide to ride all night long. In the winter.

Downloading the software took no time, and I've got it running on a netbook, so it's not exactly a resource hog.

NiteRider has taken an interesting approach on separating themselves in the crowded LED light market.

Next time, we'll take a look at the Magicshine. A new entrant that defines inexpensive.

Testing a 29er

2009-10-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

There's still so much talk about 29ers these days. Frankly, I was hoping they'd have gone away by now. Life was simpler with one wheel size for mountain bikes. However, being a professional, I wasn't about to let my misgivings get in the way of true investigative journalism. Therefore, today, part way through my ride on my 26er hardtail, I decided to give this whole "movement" a try. Did I switch bikes? No, that would possibly insert additional variables (such as a different frame and components) into the equation (and we all know how bad that would be). Instead, I swapped out the only component I could fit on my current set-up. I took out my front wheel inner-tube and swapped it with a 700c inner-tube.

(Okay, technically, it was a 700c x 18-25mm, but I believe the diameter--not width--is the key to 29ers.)

Now, I would have changed out the tire, too, but then I would have needed a new wheel. A new wheel, as you might suppose, wouldn't work with my existing fork. So, as you can see, I changed what could be changed without having to re-architect my whole bike. By doing this, I feel I've struck a balance between embracing a new standard and running my existing set-up so as to not introduce additional factors.

Also, technically, I was riding a 69er since my rear wheel's inner-tube remained the 26" variety.

How it rode
Well, I did the majority of the ride on this set-up (all the remainder, if you must know). To be honest, I don't know what all the hype is about. I mean, it worked, but the whole time I felt a little less confident. My wheel (the front) would squirm a bit around corners and going over obstacles. It felt as if it would roll off the rim quite easily. Now, perhaps this is what some proponents of 29ers have called, "rolls over obstacles more easily," but for me it really felt like it should be described as, "rolls right off the rim more easily." Now granted, I didn't actually try both wheels. Perhaps it would roll completely differently with two 700c inner-tubes. (Actually, I probably could have fit two in the front tire alone. Maybe 4 is the magic number.*

Verdict
I wouldn't go this route if I could help it. I mean, it's fine in an emergency**, but I don't think I would chose to run with this configuration on purpose. It _still_ remains to be seen if this will catch on.

* Okay, no one better run out and patent running four tiny tubes in your standard rims to use in a "run flat" setup. I thought of it/you saw it here first.

** Here's the type of emergency I could see it working for. Say, for instance, you're about to start a ride with a friend. He turns to you and says, "Do you have any 29er tubes? I'm all out." To which you respond, "No, do you have any 26er tubes? It looks like I don't have any of those, either. I'll just bring along my lone road bike tube in case I needed--but I'm sure I won't." You then pump up your skinny tires to about 30psi--wishing you had tubeless like your 29er friend.

After only a couple miles into the ride, you roll casually around a seemingly harmless corner and get a snake-bite puncture somehow. Good thing you have that road tube. You and your friend laugh as you put that tiny tube into your 26er tire. Then you pump and pump and pump until it feels like most of the tire is full of tube, but not down by the rim. No, the part down by the rim was empty. Huh. I guess that's what happens with a larger diameter tube.

Okay, with that in mind, what would you do? trace back the way you came or press on? If you're the inquisitive type, you'd press on the remaining 6 miles guessing that "It'll all work out." Corners are scary. Steep rocky descents are scary. It works in the end, though. "Not to mention," you say to yourself, "it's much lighter than before so it climbs with ease!"

A lesson you might learn from all this is, the wrong tube is better than no tube.

Night Time Etiquette

2009-10-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

Depending on where you live, you may have noticed that it is getting dark sooner. At my latitude, there is less than 12 hours of daylight and those 12 hrs are shrinking, by the end of the month, there will be only 11hrs between sunrise and sunset.

But don't despair! Less daylight riding means more night-time riding!

However, before you rush right out and blind your riding partners, we need to go over some ground rules.

First, while it's desirable to run a helmet light--and bar mounted light--it is bad form to shine said light into another's eyes. It is worse form to continue talking to said person blissfully unaware as to the reason that you can see his/her face so clearly while it is dark everywhere else.

Instead, when joining a group standing waiting for the rest of the riders, turn off your lights, enjoy the stars, and don't look at the lights of the riders coming up to join you...

Sometimes, when the moon is full, the group may decide to ride without lights. This adds to the richness that is night riding and the decision of the group must be observed. It doesn't matter that you can't see a darn thing, democracy has spoken. Remember, by using your lights, not only are you giving the proverbial finger to the group--and labeling yourself as a loner, a rebel, and a free-thinker (the worst!)--but you are killing the acquired night vision of those around you. Even when your light is on low. If you must ride with lights in such an occasion, you must ride at least 200ft from the nearest rider. This rule is very similar to the rule for passing gas on a group ride, so it should be easy to remember. Especially if you are running lights and passing gas on a group ride where lights have been voted off.

So, to recap:

1) If you can see your riding partners just fine, but they keep averting their eyes, stop pointing your helmet light at them. Better yet, just turn them off if you must look at the person you are speaking to.

2) When the group-think has determined that there is sufficient ambient light to ride by, thereby ruling that lights are NOT to be used, you must adhere to this ruling or be relegated to riding 200ft from the nearest non-lighted rider.

Feel free to print these rules and affix to your top tube for easy reference.

Now, go and enjoy, nay, embrace the dark!

Smells of Cycling

2009-09-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Of our 5 senses (6 if you are extra special), smell has the most receptors and can pick up the greatest variety. Hearing is pretty good--until you are older--and I'll never scoff at sight. Touch is actually fairly limited--pressure, vibration, stretch--but smell... smell can pick up hundreds of thousands of primary scents. Nearly everything we smell is a bouquet of odors. Some of these we know well.

Gasoline, for example. Nearly everyone knows what gasoline smells like. Lithium grease has a distinctive odor, as well. In fact, every lube has its own smell so it is possible to identify which grease or other lubricant is used where on a bike. Some of the odors can be pleasant, some are not.

Please don't go huffing your lubes. While the odor might be pleasant, the chemicals are not.

Away from the work bench, out on rides, we are assaulted with new smells. Spring is distinctive, as is summer and fall. Here in Oregon, we get the smells of the forest--pine and fir trees, the occasional dead rotting animal carcass, flowers in bloom, and the different types of dirt.

Not to mention the spot of animal poo on the trails from time to time. I think that these are their just to keep us awake and on our toes during the more mundane sections of trail.

On the road, the smells aren't quite to good. Sure there are still the trees and flowers, but mingled with are the smells of cars of trucks--bio-diesel STINKS. Seriously. Worse than any other fuel. The rotting animals, many of them skunks, seem to be more potent and more frequent.

But the smell that I do not understand at all is one of massive body odor. There are two places I've ridden regularly that smell like a very, VERY large stinky person. Who never showers. Or even knows what deodorant is.

I have no idea what is causing this odor.

I used to think that it was me. You know, we all get stinky by the end of the ride, so I rode the route backwards and the odor was still there. And only there, no where else on the route. I also thought it might have been a fellow rider--we've all been on a group ride with someone who is ripe--but no, the odor was there when I rode solo.

While the smells of cycling are part of the sport, I really wish that I could figure out what was making this short section of road smell so bad.

For now, I'm just going to hold my breath.

WIWTBT Vol. 10: BFF(?!) Edition

2009-09-18T08:03:00.001-07:00

Photo courtesy of Rapha.

Thanks to Rapha, you now have a way tell your favorite riding buddy just how much he means to you. And, you can do it with style--Rapha style. In my professional opinion, it is much less awkward to give him/her a cycling cap than a two-part heart necklace (I hope you saved your receipt!). With the new Best Friends Forever cap from Rapha, you can proclaim your undying friendship as well as give a practical gift.

Of course, your favorite riding buddy might not merit the "forever" part. Luckily, Rapha once again comes through for you. Sharing the same bill as the "BFF" acronym is the year. So you can feel good about your friendship and still hedge your bets for meeting future riding companions.

Similar, But Different

2009-09-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Normally Jon and I get together to ride about once a year. You see, I reside in western Oregon and he does not. When Interbike rolls around, we make the time to ride together. This year, though, the stars aren't aligning very well, and Interbike is looking like a no-go for both of us. I cannot tell you how bummed this makes me, I'm trying my best to move on each day and not wallow in my despair.

To alleviate this somewhat, I rounded up the family and we made the trek to Jon's abode for a brief visit. While there he and I were able to get in a fairly lengthy mountain bike ride. Jon was riding his Jekyll and I was riding an older F4000 hardtail. While riding--and since--there were something that struck me about our different riding styles.

- He prefers short travel bikes. I prefer something with a little more give.

- Jon likes to climb. So do I, but I prefer the resulting downhill.

- He is more of a roadie than I am. He's even shaved his legs, while mine remain wonderfully hairy. Neither of us use a visor on our helmets, though. There are limits.

- Jon is more of a weight-weenie than I am, though I do enjoy light bikes.

- My Jekyll was set up with more relaxed angles, while his is decidedly more upright.

- We have different tastes in saddles, wheels and handlebars.

This last one has been particularly beneficial for us. It is do to this last difference that many, many parts have shipped between us over the years. He'll have a saddle that doesn't work for him, but does for me. Or, I'll have a set of wheels that is more his style and he'll have a set that works better for me. We'll swap. These exchanges just wouldn't be possible if we had the same tastes in gear.

The latest exchange was a shock that he wanted for his Jekyll and handlebars that I wanted for my road bike. The bars in question are FSA K-Wing carbon bars.

He didn't like the bend--he prefers a traditional round bend--and he didn't like the bare carbon tops. I happen to like both, after all, the gigantic bar ends on my mountain bike are bare carbon, too. Because these bars are 31.8mm, I also needed his stem, my old stem was 26.0mm. I finally got out and rode on them today and I really like the shape of the bars. They fit my riding style perfectly. I found the flat bar tops to be just the right shape for climbing. I also like to rest my forearms on the bar tops while descending--somewhat dangerous, so I don't recommend it--and these are much more comfortable than round bars.

I spend so little time in the drops that the bend doesn't affect me one way or the other. It's fine.

Unfortunately for Jon, he has yet to try out the shock due to an oversight of mine. While carting the shock to him, I failed to bring the required mounts.

The mounts are in the mail, honest.

Like Losing an Old Friend

2009-09-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

There is one thing that I don't particularly like about fat-tubed aluminum bikes. They are sounding boards for every creak, rattle, or knock. This makes any sound amplified and harder to track down. I'll get my Jekyll silent for a short while, then after a dusty ride it'll be a cocophony of noise once again.

A few weeks ago, I had had enough.

I popped the bike into the work stand and began removing parts. I stripped the rear of the bike down to the frame, and then I went to remove the rear swingarm. One side of the pivot axle was just fine. The other--drive side--was not. The retaining bolt was cracked.

Huh.

I called down to my usual shop (Hutch's in Eugene, OR) and explained the issue. Since the Jekyll hasn't been in production since '05, we weren't sure if I could find a replacement. They, however, had one from another frame. The axle, while used, was in good shape. I was back in business.

The creak was still there.

Back onto the stand went the bike. When I replaced the pivot axle, I had pulled the cranks, but did not pull the bottom bracket. Nor did I pull the the forward shock mount. The creak could be eminating from either of those. Or the pedals. Or the seat clamp. Or the front derailleur clamp.

It was time to get serious. It was time to clean the bike.

Once again, I pulled the everything from the rear of the bike, the cranks, the swingarm and the bottom bracket. I started cleaning the grimed caked on around the main pivot and bottom bracket area and discovered a crack in the frame. Huh. "That's not good," I thought to myself. I better get out the camera. The crack was on the drive side, same as the damaged portion of the pivot axle. I think that the two are related, though I can't even begin to determine which failed first.

Once again I picked up the phone and called down to the shop. I emailed them the pictures--the one above and another higher res version so that they could zoom in better than you--and started the warranty process.

At this point I should note that I am a fan of Cannondale bikes. Even though this one is failing after 6 years of hard riding it has performed admirably as my test mule. All aluminum frames have a finite life. That's just the nature of the beast. That Cannondale stands behind their frames is reason enough to continue to ride then. Plus, I like the way they ride and the way they fit me.

I'll miss my Jekyll. I've ridden lots of places on it and hasn't let me down. The adjustability of the bike made it the perfect test mule for different components. If was reviewing a long travel fork, I'd adjust the angles to match. If I was reviewing a shorter travel fork, I could, again, dial in the angles to get the same, predictable, ride.

I look forward to ~~abusing~~ using the new frame for at least as long as my Jekyll. RIP Jekyll, you've been good.

Tragic Events

2009-08-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

As has been typical of my Summer, I didn't go riding this weekend. I was, however, up in the mountains with my children camping out. We were actually up in American Fork Canyon--significant on this day because both the Tour of Utah and the 1000 Warriors (successor to the 300 Warriors even I rode in last year: here, here and here) were to come through the canyon later in the day.

Actually, the 1000 Warriors (amateurs, of course), were to come through pretty early on in the day. I took the time to warn all those at the campsite with me that they'd be encountering lots and lots of cyclists on their way down that morning and that they ought to yield to the cyclists because they were racing and the cars couldn't possibly keep up with the cyclists' pace.

It turns out that my warnings were almost prophetic.

As I turned on to the road to leave with my three oldest children squished together in the back seat, a cyclist quickly caught up to me. Of course, being a cyclist myself, I found a place to pull off and allow the rider to go past. I tried to keep up with him, but he quickly dropped me.

This continued as we drove down the canyon until I reached some stopped cars in the road and saw someone waving us to stop. My worst fears were realized.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7636047

After waiting in the car as cyclists coming down queued up around the area and cars stacked up behind me, they managed to get the cyclists off to a hospital and we were on our way.

Then, as we drove past the scene, I saw this:

Photo Courtesy of Dept. of Public Safety and pulled from the Gallery: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=7636047&nid=460&pid=5

For sure, that is a fast canyon to descend, but the force that was required to damage an SUV like that is shocking. My oldest child--knowing that I was in the same ride/race last year--told me she didn't want me doing it again.

As cyclists, we tend to ignore some of the dangers out there. (Otherwise, how could we ever get up the nerve to fly down a mountain pass wearing what essentially amounts to nothing--lycra doesn't count as protection.) I saw cyclists crossing over the centerline when there wasn't much visibility due to the corners up ahead. I saw cyclists following closely behind cars (which makes for great drafting, for sure).

People, we aren't pros. We can't take these kind of risks where cars are involved. The cars we're around aren't being driven by ex-cyclists used to driving through a race. These people (in the cars) don't know how to handle bikes swarming around them.

I wouldn't be surprised if the race were canceled next year, but I think the better move would be if UDOT stepped up to the plate and allowed us to close the road.

Oh, and 1 final note. There were no signs posted anywhere so no one knew there would so many cyclists coming through the canyon that morning.

Have fun out there, but please be safe.

Short Ride: Not Exactly As Planned

2009-08-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight's ride didn't go like it should have. Frankly it was doomed right from the start. In fact, it was doomed since yesterday.

Both yesterday and today I found myself without riding partners, but needing a ride after dark. "No problem," I thought, "I ride in the dark all the time. Weekly, even. I ride in the dark more than in the daylight it seems." This is what I was thinking as I rode out. My loving, faithful, caring wife, said: "Don't let any animals get you." Or something like that.

Aside: Spouses, don't do this. I know that you mean well, but it's the wrong thought to have as one is heading into the dark alone. Thanks.

Last night was a windy night, so the forest wasn't exactly quiet. In fact, as I was slowly climbing up to a ridge, there was a pretty good crash to my right. At that point, I was no longer climbing slowly--inexplicably, my pace picked up--and I was reminding myself that the really dangerous things--like BIG cats--didn't make any noise. This didn't help.

As soon as the trail turned down, however, I lost myself in the ride and didn't have any further incidents.

Fast forward to tonight.

Again, my wife brought up cougars, bears and other forest baddies just as I was leaving. See the above aside. Please.

Since I didn't have much time, and was feeling a little tired, I decided to ride a fairly level loop.

Let me set the stage. I start the ride by climbing a gravel road. I make a left onto the upper section of the loop and make my way down to the lower section. The lower section skirts a neighborhood and eventually makes its way back to the gravel road I started on. The trail is gravelled, so it's not the quietest surface to ride on. My plan was to do two laps.

The first part of the first lap went just fine. As I was descending to the lower leg, I came across a forked horn buck and a doe. Since the trail was noisy, the doe took flight, but for some reason, the buck did not. Instead, it thought we should have a staring contest. Huh. I made noise, it took a few steps off the trail and the turned back to me. I made more noise. It took a few more steps. I shouted, it still didn't take off, but it did get far enough off the trail for me to get by.

Weird.

Not three minutes later I came around a corner and saw a nice tail in the air. A skunks tail. This was only the third skunk I've seen that wasn't flattened into a two-dimensional splat on the road. I didn't like my view. Again, I made noise and--happily for me--it moved off and let me by without any assault on my olfactory nerves. Tragedy averted.

Next up, not a minute later, as I neared the neighborhood, dogs started barking. I don't recall that happening before. Not only that, there was also some rustling in the weeds and ferns. I thought, "great, the dogs are loose."

Aside #2: One of my superpowers is making dogs crazy, to the point that I have been bitten by a dog that was still on its leash... and the leash was being held by the owner.

That was enough for me. I was done, I turned around and headed back the way I came, hoping that the forked horn was done showing off for its doe and had moved off.

As I was nearing the intersection with the upper leg of the loop, I came across another dear, a doe this time. Now deer eyes reflect orange-yellow. Behind this deer, and not very far from it, were a pair of green eyes. Cats eyes reflect green. These were near the ground. I'm pretty sure that the doe didn't know that they were there, and I didn't care to stick around and find out what was going to happen next.

If I was done before, near the dogs, I was over done after cat/deer combo. The wildlife was against me tonight.

My ride ended up being just 28 minutes, of that only 18 was off road.

Tomorrow, I'm going for a road ride. At noon. On roads with lots of traffic.

Lazy

2009-08-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

I can be quite lazy. When you think cycling, though, and especially road biking, lazy just doesn't enter into the picture. Maybe that says something about the shape I'm in.

On Saturday, my sister-in-law's boyfriend came into town. (She came, too, but since she didn't go on a bike ride with me, I'll leave that part out.) The first words out of his mouth were, "I hear you like to mountain bike. We need to go riding today." Sure, I said. Perfect. In fact, both of my mountain bikes are set up and ready-to-ride right now.

As a side note, it's pretty rare for more than one bike of mine to be "ready-to-ride." Usually, I'll ride one bike until I get a flat or something goes out of adjustment and needs fixing. Then I switch bikes and leave that one to sulk and molder. (Is molder a word? Yes it is.)

Of course, since both bikes were ready, it only took me about 20 minutes to get them ready. Huh. That's weird. Bikes just require stuff done to them. Cyclists that don't do any maintenance on their bikes probably don't have rideable bikes very often. (Or they have better mechanics than I do. Sometimes I'm my worst enemy.)

When I got my first road bike--a Giant Cadex I bought off my oldest brother--I quickly found just how simple a bike can be. Road bikes are not only much easier to deal with than most modern mountain bikes (especially those with suspension), they also tend to stay adjusted longer. I love my road bike for that reason. Another benefit to riding on the road is the proximity to road rides. I am, literally, surrounded by roads. My house, being on a corner and all, actually butts up against two roads! However, as of yet, I haven't discovered any sweet trails in either my property or my neighbors'. (Which, I might add, is pretty disappointing.)

So, I am lazy. I ride the bikes that work. I ride the rides that are close. I know that I'm truly missing out on some great opportunities here, but I'm just lazy that way. Sure, I could point the finger to my busy schedule and fairly large family, but I know those are just excuses. I'm just lazy.

And speaking of lazy, I've found that if all I want to do is burn off the fat I consumed the day before, I don't need to pick up a bike at all. I can just strap on some running shoes and grind out a couple of miles of running around my neighborhood. (I say "grind" because that's the sound my knees make as I run. It's so much fun.) I mean, running sucks and all, but sometimes I'm just lazy that way.

PS. The ride, by the way, was great. We got out on what was probably the best weather for mountain biking of the summer. It was warm, but not hot (70s, I think). There was a slight breeze. The trail was a little dry, and the grass was super tall, but it was a blast. Additionally, my Sister-in-law's boyfriend was a lot of fun to ride with. I mean, I always like riding with people who come from lower altitudes, and this was no exception. Thanks for the ride.

Tubeless Cross

2009-07-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

One of the disciplines of cycling that should have taken tubeless tires and ran with them is cyclocross. Because the tires are much skinnier than mountain bike tires, pinch flats are a common problem. As a remedy, tubular tires are still very present at 'cross races, though tubeless tires would have nearly all the benefits, without having to glue the tire to the rim, making tire swaps a piece of cake.

Now, if you aren't running discs, a person could use either Shimano's Dura-Ace or new Ultegra wheels, a tubeless-ready cross tire (like the Hutchinson's Bulldog cross) and some sealant. But what do you do if you run disc brakes?

Enter 29er wheels. Luckily, 29er wheels are 700C, and just a smidge wider. T. recently built up a set of Stan's ZTR355 29er wheels. These rims are just 2mm wider than the venerable Mavic Open Pro. In theory, this should open up the tire and make for a flatter profile.

Sitting right around 400g, the ZTR is similar in weight to the Open Pro, as well (claimed to weigh 435).

Frankly, when T. asked me if I wanted to try out these wheels, I said "yes" without a moment's hesitation. It's a well documented fact that I love tubeless wheels/tires. In fact, they rank third or fourth on my list of major innovations since I started riding in the latter half of the 80's. I feel that they are that good.

So how do these wheels ride?

In a word: fast!

They provide enough cushion to take the sting out of rougher trails. They provide enough traction to enable railing through corners, and enough traction that for the first time since owning my disc equipped 'cross bike, I want to upgrade the front rotor to a 7-inch. I'm riding trails faster than I have any business riding them. It really is amazing.

Despite the fact that they aren't the lightest wheels out there, they spin up remarkably fast. On back to back rides between my road bike--Dura-Ace wheels, Hutchinson Fusion tubeless--and my cross bike--the wheels I'm writing about, Hutchinson Bulldog Cross--I found that the road wheels spun up about the same, which I found odd. I have no explanation for this, but it has made riding my 'cross bike a whole lot more fun. And that's saying something.

Now, it's not all roses. There are some issues. It turns out that I can't run the tires as low as I want to (36-37psi). I need to keep them around 40psi. Still, that's about 5-7psi less than I normally run the Bulldogs when I use them with tubes, so that's still a gain. If I run less than about 40, I burp air a little. If I run less than 35psi, the tires are squirmy and too soft for hard cornering.

The ZTR rims, like all of Stan's rims, are designed to lock onto a standard tire bead. I found that this was the case, with the tire locking onto the rim very quickly and effortlessly.

All in all, I think that the positives outweigh the negatives with this wheel. In fact, if these didn't belong to a very good friend, I'd have a hard time giving them back. He knows where I live, though, so it would be rather hard to hang onto them.

Maybe I should move...

Fun and Games

2009-07-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

You know your Mom said it: "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." Well, last week, we had just such an occurrence.

The night ride started out like most. We rode out anticipating a fun ride. The plan was to ride two loops of a local trail, adding up to about 1500ft of climbing, total. The first loop went as planned. We climbed the trail--which for some reason seemed steeper than the last time I rode it, did the hill change?--and decided to alter our route a little. Rather than do two complete loops back to back, we decided to complete the first loop, climb a gravel road and descend the section we had just climbed, since the mountain changed and it was now steeper than it was before. Really.

The first loop went as planned. Everyone had fun and I got to have a good chuckle as the unexpected short, steep uphill near the end of the downhill caught many unawares. I'm twisted that way.

The gravel road ride was a nice reprieve from the now-too-steep trail and I, for one, was looking forward to enjoying the last bit of downhill.

As we dropped in, M. and I took the lead, followed by G., J., E., J2., and T. I think that was the order, anyway. I was riding my cross bike and really had to work to stay in front of M., narrowly making two of the three bridges.

As an aside, I've been running T.'s tubeless cross set up. I'll be posting about it in the very near future. I love them. I'm going to try and not return them. I hope T. isn't reading this post.

Upon completion of the descent, M. and I congratulate ourselves for having put some serious time on the others.

Then we waited. And waited.

It was clear at this point that something wasn't right. Considering the group we were riding with, there is no way we put this much time on them. They aren't a slow group.

Now we were worried. As we were discussing who should go back and find out if there was a rider down or if there was just a mechanical problem, G. comes riding up and lets us know that J. crashed. He informed us that he thought that J. injured his arm.

Now three of us were waiting.

Soon E. and J2. came riding down. J.'s arm is injured and he cannot ride out, so T. and J. are going to hike to the nearest access point and E. was going to ride to get J.'s car and meet them there.

After a trip to the ER, J's arm is in a cast. He has a dislocated fracture of his left radius and a displaced wrist. Today he went into surgery to have a plate added to his radius and a screw inserted into his wrist.

Mountain biking is fun. Night riding is GREAT fun. But, in the time it takes to blink, things can go awry. Stay safe out there. Wear a helmet--all of were, by the way. And remember, "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."

Best Night Ride

2009-07-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I like riding at night. There is no one else on the trails, you can see more and varied wildlife, and it adds a whole new element to familiar trails.

The downside is that my night riding is usually limited to local trails; it's hard to convince the wife that I need to drive 3 hours for a night ride.

Sometimes, though, the stars align and I find myself proximal to an epic trail with my lights. Hmmm... what to do when the camp goes to bed. RIDE OF COURSE!

Such was the case last week when I ended up camping near the McKenzie River Trail--and by "near", I mean "right on top of"--right where the trail goes from technical to non-technical, with nearly all of the usual suspects that join me on the local night rides. For those of you who haven't ridden the trail, it should be on your must-ride-before-you-die list. It's 26 miles long and is very nearly two different trails. The upper half has long sections of lava rock, has some steep-ish bits, and will make you crash if you have a lapse in concentration. The lower half if mostly flat with a few good rollers. It is mostly smooth with roots interspersed. On the upper half, you are generally picking your way carefully, with a few spots were you can open up and fly. On the lower half you are generally opening up and flying with a few spots were you need to pick your way. It rocks.

So what happens when you take an already epic, amazing trail and ride it at night? You get epic squared. Maybe cubed. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for the entire ride.

Ok, that's not entirely true. When I had one of those aforementioned lapses in judgment and relaxed... only to have my bike stopped while I continued on without it. The trail--where I landed--removed the smile, but I had it back as soon as we were riding again.

If you haven't ever done a long ride, do one. If you have, but not at night, get out there after dark. But remember, battery power at night, particularly on a trail where there is no good bail point should something go awry, is akin to water in the desert. You can never have too much. As we found out, it might be a good idea to even carry a spare light. Something small and versatile, that can be helmet or handlebar mounted, just in case. T. was using an older HID which, for some reason, decided that this was the perfect time to lose its ballast. This eliminated his bar light, and some battery issues with his helmet light required musical chairs with batteries among the other riders. The irony was that he had a spare light back at camp, and I had a spare battery back at camp. So, use our mistakes as your lesson. Bring way more light than you think you'll need. Just in case.

Riding ~~very good~~ excellent trails at night is another way to see them in a completely different light. Next up, the North Umpqua Trail. In sections, please.

It turns out the best rides also make the best night rides.

Long Ride, No Preparation

2009-07-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I rode what has become an annual tradition: The C2Sea. This would be the fourth time I've ridden this route, and the third official C2Sea ride. Last year, I wasn't able to ride the whole thing because of a mechanical early on. The year before, I rode it on my 'cross bike (see HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE; this is the most detailed information about the route I've posted.) This year, I barely got my bike sorted before we left. I wasn't sorted at all.

Because of school, home repairs, etc., I am not in the sort of shape I usually am this time of year. I've been riding, but not the big miles needed to get ready for a ride of this magnitude. I was close to not even attempting the ride, but decided I could struggle through it. Besides, T. was taking his mountain tandem and had his 5 year old on the back for the first half. At the midway point he was exchanging kids for his 8 year old. I mean, if they could do it, I should be able to. Right?

Here's what I found out and thought about during the ride:

It's a very good thing that I've spent so much time on the bike over the years. I was able to adjust my pace as needed and read my aches and pains to minimize my suffering.
I suffered.
I can suffer and still enjoy the scenery, to a point.
There is no substitution for real training for long rides.
I hurt much worse the next day.
When I am tired and struggling to hang with the group, I don't take any pictures.
Full suspension is very nice when you are tired.
Swapping tires to lightweight ones doesn't matter a whole lot when you then strap 4 pounds of water to the bike.
I really, really like eLoad. It has replaced Cytomax as my go-to energy drink. I could drink this stuff all day long. Really.
Chamois creme makes all the difference. But it still feels weird when I first apply it.
I normally don't eat right before riding, I should have stuck to that for this one, too.
Apple Pie Clif Shot doesn't taste like apple pie.
You can never be prepared enough for flats.

About the flats: I had one early one, even though I was running Stan's goop. I lost pressure, but the goop did its best. As near as I can tell, I ran down a blackberry bush length-wise, since I had 3 or 4 spots where the sealant was coming out along the tread. The bad one, though, was the puncture in the sidewall--ironically located dead center on the "tubeless" symbol. I had a can of Hutchinson sealant/inflater and used that as well. Since it was an expanding foam, it did a slightly better job of getting that sidewall puncture. However, it continued to leak down. Only when we met up with T.'s wife to do the kid swap was I able to take care of it. T. had placed a floor pump in the van, so with that I inflated my tire to a little over 50psi, forcing the sealant out that sidewall hole and sealing it. Without that, I think I would have struggled with the slow leak all day.

I was not the only flat. We had a total of 10 flats out of 12 bikes. Most of those were near the end of the ride, as well. It actually became comical, since we'd ride for 20 minutes then stop for 20 to fix a flat.

Overall, this was the biggest group we've had on this ride. It was great fun, and next year, I'm training.

Seriously.

WBR 09 - Report

2009-07-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturdays ago, I helped support some running friends of mine while they raced in the Wasatch Back Relay (a 188 mile relay race-- see here: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php). My job was to ride my bike through the night, providing water (or other energy drinks), lights and a way for the rest of the team to rest. Basically, those who aren't running are supporting the guy who happens to be out doing that particular leg of the relay. By riding through the night, I allow them to get some much-needed sleep.

About the ride

I started around 2:30am (someone else took the first half of the night) and finished around 7:30am. I covered about 35 miles. I rode my hardtail mountain bike (I didn't think my road bike had low-enough gearing) with flat pedals, Ergon grips (http://acidinmylegs.blogspot.com/2009/06/bar-ends.html) and plenty of lights. I rode slowly. One might even call it a running pace. (Though, to be sure, I don't think I could have run at that pace. I'm no runner.)

Observations

It hurts more to sit on a saddle when you aren't pedaling, or are pedaling slowly.

While I had plenty of time to look around, it was dark. Even once the sun came up, I'd rather not have that much time to look around.

Runners run on the wrong side of the road-facing traffic. We were on old country-roads where the only other people on the road were others supporting or participating in this race, so it wasn't so bad, but I really don't like riding against traffic. Makes me feel like a salmon.

When riding that slowly, grips make a big difference (http://acidinmylegs.blogspot.com/2009/06/bar-ends.html), but shoes do not. I wore some comfortable shoes and didn't miss the stiff soles of my normal riding shoes.

I got surprisingly hungry, but not really thirsty over the ~5 hours I rode.

It's much harder than you'd think to sit on the bike and go slow. Trust me.

Bar-ends

2009-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

(photo courtesy of www.diaryofamountainbiker.com)

Just like riding a bike, you can't forget some things.

I stopped using bar-ends a number of years ago. It happened like this: When I started riding mountain bikes, flat bars (with as little bend as possible--3 degrees was about as small as you could find) on fully rigid bikes with short chain stays (for climbing) was the thing. Somewhere along the way, someone decided that if they invented bar-ends and attached them to the end of these flat bars, we'd all be a lot better off. Of course, standing up and pedaling was no big deal back then. No one worried about "bob" or other suspension-related drawbacks.

Um, do I sound old?

Anyway. Bar-ends. Right. So someone invented them and we all got excited over them and the manufacturers jumped on board to make a few extra bucks and before we knew it, everyone used them. Then, for some reason I can't quite pin down, flat bars were no longer the thing. (Actually, before flat bars were the thing, riser bars were it. Yes, full circle.) I don't know if a bunch of road cyclists started to cross the great divide and ride mountain bikes or not, but I do know that everyone suddenly realized that with riser bars, big suspension and the trend to all things "hard core", everyone realized that bar-ends didn't look cool. Or something.

Thus, with the inexplicable rise of, um, riser bars, came the almost total demise of the bar-end. Not really gone, but certainly neglected and hardly used. I, myself, being not quite as much of a retro-grouch as this post might imply haven't had riser bars on my bike for a number of years.

But, in anticipation of a long (in time, not distance), slow ride, I decided to borrow from James some Ergon GR2 grips--with integrated bar-ends. I knew that hours in the saddle without hardly any effort would lead to numb hands and wrists. I really like the Ergons. They perform exactly as designed. They're comfortable and really help prevent any sort of wrist issues that come from bad positioning--something hard to avoid if you're exerting almost no effort throughout a monotonous 5-hour ride.

What surprised me about having the Ergons on my mountain bike wasn't the comfort of the grips, though, (that is one of those unobtrusive benefits) it was how quickly I went back to using bar-ends. I didn't even have to think about them. It was natural enough for me to switch to them when climbing or standing up out-of-the-saddle.

They're off again now (my slow ride is over), but not because of how they looked (not entirely, anyway). No, the main thing I didn't like about them was how it made my handlebars (and grips) virtually more narrow because of the bar-ends. I'm used to having my hand right at the end of the bar, and I almost felt cramped to have that bar-end snuggling up next to my pinky finger.

New Beam Shots

2009-06-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted some beam shots and, frankly, I've been meaning to get to these for some time. I can tell you this, though, in the winter, fog is a problem. Now, in the summer, it turns out that bugs are an issue. Long exposure times lead to some interesting patterns. If only I could train a bug to spell out something...

I've been using the SlickRock 900 off and on (swapping it with various LEDs) for the last few months--more than expected to, before getting beam shots up, to be honest--and it's about time I let you see what its beam was like. Without the bug effects.

NiteRider claims 900 lumens for this bad boy, and certainly punches a hole in the dark. How does it look compared to the LED lights that claim similar outputs? I rounded up the DiNotte 800L, Lupine Wilma and, just for fun, the Lupine Tesla. The SlickRock uses a reflector and of these 3 LED lights, only the Tesla has a reflector. I thought it would be interesting to see how the stack up. For reference, the claimed lumes are 920, 800 and 700 for the Wilma, 800L and Tesla, respectively.

First up, the Wilma:

Quick aside: My usual tripod arrangement was out of commision, so I was using a tripod that did not allow my to elevate my camera as high as I would normally. This necessitated my moving the camera to get the best picture, rather than leave the camera in one place, as I've done in the past. The camera settings were the same throughout the shoot, as was the position of the lights themselves.

Next up, the 800L:

Finally, the Tesla:

The biggest difference between the HID and the LED lights was in the beam patterns. The LEDs show a nice smooth even light. The HID has a very bright center, then a dark ring, followed by the peripheral lighting.

The amount of SlickRock seems to be brighter than any of the LEDs and has more light up close than either the 800L or the Wilma--both of which have very similar beam patterns, a nice broad swath of light without a focused hot spot.

The Tesla has a very similar, albeit cleaner, beam pattern to the SlickRock. I think that this highlights the differences between the normal LED optics and reflectors.

Casting Stones

2009-06-10T15:16:00.001-07:00

This Spring has not been kind to me. I mean, it isn't even Spring anymore. Somehow it's already Summer. And I'm not in any kind of shape yet. I gained weight--somewhat inexplicably, I might add--sometime around the end of December, and haven't been able to lose it.

Though I've tried to get going and get in shape. Nothing seemed to work.

Last week I think I found the culprit. (And I'm relieved to find out it wasn't due to my own laziness and over-eating. That would've been even harder to solve.)

Wednesday, I was crippled with the worst pain I ever felt. Completely knocked me flat. Only hardcore meds distributed via IV helped me through the pain. I was diagnosed with a kidney stone 4mm x 9mm large. So large in fact, that it was too big to pass. HUGE, I tell you. Though I was out for the procedure, it went well and I got to feel every minute of the recovery.

Today, I think I'm finally past most of the pain and discomfort. I'm almost back to normal. I'm ready to get out and ride again.

Without the added weight (and pain!) of that rock, I figure I'm probably already in top shape again, too.

12 Years Old

2009-06-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

The other night I was riding on the trails near my house. I ride there often and it feels like I know every root, rock, turn and climb. They aren't technical trails, but they are close by, enabling me to ride off road as easily as I can ride on the road.

In the winter I'm usually on my 'cross bike. When I want to get a good work out, I lean towards riding my road bike. When I want to have fun, though--to play if you will--I ride my moutain bike.

So, getting back to the other night...

We rode up a gravel road to a ridge and then came down Water Bar trail. We then hit the trail pictured at the right.

I was having an inordinate amount of fun. I found myself launching off of any and every bump in the trail (launching = 1 to 3 inches of air), swooping in the corners, and very nearly laughing out loud and the joy of being on my mountain bike. Does this happen to anyone else? I seriously felt like I was 12 years old without a care in the world. I was on my bike and that was all that mattered at that point. I was jumping and grinning ear from ear.

That's why mountain biking is better than road biking. I never, ever feel 12 on my road bike. Dont' get me wrong, I have fun on my road bike, and I enjoy riding it, but it never feels like playing. Nearly every time I'm on my mountain bike, though, at some point in the ride, I get to jump. I get to wheelie. I get to do the things I did on my bmx bike as a kid.

Tonight there is another night ride scheduled. I'll be riding on some singletrack that is new to me. And it's local. I'm going to have fun... I'm going to play and I'm going to be 12 years old again.

Mountain Biking and Real Cyclists

2009-05-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

We here at LAT are addicted to gear. You might not have noticed this, but, nevertheless, it's true. We frequent Backcountry.com's one-deal-at-a-time sites (Steep and Cheap, Chainlove and Bonktown) often, and find ourselves hitting "refresh" to see what else is coming. With that in mind, we were pleased to find out that two new bike-only sites have just been launched by these fine folks:

HucknRoll.com

RealCyclist.com

HucknRoll is their mountain bike stuff, and RealCyclist handles the road side of things. That said, I'm not sure why they don't think mountain bikers are real cyclists, but there you have it. Check 'em out, they are good people.

Switching gears a little (pun intended), Cyclingnews.com has a nice look at the new XX line from SRAM, their first mountain group that is all SRAM branded. James Huang takes a gander at it and it looks like there are a few intriguing new features... and some interesting omissions.

First up, it'll be 10 speed. And not compatable with the current shifters or derailleurs. Second, the cassette will have a 36 tooth option, and will be made much like their road group Red's PowerDome cassette. In other words, it'll cost you. A lot.

Finally, the omission that I was expecting was a single lever shifter, something akin to their road groups shifter. They have made a flat bar version, but I guess non-real cyclists--AKA mountain bikers--want both levers. Check out the article, the stuff does look sweet.

100 Miles of Nowhere Report: Inside

2009-05-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

As it happens, I actually didn't do much riding outside. That was just the fun part. (As it turns out, though, the side of roads aren't level. At all. Now, I'm pretty inept at riding on the rollers in my mostly-level basement. But when there's a slope for water run-off built into the road, it actually gets a bit sketchy.)

Most of my riding was done indoors with my children running to fill up water-bottles for me and Star Wars on the TV. I might have preferred something else, but my choices are limited with small children watching on.

Luckily, my wife was ready with camera in hand to chronicle the part where I wasn't enjoying myself.

Mile 63. Almost 2/3 done. I actually felt pretty good at this point.

As many other participants have observed, this was hard. I actually cheated, in my mind, because I rode 100 "miles" in 3:36:20, which is much, MUCH faster than I could ever do on the road. My sympathy for those who rode it in 6-8 hours. I think I would have died.

100 miles
3:36:20
27.7mph avg

100 Miles of Nowhere Report

2009-05-25T21:39:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, I rode the 100 Miles of Nowhere. It sucked. A lot.

Actually, part of it was fun, but mostly because I decided if I was going to do 100 miles on my rollers, I wasn't going to be cooped up inside my small house. Heck, the weather was perfect riding weather--not too warm, overcast--so I wanted to get out and enjoy it.

And so I did.

Here I am, doing one of my favorite climbs, Squaw Peak Rd.

Only 3 more miles of twisty road until I'm at the top!

I also decided to head up Provo Canyon a little more to take in the sights.

I am only posting this picture because it makes my calf muscles look large and well-defined.

And what ride in Utah County would be complete without a ride along the peaceful shores of Utah Lake.

Even if I wasn't getting anywhere, I was determined to avoid staying in one spot. I'll post more information and photos in a couple of days.

An Observation and A Thought

2009-05-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

A thought:

The other night as I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, I was thinking about a trail near my home. This trail is rather steep and has pretty severe water bars--we refer to this trail as "Water Bar", though recently the forest managers decided to call it "Bonzi". Since they misspelled Bonsai, we still refer to the trail as Water Bar. But I digress.

As I mentioned, the trail is relatively steep, and straight and--except for the water bars--flat. This makes it fast, as you can well imagine. So there I was thinking about the trail and wondering, "how far do I travel in the air at each water bar? Now, I know that I can hit between 27 and 29 mph on the trail on a regular basis. I know that I slow a little for the water bars. So, I grabbed my calculator from off the night stand--what, you don't keep a calculator on your night stand?--and did a little math assuming that my launch speed was 25 mph.

So, assuming that I was in the air a single second, I would have traveled just shy of 37 ft. That seemed like a really, really long way to me. So I did it again, using a jump speed of 20 mph. This time I the answer was just shy of 30 ft. Still a long way. And with that thought drifted off to sleep. The next day I headed up to the trail and, since I don't have a computer on my mountain bike any longer, thought I'd determine my air-time using the age-old method of 1-mississippi, 2-mississippi, etc. What I found was that I was landing right at the 2 of 2-mississippi. So, I was in the air, about 1 second. Now, there are some flaws with my reasoning, but I think that the errors cancel each other and the horizontal velocity is sufficient.

An observation:

As I've stated, I use my GPS these days to record my rides. Recently I went on a long solo ride that had, according to the GPS, 4000ft of climbing. Not bad for 18.6 miles. I was mentioning this to T. since is familiar with the route and he expressed doubt in the veracity of the total climbing. Huh. So I went back and looked at the data. The program I use allows me to upload my rides and it will overlay the route with a topographic map to give two profiles: one from the GPS, and one from the topo.

As you can see, there aren't any really big elevation discrepancies. Sure, you can see where, while descending, the GPS didn't have a good fix--on the top graph is looks like a flat line, then a quick drop, while on the topo (bottom) graph, the slope is more realistic--so I dismissed T. as a naysayer and stuck to my 4000ft of climbing, thankyouverymuch.

Then it happened again.

On group ride I proudly announced that we had done something like 1600ft of climbing. E. said, "no way". Huh. Now, I was thinking about this. Could it be that the mighty GPS is off? I've checked the speed part and it is dead on. The mileage matches up, too. But could the vertical be off?

I then recalled that the better GPS's use a barometer for elevation. My watch has this feature, so on my next ride I thought I'd use them both and see how far off they were. I expected them to be within 200ft of each other.

I was wrong. Way wrong.

My GPS logged 4500ft of climbing, while the watch--with its more accurate barometer based elevation measurement--showed only 3500ft of climbing. That's 1000ft or nearly 25% error! And it's not consistent, either. It all depends on how well the GPS is receiving the satellite signals, so under tree cover it's worse, naturally.

Long story short, you can't trust the elevation of the GPS using satellites alone. Now, if you are out in the open, and stationary, I think that the GPS does a fine job of absolute elevation. My watch has to be reset nearly every day if I want accurate absolute elevation, due to fluctuations in weather. Both technologies have their place, and neither is perfect. But for accurate total elevation gain/loss, use a barometer.

I guess my solo ride didn't quite have 4000ft of climbing.

Update on the gps...

Last night on our ride my barometric elevation (watch) and GPS elevation were within 200ft of each other. To make matters worse, C. claims that the GPS elevation more closely matches that of his computer topo maps. Frankly, at this point I don't have any conclusions. If I were looking for government funds, I'd end this post with "more research is required to come to a conclusion." Anyone want to fund me?

To Crash Out

2009-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

When I wreck on my mtn. bike, it's often dramatic. At least, the bad ones are. I love to tell and retell the stories as if I'm some sort of war hero describing the cost of victory. (Remind me to tell you about the missing cleat-bolt one--it's a goody.) When I wreck on a road bike (which is pretty rare), I'm usually doing something crazy like taking a corner too fast.

When I wreck on my rollers, it's just plain embarrassing.

And yet, embarrassing stories make good stories with the added benefit of leaving everyone else feeling better about themselves. This is that kind of story.

The Set Up
I ride on rollers, and my rollers have a small resistance unit. I've never disabled the resistance unit. I figure if I'm on the rollers, I want to get the best work-out in the shortest period of time. I've also signed up for to do a 100-mile ride on my rollers on Saturday. Normally, this time of year, I'd be outside full-time with my Hometrainer tires safely packed away until the winter. In order to build up my rollers-resistance, though, I've been riding the rollers more and more.

I realized, the other day, that if I'm going for distance, I needed to ratchet up my average speed on the rollers. I took off the resistance unit. As it turns out, without the increase in wind resistance that comes logarithmically with the increase of speed, I can speed up on my rollers without any perceptible increase in effort. Maintaining 27-30mph outside is hard. On the rollers, it means just shifting into the big ring. Those poor rollers sound like they're going to explode at that speed, though.

Crash 1. Ride time: 00:00:00
It was early this morning, before the house was awake, and I decided on a whim to try starting on the rollers without using a wall or some other solid object to balance myself until I got going. It turns out, this is harder to do than I thought it would be. I made it about 1/2 of a pedal stroke before I lost balance and fell. It's unfortunate that I'm another 6-8 inches above the ground when I'm on the rollers.

Luckily, I ride in a room that has become our "storage" room, so I didn't fall far before a metal filing cabinet "broke" my fall. Ouch.

Crash 2: Ride time: 00:04:37
With a minor bruise on my leg and only a minor bruise to my ego (everyone was still asleep and none-the-wiser), I was riding again and "cruising along" at around "26mph". [He actually wasn't moving at all, of course, because he was on the rollers. - Ed.] For some reason, my balance got off and I started to lean towards the wall on my left side (opposite of the way I fell just five minutes earlier). Unfortunately, my bike really took off as the angle to the ground decreased and slid out from underneath me to my right. This might have been because of the speed. I'm not sure. All I know is I went down pretty hard.

Hard enough that I'm still in pain. Somehow, I crashed my bike indoors while going really fast nowhere. And I crashed hard enough that I pulled a muscle in my neck. I think I was trying to catch my fall with my head against a pile of boxes. (Storage room, remember?)

Lessons Learned?
I tried to get on, but the rollers won this time. After less than five-minute's work-out, I was done for the day. As I gingerly leaned my bike against the wall, I noticed my saddle was twisted as well.

Humbly, I walked upstairs to find the bottle of ibuprofen. 100 "miles" of this? It just might be my most damaging century yet.

A Superpower

2009-05-14T14:03:00.001-07:00

I have a superpower. Actually, I have a few, but there's one in particular that I got to exercise today. At my day job (sitting at a desk, working on a computer while ignoring people on conference calls), I can get free lunch. (There's no such thing as free lunch! There, I said it.) Of course, what makes this power so nice, is that I usually get it for my whole team.

Take today, for instance. It's about 12:30pm and a friend of mine (who is also on the same team) was trying to talk me into going out to lunch. I love going out to lunch, but I brought a gigantic bowl of left-over stroganoff from home I was already salivating for. I mean, if someone were to pay my way, it'd be a different story, but I'm not spending money if I have an excellent meal waiting for me. (Thanks wife!)

Just then, I see my boss walk by with his boss and one of them says, "Who's driving?"

Instantly, my superpower kicks in and without knowing why I say to my boss, "Hey, aren't you taking the team to lunch today?" His boss says, "Yeah, c'mon. Let's all go!"

My co-workers love me.

On the other hand, I don't seem to have the superpower to get my diet going again so I can wear lycra with confidence again. Two words: pizza, breadsticks.

Aging

2009-05-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

There are days when I feel old. It happens when I just can't remember where I placed that roll of electrician's tape I was using. Or when I set down a tool I know I'll need in a place that will be obvious--only to find that it wasn't obvious and I can't find the tool. I feel old when I can't seem to get my weight down to my pre-Christmas holiday weight.

Today, a friend turned 34 years old. He rides bikes, like I do, but also does other things... like running and swimming--sometimes in the same race! Being the benevolent friend that I am, though, I try and look past those faults and just try and get him on his bike as often as possible.

But today, to celebrate his birthday, we decided to go for a ride. Ideally, we wanted to do 34 miles, but since neither of us are very fast, and it was meant to be just a lunch-time activity, we decided to stick to 34 kilometers (~21.13 miles).

The weather today was cooler and much, MUCH more windy than it has been lately, but we were sticking it to old age! We weren't about to crawl back to our desks! Off we went, into the wind. Well, actually, we first started at a nice fast pace with our BACKS to the wind. But, darn it, even at 34 we turned around at around 10.5 miles and came back the way we left.

The wind was stiff, but surprisingly enough, we kept up a fast pace and even managed to, with the help of a stoplight, reel in a couple of riders decked out in a local team kit.

How do you correctly pass another year of age? Riding, of course. Was there really any question? Today, I didn't feel old. Neither did my friend, I think. Happy birthday.

Bonus Friday Post: Bar Ends

2009-05-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

There was a time, back in the heady '90's when the predominant style of mountain bike was the cross country race bike. Most of the mountain bikes sold had short chain stays--the shorter the better!--and steep angles. They climbed well, had fast handling but were twitchy on the descents. Because racers would cross train on the road, and because there was little to no suspension to coushon the blows, they desired multiple hand positions. Flat bars didn't quite cut it in that respect. They also wanted another hand hold for climbing, to help move the weight forward and provide a good handle to pull against.

Thus the bar end was born.

I love bar ends, and I can't live without them. That being said, I know that many, MANY of you who once ran them, use them no longer. Often I've wondered what has happened to the bar ends that are no longer loved. Do they waste away in a drawer somewhere? Are they used for cupboard handles? Have they been retrofited to be used a door handle?

It turns out that the answer is none of these--though the door handle idea is a pretty good one.

It turns out that they are collected and used to make bike antlers.

Clearly the owner of this bike needs more hand positions than he/she would normally have available, and he/she might just need to use his/her bike to fend off any would be attackers. Finally, however, we see where the unused, unloved, unneeded bar ends end up.

And the unused wheel skirts, too:

New NiteRider LED Lights -- Corrected/Updated

2009-05-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I received some information from NiteRider regarding their new lights... and updates to their current LED lights. Let's start with the current lights:

The only change to the MiNewt Mini-USB is the addition of a charge indicator built into the switch on the battery. This is an indicator of charge, and lights up when the charger is plugged in. It doesn't light up during use. I've been using a prototype battery an

d it works nicely--no more guessing about when the battery is fully charged. Otherwise, the light is the same one we looked at over the winter. The price remains the same, too.

Next up, the MiNewt.X2. They are bumping the output from 150 to 200 lumens and are changing the name to MiNewt.200. The X2 Dual will also see the increase, raising its output to 400 lumens. Naturally, it, too, gets a name change to MiNewt.400. The lights also get a price reduction of 5%.

While I see the point in naming a light using the output, it is becoming commonplace. See Seca 400, Seca 700, Stella 200 (all from Light and Motion) and the 800L, 400L, 200L (from

DiNotte Lighting). At least you know which lights are comparable.

Finally, the big news. NiteRider is introducing two new lights: the Pro 600 and Pro 1200 (shown right) with--go on, guess--600 lumens and 1200 lumens, respectively.

While I don't know for sure, these most likely use an LED similar to the

Tesla by Lupine--a SSC P7, for those interested. The Pro 1200 looks to have two different reflectors: one narrow and one wide.

The single LED Pro 600 light head weighs in at 99 grams while the light head on the Pro 1200 will tip the scales at 200 grams.

OK, so there are fewer emitters and more lumens... great! What else is new?

The battery attaches to a hard mount that is, in turn, attached to the bike. The cable protrudes from this mount, not the battery. This should allow for quick on and quick off of the battery, without having to restring the wires. After I get a chance to use the system, I'll let you know how it works out in real life. On paper, it seems like a good idea. The battery is charged by placing it onto a docking station.

The lights have another feature: you the user sets the modes. Want flashing? You got it. What just high or low? No problem. In fact, what you do is connect the docking station to a computer ~~(the modes are stored in the battery along with the rest of the electronics, it appears)~~ * via a USB port and access NiteRider's web-based DIY software. This allows you to set the number of light levels, the output of the levels, flashing, etc. The light can store up to three "programs" so you could have one for commuting--with flash, let's say--and another for offroad riding--sans flash--and maybe a third for racing. You decide. To me, this is taking the Lupine's customization to a whole new level. I can't wait to try it out.

* Update:

The electronics are not stored in the battery. NiteRider has moved them to the light head, while the charging electronics are in the docking station. The battery is now just a power source. Nice.

Also, the battery for the Pro 600 is 6-cell and the Pro 1200 comes with an 8-cell. Both are Li-Ion. The is also going to be a 4-cell accessory pack. All three batteries work with both lights.

Steel is Real

2009-04-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

In recent years, steel has made a comeback of sorts as a material for building bikes. It went something like this.

Steel is heavy, aluminum is lighter!
Titanium is lighter than aluminum (sometimes) with a better feel!
Carbon fiber is lighter than metal and can be built into al kinds of weird shapes!
I don't need a 15-pound bike, steel is durable and "classic" and, sometimes at least, oh so pretty.

Okay, well, for me, I still like the feel of aluminum and especially carbon. Aluminum is very stiff and I love the power-transfer you can get from a good aluminum frame. Carbon is, well, everything I want in a frame. It's light, it's pretty, it's stiff, but forgiving.

However, I don't hate steel. No, I just like it in a different spot. I love steel-spoked wheels.

In my arsenal, I have aluminum, carbon-aramid, Vectran and steel-spoked wheels. I like them all, but I keep coming back to steel. I love the ride of steel-spoked wheels. They're plenty stiff, but don't shake your fillings loose. They're easy to work on (usually) and durable. They're "classic." They're understated and elegant. These days, they're often bladed, and very thin--making them very aerodynamic, too.

Keep up the good work, steel.

Different Post than Planned

2009-04-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

I have a nice long-ish post mostly written up about transitioning from Winter riding--on the cross bike--to sping/summer riding--on the mountain bike. It's not a bad post, but while prepping my mountain bike for a ride tonight, I changed my mind about posting that post as today's post. All due to a flat tire.

I've been running small knob tires on my mountain bike ever since last year's C2Sea ride--Hutchinson Pythons--and wanted to swap them out for something more aggressive for the trails

planned tonight. Dipping into the big rack-o-tires, I grabbed some Continental Gravity's--a good all around tire that will work well for the trails planned tonight and for the forseeable future. In the back of my mind, I seemed to recall flatting on these tires on their last trip out of the garage, but I couldn't reme

mber which.

So, also digging in the garage, I rounded up Stan's magic sealant. This is the reason for my post. I love this stuff. I rarely use, though. Most of the time, I don't flat while running tubeless. That's because most of my tube-tire flats are due to one of two things: either pinching the tube, or ripping valve stems off. Both of these are caused by running the pressure too low. Since I don't seem to puncture tires often, and I swap tires regularly, I don't use Stan's sealant as a rule. However, once I've flatted, in goes the liquid to repair the hole.

Back to the tires I'm mounting up...

One of them as a hole (maybe) but I don't know which one. Additionally, I am planning on using these tires for a while. So, I add a little Stan's to both tires.

The front tire inflatted without a problem, so I began thinking that that I just used the sealant as a precaution. The rear tire, however, began spraying the white liquid as soon as the tire reached full pressure! I found the hole, evidently.

All I had to do, was rotate the tire until the hole was on the bottom--all the sealant will congregate there--and before too long, the spraying stopped, then the hissing stopped, then the leak was plugged. Just like that.

Frankly, I find this much easier than patching a tube. Chalk this up to another benefit of tubeless. If you run tubeless tires, get a quart of Stan's sealant, it works better than anything else I've used and even if you don't run it in your tires all the time, it is handy in a pinch to fix a flat tire after you've made it back home.

Which reminds me... that was my last bit of sealant, it's time to restock before my next flat.

A Ride in Oregon

2009-04-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week. I'm on vacation, but we're in an out of hotels and on the road every day. Actually, I love it. I love it every time we walk into a hotel room and, for some reason, my children think it's Disneyland. They love hotels. They love the swimming pools. They get super excited about the cheap continental breakfasts we get--and even eat much more than usual.

I love that we're in Oregon.

In my mind, I remember the beauty of western Oregon, but it just doesn't match with reality. In reality, it's much, much more breath-taking than anything my mind can conjure up. There's something about the forests here. They're dark. They're quiet. The tall pines looming above.

... miles and miles of tight, twisty singletrack ...

While there are places in Utah where mtn. biking is epic. Almost everywhere I ride in western Oregon is gorgeous, fast, singletrack in and out of these beautiful forests.

While out here visiting James, he showed me some trails that were highlighted in bike magazine (not sure if that was IMBA-chosen or not) as being "epic" rides that you should make time to ride (no matter how close you live to them). I cut my mtn. biking teeth on one of them--the North Umpqua Trail. It's still one of my favorite places to ride.

But yesterday, we didn't have time for any epic rides. At the same time, the pain of leaving Oregon without tasting of the sweet, smooth goodness of a western Oregon forest singletrack was too great. Already, my heart ached at the thought of leaving it behind. While the children were feasting at their continental breakfast, I was slipping into my cycling gear and James was threading my pedals onto his Jekyll. We saddled up in the cold of the morning and crossed the highway to the forest beyond.

The ride was short--necessitated by the need to get my children some pool-time before checking out of the hotel--but it was sweet honey to my mtn. bike-deprived soul.

Thank you, James, for the ride. Thank you, Oregon, for having the sweetest singletrack around.

The Single Speed

2009-04-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I dug through my garage to the very back--behind the strollers, past some PVC, around the piled up extension cords and retrieved the oldest bike in my possession: a 1992 Cannondale.

There isn't really a model number for it, since Jon purchased it as a frame and built it up himself. He put on Suntour MicroDrive (the first of the smaller diameter chainrings and cogs), a sweet 3 lb titanium handbar--ok, it's not 3lbs, but close, darn it--and other assundry parts that were the stuff to buy way back then. The wheels are Nashbar--then called Bike Nashbar, their biking side of the biz; the other side was Spike Nashbar, a volleyball mail order catalog--and had some of the smoothest rolling bearings at the time. They are still pretty darn smooth, too, 17 years later.

A number of years ago, Jon and I made a swap. He got my Fisher Sphinx--which I eventually, um, needed back, but I somehow managed to retain the 'dale--and I got his old Cannondale. My reason for wanting the old bike was this I wanted to try this single speeding thing, and had no money. There were a few hitchs, though. The fork is Cannondale's Pepperoni fork.

The fork was recalled sometime in 1993, I think. It's all aluminum, with an aluminum threaded 1 1/4" headset. If my memory serves, it was the threaded steerers that were breaking. Oh well. The other quirk is the Suntour Microdrive cogset. No other cogs fit that freehub, so if it dies, or the cogs break, I'm stuck. The stem is a tiny bit too long, but I can't find a replacement, so I deal with it. I'm standing much of the time anyway. Back then, mountain bikes had steeper head angles, so the bike has lightning quick steering. Since removing most of the drivetrain, the bike weighs 22.20lbs. I set the bike up with 32x17 gearing, so it's slightly easier than a 2 to 1 ratio.

About 5 years ago, I spent most of my summer on this bike. Because it is so light and stiff, it climbs like a mountain goat. Because the heat tube is on the steep side, it's a tad nervous going downhill.

Lately, though, I've been neglecting it. It doesn't have discs, so I tend to use my 'cross bike more in the winter, when rim brakes aren't so useful. In the summer, I prefer my full suspension--and geared--bike. So the poor single speed sits, waiting for me to take it out.

And so I did, last night. We were going to do a gravel road ride with a moderate, sustained climb. I know the climb well, and about 3 years ago, used the single speed to post my best time ever up this particular hill. Becuase of other time demands, I knew that I wasn't in that kind of shape, but I wanted to see if I was as out of shape as I thought. Would I have to walk any of it?

Nope. The bike was as fun to ride as ever, and I felt great grinding up the hill. The bike's willingness to climb was an eye-opener... again. No matter how steep the hill was, all I had to do was push down on the pedals and the bike launched forward. When we transitioned to a brief section of singletrack--and the slope got steeper--I stood and pulled back HARD on the bar ends while hammering the pedals. Again, I was rewarded with the surge forward with no energy wasted.

Sure, the downhill wasn't as fast since I spun out at 15mph, but I still managed a respecable 36mph. Not too shabby for just coasting.

I'm going to have to dig out the old beast more often. What a fun bike, what a good ride.

New 2010 Shimano

2009-04-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Shimano has just announced their changes to the 2010 Ultegra and Deore line ups. First off, the new Ultegra is following in the Dura-Ace footsteps, adding hidden cable routing for the shifters and a road tubeless-compatible wheelset. Other changes that have trickled down from Dura Ace include the hollow outer chainring and stiffer rear derailleur pivots. Overall, the new Ultegra will be 150g lighter than the current stuff. See an exerpt below.

Ultegra 6700 Highlights:

The ST-6700 Dual Control Shift Levers are redesigned to incorporate hidden shift cables and a revised shift mechanism that moves the mass closer to the handlebar, improving handling. Additional improvements are reach adjustment, revised braking pivot point for better braking from the hoods, and carbon fiber brake lever blades. The new shifters maintain “B” level compatibility with Ultegra 6600 series components.
Using technology borrowed from Dura-Ace 7900, the FC-6700 Ultegra crank has a new hollow outer chainring for maximum stiffness and positive shifting under power. The new design also reduces incidence of the chain catching on the outer ring when in the smallest front ring and smallest rear cog. The change saves nearly 15 grams over the already light Ultegra SL crank.
Front and rear derailleurs (FD-6700 / RD-6700) use wider links to improve performance and shifting under load, while the rear derailleur saves 10 grams over Ultegra SL through the use of an all aluminum pulley cage.
A new Ultegra wheelset (WH-6700), weighing in at 1650 grams and Road Tubeless compatible, will round out the new Ultegra group.

The new Deore group will get the radial master cylinders first seen on the XT and XTR brake levers and will have the two-way release trigger that the XT group has. See the exerpt for more details:

New Shimano Deore 590 series creates a group with two facets: one tailored to off-road use,
while the other focuses features and styling on trekking. The mountain version boasts an
aggressive dynamic form in galaxy black – a glossy black with a hint of metallic. Major updates
include features familiar from much more expensive component groups:
Deore Highlights:

Shadow low-profile RD-M592 rear derailleur design: technology pioneered on XT and XTR
ST-M590 RapidFire Plus shifter pods have 2-way release trigger and an easily removable Optical gear Display
2 piston hydraulic BR-M595 disc brakes are controlled with new radial master levers (BL-M595) featuring tool-free reach adjust and over 100% more system stopping power. The new calipers now use the same brake pad shape as SLX, XT, and XTR
The FC-M590 crank uses 2 piece construction for a super rigid interface and an aluminum outer ring to help reduce weight. The Hyperdrive chainrings offer crisp and precise shifting, even under load

E-Thru 15mm Quick Release Front Axle System
Introduced for 2008, the E-Thru 15mm quick release front hubs continue the pursuit of lower
weight with maximum durability and control with the addition of an SLX version (HB-M668). The hubs are designed on a 100mm over locknut dimension and feature a 15mm axle that has a quick release operation similar to that of a standard skewer. Operation, however, is the only similarity as the stiffness is nearly equal to a 20mm through axle QR system, however the hub and axle are lighter by nearly 100g in some cases.

I haven't seen pricing or availability, though Shimano has said that while these are 2010 model year components, they should be available before the end of 2009.

Modulus

2009-03-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

What the heck is "modulus", also known as Young's Modulus or the Modulus of Elasticity? We see it with carbon fiber: "this road bike made by The Coolest Road Bike Company Today is laterally stiff and vertically compliant thanks to the high modulus carbon used in the frame."

Since I'm back in school and taking tests, exams and quizes, here's one for you. Which has a higher modulus:

A) Glass

B) Rubber

C) Magnesium

I'll give you the answer at the end.

Before we talk about how modulus can effect the way a bicycle rides, lets get some definitions out of the way. Stress is defined as a force over an area. The unit is the Pascal (Pa which is also N/m^2) or in english units, the familiar psi (pounds per square inch). Strain is defined as the change in length over the initial length. This is a unitless measurement (inch/inch or meter/meter) and is given as a percent or part per million (ppm). Now that we've got that out of the way, we can see that the modulus (E) is defined as:

or simply, stress over strain. Since the strain is unitless, the modulus is reported in Pa or psi (metric and english units respectively).

"Hey, that's great and all, but what does it tell us?"

Good question. It does NOT tell us how strong something is. Nowhere in the above equation do you see ultimate strength. What it does tell us is how stiff something is.

Think back to my quiz above and let me rephrase it. Which of the materials listed is the stiffest? Disregard strength and you'll likely get the right answer.

So what does this have to do with bicycles? Modulus is mostly mentioned with carbon fiber and here's why. As Jon pointed out last week what we call "carbon fiber" is really Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) And that plastic is... well, not something you'd build stuff out of by itself. What it does do is bind all those thin fibers together, helping to keep them from buckling when a compression load is applied. The higher the modulus, the stiffer--or more resistive to bending--and individual fiber is. Since the fibers are all pretty darn strong, using a stiffer fiber allows the builder to use less of them to make that "laterally stiff" bicycle frame. Less fibers equals a lighter weight frame.

What about that "vertically compliant" bit? That is usually achieved by mixing fiber types and laying up the cloth in different ways--by changing the orientation of the fibers. Shape of the final tube also plays a HUGE part in the overall ride.

What about metal? Steel and berylium are way up there in stiffness and aluminum is near the bottom of the list for metals. Now, which bikes tend to ride the harshest? That's right, aluminum. Why? I just said that aluminum has a relatively low modulus so it should have a low stiffness, right? As anyone who has ridden an OLD Vitus aluminum frame can tell you, aluminum, when built to the same dimensions as steel, can be a very flexy ride. The reason that modern aluminum bicycles are so stiff is due to the tubing size. In order to eliminate the flexy-flyer feeling of those early aluminum frames, the tubes grew in diameter while shrinking in wall thickness. This stiffened up the aluminum tremendously while retaining its lightweight advantage over steel. If you were to build a steel tube the same dimensions as an aluminum one, the steel would be over the top stiff.

So, to sum up, modulus is the stiffness of a material--a starting point, if you will. From there, the builder adjusts the tubing shape and--in the case of carbon fiber, the lay-up schedule as well--to get the ride that they desire, whether that ride is ultra-stiff, more forgiving or somewhere in the middle.

And the answer is: A) Glass.

Progression

2009-03-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a numbers guy. I like to know my heart rate, the air temperature (to the nearest tenth of a degree, thanks), how fast I'm riding (+/- 0.1 mph), what my maximum speed was (again, +/- 0.1 mph), how far I went and, thanks to the ubiquity of GPS devices, where I went (with elevation, please).

However, when I want to know this information has changed over time.

I've been running computers on my bikes for... well... longer than I care to mention here. Let's just say that my first computer was a CatEye Solar. Man, that thing was huge! I also had the Solar II, which was even larger. Since then, I've had too many computers to list.

Until now. As the batteries have died, instead of replacing them, I've just removed the computers from my bikes.

I strap my watch to the bars so I know the time (I often have a narrow riding window, so not knowing the time is not a luxury), but otherwise, the only thing on my bars is my light.

At first, I missed knowing all of this information. It was similar to when I had to return the Edge 705 to Garmin, I really missed having that device on my bars. (Actually, there are times that I still do... but I digress.) Now, I just log my ride with my phone using a program that ties into the built-in GPS. I keep the phone's screen off, and it's stashed in my jersey pocket. I don't look at it during the ride at all. However, when I get back from the ride, I have all the numbers I want. It's my record of the ride.

I wrote about the three ways to use a GPS: routing, logging, and the displaying of information. Of these, the only I am using now is logging. What is the effect of all this? I am free to just ride. I still get my numbers fix, but I don't let it interrupt my ride.

Going from a state of high complexity and lots of information at my fingertips to no information and increased simplicity is the right kind of progression.

What's going on here at LAT

2009-03-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed that we’ve been slacking off a little. It’s Jon’s fault.

OK, not really.

I thought I might take a minute and let you in on what’s been happening around Lactic Acid Threshold. Last fall I decided to return to school. So, I kept the day job, scaled back the hours a bit and hit the books full time. I managed to keep up my riding—and writing—and kept up with my reviews. Then Winter Term happened. My riding slacked off as I struggled to keep up with my classes. I managed, but not as effortlessly as I had hoped. I continued to work the day job, too.

While all of this was happening, Jon’s day job picked up as well, so both of the LAT writers were buried.

The end result was that our thrice-weekly posts dropped off.

We’re heading back to prime riding season and our posts should begin picking up. It’s an odd fact, but when we aren’t out riding outside it’s much harder to write. Riding on the trainer just doesn’t quite cut it. But, since the riding season is back underway*, we should be getting back to our more regularly scheduled postings. Thanks for sticking with us.

*That and my day job is no longer a hindrance.

New Gear: Bont Road Shoes

2009-03-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

Carbon fiber is, by itself, not stiff. It's basically a cloth. However, when combined with epoxy resin, the result is both very strong, and very light. Of course, as cyclists, we all know that carbon is light and stiff. No surprise there.

Let's talk about this plastic--this epoxy resin--that engulfs the carbon fibers. Imagine one such plastic that got soft and malleable at relatively low temperatures. What you have is custom, heat-moldable carbon.

The Bont cycling shoes I just received use one such material. 160 degrees in the oven makes the shoe hot (but not too hot to touch), and just soft enough to mold as it cools. These shoes are light, stiff, and moldable. In fact, they can be molded as often as needed.

It turns out, that's a good thing. So far, I haven't gotten the molding right. They seem fine until I get on the bike and start riding, at which point, they start to hurt. Hopefully, I can get them right and get in some long time with them in the coming months.

Where I Started

2009-03-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

It’s dumping rain—with snow predicted later this weekend—and I’ve been thinking about cycling and how I got started. I apologize ahead of time for the less than upbeat post.

First, I grew up with bicycles. My first bike didn’t have training wheels. My dad taught me to ride in the parking lot of our apartment building over the course of the weekend. I was so banged up the second day, from all of the falling down that happened the first day that I my dad had to literally pry me away from the railing so he could finish teaching me. I was perfectly happy to stay a non-cyclist forever.

Instead, I ended up learning to ride, and I’ve ridden ever since. I’ve now been riding for more than 30 years. Riding was freedom to me. We used to go all over the neighborhood, leaving the house whenever we could. We’d ride in the woods and on the street; we’d make jumps—you know, the plank of wood and a cinder block—and we’d ghost ride our bikes, too. And, for the most part, it was a family affair. My family has three boys, one of them you know—Jon, the other poster on Lactic Acid Threshold, is my younger, taller brother—and we would ride all over the place. Usually, though, I was chasing after Mike, my older brother.

In fact, my first real crash happened very early on—if I remember correctly, I must have been 7 or 8 years old—and Mike was the one who got me home. I smacked my head pretty good and was unconscious. There were no helmets back then and I was moving pretty good, nearly 40mph I’m sure, really, on a 16” wheeled bike. Yeah, at least 40… and hit some gravel. Down I went. I woke up at home. Man, that was a weird feeling.

I continued to chase Mike as we grew up. He was fast. I got into mountain bikes around 1986—that first mountain bike was a Schwinn Mesa—and he stayed in the road bike world. Naturally, this made it hard for me to keep up on the road, but I justified it by telling him that I was having more fun. Now I do both.

Mike no longer rides. He had to hang up his wheels for good around 1995, or so, after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

MS is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system. It inhibits the communication that happens between the neurons of the brain. Because of this, Mike can no longer ride a bicycle. In fact, he has trouble walking and standing now, and mostly is wheelchair bound.

This week is MS Awareness week. Bike MS is a charity event that happens all over the United States. Chances are, there is going to be one in your neighborhood some time this year. I’d like to challenge you to pick an event and ride it. Like cancer, there is no cure for MS, but strides are being made to improve the lives of those who have it, and to lessen its impact in their lives.

Next time you ride, think about how you got started. I know I will, and I’ll be thinking about Mike.

Transition to Spring

2009-03-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

I'm losing my patience.

After years of riding indoors, like all cyclists everywhere (that's a sweeping generalization I don't intend to backup with fact, by the way) I'm ready for the winter months to be over. Actually, the last few days have been gorgeous. The threat of rain has never turned into anything but a threat. Sure, it's been windy, but even wind, the greatest of all my nemesi, er nemesises... nemesisisi... Whatever.

Even wind would be welcome after being indoors. So, I swap out wheels, get my gear together, and bring my bike to work in the hopes that I can get in a lunch-time ride. Heck, I even got into Outlook and scheduled the time with myself. But, for two days in a row, the force of evil at work have conspired against me and I've had to work through lunch. Today will be no different.

The problem is, once I've made up my mind to get in a real-live-outside-moving-around-getting-somewhere ride in, it's difficult to bear going back indoors. In addition, I can no longer just roll out of bed in the morning and find my roller-setup ready and waiting. Suddenly, I have to prep again for riding indoors. And doing that--making the time and making the changes necessary to get on the rollers again--means I'm no longer ready to dash outside at a moments' notice.

At this point, I've suffered through the long cold darkness of the winter and I don't want to waste all the fitness I've tried to keep by being too lazy to switch configurations, but I'm tired of needing a backup plan to get on my bike.

I need shorter work days, and more free lunch-times (there's no such thing as free lunch--even under this administration). This morning, I made the change and got back on the rollers. If the rain/snow doesn't come tonight, I might even try riding outdoors tomorrow again.

Following the Races

2009-02-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

Up until this year, I have not really followed any racing except for the Tour de France. That's not so much because I don't like bicycle racing, I just haven't had the time to really follow it, you know? This year, though, Comcast gave me a gift. I still think that they are evil incarnate--particularly for what they charge for cable internet--but they made some changes in the basic, basic cable line up and as a concequence I now get Versus at no additional cost. This marks the first time I'll be able to watch bicycle racing as it unfolds rather than waiting for a friend to record it for me. I'm rather excited. I enjoyed the bits of the Tour of California that was able to catch, and Versus is advertising racing every Sunday from now until the Tour in July.

Watching the racing, though, has got me hankering for more ways to follow the Pros. I already check out VeloNews and Cyclingnews.com for information on their gear--it's the next best thing to being there, and blogging doesn't exactly include plane tickets to all of the big races here and abroad. Their live updates are pretty good, too, for those times that I'm stuck at work... um... working. Really.

Jon, however, put me onto another way to follow the racers: Twitter. As you may know, we did the Twitter thing during Interbike last year and it was fun. We still use it from time to time, but not so much. There are some rather big names in cycling though, who use it regularly. And by regularly I mean, if you use the text message update feature of Twitter, you better have an unlimited plan. Seriously.

Here's a rundown of the racers and other cycling people that I've found and/or follow:

I'm sure that there are more, but that'll get you started.

Why is this cool? Because sometimes they post little insights into life as a pro cyclist that you don't get any other way. Stuff like this from Hincapie:

pretty funny moment at toc stage to pasadena. http://tinyurl.com/da3jye At the time not that funny..

Followed up by:

PS, he did not do it on purpose, was just not paying attention i guess. He's a good guy, and a buddy of mine.

Or, from The Lance:

Heading out on a ride with my training partner. I suspect today's pace will be slower than last week's... http://twitpic.com/1ni6a

I mean, that's just cool. Not only is it fun, but during the race Johan was updating when he wasn't driving, giving us a glimpse like:

10 riders broke away and have now 1min45 on the main pack. Rock Racing is setting the pace #atoc #toc

Is it all cool? Nah, there are plenty of "I just got up and am eating breakfast" type of posts, but I found that it did add an additional depth to the racing, comments that were unfiltered by an interviewer or a word count.

Oh, and I've never enjoyed following mountain bike racing, that's just something I'd rather do than watch.

My New Ultimate Training Room (plans)

2009-02-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here's what I want for the winter training months.

Let's start with the room. This room would be good for working on and storing bikes. The floor would be soft, but resistant to corrosion due to sweat, grease and/or solvents. More importantly, this room would be sound-isolated from the rest of the house. I want to be able to hammer hard at 1 am without waking a fitfully sleeping baby.

When I walk into the room, it has a pre-programmed thermostat. The room would start out around 75 (since I'm going to be cold with only shorts and a jersey on). But, about five minutes after I've entered the room, it should have dropped the temperature to about 65 degrees. The longer I ride, the cooler it'd get (but stop around 60). And there will be airflow. Direct airflow to help me stay cool, and room airflow to keep the temperature down (and whisk the stink away).

There'd be towels readily available, as well as a sink. I'd use the sink mostly for filling up water bottles, but it'd be there incase I feel the urge to work on my bike(s). Besides water, I might need some food, so there'd be a pantry stocked with various energy products: gels, bars, and drinks.

Directly in front of the rollers would be a large HDTV (37-42", but not larger). Instead of a DVD player, all my movies and music would be on some sort of media center computer. I need to be able to swap movies or music with a simple remote. And, because my room is sound-proof, I'm not using headphones to listen, either. I'm talking 5.1 channel surround sound.

I'm thinking that I could dig out my back yard and make an underground bunker that'd be perfect for it.

Where Are They Now?

2009-02-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

No, this post isn't about washed up actors/actresses from the '80's, nor will it have mugshots of the same. Sorry.

Rather, Jon and I were talking the other day about bikes--what else?--and the topic turned to tubeless tires. It's no secret we like them. We both use them off road, and I run tubeless tires on my road bike as well. I have mentioned before why I like tubeless on and off the road, so I won't do it here. Last year, however, it looked like road tubeless was going to go mainstream. More manufacturers were coming on board--I mentioned this Cyclingnews.com article from last March before, too, and see HERE for a press release from last July. Yessiree, the tube was going away at long last.

What happened? Where are the tires? Where are the wheels? Is there something at the bottom of Loch Ness?

Lets start with the announcements. Who was to have come on board?

Wheels:

Campagnolo

Tires:

Specialized

Hutchinson (more than one tire)

IRC

A quick search shows that of the above, Campagnolo does in fact have a tubeless tire compatible wheelset: the Eurus 2-Way Fit wheelset. Additionally, since Campy owns Fulcrum, there aretwo other 2-Way Fit wheelsets from them, as well: the Racing Zero 2-Way Fit (pictured below) and the Racing 1 2-Way Fit. Well done Campy.

Things aren't going so swimmingly in the tire realm, though.

The only mention of an IRC tire--supposedly the Formula Pro--I could find were on Japanese only pages. I can't read Japanese, so I'm a bit stuck here. The previews from early last year looked good, though. One--and by 'one' I mean 'me'--can only guess as to why they aren't available on the open market.

Next up Specialized. There website is fully available in English, so I was able to peruse the deepest corners of the online presence. I found nothing. It was supposed to have been called a Turbo Tubeless, but they seemed to have dropped the Turbo moniker altogether.

Finally, we come to Hutchinson. Hutchinson is the main driving force behind road tubeless, so I expected them to have followed through. They've even got a site--Roadtubeless.com--to keep the excitement going. They do, in fact, show off some new tires. The Atom, announced last year but not available, is a race tire. The Fusion2 carries on--that's the tire I'm using and I like it. They've also introduces a more pedestrian tire, the Intensive. This tire is slightly heavier than the Fusion2, but should be a longer lasting tire.

So, all hope is not lost. With Shimano and Campy behind it, road tubeless should be here to stay. I'd like to see them trickle down the technology to their mid-level wheelsets rather than keep it in the higher end alone.

Oddly enough, what does seem to be making a comeback are tubular wheels and tires. I blaim the carbon fiber rim market for this. I know that I can't think of anything more exciting that scraping old glue off of a rim just to change tires.

And what about ol' Nelly? Well, I don't know if there is anything at the bottom of Loch Ness, monster or otherwise, but you can watch their live streaming webcam and see for yourself if anything pops up.

Movies: Hell on Wheels

2009-02-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hell on Wheels (Höllentour) is a German movie. That is, most of the dialog is in German with English subtitles. If you can't stand reading subtitles, then you might avoid this movie altogether. To do so, however, would be a mistake.

Hell on Wheels follows team Telekom throughout the 2003 Tour de France. It isn't a documentary of that race. It doesn't follow Lance on his way to victory.

What Hell on Wheels does well, is show you the inside of the Tour. There are no winners interviews here, but it shows the reactions from riders winning and losing as they talk over their day in the hotel room. It show the suffering as a crash victim tries to limp through two more weeks of riding. It even shows a group of fans camped out on the side of the road and follows their waiting and anticipating the briefest glimpse of their hero zooming by.

Emotions are high in this movie and I find myself each time cheering for Eric Zabel as he sprints to the line. Each time trial (TT)--including the team TT--is high-paced and full of action. I find these TTs perfect for throwing an interval or two in my workout. Of course, as I see the cyclists suffering their way up a hill, it inspires me to dig a little deeper and stay on that terrible torture device (rollers) a little longer.

Hell on Wheels is over two hours long--making it perfect for a long training session or a bunch of smaller ones.

1. How well it distracts me so I don't feel the pain. *****
2. How well it motivates me so I don't mind the pain--heck I might even enjoy it. *****
3. How often I can watch it without getting bored. ****
4. How well the tempo of the movie (and its soundtrack) is suited for a good workout. *****
5. Is it good enough to look forward to a roller session just so I can ride it? ****

Overall score: **** 1/2 (4.5 stars)

If you ride indoors, you need this movie.

Incompatibility

2009-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Reading & rollers
I love to read (though, not as much as my wife) and we have tons and tons of books in my house (enough that I'll never move--I'll bulldoze my house and rebuild it first!). The problem is I can't seem to find any time to read except late at night, when I'm about to go to bed. This invariably leads to me staying up late to read. Which leads to no time on the rollers (or riding, if the weather is nice) the next day. My will power is so low in the mornings.

Home improvement & long training rides
Redoing the basement this year. Although I'm happy to be getting some much-needed improvement in the house, I know the real cost to me is Saturdays. I just said goodbye to any thoughts of long training rides.

Shimano & Campagnolo
I know, who cares, right? Well, invariably, whenever I see a cassette go on sale, or a sweet wheelset discounted heavily, it's Campy. I mean, c'mon! Also, being a Shimano/SRAM user, I've always been jealous of the superior way that Campy cassettes interface with the freehub body. Shimano cassettes just destroy light-weight freehub bodies.

Handlebars & Stems
Actually, if you get the right ones, you're fine, but I was always bothered by the whole mtn (25.4mm) and road (26mm). I mean, they're so close! Not close enough, though. Even Cinelli had to buck the trend and go with something else: 26.4mm. I wasn't very excited about the 31.8 handlebar trend when it first started showing up. I really didn't think there was a need for the larger diameter. Once seeing that now road and mtn. use the same standard, though, I've converted over. Now I'm a believer.

Aero bars & group rides
Don't do this. Please. I don't care how well a group is working together on a ride, if there's a guy with aero bars on his bike (or worse, a full TT/Tri bike), I'll drop off the back. That's just scary (and wrong). If they have a number painted on their shoulder and are wearing a half shirt (men), that's even worse.

End note
I just thought of an exception to the reading vs. rollers: The Rider (Tim Krabbe). If I'm reading The Rider, I get on the rollers more often--and often push myself harder while doing it.

Movies: Roam

2009-01-29T10:56:00.001-08:00

Roam is a mountain bike movie by the Collective. It's been out for a few years now--in fact, it isn't the most recent release by the Collective. It's good though. Very good.

So, with Roam loaded on my computer, and my rollers positioned in front of my large 24" monitor, I got on the bike and started rolling. (Is that the proper term for riding my bike on rollers?) The music is good, and I was immediately drawn into the movie. Then, right off the bat, they started with the "helmet cam." I want to go on record as saying I love watching a nice-smooth (non-amature) helmet cam. I really get into it. For this reason, I almost wrecked a number of times. I mean, I couldn't just hold still, I had to dodge those trees! While this kept me on my toes (or my hands and knees as I picked myself up off the ground), it also meant that I had to often grab for a wall or divert my eyes from the screen to maintain my equilibrium.

While I found this movie distracting (a good thing), it didn't really motivate me. That is, I'm on a road bike, and I don't even own the kind of bike that these guys are riding. So, while it motivates me to have fun on my bike, that sort of feeling doesn't help when I'm suffering in a small stuffy room indoors in the winter.

The music is good, but is fairly laid-back. What this means for me is that I finish up the movie without having any fast-tempo workouts. If you're looking to spin for 45 minutes, then this will be fine. If you're looking to throw some interval-type training in the mix to get your heart-rate up, then you might want to look elsewhere.

1. How well it distracts me so I don't feel the pain. *****
2. How well it motivates me so I don't mind the pain--heck I might even enjoy it. *
3. How often I can watch it without getting bored. *****
4. How well the tempo of the movie (and its soundtrack) is suited for a good workout. **
5. Is it good enough to look forward to a roller session just so I can ride it? **

Overall, I give this movie a ***. While it's good and I enjoy it, I'd rather be sitting on my couch watching it.

Next week: Höllentour (Hell on Wheels)

LED Boy Looks at a HID

2009-01-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's right. A HID. I've been running nothing but LED lights for nearly 4 years now. But before that, I was a HID user. I feel like I'm at a 12 step program:

"Hi, I'm James, and I'm a recovering HID user. It's been 1278 days since my last HID fix..."

But I digress.

Back to the point, if you recall, NiteRider announced the SlickRock 900 last summer. Well, it's been a bit delayed but it will soon be available for purchase. Better yet, I've got one.

From the front, there is no mistaking that this is a halide arc lamp:

The NiMH battery is a bit on the large side...:

...Since it is NIMH, it doesn't quite pack the punch that a Li-Ion does, yielding an average run time:
NiteRider claims 2 hours and 15 minutes, and that's what we're seeing.

I'll have to report back later on my thoughts compared to the latest LEDs, but one thing I had forgotten, and was quickly reminded of, was the warming up that HIDs do. I still think it's cool to watch the light get brighter immediately after igniting the arc.

One of the reasons that they went back to the HID technology was that it's a teeny tiny light source. The smaller the light source, the easier it is to make it go where you want it to. Big light sources--like an array of LEDs--are harder to engineer the proper beam pattern.

Is HID making a comeback? I don't think so... but we'll see in the coming weeks as I swap between HID and LED.

Clear Mountain Air and Movies

2009-01-23T13:38:00.000-08:00

Evidently, Utah is now officially the worst place to breath in the US. Well, right now anyway. Go ahead, pick a large city. Doesn't even come close. In fact, the 4 top spots are all taken by Utah cities. Nasty.

So, I'm on the rollers again. And again.

I've talked before about watching movies to distract me while riding on the rollers. Peoples tastes in movies vary greatly. However, cycling movies just go well with training indoor. Sure, I'll jump around and watch normal Hollywood movies from time to time, but if I really want to stay motivated to ride, I'll pop in a cycling movie.

As I've sat on my bike (on my rollers), watching some of these movies, it occurs to me that I have some experience that others might find valuable. Also, I could write about these movies and rate them--not on their merit as a piece of entertainment, but how well they keep me training. The following criteria will be used on each movie:

1. How well it distracts me so I don't feel the pain.
2. How well it motivates me so I don't mind the pain--heck I might even enjoy it.
3. How often I can watch it without getting bored.
4. How well the tempo of the movie (and its soundtrack) is suited for a good workout.
5. Is it good enough to look forward to a roller session just so I can ride it?

Of course, I'll be throwing in anything else that might seem pertinent at the time. If anyone wants any movie in particular reviewed, please post it in the comments. If it's not a cycling movie, I won't review it (but I might watch it). If I don't own it, please buy it for me so I can review it.

My first post will be ROAM, a mountain bike movie by the Collective which came out a few years ago. I'll have it up next week.

Get out there and ride this weekend. Unless of course, you live in Utah. In that case, just try not to breathe too much.

Upgrades

2009-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

I've been asked--both in the comments section and in email and while on group rides--about upgrading lights. And here's why.

LEDs are being billed as the future of lighting. Not just in bicycle lights--where they are very much established, as you know--but everywhere. And for pretty much the same reasons: robust, efficient, small, long life, etc. So there is a very serious push to keep making them brighter from many fronts. Bicycle lighting is a small market compared to, say, the automotive market. Many cars now use LEDs in some manner--usually tail lights and instrument lights--though there are two cars available now that use them for head lights, one uses them as daytime running lights (Audi R8) and the other uses them for low beams only (Lexus LS Hybrid--the non-hybrid LS uses HIDs still).

As this development proceeds, we'll see brighter and brighter LEDs and the price should also come down due to economics of scale. We're already seeing a reduction in prices on the bicycle side of things, as I've mentioned previously.

So where does that leave us? Now is a great time to buy a light, but since they last so long, chances are that technology will improve the light before it has a chance to wear out, negating that need to upgrade--unless you have a very severe crash, that is, then you can pick out your new light while in traction because if you manage to break one of these, then you'll be pretty messed up yourself.

I'm lucky, I get to try out most of the latest lights. In fact, I am still using many lights--like the 200L--from the '08 review because they still work so well. But technology marched on and has seriously left behind anything older than that.

If you bought a system a few years ago, you might be drooling over the newest crop. Or, you want to buy a light now, but worry about spending all that money and in a two--or maybe only one--years you'll have a system that is functional but not as bright as the latest... or as efficient as the latest... or as lightweight as the latest. Ah, the conundrum of a product not wearing out.

Fortunately, there are a few manufacturers who feel your pain.

DiNotte Lighting is one of them. You send in your lights, and they quickly perform the upgrade to the latest technology (click on the link, then on "Spares and Extras" and then scroll down to upgrade) and send them back. So, say you have a 3W or 5W from 3 years ago, you can get it updated to the 200L. If they make the 200L brighter in the future, you'll be able to upgrade it as well.

Lupine has in the past allowed the end user to perform updates on the Wilma, but I'm not sure of plans to continue--I don't know why they wouldn't--this with the latest crop or the Tesla. I've got an email into them and will update this post if/when they get back to me.

--update-- The current Wilma and Betty are designed for future upgrade-ability. The Tesla is not, but this is a whole new platform, so we'll see.

BR Lights does do upgrades as well, bringing their lights up to 730 or 1000 lumens (claimed). Their service is also a return-to-manufacturer service.

So, what if you decide that you want an entirely new light. You light has three emitters and you're thinking that since you are getting faster on the downhills you'll want to see a little further ahead--which is a good idea--what do you do? This isn't an upgrade, since adding an additional LED takes a new housing. You can't go from a Wilma to a Betty with just an emitter swap.

DiNotte is the only manufacturer that I know of who has a trade up program. They'll credit you for your older light head and put the credit towards the purchase of a new light. Since, from day one, their Li-Ion connectors are the same, all of their new lights work with older batteries, and vice versa.

This means that you don't have to wait. Buy that light now, knowing that should the need arise, you'll be able to get into the latest technology down the road.

Man, I wish my computer was upgradeable at a reduced price. Buy a new one PC and it's out of date in 6 months.

Calories?

2009-01-16T11:25:00.001-08:00

Here I am, living the american dream. The dream to lose weight in January. I've been riding on the rollers more. I've been skipping [some] snacks. I'm seriously trying to drop the 10+ lbs I've gained since August. I really have.

So, when offered a "100 Calorie" snack pack full of delicious cookies, I figured I couldn't pass it up. Sure, I didn't need the 100 calories, but I was hungry, and 100 is less than a candy bar, or a can of soda.

How do they get the calories so low? By giving you only a few, really tiny cookies.

Oh, and it turns out that there is some sort of a correlation between how many calories consumed and how much it fills me up. At least I don't have to feel too guilty for eating too much. Although, I also don't have to feel full, either.

It Lives!

2009-01-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, dear readers, the Fourth Annual GearReview LED light review is up and running.

Jon did a marathon session posting session last night to get it all formated and up and onto GearReview.com. So go check it out. Then come back and post your thoughts here.

Snow Ride

2009-01-13T10:16:00.000-08:00

I finally took the time to dust off my snow tires and mount the on my bike. Actually, snow tires is a bit of a stretch. They're really ice tires, as they're studded, but not very wide. I speak, of course, of the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 1.75.

While these are excellent for thin layers of snow and great for ice, they can be a bit shaky in the deep snow.

Here's the fun part, though, under the 8" of fresh, powdery snow, there were these odd areas where the old snow on the road had become ice. And this stuff was inconsistent in height--by as much as 4".

The end result was rather comical. I'd be riding along--practically in the middle of the road (these were mostly residential) and all of a sudden my bike would slip out from under me. (By the way, that 8" of powdery snow doesn't feel very soft when you fall on it.)

It feels so good to actually move when I pedal, though. And I'm not sure it's much more dangerous than the rollers, anyway.

Helmets

2009-01-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going to go into whether or not you should wear a helmet. I hope you do, but most likely you are an adult so it's your call. I do... mostly--if I'm working on my bike, I'll test ride sans helmet, or I might ride to T.'s house (o.5 miles) without one, but it's a rare occurrence.

Rather, how in the world do you decide what helmet to buy? How do you know if it's any good? How do you know when to buy a new one?

That last one is pretty easy. If your helmet is falling apart, get a new one. If the straps are frayed, get a new one. If you've crashed on it--and hit your head, naturally--get a new one. If it is over three years old, consider getting a new one. If the foam is damaged, get a new one.

Here's the tricky thing about the age of the helmet. Old doesn't always mean that it's past its prime, rather, that it might be. I have a motorcycle helmet that is 7 years old. I use it regularly now. But, it sat on a shelf (out of UV light which breaks down foams and plastics) for 5 years. I've never crashed it. It's in good shape. There is no reason why that helmet needs to be replaced. Had I been using the helmet for 7 years, it'd be well past due for replacement. So, if you think your helmet is getting a little long in the tooth, you might want to consider a new one. If you ride infrequently and take good care of your stuff, then it's likely fine.

Now on to the harder question: which one to buy. There are a ton of them. Helmets come in a variety of sizes, shapes, number of vents, materials, colors--come on, don't think that color isn't important--and prices. It's a veritable sea of foam and plastic and fabric.

Here in the U. S. of A., we the CPSC standard that all bicycle helmets have to meet, regardless of price or country of manufacture. So, while I won't say that the cheapest helmets are as safe as the more costly ones--though in some cases that might definitely be the case--they all have to meet certain minimum requirements. This is good news.

(climbing onto soapbox)
Mail order retailers are fantastic. They keep the price of our habit lower than it would otherwise be. They have a tremendous selection. You can place an order from your living room at 1am. You cannot, however, try stuff on.

You must try on a helmet.
(stepping off soap box)

When you decide--or that rut you didn't see makes the decision for you--that you need a new helmet go try on a bunch of them without looking at the brand or price. Find what fits. They all fit a little differently. Then look at the brand and price. Most likely, other helmets of the same brand will fit the same way.

Also, there is a Consumers Report type site--the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute--that looks at bicycle helmets. They just posted their guide for 2009. It is rather lengthy and very thorough.

They identify who makes the helmets, they look at helmets sold in Europe and they do a nice job of putting it all together, even if it's a bit dry.

Basically, find one that fits. Find one that has adequate ventilation--for you--and is light enough--again, for you. And, should you choose to wear it, wear it correctly--not too far back, not too far forward and keep the straps adjusted.

If decide not to wear it... well, keep it out of UV light so that should the time come that you'll need it, it's there.

Lights Update

2009-01-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

Well, as seems to be par for the course, I'm a wee bit behind on getting the light review posted. The good news is it's done... mostly. Why mostly? Remember how I mentioned that many of the lights came with, or had available, head bands? Well, that bit didn't make it in, yet. After much humming and hawwing about how to make it fit, I decided I'd take the harder route and write up a separate review looking at the lights off the bike. So, the review that will go live any day now--don't worry, we'll let you know--is only on the bike use.

It also doesn't mention tail lights. That is coming soon to this little ol' blog. I had to wait for the weather to clear, but I promise it'll be worth it--hint: a video camera is being used.

I've got to tell you, though, after seeing what the multi-LED arrays are capable of and seeing what the single--more of less--LED on the Lupine Tesla can do, I can't wait for there to be a multi-LED array using that emitter. It'd have to have considerable heat sinking, though.

All in all, there wasn't a bad light in the bunch. I would--and have--run any of them on road or off. Sure the least costly ones (Stella 120, Minewt Mini-USB, Joystick and Switchback 1) are best paired with another light, they do surprisingly well on their own, and much better than many of the single emitters from just a couple of years ago. This is progress.

And I like progress.

5 for 5

2009-01-05T13:51:00.001-08:00

Well, half of it was last year, but I managed to get on the rollers 5 times last week. I'm hoping to keep it up. Actually, I'm hoping I can actually get outside more, but in the meantime, I'm going to see if I do some sort of riding this often.

Has anyone noticed how much more saddles hurt when you're riding something stationary indoors?

Rollers? Oh yeah.

2008-12-29T16:05:00.000-08:00

After "weighing in" this morning after my shower, the diagnosis is clear: I haven't changed.

Last year, around this time, I weighed in about 160. By mid-summer when I did my 300 Warriors ride, I was down to about 151 or 152. My weight has gone up a bit since then (and my riding has dropped off), but I wasn't too concerned. I mean, what's a couple of pounds here or there?

Well, I'm back up to 160. And I know I've lost a lot of muscle weight. I wish I could just blame it on not shaving my legs in a while, but I'm not _that_ hairy [yet].

So, like every other American out there, I'm going to set some goals to lose weight. I figure I'll be down around 150 by the end of the summer--at which point I'll be able to start gaining again so I can hit my wintertime goal of 160.

Snow and ice all over. Cold.

Rollers tonight? I suppose I'd better.

Update

2008-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

I was hoping--and working--to get the review posted before Christmas. It's now Christmas Eve--seriously, it is, I'm not making this up, it caught me by surprise too--and I'm not done. But I'm pretty close. It's well over half written, the run time data is logged, the beam shots are taken, the specs are tabulated.

While I was doing all of this there was one striking fact that seemed to underpin this years review: the price is coming down across the board.

Last year, the average price was $420. This year it's $355. Last year, the lowest priced light was $179 (and used an NiMH battery). This year the least expensive light is $129, puts out the same amount of light and has a Li-Ion battery. Last year, the most expensive light was $995. This year it's $580 (both were Lupines).

In addition to becoming cheaper, fully half of the lights this time have a claimed output of 700 lumens or more. That's astounding.

The other shocker was the price of the British lights. The US Dollar isn't doing so hot against the Pound--as of today, it takes nearly $1.50 to equal one Pound--but both the Hope Vision 4 and the Exposure MaXx-D came in under $400. And both claim greater than 900 lumens.

This is what I've hoped to see. As the LED market heats up, you, the consumer, is the winner. More light, less cash. Just what the doctor ordered.

And with that, I'm out. It's vacation time. I wish you all Happy Holidays! Be sure to ride some, to offset all that good food.

Snow Time!

2008-12-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

We don't get much snow around here. Usually, we'll get a dusting in January or early February, but this year, Christmas came early and we've had nearly continuous snow cover all week. I participate in a group off road ride most Wednesday nights, and this week was the ride canceled?

Not a chance.

In fact, usually there are 2-6 participants, and this week we had 5. Not too shabby considering the fact that we weren't even sure we could ride the proposed route.

My bike of choice? My 'cross bike, naturally. I did run knobbies, though. What a blast. I do have a few observations, though. In no particular order:

Using skinny tires to cut through the snow seemed to do about as well as the fatter tires.
It doesn't take a whole lot of light to illuminate a large swath of snow.
Full fenders aren't such a good idea. They pack up... fast.
Riding in snow is an excellent work out, on the way up the hill.
Riding in snow is a good way to work on down hill technique. Particularly in the corners.
Riding loose helps when you hit something you can't see.
Unidentifiable bumps in the snow are best avoided.
Ruts can be bad when descending.
It may feel like you are going fast, but you're not.

Overall, it was a great ride, but a lousy way to test lights. After about 10 minutes, I stopped trying to critically view the pros and cons of the various lights and just rode. That white snow reflects it all back. I think I could have ridden with a AA-powered Mini-Mag. And not the LED one, either.

If you've never ridden in snow, or haven't for a long time, give it a go. Just use a bike that has disc brakes, they actually work.

To Forget

2008-12-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

As human beings, I've often wondered at how well we forget. I am, I might add, particularly adept at it. I don't remember much of my childhood--though if you asked me about what happened last week, it'd be about the same. The amazing thing is that we can forget something experienced so fully as we experience suffering. (Of course, there is a down side to forgetting suffering--many downsides--but I'm not going to focus on that here.)

When I ride, I suffer. Granted, sometimes it's a good suffering. Sometimes, though, it's just suffering. Thankfully, by the time I've collapsed on the floor at home, it's nothing but sweetness. There's no more pain. My mind doesn't store that information and the next time I head out, I'm ready to push myself up that same climb that killed me before.

I can't tell you how many times (because I've forgotten, right?) I've gotten to a certain part of a nasty climb and thought, "Wait a minute! This hurt last time, too! What am I doing here?!" Because I don't remember the pain, however, the more I ride, the more I want to get out and ride again.

Unfortunately, though it might take a little longer to forget, if I'm off the bike long enough, I'll forget the pleasure of riding. Sometimes it'll be a particularly busy week, or bad weather, and before I know it, I'm watching more TV and spending less time on the bike. Sure, I look at my bikes longingly as I pass them, but it just seems like too much trouble to make the time for a ride.

This is especially true in the winter. I can't imagine having any fun riding in the cold--not when I can read a book or watch TV inside my nice, warm house. The less I ride, the less I want to ride. For that reason, I just need to force myself--through sheer will--to get out and put in some miles.

I need it, though and once I do it, I'll want it too.

Cycling Christmas

2008-12-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

This world is considered by many to be a pretty gloomy place. Most of these people aren't cyclists. Even cyclists, though, can get discouraged this time of year.

It comes as no surprise, then, that there seems to be more holidays than there used to be. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the US Postal Service started getting Talk Like A Pirate Day off next year.

Of course, the big holiday, Christmas, is still more than a week off (and I've already gained more than five pounds just anticipating it). And yet, it isn't often that I get presents for my favorite pastime: cycling. Strange, isn't it? I mean, my favorite thing to do plus everyone in my family buying gifts equals non cycling-related gifts.

I've often wondered why--espesially when winter starts to wear off and I'm left wanting new gear. Why?! I've managed, through the superior art of fine reasoning, figured out why.

The answer: Christmas is at the wrong time of year.

About the time Thanksgiving rolls around and the weather turns cold, I start to eat more and move less. It's not that I wouldn't want to keep riding often, I just don't want to ride often in cold, wet weather. So, I don't ride as much.

It is in the time that I start to think of other hobbies of mine. I think of books I want to read. I think of gadgets I want to own. I don't think about cycling because I don't want to brave the cold. (Of course, if I do get out and brave the cold, I enjoy it, but the additional fat accumulating around my brain makes me forget this. I could go on, but I'll leave that to another post.)

What I need is Cycling Christmas. Cycling Christmas should happen sometime in the Spring. In the Spring, I'm really trying to get into cycling again. I'm working on my bikes, and I'm drooling over the latest stuff I "need" for my bike.

Of course, those not into cycling might complain about their gifts. But hey, if you don't want that new handlebar, I'm willing to take it off your hands.

Quick Update

2008-12-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned, I've been running the lights on my burn time analysis rig--"rig" sounds better than "cardboard tube with a photovoltaic cell in one end and a fan on the other"--and so far, the lights are spot on, or slightly better than, claimed. Except for the Stella 120N.

The Stella--claimed run time is 2 hrs--ran for 3 and a half hours! Normally, I'm thrilled when batteries last longer than claimed. It shows that they (the manufacturers) err on the side of caution. Knowing the variability of batteries and the variability in the LEDs, this is a good thing. They state the minimum you'll get. But this was an increase of 75%. Something was fishy. I called... er... emailed them. Their response? The specifications are understated. So, if you pick one of these up, know that you'll get longer than the two hours promised. In my case, much, much longer.

One more thing, since my post on the headbands I've received them from Light and Motion (which works with any of their helmet mounted lights) and Lupine (which works with any of their lights) with NiteRider sending one this coming week. Essentially, if there is a headband offered for the lights I've got for this review, I've got the headband, too.

Finally, NiteRider also has an in-car charging kit for the MiNewt Mini-USB. This is an adaptor with a USB port in it. Plug the mini-USB cable into the port and charge up your battery. But, wait, that's not all! If you order now... sorry, wrong commercial. The adaptor will also charge anything else that uses a mini-USB, or standard USB, plug to charge. Cell phones, GPS, or mittens can all be run off of this adaptor. Multi-use is better.

Have a great weekend, and if you are in the Pacific Northwest, try to keep warm. At least frozen dirt isn't mud.

Ask and Receive

2008-12-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

I've said it before, and I mean it, it's all about you. Really it is. I apologize that I have not been keeping this ol' blog as up to date as I'd have liked. Rest assured that we're chugging along collecting run time data, using the snot out of the lights in all kinds of weather.

To make amends, let me show you some beam shots.

DiNotte 800L:

L&M Seca 700 Race:

DiNotte 400L (standard lenses):

Exposure MaXx-D:

And, the Telsa by Lupine:

I find it interesting to compare the 4-LED lights. For the most part, their beams are surprisingly similar.

More to come in the over the next few weeks.

Missed One

2008-12-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

As I was reviewing my light preview posts, I realized that I had omitted one. The Stella 120N from Light and Motion.

(Photo courtesy of Light and Motion)

While similar to its brighter sibling, the 120 comes with an NiMH battery and a trickle charger. However, it also comes with a much lower cost of entry... right about $130. This makes it a natural competitor to the MiNewt Mini-USB.

The light head features tool-less mounting via a rubber strap and the light swivels side to side. Also like the Mini-USB, the switch is merely on/off.

The lens is identical to the brighter Stella 200, so the beam pattern is good.

In other news, I mentioned last week that many of the lights were coming--or had available--with headbands. Since then I've spoken with Light and Motion and they are sending out their headband and NiteRider has one as well for the MiNewt series of lights. We'll be checking that out as well.

Unexpected

2008-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Rides are often unexpected. Sometimes just going on a ride is unexpected. More often, though, what happens on the ride is unexpected.

On Wednesday, before Thanksgiving, I headed out to meet what would turn out to be 13 others for a ride in the fabled "Corner Canyon" in Draper, Utah. Though it was only about a 30 minute drive for me, I rarely venture that far out for a ride. I was told that conditions on the trail were perfect so I took my old, but very light, Cannondale F4000. It is set up fairly light right now with some semi-slick tires.

What I didn't expect was the trail to be coated first with a slippery layer of black mud and then a layer of dead leaves on top of the mud. The unexpected outcome was just how out of control I was. I mean, I expect to be slow and cumbersome on the downhills, but this added a whole new level of unpredictability.

Don't worry, my knee is healing nicely. I'm not even wearing bandages today.

My next ride was on Saturday. It was cloudy, but calm. It was also quite chilly, but I dressed appropriately, for once, and was neither too cold, nor did I over-heat. My traditional Thanksgiving over-eating (It's tradition, who am I to argue with tradition?) combined with my general lack of riding lately set me up for disaster. I expected to be slow. I expected to wear out quickly. I expected to kick my gut with my thighs as I rode.

What was unexpected was how great I felt. While I didn't set any records, I posted a very respectable (for me) average speed over the 30 miles of the ride.

Plus, it justified all the pie I had later that night. (Eating lots of pie wasn't entirely unexpected, though.)

Off the Bike, Double Duty

2008-11-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Ok, time for a show of hands. How many of you have strapped on your helmet to do something non-bike related simply because that was where your best headlamp was? Be honest. I know that I've mowed my lawn in the dark--and I'm not alone in this, eh?--worked on my car and my motorcycle while wearing a helmet. Just for the light.

Well, no more. Driven by the Nordic Skiing crowd and other non-bike adventure sports, many companies now offer headbands for their lights. Here's a list of those we have in house to try out:

DiNotte 400L
Ay-Up
Hope Vision 4
Exposure Joystick*

Also available, but we don't have them:

Lupine Wilma
Light and Motion Stella

All in all, it makes the investment a little more palatable knowing that the light can be used around the house, while camping, skiing, hiking... you name it. These aren't all just good bike lights, but are good lights in general.

I am thrilled with this development.

*the Joystick could be the most versatile bicycle light on the market. It's tiny, packs a decent amount of light, can be bar, helmet or head mounted and it's flashlight shape lends itself to easy off the bike use. It's small so it can be stowed in a pocket easily and it can be used with an external battery pack for additional light.

That's it for this week. For those of you in the U.S. of A., have a great Thanksgiving.

Catching Up

2008-11-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

Man, am I behind. Rather than have a lengthy preamble, I'll just jump right in. First up, the Tesla.

The Tesla is Lupines first LED light with a reflector. The light is relatively compact and the beam is decidedly a spot.

Lupine claims 700 lumen output and I can tell you it is bright! The beam pattern reminds me of a cross between the Arc and NR HIDs.

Speaking of NiteRider, yesterday I received their newest tail light, the Cherry Bomb.

Like the Princeton Tec's Swerve and Planet Bike's Super Flash, the punch in the Cherry Bomb comes from a 1/2 watt red LED. Also like its competitors, this is an AAA battery powered light. What NiteRider has done differently, though, is how they use the 1/2 watt LED. The Swerve has two of them, one spot, one wide beam. The Super Flash has one, and it's a spot--more or less--that alternates with two 5mm LEDs. NiteRider has two 5mm LEDs as well, and uses an oval lens on the 1/2 watt. Its pattern looks like this:

This should help with visibility off axis--where most cars will be.

Exposure introduced their MaXx-D light this year. From the side it looks like the Enduro MaXx we've seen before.

The front, however, shows that the MaXx-D means buisiness.

The quad array of LEDs has a claimed output of 960 lumens. As before, the battery is entirely contained within the light head.

Whew, lots-o-stuff. Now I'm just about caught up, but I'll be back later this week--most likely tomorrow--to discuss headbands.

No, not sweatbands! Headbands for lights.

Now would be a good time to ride

2008-11-20T14:54:00.001-08:00

Ok, this one might be gloomy. Consider yourself forewarned.

Let me paint you a picture. I'm sitting in my basement (working my "day job" from home today). I'm on the phone with support for a product I'm working with. I've been with support since about noon. There's no end in sight. My basement is kind of dark--as basements should be--and kind of chilly. About the only light is what is streaming through the undersized basement window near the short ceiling. I'm at a desk and there's a bike on a trainer behind me.

I think it's mocking me.

Earlier today, the wind was howling outside and it was overcast. Nasty weather, to be sure. It was enough to make me glad to be inside--which is strange for this week. This week, the weather has been warm. The trails have been dry. A number of so called "buddies" of mine have been out on rides--they've been out riding without me.

But now, as I look up and out, I see blue sky. It looks all the more blue because of the contrast from the leaves still clinging to the trees outside. There's still a bit of wind, but nothing so blustery as before. Let me emphasize that again, that the sun is out.

Oh, and it's a balmy 54 degrees.

I was going to ride today. In fact, nothing was going to stand between me and a ride.

Evidently, all it takes is a really long support call to stop my from riding.

So, here I sit, staring out the window while a support guy drones on about what he's doing to fix my server--which doesn't even seem to be working, by the way. I'm hoping against hope that the weather will hold a few more days. Heck, I wouldn't mind a nice, warm Thanksgiving next week, either.