Category: Cycling

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Last Days of the Spring Tour

The Arkansas Bicycle Club had its “Spring Tour” and even though I couldn’t ride with them all week, I did manage to join them for their final two days. Susan picked me up on the way to Glenwood where we met the road warriors for dinner at a very nice Italian place. After dinner we set up camp at the canoe outfitters, hung out for a bit around a camp fire and headed off to bed at a respectable time.

The next morning we rode several miles and had breakfast at a cafe on the square in Amity (that’s Janice coming into Amity in the photo below) and bought supplies for lunch at the grocery store next door.

We pedaled about 40 miles that Saturday and made camp at Lake Degray State Park. The photo below shows most of our bikes parked in a single parking spot (two bikes were parked elsewhere) outside of the Visitors Center.

Camp was set up, showers were taken and then dinner was had at the state parks restaurant. The next morning, breakfast was again at the on site restaurant and we headed to Sheridan where five members of the group had started out seven days before.

On the way home though, Brad had a shifter cable break! Don’t worry though, Brad had the spare part with him and we stopped on the porch of an abandoned storefront in Donaldson so he could make the repair.

Here’s a shot of my LHT waiting patiently in Donaldson. The bike has functioned extremely well… it’s comfortable, stable and easy going, I’m not sure what else could be asked for in a touring bike. Today we rode about 58 miles which is a new record for me.

The Brooks saddle was comfortable straight out of the box and I’m getting used to the drop bars and gearing on this bike. I wound up using Aly’s front panniers and really liked the way the white bags looked but I’ll be ordering myself a pair of yellows to match our existing rear panniers.

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Big Dam Wheel

After hours of carrying rocks and digging holes, I was ready to go home, but Mandy wanted to see if she could ride the unicycle over the Big Dam Bridge (BDB). According the Wikipedia’s BDB page, the bridge itself is about eight tenths of a mile long and the approaches are at a 5% grade.

It was clear she could do it. She was strong enough to ride up the bridge, and balanced enough to steer around little kids and dogs, and controlled enough to descend without falling. In fact, she was strong enough to do all of it over and over. But she’d get the ‘hard part’ done and something silly would happen, like people who didn’t move out of the way, or sand in her eye, or a violent apple-juice-induced coughing fit, and she’d fall.

And that wasn’t good enough. She was determined that she was going to do it straight, up and across and down, without dropping the uni.

Finally, on the fifth try, she did it. She says her next project will be a triple backflip with a twist. (Surely, she’s kidding.)

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Two Miles for Mandy

While we adults have been fiddling with our bikes lately, Mandy has been happily practicing on her unicycle. (And also getting straight A’s in all her classes. And also applying for and being accepted to 7th grade Advanced Art for next year. And also deciding to be a National Geographic photojournalist when she grows up. So she’s been busy.) But back to the uni: she’s quite good now at controlling her direction and at going up and down hills and at riding on grass. Today she asked if we could go to the River Trail a little early, because she wanted to see if she could ride a whole mile on the uni. Bryan rode alongside her with the GPS so that she could establish the mileage.

When he told her she’d reached a mile, she still felt fine and decided to try for two miles. She was thirsty so I handed her a water bottle as she rode by. She handed the drink back the next time she passed me, and a few minutes later completed the two miles at exactly one o’clock, right in front of the assembled ABC riders, who were waiting for Bryan to begin their group ride. Yessss!

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Downhill speed: the LHT on River Mountain Road

So today I finally got to take the LHT out for a good first ride and we drove to Little Rock to meet up with the Arkansas Bicycle Club’s “Sunday @ 1 o’clock” ride on the River Trail.

At the end of the ride, mind you this was after 29 miles of riding and a stop at the Community Bakery, I decided to ride up River Mountain Road (see route map below, make sure to check out the elevation profile!) and see how well the Trucker climbed since it was geared about 25% lower than my previous bike.

I’m pleased to report that the LHT climbed amazingly well. I stopped once on the way up for a 60-second water, leg and lung break and then finished the climb. I don’t think I’ve ever made it up that climb (c:

On the ride down, I tucked into the drops, watched the road ahead of me and bombed down the hill. The bike tracked perfectly and wasn’t twitchy at all. Being a touring bike, I was afraid that it might be twitchy since it had no baggage today.

After arriving back at the car, I checked the “max speed” on my GPS (shown above) and was flabbergasted to see it say 42.8 mph! I wouldn’t have guessed that based on how the bike had performed and I definitely wasn’t trying to go stupid fast. Mandy and I have had the GTT up to ~42 mph before but I’ve never had a normal bike above 30-35 before.

All told, today was a nice ride though I wasn’t able to keep up with the main group since I had to stop and adjust my saddle twice. First time it was nose down which put too much weight on my wrists and the second time it was nose high which put too much weight on my parts and pieces. I think it’s about right now though.

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Feeling… Surly!

So this weekend I took possession my new Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT for short) and wound up selling my old Giant Cypress hybrid bike to my friend Gordon. I bought the LHT (pictured at the top of this post) from Sam at The Community Cyclist bike shop in Little Rock and had him…

The LHT is a touring bike that is supposed to be very comfortable to ride day after day and it had a reputation of carrying all your camping gear with nary a complaint. When Aly rode part of the recent Arkansas Bicycle Club “Touring 101” trip, she noticed that the 15 or so bikes were evenly divided between Truckers, Bike Fridays and Everything Else.

Here’s the final photo of the old Cypress. My last ride on it was when Aly and I rode the Forest Service roads near Lake Sylvia. Funny thing is that was really the first time I had ridden off road and, thanks to the Cypress, I enjoyed it a lot. I can definitely see a mountain bike of some sorts in the distant future.

Below you can see the cockpit of the new bike, with the handle bar stub, the Thumbie and the cross brake. Sam left the stub a little long and I believe I’ll either cut it shorter myself or bring it back in so he can do it. Better too long than too short though since it’s way easier to trim than glue (c:

The second stem was drilled to allow the brake cable to pass through and then tapped to allow it to function like a barrel adjuster.

I had Sam leave the steerer tube uncut so I could start out with the handle bars up high and lower them over time as I get used to riding with drop handlebars. The higher handlebars should also be more comfortable over longer distance.

This close-up shows the Thumbie a little clearer. The theory behind the Thumbie and the cross brake is that cyclists tend to ride in the “tops” the most and these changes place your two most commonly used controls (rear shifter and front brake) right at your fingertips.

I added a black Brooks B-17 Champion Special saddle that I purchased from Wallingford Bicycle Parts in New Orleans (Ed: Closed as of 2016 due to retirement). They have a no questions asked, SIX-MONTH return policy on their Brooks leather saddles. So that means if my tush fails to adapt to the leather saddle (which is supposed to be one of the most comfortable saddles for long distance riding…. once it’s broken in) then I can return it and either try another model (like one with springs) or just give up entirely.

This bike is going to start out with some MKS Grip King pedals from Rivendell Bicycle Works. I added blunt spikes to the pedals to make them even grippier and so far they have been very nice to ride no matter what shoes I’ve used (sandals, tennis shoes and dress shoes). I included some notes at the bottom of this post on the installation process.

Here’s a shot showing the Salmon Kool-Stop V-brake shoes and pads that Sam installed and the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders I put on. I’m still not clear why he wanted to go with V-brake shoes (which are thinner) instead of the traditional cantilever pads (which are about twice as thick).

Here’s the current “build list” for the Trucker…

2010 Long Haul Trucker
   Size: 56cm with 26" wheels
   Color: Velvet Blue
Comfort...
   Black Brooks B-17 Champion Special saddle
   Planet bike Cascadia fenders (black)
   Uncut steerer tube
Drivetrain/Brakes/Shifters...
   Front Cross/Interrupter Brake
   Rear shifter on a "Thumbie"
   Grip King pedals with blunt spikes
   Salmon Kool-Stop brake pads
Cargo Carrying...
   Second stem and handlebar stub
 Tubus Tara front rack
   Tubus Cargo rear rack (both racks from The Touring Store)
 Arkel handlebar bag ("big" size so it'll hold my dSLR)
 Ortleib Bike Packer Plus rear panniers (also bought from The Touring Store)
Safety/Other...
 Dinotte 200L headlight (AA batteries)
   Dinotte 140L tail light (AA batteries's)
 Velo Orange aluminum bell on headset spacer (not installed yet)
   Topeak Turbo Morph pump (not installed yet)
 Click-Stand "kickstand" (not installed yet)
Vanity...
   Fork, chain stay and seat stay decals were removed

Grip King Spikes – Installation notes

Installing the blunt spikes was fairly easy though I used a different method than specified on the Rivendell website:

  1. I used a 3/32″ drill bit to make a pilot hole
  2. Then a 1/8″ drill bit to enlarge the hole. This way the hole stayed in the middle of the nub.
  3. Next I used a pair of vice-grips to start the spike in the hole.
  4. When the spike was gripping good, I switched over to a 6mm socket and drove the spike the rest of the way in.
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Rough Riders

I keep thinking I’d like to try a long ride on the endless gravel roads in the National Forest near here. Sure, the surface is rougher, the hills are steeper, and there aren’t any sandwich shops. But wouldn’t it be nice to ride all day without getting crowded off the road by an angry pickup?

Mandy’s in Tulsa this weekend, so Bryan and took an experimental ride near Lake Sylvia. My bike’s the one with racks, so I carried all our tools and snacks and rain gear for the day. I still have no good low gear, so with that extra weight the hills were difficult. The road surface, on the better-traveled of the forest roads, was perfectly comfortable for the Voyageur, even with its fairly narrow tires. (32-630)

Bryan wanted to try to get his bike up North Fork Pinnacle, to see if we could camp there on a future bike tour. (Being older and wiser, and having been up there many times, I opted for a snack and a nap in the afternoon sunshine instead.)

The prize of the day was finding a usually-gated road, on a gentle, miles-long downhill, with small packed gravel that reminded me a little of the smooth Katy Trail in Missouri. We found a beautiful campsite next to a clear green stream.

Shortly after lunch, though, our perfect road turned to a jeep track with rock chunks the size of cats’ heads. The wide, flat puddles got bigger. There were stream crossings. I hadn’t signed up for mountain biking, so I walked the larger portion of this part of the road.

Bryan and his hybrid Giant, on the other hand, had a great time cruising through puddles and dodging rocks.

I don’t think I’m cut out for mountain biking: sometimes two wheels just doesn’t seem as practical as two feet. But the smoother parts of the day were lots of fun, and we’ll definitely ride in the forest again.

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A little touring

Bike touring is essentially backpacking, on roads, with wheels. Touring bikes have a different frame geometry than road bikes do, they’re geared differently, and there are more attachments for racks and extra bottle cages. Everybody has a different setup for touring: John refuses to buy a touring bike at all, so he doesn’t have any way to carry bags; he just has a really nice light trailer with a big drybag on top. Brad rides a Bike Friday with yellow Ortliebs. Some people carry tons of stuff. I carry a lot less. Everybody’s a little bit different.


The venerable Voyageur began its life as a touring bike. At some point in its history I’ve swapped the touring gears for a more road-bike-like setup, so that needs to be switched back at some point. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks upgrading brakes and adding doodads and getting it ready for a trip.


For this weekend, the local bike club planned a “beginners tour” of three days and two nights. Scheduling issues meant our family was only going to do half of the ride, but that was okay. Then, Friday around lunchtime, Mandy suddenly came down with some bug and I had to pick her up from school; her fever meant that she couldn’t go on the ride at all. Bryan suggested that he could stay with her so that I could join the group. I hung around home until her fever broke and she was resting comfortably, so I didn’t arrive at the Toad Suck Campground until well after dark. Saturday morning, I packed up my bike with fourteen other riders and we left the campground.


Our route took us through Bigelow, over Wye Mountain (with its acres of daffodils), through Little Italy and Roland, and past Pinnacle Mountain.


We pulled into Maumelle Park at about five, still ahead of the rain. Under towering pine trees, the group worked together to set up their little tents. Since I wasn’t spending the night, I took some pictures and helped Diane set up her camp.

Bryan and Mandy arrived just in time to say hello to all the riders before it began to rain. The first drops splashed on the Voyageur as I loaded it into the truck. The bike performed flawlessly on its first packing trip. The new racks and panniers and lights worked well, and the company was good, and I think we both enjoyed the day.

(Thanks to Jenny Blue Sky for the group photo and the picture of Diane and her tent.)

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Let’s go for a ride


We’ve been riding more lately. Because of back issues, I’ve been riding the Voyageur while Bryan pilots the big recumbent. We’ve enjoyed the springtime weather and the time together. This ride took us under the big pecan trees along Highway 161 between England and Scott.

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DIY Bike Stand

Aly has been talking about fixing up her old 1985 Schwinn Voyageur and before we can take it to the shop to see if there are any major defects we can’t detect, we need to clean it up a bit. So that sounded like a good excuse to build a work stand for our bikes (c:

An article on Bicycling.com had plans on how to make a $30 DIY Bike Stand so Mandy and I tackled it after work tonight and you can see our finished product in the photo up top. Turns out it was super easy to make but I was bummed that it cost more $55 (w/tax).

Below you can see all the parts needed (including ones we didn’t need like four of the washers and the pipe cap). We followed the instructions pretty much as is though we used 3/4″ pipe for the vertical member instead of the 1″ called for in that article.

The two pipes are joined together with an elbow …

… and the pipes are attached to a flange which is mounted on the base board …

… a pipe clamp holds two pieces of wood which clamp on to the bikes seat post. Making the grooves in the wood blocks was actually the most time consuming part of this project.

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Unicycles on Ice

On Friday, there really wasn’t enough snow to play in, but enough sleet had fallen that the streets in our neighborhood were pretty slippery. So we thought a good idea would be to see if Mandy could ride a unicycle on it. I’m hard pressed to make this sound like a responsible parenting decision.

I think that up to now she has had the impression that she rides the uni in a straight line; this afternoon’s tracks in the snow prove otherwise.

And yeah, in retrospect, we probably should have had her wear a helmet today.

Be sure to note the noise made in this video by the still-falling sleet. It was a good day.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9097312&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1