Tag: Cycling

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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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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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Attack on Mt Magazine

A few days earlier, I had received an email from the Arkansas Bicycle Club with some of their upcoming rides listed and one of them was a ride from Danville, AR to Havana and then up Mt. Magazine.

When I first read this idea I joked to Aly that we should do that. We laughed and time marched on but later in the week I found myself thinking “ya know… I think we actually could do that.”

Route map for todays ride

When the day arrived, Aly didn’t feel good so she stayed home to try and fight whatever bug she had off while Mandy and I packed up our tandem recumbent trike and headed to Danville.

In addition to riding up the tallest mountain in Arkansas, we would have a ham radio and GPS unit on the bike which would sent our position reports every two minutes. This was our first time trying that out and Aly would be at home monitoring our progress off and on throughout the day.

In the photo above, you can see the GPS unit and radio. If you click on the photo you’ll be able to see notes explaining each of the parts.

So… recumbents aren’t known to be good climbers and trikes even worse so… and we had a tandem recumbent trike! This would be the tallest and longest climb for either of us, over 2500 feet of climbing and ~21 miles from the bottom to the top. That 21 miles includes the 10-12 miles of “warmup” ride to get to the start of the climbing as well as the rolling hills in the last 3-4 miles on top.

Here’s an elevation profile for todays ride…

Elevation profile for todays ride

The group waited for us at the gas station in Havana which is about 9 miles from the starting point. With the warm-up over, we turned off Highway 10 and headed for the top of Mt. Magazine.

Regrouping at Havana

I’m extremely proud to say that Mandy and I grunted and groaned though the next several hours and climbed that bitch at an average of 3 mph. We never did dip below 2.0 mph according to the GPS but we did get pretty close! It got to the point that if we were able to go over 4 mph then we were pretty darned happy (c:

As I mentioned, this was an ABC ride but everyone else was on their two-wheeled-skinny-tire-go-fast bikes so we didn’t see them once the climbing started. They made sure we got to the top (about two hours after they did) but then they all headed down and back home.

So this “group” ride was more of a solo outing for Mandy and I with a few people in the vicinity that we knew.

Once at the top (about five hours after we left our vehicle), we stood in line for the lunch buffet at the Lodge and my legs were so week I had to keep sitting in nearby chairs!

After about 30 minutes in line, we were finally seated and lunch could actually begin. We took our time, enjoying the cold water and comfortable seats. After eating we found a sunny spot and a couch to sit on and rested while our bodies processed the food.

While waiting we watched a wedding take place outside, hang-gliders floating above the Lodge and we flipped through a photography book about Oklahoma.

As we were leaving, we had a nice lady take our photo and we answered her questions about our ride up. She was familiar with recumbent trikes because, get this, many people in her retirement community have them!

The ride down was a blast, we wore our rain jackets to cut the wind and kept the speed under 41 mph! The bike was super smooth and stable at that speed and we arrived at the bottom only 40 minutes after leaving the Lodge!

What had taken nearly four hours to climb up, took only 40 minutes to ride down. I’ve ridden my bike down the other side of Mt Magazine but this ride was so much sweeter since we actually earned it (instead of driving to the top).

The GPS data for this ride can be downloaded from here.

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50+ Miles…

Aly and I rode our tandem recumbent trike on what is my longest ride ever today… 51.4 miles. Even though the tandem is rather comfortable, after that long in the chair stuff still hurts if you aren’t used to it.

We’re glad to be home… that post-ride shower and Quizno’s were just what the doctor ordered. Time to take some Vitamin-I now and go to bed.

Benton-Haskell-Poyen-Tull Loop

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

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2009 Tour de Meers

 

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On Memorial Day weekend, we headed west to the Wichita Mountains in southwestern Oklahoma. We arrived at Camp Doris much too late to stake out a camping spot, so we went on to the pasture doubling as registration area for the annual Tour De Meers bike ride. The next morning, cars parked all around us as we staggered around our campsite, changing our clothes and cooking our breakfast. We set out to ride the longest loop, 67 miles, which would have taken us through the wildlife refuge and up through the country north and east of the park; we were turned around at about fifteen miles, though, by a bad thunderstorm. We were disappointed that our ride was only thirty miles long, but happy that this change meant we got to ride through the refuge twice.

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It was a warm day, but we had plenty to drink. We have to remind Mandy to drink enough; it helps to keep powdered drink mix to make the water taste better.

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Whose idea was it to give the little kid the number 69? It wasn’t ours; we each got a bag full of goodies with tshirts, water bottles, ink pens, tourist junk, and our race numbers. The bag that said “Mandy” included a tag with her number on it.

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One of the Wichita Wildlife Refuge’s big attractions is the buffalo that range across big portions of the park. The entrances are protected by cattle guards, which means that the huge animals roam freely up to and across the roads within the refuge. We rode up about fifteen feet from this fellow and another male buffalo; later in the day, we counted nearly sixty females with their calves on a hillside as we passed. Every time we visit we have a buffalo encounter; last time it was a big male heading toward us on a trail in the parallel forest. (We stepped politely aside to let him pass.) This time, the night after our ride, we finally found a place to camp at Doris but unwittingly set up our tent in a favorite buffalo supper spot; Mandy and I ended up stuck inside the tent as we watched a big male buffalo crunching his way slowly toward us. We sat stock still in the tent door and listened to his breath against the grass; he came within about five feet of us before calmly moving on.

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There’s a long-abandoned rock bungalow along one of the roads in the refuge, complete with a cellar, this outbuilding, and what appears to be the remain of a roadside stand of some kind. The shade of the porch made a good picnic spot on Sunday morning, and the hill behind the house proved excellent for kite-flying and lizard-watching.

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Just a we tucked the green kite under our arms to return to the car, a rangers’ truck pulled up into the driveway. Two very serious people came across the yard toward us. “Is everything all right?” I asked. “Is this a non-kite-flying area?” They weren’t sure how to respond to that; apparently not, they supposed we could fly a kite here, but most people don’t, and they thought we might be digging up cactus or something. Apparently we just looked suspicious. I’ve never been almost arrested for flying a kite before.

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On Monday morning, before leaving for home, we left our camp set up and climbed up Little Baldy, a short hike with a very impressive view of the Wichitas including a lake or two and the visitors’ center. We always leave before we want to.

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Here’s a little guy we met on Monday morning. The warm pink granite boulders in the Wichitas shelter lots of lizards, and they tantalize Mandy; they’re friendly enough to be interesting and ALMOST slow enough to catch. Also on Monday, I frightened a snake sunning itself in my path; he slithered quickly up a nearby tree and almost lost himself in its branches. Another favorite of Mandy’s is the prairie dogs in the “town” near one of the roads; she could sit, stock still, and watch them for an hour or two if we’d let her.

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Commute to Work

Well… I’ve ridden my bike home from work before but today Aly is riding her bike to a work related training session at the 4H Center ~17 miles north of here. Yay her! This is why she’s leading her office team in the Walk Across Arkansas challenge and she’ll do this today and tomorrow.

Did I mention there was a chance of rain today? Hopefully she makes it up there sweaty and not rainy.

4H (1 of 2)

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A quick ride before dinner

Today, Mandy and I took the GTT out for a ten mile ride around town. This ride pushed me over 100 miles for March 🙂 We’ve been trying to ride every day and we’re hit and miss. We’ll get the whole weather + cooking + chores + homework + riding thing down though.

Our new clipless shoes work really well… I didn’t realize how much effort it took to keep your feet on the pedals without them.

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Ho dam! I gots to get me one of dem!

Well… we did it

A few days ago we noticed a Greenspeed GTT for sale on ‘BentRider Online and we decided to go test ride it because, ya know, we’d never get a chance to do so again and it looks like a really fun bike.

So we went and tried it out. And that was our biggest mistake since we REALLY liked the bike. We asked more questions, did additional research online and decided we wanted it. We haggled a bit and got the seller to show us how to adjust a few parts and pieces and then paid for the bike and loaded it into our truck and headed home.

And we’ve been grinning ever since.

Below you’ll find a few of the photos of the bike that the seller had posted online. The last photo shows the handlebar, brakes and shifters and how they relate to the seat.