Off to the races!

Much like I did when I started running, I found the best motivation is embarrassment.

I've been riding a little over a year now and logged about 1600 miles in that time, though the longest ride up to that point was only about 30 miles.

Being employed full time (thankfully!), a husband, a father, and all that goes in hand with that it's hard to dedicate enough time to cycling without neglecting something else.

Since August, I've really only been able to do 30min rides on my breaks from work, depending on the route or weather I usually can squeeze in 6-8 miles. The colder it's gotten I actually get more riding time as I can just go in my work clothes and change into something cooler for the ride.

Black Friday I signed up for my first organized cycling event, the Rough Road 100.

The Rough Road 100 is a 100K (Thus the 100 in the name) ride/race that starts and ends in Morris, IL. About 25% of the route is on gravel or crushed limestone roads, so it's not strictly a road race like you'd see in the Tour De France but more akin to the trend of "gravel grinders" or all-road races.

100K is about double the distance of the longest ride I've been on, add to that several section of road that isn't paved.

I'm looking forward too it, the Fuji is getting dialed in with every ride, I'm testing eating while riding and getting back into cycling shape since I slacked off in August.

For more information about the event check out the website Rough Road 100

Winter Cycling......SNOW!

Another day of hitting the snow covered trails. At the time I road Fox Valley Park District hadn't gotten around to clearing much of the Virgil Gilman Trail so I got to experience riding in a few inches of snow/ice. It doesn't sound much fun, but surprisingly it was very challenging to try and keep your speed up while navigating trail. Weather was in the lower 20s and about a 13mph breeze, sunny though!

 First half of the trail looked like someone tried to plow it once, but then the wind blew it back over it and froze it. This was comparable to riding on a rough gravel road but add to it ice.

Ubiquitous bike leaning against something photo.

 The rest of the trail that hadn't been touched had several downed limbs, and about 2" of snow.

My view for part of the ride as I focused on the road ahead of me.

Things to take away from this adventure (and none of this is a new revelation on my part:

-Wider tires with lower pressure would have been nice, but part of the challenge was riding on what I had.

-Don't dress too warm, once you start moving you heat up pretty quickly. I'm still zeroing on on what is the right amount of clothing for certain temperatures.

Well till next time, Cycle on!

Winter cycling

Winter storm "Bruce" dumped quite a bit of the white stuff on the area Sunday. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the local park district crew it seems most of the bike trails were cleared.

A crisp 27* outside made for a brisk ride, and trying to avoid puddles (forgot the bike with fenders!) was challenging. I've always looked at it this way, getting out when the weather is like this makes summer rides all the much more enjoyable!

A work in progress, part 2 Finale!

After getting off to a rough start with the brake levers, I was able to finish up this build.

I hadn't planned to re-wrap the bars yet, the cloth tape seemed usable and I had less padded wrap on the Vitus. But as it turned out, the brackets for attaching the brake hoods used a different thread pitch then ANY other brake lever bolt I had from old Schwinn Weinmanns, to Dia-compe, to the Modolos I was planning to put on there.

So as it was, I elected to undo the whole thing and start fresh.

 

I pulled the old tape off, slid on the brackets for the Modolo hoods and re-taped the guides for the bar-end shifters. Re-rapped in some 2.5mm Lizardskin bartape (and boy is that stuff comfortable) and installed the SunTour Accushift barcons.

Late 80's 7-speed index barcons

Re-wrapped drop bars.

A few other Frankensteined parts include a 1978 SunTour Honor rear derailleur,  this was a 5-speed friction component on a low end bike. It's heavy and not much to look but it's reliable, sturdy and believe it or not through some sort of bicycle voodoo I managed to get it to index with the barends on a Regina Extra-XB 6-speed free-wheel!

It ain't pretty, but it works and best of all it was already on hand. Cogs are 14,16,18,20,22,24 for you gear heads out there, and with the front triple a 50,45,28 mixed with the 700x35 Gravelking SKs I've got a range of 31-97 gear inches. Given the closeness of the freewheel it works out pretty well for around these parts of Illinois I ride, at least for unloaded riding. We'll see how well this works out, a 14-28 may work better, but then I'd have to change the derailleur as well, it's already a bit past capacity as is.

 

Another shot of the front triple, it's been a loooong time since I rode a bike with 3 up front, but the barends make selecting the right chain relatively easy. Also found some dustcaps off another bike.

Paint wasn't too dinged up, needs a good cleaning.

And finally, the finished product another mixed spec bike assembled from a frame and random components. This bike will replace at least a few of my rides, thought I'm a fan of N+ bikes I just don't have the room or time to ride all of them and rather see them pedal off with new owners.

So if you know anyone in the market for a 1967, 1973 or 1975 Schwinn let me know!

With possibly a few minor changes this is what I plan to ride the Rough Rode 100 in April with.

A work in progress, part 1

Its almost like as soon as I finish up one bike I find another that fills a completely different area to work on.

All 5 of you who follow my blog will recall the light blue Schwinn Continental I retro-modded into something of a gravel bike earlier this month. It's continued to be a fun ride and good reminder of the work I put into my first Continental.

This new bike is something different: A 1984 Fuji Touring Series V.

 Photo courtesy of Classic Fuji.com

In it's day it was Fuji's top of the line touring bike, relaxed riding position, long chain stays, multiple spots for water bottles, fender/rack mounts and higher level SunTour components (Hooray for SunTour!). As they say in the business,  SO that's the good.

The downside to this frame, is it was missing a fair amount of parts and so far is probably the most in-depth overhaul and scratching together compatible parts on a non-existent budget.

What it came with: 56cm Frame (my size!) and fork, Nitto olympiade aluminum drop bars wrapped in red cloth tape and Technomic stem, Sugino AT triple crank and 50/45/28 chain rings, Dia Compe Gran Compe cantilever brakes, Avocet Touring II saddle.

Nitto bars wrapped in cloth tape, very 1980s!

 

Sugino AT 50/45/28 triple, this crank set the bolt pattern standard for triple cranks for a long time (110/74 BCD)

 

Some things this bike was missing: Brakes hoods, levers and cable housing (as might be obvious in the pictures), shifters of any type (original equipment was SunTour bar-ends), mismatched wheels; one aluminum rim 27" laced to Sunshine Gyromaster hub in front (also original equipment) and a Specilized high spoke count double sided hub with a 700c rim in back (no idea what or where this came from), a rear derailleur (originally equipped with the now rare and expensive SunTour LeTech touring derailleur) and a chain.

Overall though, by stripping some unused bikes and assembling parts I had laying around I thought this would be a quick build. Stay tuned for part 2.

It's been a long, long time....

It's been a while since I posted anything, integrating Google blogger into facebook/instagram posts automatically is not seamless. That and aside from commuting a bunch and riding the same trails it was starting to just be the same pictures over and over again. Which was getting boring even for me.

Some new things though, finally finished the 1973 Continental. Cleaned and re-packed all the bearings, new cables and brake pads, and threw on the Saturne HC19 rims I had laying around with the Panaracer Gravelking SK 700x35cm wheels.

This has turned out to a pleasantly fun bike set-up, stripped off the kickstand, aluminum rims, no water bottle cage, or rear rack keeps the weight down. It's a size smaller than the 1975 Continental I commute on, so it's feels a little "tighter" and like a race bike to me.

I am super impressed so far with the Gravelking SK tires, for a semi-knobbed (that's the SK...) they're still pretty quiet on the road or pavement, can feel the resistance compared to the slicks I run on my other bikes, but off road is where they really shine. Transition from trail to grass or gravel you don't notice a loss in traction, just a slight additional effort. The current set up is with some Bontrager tubes pumped to 55psi in front and 60psi in back.  I found a 3.75 gravel trail near my house that has lots of turns and when I first took this bike out to ride it was relatively wet from rain, so it made for a fun and technical ride. Looking forward to exploring more with this bike in the future. For any older or retro bike build I can only recommend the tan walls, I was leaning towards solid black but Jimmy at Oswego Cyclery convinced me otherwise, glad I listened.

I had decided to build this bike up in anticipation of riding the Rough Road 100 next April. Why use a 40 year old steel antique?
1) I'm crazy and a glutton for punishment
2) Bragging rights, sure you can do a 65 mile gravel ride on a modern Aluminum frame, with tubeless tires, and modern shift system and drive train. But lets face it, I'm not going to place in the top 100 regardless of what I ride so to just finish on this bike would be sweet and a testament to perseverance.
3) It's a sweet blue color.

We'll see what the future brings if I have a chance to get some major miles on this or any bike for that matter. I also recently picked up a 1984 Fuji Touring Series V that needs some work but which has the prospect of being an excellent replacement for a both Schwinns. The '75 was really always supposed to be a short term bike to see if I actually enjoyed it cycling before investing in something else.

Waiting to exhale.......and inhale, and exhale.....

Well it's been two weeks since I had a minor medical procedure done that kept me off the bike.

I've always been a creature of habit or routine, and once I break a cycle (no pun intended) I often never go back. It was that way with soda, I stopped drinking it one day after having a can at least every day for many years. So I was worried two weeks off and I'd feel the same way about cycling.

Thankfully that was not the case. Hopped on the Vitus and managed 7.19 miles in 25:29 with an average speed of 16.9mph. Honestly better than I'd hoped for, and didn't have any pain.

Glad to be back in the saddle again! (cue the Gene Autry)

Retro Gravel Build Part 1

Finally started on my retro gravel bike build, starting with the opaque blue 1973 Schwinn Continental I picked up earlier this year. Too many other things going on so this was on the back burner, like waaaaaay in back.

 

Went with some Panaracer Gravelking SKs in 700x35c size, they look great on an old bike with the tan sidewalls. Test fit went great, on to cleaning up and re-greasing the old bird.

Slow ride, take it easy

Sunday I rode 30 miles on the Continental, then another 12 miles on Monday and around 18 miles commuting to work and back on Tuesday.

I needed a break, thought I wasn't feeling bad or hurting I knew if I kept riding hard I would soon.

So today I ended up hopping on the '67 Collegiate and doing a slow 6 mile ride up and down the Fox River, with the weather we were having it was a perfect day for a cruise.

Concentrer sur le Vitus

The Vitus 979 was an attempt in the early 1980s to build a light aluminum race bike, the large majority of bikes up to this point had been made with varying weights of steel, heavy gas pipe like that found on many vintage Schwinn bicycles like the Varsity and Continental and thinner type found on many European bikes. But still, all things even steel weighs more than aluminum, and in a sport were dropping weight can chop seconds off a race split it was worth investigating.

What also made the Vitus unique or novel, was the approach in attaching the aluminum components , traditional steel bike were generally "lugged", that is the metal tubes ran into another metal pieces and they were welded together. This same concept was used on the Vitus except rather than welded into place a aerospace grade heat activated epoxy was used to essentially glue the bike together. In the pictures you can see the black anodized aluminum tubes run into bare aluminum lugs.

The rest of the components on the bike are popular hi-end parts that are 1980s appropriate for a "retro" or "L'eroica" build.

 Suntour was a Japanese company that made a wide range of components for bicycles and Superbe Pro was their top level in the mid-1980s. On the Vitus the cranks, chain rings, and shift levers are all the same group set. Even 30+ years later these components shift amazing and work just like you'd want them to.

Most people will be familiar with shifting bike gears and hearing "clicks" this is called index shifting and a mechanical limiter clicks the derailleur into the right spot every time. Index shifting was a new technology in the 1980s and many companies offered friction shifting, where you had to know and get a feel for where it needed to be, and index shifting in one component. These Suntour levers allowed you to select friction or index depending on what you liked.

Supurbe Pro rear derailleur and New Winner rear freewheel, an interesting fact about the New Winner series of gears was it was narrow enough to fit a 7-speed freewheel where previously you could only fit 5 or 6, it required a thinner chain but this set-up works pretty well. Having extra gears allows you to set your cadence to meet the conditions rather than have to choose something close but not quite right, current road bikes now often have 10,11 or even 12 speed rear clusters.

Limited Edition Cinelli "Colorado" bars, as far as I can tell there isn't anything too incredibly special about these but they are themed to make reference to the old Coor's Classic race that was run in the 1980s. The blue colored stem is just another neat small detail on this bike.

Royal Gran Compe by Dia-Compe brakes, the black colored arms are one of the harder to find colors. Dia-Compe made high-quality brake components for a number of years.

Gravel Grinder

There's a new trend in cycling called gravel riding, and like most things its an evolution and specification of some other style of riding.

Road cycling lead to cyclocross, cyclocross led to gravel. Bikes with wider clearances for bigger tires but not quite a full on mountain bike. But essentially you are taking a bike off paved roads. Another related trend is the "1x" drive train where the front gears affixed to the cranks only have one as opposed to the double or triple gear set you might be familiar with on your usual road or mountain bike.

This just seems like the purest form of riding like you did as a kid.

This is from a little short track near where I work, but transport back in time to mid-90s Houston, Texas and you'd be hard pressed to see a difference (Maybe less mosquitoes). Out behind my neighborhood was a portion of the buffalo bayou and from the years of people riding back there a dirt/gravel trail had been established. In recent years its been paved over so its a "proper" bike path, but for me I'd take an undeveloped path any day.

My only complaint is there aren't too many areas like this I can cycle too easily.

A local oddity

From my observations at least, I'm a bit of an oddity around here.

I live in suburban Illinois far enough from Chicago that seeing someone cycle around for something aside from exercise is rarely seen. I know there are others that do it, but we're so spread out on our selected routes that we don't run into each other.

Even when I drive which is more than I'd like to lately, I take a bike (or two) with me and try to incorporate it in my day. I parked at work and later during a break rode to Goodwill to drop off a donation and then to Sam's to pick up groceries.

Total round trip was only 2 miles but 85* and humid, most people would just drive it. I figured it was a short trip, I'd save some gas and it'd be another chance to hop on my bike.

After depositing the baby bath tub which must have looked ridiculous strapped to the back of my bike, I peddled over and into Sam's club to pick up my order (Order ahead it's great!).

Mostly strange looks, but I'll give them credit no one asked me to park my bike outside (I suppose there's no law against it, but you just don't see people rolling bikes into stores so I guess I expected it?) paid for my order and left, the only comment was from the lady marking receipts as I left saying "that's the way to do it, gas is so expensive"

So, even if I saved a measly $1 in gas that day perhaps I'll help inspire others to ditch the car for a trip.

Slow down a bit and just ride

Since November I've had a series of (well two) road bikes and mainly focused on beating PRs and trying to reduce the time it takes me to commute to work, so basically fast, fast and faster.

With the addition of the '67 Collegiate I've had to alter my rides when I take it out for a spin.
Only having 5-gears as opposed to the 10+ on my other rides, there isn't the overall range of gears to suit the speed, cadence and road conditions so you have to pick one closest to it and just go with it.

The Interesting side effect of this is its forced me to slow down my rides and it's been less work-out and more of a fun cruise. Don't get me wrong if I need to haul-a$$ to work or ride with the peloton I'll take something else, but this is perfect for work breaks where I don't want to have to change into cycling clothes or just get out and enjoy the air.

One less gear selector is also less to think about, riding this bike takes me back more than any other to when you just rode for fun and didn't have anything to worry about. If you ride and don't currently have access to a 5-speed or less bike I highly suggest borrowing one now and again to as Grant Petersen is frequent to say "Just ride".

new things

Apparently I'm rough on my workout items, with in a month I broke my Fitbit and the sunglasses I wear.

Either that or the Fitbit Charge HR just wasn't designed for very active people, and to be honest the glasses I found on the ground several years back so I wasn't THAT upset about those.

 About two years ago my wife gifted me a new Charge HR to help with tracking my workouts. I give a lot of credit to Fitbit for assisting me in keeping on track of my goals with tracking exercise, calories, steps, water.....

It's not easy to do all that manually, I've tried it before. I seriously recommend getting a fitness tracker if you are trying to loose weight or be healthier and can't afford a personal life coach or anything like that (You do need a bit of self discipline however) but alas, in less than a year the 1st Fitbit cracked in half. Fortunately it was still under warranty so Fitbit offered to replace it or give me a discount on a new one. Being the cheapskate that I am, I gladly accepted a replacement Charge HR, after all I was familiar with the operation of the device and happy with the results.

Fast forward to a year later and the same damage occurred to the replacement, being past the 1-year warranty Fitbit offered me 30% off a new one but they don't sell a model like the Charge HR. I soldiered on with a randomly working tracker for a few months.

Having heard about my predicament, a family member graciously gifted me their old Garmin Forerunner 225 wrist tracker. Functionality wise it works just like my Fitbit, new app, different buttons but has a built in GPS, so I don't have to lug my phone around with me to track rides or runs. Downside is the tracker was designed for runners so doesn't automatically add a workout as a bicycle ride, but a minor inconvenience and beggars can't be choosers!

And to replace the free glasses, I picked up a pair of these Goodr shades to give them a try. So far it's been too cloudy to need sunglasses go figure!

Anyways, hooray for New (sorta) Gear day!

mechanicals

Mechanical. In the cycling world this term often refers to something happening on your ride that is mechanically related that causes and interruption or makes you stop.

On my lunch break ride today I had one. While up shifting on the front chain rings I pushed a little too hard on the lever and caused the derailleur to over shift (Friction shifting a topic for another day!) and drop my chain between the chain ring and the guard plate. Luckily I was able to coast to a safe place to stop and work out the stuck chain and be on my way.

Alas, a reminder that not all rides will go perfect but often a bad day of biking is better than a day with no biking!

Check 1 Check 2.....is this thing on?

Hello there! Is this how you're supposed to start one of these things?
Welcome to Pedals, Pints and Pages my blog on a few things I enjoy, Bikes, beer and books.

With this portal you'll gain access to interesting segment of my life, with wonderful insight and moments.......or more likely terrible iPhone photos with marginal framing and lighting.

Anyhooo, thanks for checking this out and I hope you'll come back and see more interesting material.

If you already can't get enough you can check out my previous adventures on my Instagram account Pedals_Pints_pages