So, this Sunday we decided to have brunch up at the Presido Social Club. I reviewed this joint previously here. Awesome atmosphere, very comfortable, great with kids, and a nice example of a tasteful renovation of an older structure. Anyway, since wifebot(tm)s sister was coming and we have a 4 seater MINI, I offered to ride. I’d get a short zip up the grade and over the bridge under my belt, and it would solve the seating issue. I hadn’t ridden in about 12 days, nursing a strained wrist, but it seemed the time to give up the rest and get on it. It was about 75 degrees when I left, and it jumped to the high 80s while I was out. Gorgeous day.

Side note: here’s a shot of the Jolly Roger I have on each bike, for science.

Side Note: note the wisced ’3′ on my stem. I’m superficial.

Side note: and I finally laid down a Team Lope Tyre Clubbe vinyl on Rogue, my Cinelli road bike build. Smaller than usual, but not a lot of room on this frame.

So I got out there and rode through MV, Sausalito and up Alexander to the bridge. This was my usual return commute when I lived in SF and worked in MV, so I’m not reallu used to it in the day time, fighting tourists and swerving cars and rental bikes and sun. On the other hand, no wind, and I’m accustomed to it blowing like stink getting up the hill and over the bridge in the evenings. Anyway, the ride was great, my wirst didn’t hurt too badly, so it was nice to get some riding in. You’re off the bike for more than a few days and you feel like everything falls to pieces. This photo was at the entrance to the Presidio Social Club, near the Lombard gate. Getting there was interesting due to all the construction from the Doyle Drive demolition.

Unfortunately, having scorchers then rain then scorchers then rain is tough on allergy sufferers. The trees get tricked and re-flower so pollen levels are at an all time high. I looked like I was a Less Than Zero extra by the time I sat down. My eyes were on fire and I had the hay fevers and so on. But the food was good and being with my family was better. Ate light. Just heading down the hill again, right?

Well, here’s what happened: the pedestrian and bike traffic is pooled onto the bay side of the Golden Gate Bridge while they do ‘construction’ in quotes, because there was nothing happening on the weekend of course and I saw no dangerous sections of that side in all my drives into the city at this point. I think they just close it off for months at a time and sort out the repair schedule as they need to later. It really pisses me off. Combining riders and pedestrians on the same side is a recipe for disaster, and I’ve commented on this several times here on Team Lope. It’s terrible. The tourist traffic is immense, no one looks where they’re going, the pedestrians stagger or JUMP out into the bike side the bikes get all tangled up with the tourist rentals and such, and then frustrated roadies plow through them all. It’s a bad scene, and very stressful. On the way over, I saw several near-misses, thanks to a girl scout march. Those girls were NOT being managed by the troop leaders, and were out of control.

So, on the way back, more of the same, and despite going slow and calling out and trying to safely and politely navigate through the throng of people who were paying NO attention, I still collected a girl scout. She tangled in my bars like ole Lance, though I was only going about 5mph and I didn’t fall over. The girl scattered and then the troop master or ward started screaming at me. I pointed out that if I was crossing the bridge in these conditions I’d be holding my daughter’s hand if she was out of control, as they were, and that SHE was responsible for keeping those girls in line. I said this very politely as she ranted about ‘us cyclists’. Keep in mind I was being very careful and calling out, while riders in front of and behind me were less patient. I made sure the girl was OK, and she was. She was totally backed up and quiet too, because she knew what she did: she was jumping out and tagging the opposing handrail like a game. Anyway, I was so fired with adrenaline and aggravated at those irresponsible women that I had to burn it off. Not engaging in a confrontation is like swallowing a grenade. So, I got off the bridge and decided to climb the Marin Headlands, and so I did.

That cleansed my palate! I haven’t ridden up that stretch since they repaved it and added a roundabout for all the tourist cars, and it was a nice refresher. Got to the top, took a few pics, descended the other side, felt that cool ocean breeze. Really great! Because of my wirst, my braking was weak so I locked up the back wheel a few times ont he descent avoiding braking cars, but overall, no issues. And MAN, is that tunnel back to the bridge exhilarating or what? I didn’t time it this time but I was ahead of the cars, it’s one way/staggered, and it’s a mild descent so it’s SO FAST. Love it.

Back home through the tourist madness of Sasaulito, up to the deck where the whole fam was hiding out from the heat, a beer and a baby in my lap. Great way to end my impromptu climbing ride!

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: Marin Headlands in a Fixed Fury
2. team lope ride report : sf -> mill valley, roundtrip, FIXED
3. team lope ride report : bay point to sacramento NAHBS ride

This is a companion report to the detailed, dare I even say thurra, ride report Ironlung posted this morning. The Primavera event is probably one of my favorite charity rides in the area, largely based on what Lung pointed out in his write-up: excellently supported, beautiful views at the reservoir, and close enough to home to keep it from being a travel hassle. In previous years, I took a road bike, so my perspective was shaky as I planned for this year’s run on a fixed-gear. I remembered the Calaveras Wall but that was about it. Anyway, Lung and I basically rode a variation on what we took to LA in Lifecycle, and ride every day, basically: him on a Cinelli X MASH Bolt, me on a Cinelli X Mash [sceond gen]…we were set up a little differently from each other. He used drop bars, and I had bulls. Our gearing was a bit different too: he ran 44/16 for a 72 inchgear as his base, and 44/20 for the steep climbing sections, yielding something like 57 inchgear. I rode a deeper 48/17 (77 inchgear) with a 48/19 (67 inchgear) for climbs. Previously, neither of us had used bail-out gears on our bikes. We brought cogs on Lifecycle but never used em, and on all of our rides in Marin and the like, we muscled through climbs with what we had, and avoided the super-steep stuff altogether out of practicality (if one may use the term when discussing fixed-gear bikes in this context)… but here we were facing climbs that were part of a regular regional loop for roadies, and those climbs were spread out over a good distance, so attrition would also be a factor. As any cyclist can tell you, you can go all out and ride farther and longer than you thought possible… on one climb… but that’s it, you’re not going to recover. To sustain for a whole day you need to see the long picture. We knew this was going to be the most climbing we’d done fixed, and early in the riding season to boot, but we were all in.

It was also one of those rides where there were very few hitches. I got out of the house 15 minutes ahead of schedule, we arrived about 20 minutes ahead of our plan, and had no delays in check in. We ditched the start and got right on the road, didn’t dilly-dally at the rest stops, had great food throughout and at the end, and never needed SAG or field support. No llama drama. And Lung never had tripleCramps and my bike didn’t become, like a helicopter, a cluster of components traveling in unstable formation, which was all in all a nice change.

Yep, my gearing was too brutal to make it up the wall without stopping, but not for long.

It wasn’t devoid of challenges. I got two hours of sleep before the start, thanks to a sweltering heat wave. Team Lope vet Jeff Muadib Marks met us on the route, living thereon) and made it up Calaveras before suffering the SAME EXACT MECHANICAL that knocked me out of last year’s Gran Fondo, a rear derailleur shattering that I had never even HEARD of before.

Here’s Jeff examining his SAW III type deathtrap derailleur

Lung’s salt tablet deployment system was getting a little surly, and I dropped my chain on the rollers due to bearing race issues in my rear axle, though quickly resolved. There was some saddle soreness. I had suffered a pretty bad wrist wrenching on Mt Tam a few days prior that i was nursing at the start of this, which was at full bore inflammation by the end, so the final descent was very painful. BUT. It was the descent after the final climb, after a full effing day of climbing and riding so I was stoked. And like Lung said, it was great to burn your candle on a long day like that but walk away (literally) without injury or recovery issues, feeling like you could ride the next day. You never know, especially when pushing fixies on these things.

The Calaveras reservoir area was my favorite. Thanks to Jeff’s misfortune, we got to enjoy it longer than in previous years.

Anyway, it was a great ride. I will say that I wasn’t as well equipped as Lung, partly avoidable and partly not. For one thing, I chose to keep my 77 inchgear as my main drive, rather than gear back down to the 72 we both generally ride… had I switched back, I would have probably felt better as the day went on, because of the muscle work I was essentially wasting. I mean, it’s a compromise, right. Go to 72, spin more, ride slower. But at 77, ride faster and work harder, sooner. I needed to swap cogs sooner than Lung, and I was suffering more at the end of the day. My bail out gear was a 67, which was not enough. It was sure as hell better than the 77 but it was still too steep for these climbs, so while I DID successfully ride all the climbs on the route, I stopped a number of times to recover.

Interesting snake whip skids coming down to Rest Stop 3 at speed…

But man, we had a blast. Skidding all over the place, flying along those rollers, great conversations on the route and at the rest stops with wide-eyed riders that marveled out our general madness, and I can’t reiterate this enough: AWESOME ride support. Strawberries and pineapple and all sorts of carbs at every stop, fudgecicles, ICE for the water bottles, effing ROOSTERS for no reason, more SAG vehicles on the road than I can remember ever seeing, even when you consider the smaller scale of this event compared to the rider count of something like the Gran Findo or the Marin Century. It was just a great time all day, even when it wasn’t.

That’s the last of the unreasonable fixed-gear assaults on event rides for this year, as Marin Century and Gran Fondo both warrant road bike use (I mean, warrant it MORE) and we missed the Wine Country Century (and gave up on Solvang due to travel time)… but we’ll continue to ride our unreasonable fixed-gear bikes up unreasonable climbs in Marin and around the bay area year-round, so wave or holler if you see us…

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Related posts:

1. team lope ride report : primavera metric century 2012
2. Team Lope Ride Report: Primavera Century 2008
3. Team Lope Ride Report: Mt. Tam Climbing Century

In all these years, I’ve never ridden Mt. Talampais on a mountain bike. For those not into history, specifically bike history, Tam is the home of the mountain bike. Sure, it’s more complicated than that, but what we all think of as mountain biking today, from equipment to the terrain that spawned the industry that followed, came from Tam in the 70s. More on that here (and yes, Lung, I can give you the film) so it’s kind of surreal to ride Tam off-road and imgine those guys int he early days retrofitting their frames and putting the big rubber on and muscling their way up the mountain. We take it for granted today. Kind of cool.

A ride, 15 years ago, that almost ended not well.

I used to do a fair amount of recreational mountain biking. I wasn’t like the local guys out here that shoot up the mountain every week, but it was the bike I road in the city and on trips, and I loved both single track and dirt road climbs. And even after I traded my mtb for my first road bike (ie. in the adult era), I still rented them on vacations and did rides when I could, such as in Arizona and the like.

Anyway, I’ve always associated the Tam ride with my road bike riding, as that’s just what I’ve always done. Shoreline to Panoramic to the Tam approach, paved, up to Ridgecrest, both peaks, then down. It’s still a great workout, and variations on it, either that route or the Alpine Dam approach, comprise most of the hardest riding I do in my back yard here in Marin. But I picked up a big ole 29er to build into an Xtracycle for kid and cargo transport, and thought to myself: self? You need to ride this as it was intended, before you hack it up… and nowhere better than Tam. So I did. I didn’t really know the route, though friends in the area gave me a general sense of it, and I just cut out of work a little early, and made a go of it. Unfortunately, it was during our recent heatwave, so I worked a lot harder than I would say, today, 35 degrees cooler just 72 hours later. Anyway, it was awesome.

It also kicked my ass! Even with all those gears, that specific gear ratio, the suspension, and a reasonably mild ride from a technical standpoint, it was work. For one thing, my bike isn’t the lightest, being on the entry level end. For another, I haven’t muscled my way up a mountain offroad since Sept. 11, 2001, so there was no muscle memory for that combination of high spinning AND the myriad little surges and pushes you do to get over broken terrain. Plus, it was effing HOT. And lastly, you know, after a full day of work, I wasn’t at my personal best by any means. And yet, it was still a memorable ride I plan to revisit soon.

I took Blithedale out until it narrowed to an unmaintained road, then hopped on the trail. The main route up largely involves Old Railroad Grade, which used to be the bed for a tourist rail system that brought people up Tam back in the day, itself something of some notoriety for being the ‘crookedest railroad in the world’…you can read more about that and the history of Tam here. I was initially disappointed when I learned it was a railroad bed, because my previous mountain riding several years ago was single track. However, it was still no joke. It was heavily rutted, bounders and ravines and rocks and slurry and steep drops down the side. It wasn’t technical enough to be outrightly dangerous to the inexperienced rider, but challenging enough and long enough to give you a go-round, regardless of fitness levels. Much like Paradise and other nearby loops, it’s one of those rides that can kick your ass at first, then become the FUN kind of workout once you’re seasoned. I love that kind of flexibility with regards to loops like that, allowing their continued enjoyment on repeat rides. So I knew going up that I was experiencing it at my general worst for this kind of thing, and that future runs would only be easier.

For the most part, the ride was just fine. I was flying along all the way up to the top of Summit Rd, through great sections of tree canopy and blocks of no coverage where the sun was very hot. I was hydrating and eating and not overdoing it, so I was approaching it the way any experienced rider on unfamiliar route/terrain would: I kept reserves and respected my ride. At the top of that, I missed the cut off to continue up the grade, so I went down quite a ways, further than I’d like thanks to some bad intel from a hiker, but then decided I was returning to Mill Valley that way, flipped it and went back up again. This time, down the other side the way I came, I found soem riders who let me tag along, and set me on the right course again before they peeled off. There are a million smaller routes and side trails you can take, even though general off-roading is banned on Tam to save the ecosystem from getting trampled to death. So after those guys were gone, I kept going alone. My only real trouble was zig-zagging going into a large raving and wrenching my left side, hand and foot, pretty badly in that maneuver, which I would then be favoring the rest of the ride, and much worse a few days later on the Primavera Metric Century later in the weekend.

Otherwise, I got as high as the West Point Inn (used to be a restaurant/shelter for people on that railroad trip, now a hiking shelter) before I got the call from home that my wife could use a hand with the kids, so I had to turn back rather than reach the East peak as intended. As it turns out, I was thisclose to getting there, and had I known that at the time I probably would have just continued to the top.

Anyway, I flew down at the measured, controlled pace for which I have been known in all my years of riding, as friends would fly past me on freefall descents, road and mountain, and sometimes crash out, on road and mountain. I gots kids! Anyway, it was a great descent. I knew of a shortcut that would have reduced the trip to 10 minutes all the way down, but it was very steep and seemed unwise so I kept at my original route until I saw a second access point to that alternate route and took that, ultimately dropping out just shy of Four Corners. At that point, I was actually thankful that I didn’t go that last bit to the peak, because my fuel ran out (OK, yeah, 3 fish tacos and a handful of peanuts was not enough for the day)… so I was bonking hard on Panoramic and all the way home, where I plowed through a beer and some peanut butter like an animal.

Word to Lung, whom I point at specifically, here, representing Team lope in the distance.

Lessons learned on this first ride up Tam the right way:

- stretch more in the upper body: unlike road riding, you rely on your arms and shoulders and upper back a lot when navigating rocky terrain, and I really just stretched legs and core out of habit. I might not have wrenched my wirst otherwise.

glorious fish tacos from FISH. Not enough.

- feed a LOT more than I did. I mean, this would apply to most any good climbing route, but I got sort of complacent about grabbing the chance to ride even if I wasn’t well fueled, as often happens on my morning or lunchtime Paradise Loops prior to eating. Up there you burn out faster, and then guess what: you’re far from home. It’s just common sense. But I had a chance to ride and took it, frankly not knowing how far up I’d make it anyway.

- Drop the diet for the climbs: I tend to use a low/no carb, lean protein diet when I’m trying to get fit, and of course, on ANY type of ride of enough duration and effort, it’s a challenge when you don’t have the carb reservoirs. I had nothing to burn on this ride. At least on event rides I break my diet and fuel up on carbs the day before and the day of. This was spontaneous enough for that not to be possible. I really wished I had that energy reserve up there.

- STAY LIMBER: my wriest wrenching was a great lesson on how easily you can jack yourself up on those jagged sections of trail.

- Lizards are awesome: I saw snakes, a tarantula, birds, a fox, and a metric ton of lizards up there, and in the latter case, I was taken back to my childhood obsession with gladhanding bluebellies. Make what you will of THAT.

- Mountain biking is pure: that’s something I used to know, but forgot over the years. I’m talking purity in the sense of being at eace, being contemplative, enjoying the sport aspect but also having some freedom from the stress of the day. I’ve clocked tens of thousands of hours on road bikes and fixed gears over the years, with a lot of that without a rider or car in sight. But being on paved roads STILL means density: cars, other riders, what have you. Plus, unexpected road condition dangers. On a mtb ride, you are equipped for uneven terrain and expecting it, and you may have other riders around sometimes, just like with hiking, but overall, you’re alone, you and nature. It’s humbling and wonderful. The smells, the sights, everything. It’s pure cycling fun. You put away he time trial brain (at least climbing) and focus on the experience. I mean, I do, anyway. There’s all sorts of competitive mtb riding appealing to any kind of rider. But for me, the lack of an SUV crowding me was the single biggest appeal.

As I said, I plan to do this more frequently, now that I know at least one route, and damn it’s easy to get to from where I am. Ridiculously so. I’ve always said I live in road biking mecca… but the same is so of mountain biking. Now in a few weeks time, my 29er will be an xtracycle. And it is planned to be running slicks. But I suspect that if I pull the kid’s seat off, and perhaps change the rubber, I could get that bad boy up. I mean, I never went into third, or granny, ring on the bike on this run, so even with the added weight of the xtracycle build, I’d have a whole ‘nuther ring to work with and the stability of that longer frame. I look for ward to finding out!

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account
2. Team Lope Ride Report: China Camp Fixed
3. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 07

despite being pretty grueling, the FFBC PRIMAVERA METRIC CENTURY was one of the best event rides that i’ve ever been on, and WR and i agreed that it was one of the best that TLTC had participated in, ever.

for the most part, this was the kind of ride we love and do with regularity — dozens of miles of long, winding rollies. that’s my favorite kind of ride because you have to be on your toes (cornering) and you can’t pussyfoot (climbing and descending the rollies takes effort), but you don’t kill yourself. you put in good work and you feel like you’ve had a ride, but you’re not blown out and useless for a day.

however, on this ride there were two distinct factors that we knew about going in. one was the heat. it was fucking desert hot. the sun just crushing you with almost tangible weight. this also means that you’re covered in sunscreen, which makes you filthy, and when it runs into your eyes, blind. the other factor was the climbs. with 3786 climbing feet over 63.5 miles, it SOUNDS like it would be a challenging but not necessarily backbreaking ride. but keep in mind that 2300 of those climbing feet are in two individual climbs — "the wall," at mile 18, and another at mile 50. because we knew we were going to be facing these challenges (and because i’d had a throat infection for a week and was still on antibiotics), each of us had outfitted out bikes with a bailout gear, like so…

my regular gear ratio is 44/16, which is a nice middleground 72.3 gear inch. the bailout shown above takes me to 44/20, which is a 57.9 gear inch — baby’s first climber. please note that i also carry an extra couple chain links to accommodate this bigger cog. my chain is outfitted with a master link, as is the extra section, so swapping doesn’t take me long at all. it proved to be a good decision. "the wall" is 1100 feet straight up, over barely 2 miles. "not for babies," as our brothers of HYPE down south would say. it stops guys on full cassettes, and we were fixed. given that fact, coupled with the heat, and trebled with the fact that we’d still have another 40-some miles to go afterwards, we didn’t even try it on our regular gearing, we just swapped at the bottom and proceeded. and even with this climbing gear, i was beat up at the top of that climb. covered in sweat, pushing hard, and moving slowly. but we both made it, and that’s what counts. then we flipped back to the other side for the next 30 miles or so.

we’d hooked up with TLTC supersoldier jefe, who was ghosting the ride, just before the wall, and he made it up and over with us (on his fucking BADASS klein road bike), as well as another few miles before he had the same catastrophic derailleur failure that WR had on the grand fondo some months back. his derailleur caught in the spokes and was torn upwards and apart in a millisecond. luckily for him, it happened on an ascent rather than a descent. we pulled over and endeavored to convert him to a single-speed so he could at least limp into the next town, but his shit was HOSED and it wasn’t happening, so we begrudgingly left him there with a promise to call his old lady once we got a signal, which WR did. jefe also lucked out when SAG brought him down into town, despite the fact that he wasn’t a registered rider. so everything worked out great there.

the only other mechanical we had was when WR threw a chain. turns out his axle bearing race (which is a misnomer, as he has sealed bearings, but it’s still called that because it has the exterior locknut) had come loose on his last wheel swap, allowing for his axle nut to loosen up over a few miles. once we identified the issue, he was good to go in a matter of seconds.

at mile 50 we hit the second climb, which was a different story. it was also 1000 or so feet of climbing, but this time was over a more realistic 5 miles. as such, we went into it without the intent of switching gears. we pushed up a mile or maybe even two, muscling along in our standard gear inch. we pushed and pushed, but every single time we’d round a corner, it kept going. there was never an end in sight, and that gets to you mentally. for me, it was when i finally got to a point that i could see a good 100 yards ahead and it was still going up that i decided to switch gears. ordinarily that would fuck with me but not push me to bail out. it was because at the terminus of that 100 yards, where it turned another corner, i saw a cyclist coming down the hill, whipping around the corner at speed. that meant that there was even more. and keep in mind that we’d been going for 50 miles in 90-plus degree heat, plus the previous climb. and it was a good thing that i did pull over to switch because i needed to take off my helmet & cap, as well as open up my jersey and down half a bottle of water. i was more burnt than i thought. additionally, after i did switch, there was no more shade till you got to the top. that’s a big deal. had i kept pushing through that on my regular gear, i’d have opened myself up to heat stroke.

at the top, once again, we swapped back to our regular gearing, which would take us all the way back to the start for another road ride conquered by the TLTC west coast commanders in a fixed fashion. we’re killing it these days, and getting known for it, and we fucking love it.

ordinarily when we show up on "fixies" to road rides we are met with a mix of admiration and indignation. some people condescend to us with passive-aggressive observations like "that’s just stupid," or "why would you do that?" others tell us that we’re awesome, or, as on this ride, "animals." we take it all in stride because we’re just out to have fun and challenge ourselves. we try and remain good-natured about it when people are shitheads, and we try to normalize it to others when they contend that we’re doing something impossible. but on this ride, it was extra nice because we didn’t really get any of the indignation. we were the only two people doing it fixed and we got a lot of props for it. people cheered us on and congratulated us and even wanted to talk to us about how and why we were doing it. it was really nice, a very cool community on this ride.

one of the greatest things about the day was the support and organization. with the possible exception of ALC, this was the best-supported and organized event ride i’d ever been on. there were enough SAG vehicles, the rest stops never felt overcrowded, nor were they ever out of any food/liquid supplies or medical/mechanical aid. it was really wonderful. nevermind that we had access to a pretty large meal at the end. lasagne, hot dogs, salad, fruit, juice, brownies, cookies, whatever we wanted. very awesome.

the one improvement that we offered as a suggestion was that they could have used a bit more clear route direction, but that was suggested with a caveat — the route WAS marked clearly, it was just marked on the road surface with spraypaint rather than on trees and such with signage. not everyone knew to look to the pavement rather than to signs. i figured it out early on and had no troubles at all, but others didn’t know about it, so we suggested that they just make that better known.

i was also happy to have made a new friend on the ride. this guy here saw me taking pictures of him so he strutted over and regarded me…

a great day and a great ride. and stay tuned to this link, because i have video at home that i have to edit down and post.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: Primavera Century 2008
2. Team Lope Ride Report: Mt. Tam Climbing Century
3. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account

HERE’S my first stab at video editing for ya. it’s a quick little 13-mile ride from my apartment in SF to WR’s in mill valley — something i do frequently, and which often precedes a more robust ride for both of us once i arrive.

the raw footage was collected on my new GOPRO HERO2 HD video camera, which i mounted under my handlebars.

i don’t know shit about video editing and learned as i went, using iMovie, which is SUPER user-friendly. i managed to get the footage down from over 40 minutes to the most interesting or exciting 4:45. the song is the glitch mob’s remix of the white stripes’ "seven nation army," and i have only three reasons for choosing it — one, it’s awesome. two, it’s over 4 minutes long, so i was able to maintain more footage. and three, it was a free download from the band’s own site, so i have no copyright infringement worries.

i hope you like it!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. team lope ride report : sf -> mill valley, roundtrip, FIXED
2. Team Lope Ride Report – You CAN Take it With You
3. team lope ride report : AIDS/lifecycle 7

my initial thoughts on this pack were in a POST in a more general forum category, but this review is very cycling-specific, so i’m putting it here in team lope.

this past weekend, i rode 70 miles from the pittsburg/bayPoint BART station to sacramento for the north american handmade bicycle show. there’s a ride report and a bunch of image dumps for that stuff that i’m not gonna bother linking to. the point is, i needed to have a pack that i could ride that distance with. the distance wasn’t far, and it had next to no climbs on it, but when you’re fully geared down with a pack, it’s an entirely different story, as i would come to find out.

however, the pack itself was AMAZING. first of all, my cargo…

/ 3 pr socks
/ 3 underwear
/ 2 longsleeve tees
/ 2 shortsleeve tees
/ 1 button up shirt
/ 1 tie
/ 1 sweater/jacket thing
/ 1 jacket
/ 1 jean
/ 1 pr sneaks
/ 1 knit cap
/ extra short
/ knee brace
/ bike pump
/ tool pouch
/ tyre
/ headlight
/ flat fender
/ shoe covers
/ TLTC flask, filled with jameson
/ 15" macbook pro, plus power block/cord
/ wacom bamboo tablet and stylus
/ phone charging cord
/ headlight charging cord
/ various small gifts (knife, pens)
/ toothbrush/toothpaste
/ salt/electrolyte pills

that’s actually a lot of shit, but i was there for 4 days and that was packing slim. in fact, the only two things on that whole list that i didn’t use were the knit cap, the button up shirt, the tie, and the knee brace. and those were just in case things anyway. i could have also done without the extra short because i washed the kit i wore and could have worn it back had i not been sick enough to warrant an amtrak trip instead.

so all that shit fit, albeit with only inches to spare, which was the first huge win. and despite the fact that it musta weighed 30 or 40 pounds, it wasn’t really all that uncomfortable. to be honest, i was fucking amazed at that. i thought for sure that with an MBP directly against my back (plenty of padding, but you get my point), and with the time it would take to make the trip, i would be in agony. and while my ass was, my shoulders and back were NOT. it also never threw me off balance, nor did it impede my over-the-shoulder vision, nor did it interfere (too much) with the back of my helmet. to be honest, it wasn’t that big of a deal at all!

now granted, if this had been a trip with climbs, i’m sure i’d feel entirely differently about it. in fact, the weight of the pack and the effort it takes to muscle it through headwinds makes me think that when i go on my solo camping trip, i’m going to need to gear way down. what i’ll likely do is run my standard 77.2 gear inch on the unused side of my hub and kick the used side way down to the high 60s. cause the route i intend to take has a couple of no-bullshit climbs and i don’t want to punk out.

but my point is, this is the first time i’ve ever taken a ride of any significance with actual cargo and i fuckin ROCKED IT thanks to this bag. spacious enough for all you need for a 4-day trip to another city, slim enough to not impede your vision when you turn your head, well-designed enough to not be smacking your helmet against it all the time, and actually quite comfortable. oh, and side note, i can reach around to retrieve and replace the u-lock that it holds (i use a second u-lock for securing my front wheel to my frame these days and that’s what was there – my primary lock is still on my belt).

10/10 CLANKS!

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pretty long one for what it is, but i’m in a hotel room kinda bored and extremely worn out, so there you go.

mid-last year, i found out that the NORTH AMERICAN HANDMADE BICYCLE SHOW was going to be held in sacramento, which is about 100 miles from san francisco, and i immediately decided to go. then about 3 months ago – i decided to RIDE there.

it’s impossible to do the ride directly from san francisco without going such an indirect route that it becomes something like 150 or 200 miles. but you can take BART and do it from anywhere in the east bay. when i first plotted the course, it was from the richmond BART station, and was going to be about 80 miles. but then i found out about another route, from the pittsburg/bayPoint station, which was 10 miles shorter and had far less climbs. now anyone who knows me knows that a 10 mile difference isn’t enough to make me change my mind about a route, nor is a few hundred feet difference in elevation. but a couple things came to mind. one, i was doing this unsupported. and as a result of that, two, i was gonna be carrying all my gear. an 80 mile ride is one thing. an 80 mile ride with a 30 pound pack on is a WHOLE other story. so i opted for the shorter ride.

i posted on my facebook page that myself and a buddy of mine were planning the ride and offered people to join. a friend of mine that i hadn’t seen in several years and her boyfriend wanted to get in, so now we were up to 4. but then my friend who originally helped me plan the trip bailed out in order to do the MASHSF time trial race to NAHBS, which was on saturday. fuck that noise, i don’t ride to compete, and i wanted to stay more than one day. so now we were down to three. and we finished all the planning and got everything sorted and met at the BART station this morning. but when we got there, we found that there was a facebook group who’d also planned to take the ride together – about a dozen of them – and they were all SO fucking cool that we decided to do the ride together.

the group was made up of a number of different types of cyclists. randonneurs, roadies, commuters — just people who really like bikes. there was no attitude, no competition, they were just fun-loving people. some were kitted up, some rocked street clothes, and some rolled as i do — street clothes over top of kits. some had racks and panniers, some had backpacks. some were women and some were men. some were friends and some were strangers. it was amazing. and what was really cool was that MANY of them either currently worked in, or used to work in bike shops. so these were people who knew what the fuck was up with tech, too. VERY fucking cool.

when our trip started, i thought it was going to be the easiest goddamn thing ever. we were on an off-street path for something like 10 miles, no other bicycle traffic, very little people traffic, zero cars, and it rolled and twisted throughout.

it was awesome, except that 5 minutes in, i heard ssISSssISSssISSssISSss… fuck. flat. i wasn’t taking any chances so i changed my tube AND tyre in the fastest tyre change you have EVER seen and we were back on the road.

after that 10 miles or whatever it was, we were on a road alongside traffic and it was still pretty mellow. no climbs, smooth road, wide shoulder, very good for city-to-city distance rides. this lasted about 2 miles or so and then we saw it rising in front of us — the antioch bridge. now this bridge looks pretty ominous, almost like the first hill of a roller coaster, which you clack-clack-clack up until being pitched over the precipice.

(this is the backside of the bridge, after crossing, but you get the point.)

but i quickly noticed something. the antioch bridge is one lane in each direction, with a shoulder that’s got sleeper strips on one side and grates on the other, and the lanes are separated from each other by a 4-foot wall or so — same as what’s on the outside of the shoulder. you’re essentially in a slot-car track, trapped into a 2-foot-wide section of shoulder, and constantly battered by the blasts of wind coming off the semis that are whipping by at 70. inside those walls, those wind blasts are no bullshit. they push you out one second and pull you back in the next. oh wait, did i mention the headwinds? yeah, as you start climbing up the bridge (which isn’t a super significant climb, maybe about 10% or less), you start noticing that as you get out over the water and away from the trees and buildings, the wind is getting greater and greater. by the time you’re midway up, it’s coming at you like you’ve never felt before. everyone was downshifting. everyone but the only person who couldn’t — me. i had no choice. i had to speed up. i pushed and pushed and pushed, sucking wind and struggling as the headwinds held my backpack like i was attached to my starting point with an elastic cord. as i got to the top, i thought i was set. i was going to descend. hahahaha, nope. the headwind was just as bad on the other side. so you know how on a fixed-gear, you have to pedal when you descend cause you can’t coast? well, even the geared people had to pedal down the other side because if you coasted, the headwind would, i shit you not, stop you. you were pedaling DOWNHILL, just to move. and don’t forget, you’re SCARED. you’re trapped and being blasted around and you don’t have much room to move and FUCK THAT. it is NOT for babies. i was out in the front this whole time because i had to be — i have only one speed. when i got to the bottom, i pulled over and turned around and the next nearest person was like 100 yards behind me. and when he pulled over, the next nearest person was 50 yards behind him. we all pulled over and chilled for about 10 minutes, laughing and sharing stories of fear before we moved on. but that headwind was it now. that would be our companion for the next 40 miles.

as we continued along, despite the headwind, we all started to get to know a bit about each other, to goof around, just having a good time. but the road conditions were OBSCENE. there was glass and gravel everywhere. there were sections of shoulder that had started to tear away, leaving 8-inch-wide jagged tears that were up to 20 feet long. there were sleeper strips and foliage and roadkill and just so much shit it was ridiculous.

eventually, we got to roughly the halfway point, where there lies a small frontier town called isleton. i say "frontier town" because it really was. one main street with buildings lining each side that looked as if they were straight out of the 1800s.

we’d heard from one of the town’s AMAZINGLY friendly locals that there was a cafe on the street that made good sammies, so we were in. (i’ve since come to find out from someone else who knows the town that there’s some bomb tamales [bombales?] in the back of the bodega across the way, too, so i’ll be keeping that in mind.) but yeah, seriously, large sandwiches for $5 a piece, made the way you want em, and ice cream for $0.50 a scoop, from one of sacramento’s most famous ice creameries, whose name i don’t recall right now. anyway, we intended to be there long enough to eat and digest, maybe an hour.

and right about 3 minutes before that time, one of the guys’ bikes’ rear tyre just exploded. no warning, it wasn’t even on it’s wheels, it was on it’s side. it just … blew up. so he pulled it off and discovered a missing section of rim tape right over a metal burr. he remedied that and patched the tube and the patch didn’t hold. he replaced the tube and put that on and that exploded. he patched it again and when he was pumping it up, the valve just sheared off. it was the craziest thing any of us had ever seen. FINALLY it was remedied, but this was now two hours of fucking around with it, so we’re now three hours down. NOT COOL. and during this time, i noticed a quarter-inch cut in the sidewall of my tyre. my tyre that i just put on brand new about 30 miles ago. i was getting ready to cut a boot out of the tyre i’d replaced, when one of the guys said he had a $0.25 BART card that i was welcome to, and those things are like kevlar, so i quicky booted my tyre. after all this, we headed off into the last 35 miles and we were pleasantly surprised to find that despite no shoulder, the road conditions were much improved and while there was still headwind, we were able to go at a good clip and knock it out.

by this time, my gear bag was starting to weigh heavy, and my legs were starting to feel the burn. over the next couple hours, i was really in a zone, just turning off the pain and turning over the cranks. at one point, i was ready to call it for 10 minutes and just rest, but i managed to HARDEN THE FUCK UP and make it through. our group had split apart into 3 factions at this point, as the less strong cyclists fell back, the experts shot ahead, and the intermediates … well, fell in the middle. as one of three of the people out front, myself and the two cyclists i was with were able to pull over and have a NICE rest while we waited for the intermediates to catch up. when they did, they said that one of the novices was bonking and another had a flat, and that they had said we should all go ahead. so we did. and as we pulled into sacramento, finally, at 6:15PM, we split off our separate ways to our separate hotels. a funny moment when i checked in was the desk grrl, noting my bike, says, "where did you ride from?" and even though it wasn’t ENTIRELY true, i said "san francisco." and her jaw drops and she looks at me and goes, "really?" "yeah." "WOW." then she checks the computer and goes, "i have a room on the ground floor if you’d like." hahahahahahaha, i thought that shit was awesome. "yes. yes, i’d like that room very much, thank you." so i took a long hot shower, ran to the nearest market and picked up some food for my room’s fridge, and got settled in. i had high hopes of going out tonight, but that’s SO not gonna happen. i’m really beat.

now when you do a point-a-to-point-b ride (as opposed to a point-a-to-point-a LOOP), there are some distinct differences. as such, i was looking at this ride as very akin to a day on ALC, which is also a point-a-to-point-b ride. but there were a few key differences, and they were REALLY big because you’re unsupported except by your own group. here are some.

/ no SAG. i don’t SAG, but that’s just cause i’ve never needed too. if i needed to, if i was hurt or needed help, SAG would be a knight in shining armor. on a ride you do yourself, you get hurt? you better heal up, son. or call an ambulance. cause ain’t nobody coming to get you.
/ no maintenance. you have a mechanical, and you better hope you have the parts and the tools to fix it cause guess what? if you can’t, you’re walking it or you’re hitchhiking.
/ no rest stops. sure you can pull over for some grundle suffrage or some shade, but for the most part, when you run out of water and food, or when you need lunch, you better be near a town or at least a gas station cause guess what? you’re fucked otherwise.
/ NO GEAR TRUCKS. this was the biggest one for me because i don’t SAG, i always have enough tools and often have enough parts, and we had plenty of opportunity for food and water. but carrying your own gear is a fucking HUGE deal. every pedal stroke is twice as hard. climbs (even though there was really only one on this ride) are BRUTAL. grundle suffrage happens faster and is more painful. you run out of water faster cause you need to hydrate more. you’re less aerodynamic, so headwinds are even more of a big deal. it’s absolute hell.

overall, this ride was incredibly difficult and a generally flat 70 mile ride should not qualify as "incredibly difficult." it certainly shouldn’t qualify as "absolute hell." but listen, i had a great fucking time, don’t get me wrong. i met a ton of great people. i rode with a friend that i hadn’t seen in years and who i’ve never ridden with before. i commuted to a city 100 miles away from where i live. i carried my own shit and supported myself. i’m on a 4-day vacation from work. the weather was wonderful. i didn’t bonk or cramp.

in fact, i have to say that the only negatives (and i separate "negatives" from "challenges") were that i got sunburn on my calves (i started shaving my legs, so they’re less protected), i got a flat, found a sidewall tear, and at one point had to tighten my left cleat. not a bad haul!

in the end, i saluted sacramento the only way lope knows how — with special lubricants.

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report – ALC Day on the Ride, WR’s Account
2. team lope ride report – ALC9, the IL account
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typically when WR and i go out for a ride, it’s in marin because in addition to affording us long, looping miles, it’s more convenient to his hectic family schedule. but yesterday we had the rare (sole, in fact) opportunity to take a ride here in the city thanks to his wifebot(tm)’s schedule including a baby shower. she took their son with her and he brought zoe with him and the three of us did a slow, noodley little run from fort point down to the wave organ.

our starting point was the southernmost red dot on that map, and the point where we split off at the end of our day was the "X." arrows indicate direction.

the day started with their family having pancakes and me having a hangover at the iHop, where i gave zoe a gift i’d picked up (unkablair has started the practice of bringing gifts to her every time i see her, which is going to prove interesting in her selfish years and expensive in her teen years). we all hung out and caught up and then WR and zoe and i headed out. our first stop was fort point, the northwest red dot.

FORT POINT was completed just before the american civil war, to defend san francisco bay against hostile warships, and is now a united states national historic site administered by the national park service. it’s a wonderful, spot just under the GGB, and has many old cannons on display, along with some rooms that are done up with mannequins and furniture to represent what life at the fort would have been like.

we wandered around there for a while and went up on to the roof where zoe fell down and bounced off a giant concrete cannon mount, cried for 3 minutes, and then went right back to climbing all around like a spider monkey.

from here, we went to get some hot chocolate for her (and me), and sat for a while just BS’ing.

zoe drank her hot chocolate with a spoon, turning the front of her jacket into a murder scene, and i popped open my ankle brace and let it rest a while. afterwards, we headed east, and ended up at the wave organ.

THE WAVE ORGAN is a quirky and wonderful little installation on a spit of land out past the SF yacht club. it’s an acoustic sculpture, and at a number of listening portals on the site which are connected to tubes that go out into the water, people can hear the sounds of the bay. it’s more active at high tide and we were there at low tide, so there was next to nothing to hear, but it was still great to be there.

zoe was completely conked out at this point and as we were headed out, i noticed a crazy mechanical issue with WR’s drivetrain — his left bottom bracket cup had come almost completely unthreaded. i first started tinkering on bicycles when i was about 10 years old and i have NEVER seen this. so with zoe sleeping soundly (and seemingly uncomfortably), i stabilized his bike and he set to work with some of my tools to remedy the issue.

from here we headed back to the marina green, where we parted ways, as his wifebot(tm) was on her way back to pick he and their little grrl up to return home.

it was a kind of touristy day and i bet we didn’t even cover 3 miles all told, but it was as wonderful as any other ride we get to take. it’s interesting being the kind of cyclists who ride for the pure joy of it. we can smash out 60 fixed miles in the headlands or noodle for 3 miles between sights and each ride is just as fun. zoe makes it more fun cause she’s still exploring and learning and being a funny and smart kid, but you get my point — there’s no such thing as junk miles.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

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Yesterday I took a day trip for business down to Los Angeles to survey a building. That’s dawn patrol, up at 4am etc and home again by about 8pm. And yeah, I’m already up with the baby so that’s fine. But here’s the thing: normally on these, I bring my laptop and sketchbook, fly in, rent a convertible of some nature, get in and out of the job, and then hit a cafe and work on TRDL stuff until it’s time to get back to the airport. THIS time, I brought a bike.

You’ve seen Lung’s ride reports of his use of his coupler bike on the Vegas trip. We got our frames coupled, so to speak, at the same time, but my last two trips fell apart due to illness or injury (Vegas and Chicago) so I had yet to actually use Carpetbagger AS a travel bike. It was completely overkill for a day trip where I’d have at BEST 3 hours to ride. But it was a test of the process, and frankly, it was because I could.

Onward for details!

I’m using a S&S soft backpack for transport. You can use hardshell cases, with more protection, but this is a sweet setup because you can compress it and wear the bag. It’s all about the ride away, or to, the airport thing.

So up top, there’s Carpetbagger, my coupler bike. It’s a mid-gearing fixie (I think it’s 72) and a custom finish and graphic set by self. You’ve seen pics before. I’d SAY this is the virgin shot before it gets beat to shit in transit, but realistically, my Wee Z beat it to shit before I even had it finished, thanks to ‘I FIX it, daddee.’ moments. So it had a few frame dents and some paint chipping. First step, as seen in that pic, is pulling these hard sidewalls out of the bag and bracing them against all sides, velcroing them together to make a losse square. Actually more like the shape of a gold tooth cap. It doesn’t get square proper, but enough to frame the frame.

First, I layed this giant painting tarp up in there, used to fold and weave between major components. Great tip, among others, from One Lung. Here’s the front half of the coupler, dropped in first.

The tarp is folded over, then the rear wheel, cog down, fits in that void of the triangle. I put a top tube protector on one tube for science, since I didn’t bring any of my pipe insulation this time out. Other than that it’s just the tarp as protection. Remember that detail. Then rear triangle fits on top of the rear wheel.

Here’s the front wheel on top of the sandwich of tarp and parts and such below it. The backpack has rigidized panels where things make contact, such as the wheel axles.You don’t use other compression members in this situation. The saddle and seatpost fit into one of the extra spaces. I rolled up other parts like pedals and tools and such into microfiber towels and shirt rags and stuff, and put them here and there.

Here, possibly the most delicate part: placement of the handlebars. If using proper drops it’s even more of a hassle, threading them through the wheel, but I have Sparrows on this bike. But I still had to wrap it first, test the pressure on the spokes when you push on it, and wrap the brake caliper and stow that as well. I brought a ton of extra clothing and shoved them into all spaces and into the front and rear outer compartments, including a pair of Dickies and a long sleeve shirt and cardigan for the job site. Suave.

Boom! Packed! My first time, and from the point the first photo was taken, to the point the bag was zipped up, was about 45 minutes, including a call to Lung to check something and a few references to the S&S website (which actually has virtually no directions for the backpack.)

My cab came at 4:45 and I was off. When I checked the bag (Virgin America Main Cabin Select seating is a great deal: you get priority security line access, priority boarding, free food and drinks, and one checked bag.) the guy working the counter looked at it and lifted it and said ‘Hey, is this a bike?’

Now this is kind of a trick question. The whole point of this coupler system is to eliminate barriers to flying with the bike. If you bring an oversized bag, such as a bike box, it can run you up to $200 each way. If you bring a heavy bag, you get his with $50 fees each way. This system allows you to hand them a bag that is exactly within the 62" combined dimension for normal luggage (which you’d still pay for if you were in Main Cabin)… but also, there are ‘oversize’ cargo fees associated with BIKES. So, I merely said:

‘It’s actually a bag of bike parts’ Which is a true statement.

He laughed and said it was the coolest fucking thing he’d seen.

On the other side, a few delicious champagnes later, my baby rolled onto the carousel in LAX.
In one piece, so to speak. Well, point being, no crazy holes or ripped straps or zippers, and equally as nice, no obvious evidence of TSA searching, since that would lead to a) a mangled repacking job, and 2) confiscation of CO2 cartridges and probably all the tools. But I wouldn’t know for sure until I unpacked it. But no time! The plane was a bit delayed, and I had to basically haul ass in a taxi to Downtown LA, and would have to wait to see later. I wanted to ride FROM the airport, but I couldn’t risk being late.

Some girls I was talking to in SF found me at the taxi line, some designers heading to a big client meeting. ‘Hey, wait. Is there a BIKE in there?’ one said, mouth agape. I guess my helmet gave it away. You can see it in backpack mode, above. It’s heavy but manageable.

OK, so I didn’t want to break this down AT my project building for professional reasons, so I headed out into the fashion district (read ghetto downtown) to get over toa cafe I went to last time I visited this building, and do the build at the outdoor seating. But then I realized it was lunch hour. It would be packed. One of the fashion houses was upstairs. I finally decided, you know what, all the homeless and shifty hustlers have camped out on the street, I’m doing it. This marks the second time in 30 days I was doing bike assembly on a rough street.
That is how I ____O

The damage was minimal. A major gash on the downtube (so yeah, THATS the one to protect, since the shifting of the parcel obviously pushed the cog through the tarp into the frame) and a few other scratches. But that’s what this is for. Scars are sexy. Building it on the street was funny. Just like in Oakland, I got a lot of attention from streetfolk and otherwise sketchy folks that came to observe and yack at me, which kind of slows you down as you are watching your shit but at the same time, it’s cool that people are curious. Best part was a cholo painter crew walking past me when I was first unpacking, and then on their way back from the taco truck were like ‘Orale! What is that mang!’ I said it was a bike broken in half to travel with. ‘Its a fixie BRO!! TSCH!’ one said to another. ‘Ey, got that new Yanni cassette?’ Wait no, wrong story. ‘Ey, where can I get one?’ and I said ‘It’s custom. You’d have to be me.’ and they laughed and gave me a hand slap and they were off. Pretty good. Oh, also, no TSA tag.

I actually left a few of the rags in a nearby trash can, and even abandoned my Adidas. I have more, and it was a lot of weight I could shed, now that I was in my Vittorias. So someone scored some sweet Sammies.

My buddy Raul was stuck in a meeting, but I was able to hook up with my high school pal Christine, who works at KCRW and is into competitive roller derby ie. HOT. She’s in Culver City, so I basically made a beeline for her down Venice Blvd, because I didn’t want to dilly-dally. It was maybe a 20 minute reassembly and repacking, much faster, but I was still racing the clock now at 1:15pm or so with a 5:30pm flight meaning I’d need to be checked in at 4:45pm. So, this sent me down some nassssty business to get to where she lives, like the back side of Koreatown and the ‘Byzantine Latino Quarter’ and another section where the side streets are actually GATED. It was pretty awesome doing it by bike, though. I was rolling next to some rough types in cars and some dodgy types on the sidewalks, all that sort of thing: shopping carts in the street and such, and here I am on a white and chrome fixed gear with old timey bars and leather and elkhide, in proper Team Lope kit, with a big ass backpack on. Pretty rad. Got to Culver City in about 45 minutes, and here I am, waiting for her to come out.

Side note: remember that Kickstarter project about a rubber bracelet that you can wind your earbuds into? OK, how about skipping the bracelet altogether? Works GREAT.

I missed some great photo ops in my speed ride to her house, including a toothless guy in the lane in front of me projectile vomiting like the cartoons, where the total diameter of the vomit spray is exactly equal to the diameter of his mouth. Also, a 35mph street sign hanging upside down and with a bullet hole in it. Also some cool business offering transmission repair AND greymarket stereos. One thing I DID manage to capture, near her place, was a random display of motorcycle cops and what not going off. I thought it was some bad business, but she gleefully exclaimed ‘yay! Santa.’ and lo, it was. Only in LA.

We had lunch at a mexican place near her house. Al Pastor tacos and margaritas, yes.

The waiter was a rider so he was geeking out on the bike, and it was a nice mellow lunch.
When done, I checked the clock and it was about 3:15pm, so that put me into a bit of pressure, as I’d have to gear up and get on the road to LAX. Not too far as the crow flies, but we’re talking LA traffic. Sure I don’t get stuck in the traffic jams but I do have to wait for the megalights on these big boulevards, and also, lots of big vehicles i and out of the side businesses and freeway onramps etc so you have to be vigilant.

I wonder WHY in LA. To live and DIE in LA.

At 4:10pm, I rolled up into LAX and dismounted at my terminal. Tole you what, I’ve ridden in many sketchy traffic conditions of somewhat surreal natures, like critical mass and bad ballgame traffic and so on… but riding the lanes around the terminals at rush hour is a video game with ONE LIFE LEFT AND NO EFFING TOKENS. Exhilarating though. And no deaths or ticket punchings.

While I was breaking the bike down again to re-pack it, I had even more spectators than on the street. It started with an inquisitive airline guy, and then three homeland security cops came up, but not to give me trouble, just to oggle at the process. Two stewardesses (and I’ve been watching Pan Am so I got thirsty for a scotch at that point) and a few tourists. Again, I’m working fast as nails, but having to narrate and answer questions. Crazy. I thought girls in line at bars and coffee shops who grab at your sleeves or poke at your arms to see your ink were invasive, but these people are like lifting bike parts and checking out the couplers and so on. You have to laugh. Any time regular folks have a non-violent interest in a bike or a rider, I consider it a win.

The bag was unmolested on the return flight (visibly anyway I haven’t actually opened it yet) and I was home after dark, exhausted, sore from the heavy bag, but super charged for getting to take my bike with me and ride in yet another city.*

And of course, what cab did I take?

*Note I grew up in LA, and we rode up through the beach and Brentwood and Westwood on Aids Lifecycle, but I’m talking general transportation and exploration.

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 07
2. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 09
3. Team Lope Ride Report: Fixie Comute SF/MV Mar 2009

Readers not suffering from short-term memory lost (and now traveling the streets of their unfamiliar neighborhood with tattoos of their grocery lists ont hem looking for payback for a murder they aren’t sure even happened) will recall that in preparation for the Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo, I cobbled together a road bike the night before, and then had it explode on the ride.

You can read that ride report here. I called it the Gran Fondo Fireball.

After locking up the rear derailleur on the way down from the biggest climb of the ride, I was left with this:

And this:

Now, SRAM was a sponsor of the ride, and the local rep actually pulled up and gave me a new used rear derailleur, so I was at least not re-buying that part. With a baby imminent, my shoppe time is next to zero, so in order to get the bike going again, I dropped it off at Performance for a derailleur tune and more importantly a safety check. Right out of the gate, I forgot my new 10-speed chain i had purchased, so I was going to be picking that up there. They noted that the derailleur hanger that I had acquired from derailleurhanger.com was not correct. My frame seller was able to work with BTI and figure out the required part, and I had that shipped from the always sweet-as universalcycles.com. So, back to the shop for a second time, to replace the wrong hanger with the right hanger (this brings the famous ‘no wirrre hangerrrrs!’ to mind)… anyway, they thought they’d be able to finish the bike that day.

Late in the day report: not going to make it, some issue needing more time the next day, a Saturday. That wasn’t promising.

Late Saturday, same call. Even less promising. Understand, when I brought it in, I hadn’t done a THOROUGH inspection due to my family situation. But it looked like there wasn’t significant frame damage, and since the only substantial damage I saw was the hanger, I was hoping they’d be able to do a quick review for safety issues (one drawback to aluminum: when it cracks, it’s over) string the rear derailleur back up, and call it a day.

Then I got a call Monday that things were ‘very bad’. Fortunately, I feared this meant the frame was a loss, but in fact, not THAT bad. But the cassette was trashed, the spokes were jacked, the rim was creased, and some other smaller issues. I was kind of disappointed, because it was not my plan, when I built the new bike, to be frankensteining it with a bunch of new parts. However, it was what it was. I did a little price-checking, then authorized them to swap out a new SRAM 10-speed cassette (this time 12-27, so i lost the range of the old one at the bottom (in other words, the old one was a custom set-up from 11 to 27, giving me a great big AND little cog, with less steps between the two) and went in on new wheels. I could have had the old rear wheel respoked, but it was a cheapie from several years ago, and not really worth the labor and materials. Plus, the bearings on the front were getting choppy. So what the hell.

Picked it up, and it was as good as new. Better than before, actually, thanks to the much, much lighter new wheelset.

I was actually kind of overwhelmed with it last night after I picked up the bike. I was frustrated. I’m no regretter, as you may know from my posts, but I was starting to think, you know, had I listened to to my wife’s bad feeling that I shouldn’t build the bike for the ride etc, that this wouldn’t have happened. I’d have taken Crook Type 3, bombed that ride on a fixie (except for walking up that 16% gradient) and had a great ride, instead of sitting in the rain waiting for SAG for hours, damaging a new frame, destroying pretty much everything that wasn’t already new… at a time when I needed to manage costs.

Then I did some course correction: I suspect I might have had a calamity anyway, at some point. My chain was one link short, based on the discrepancy between SRAM tech notes and the install guides (the difference between one link being one outer and one inner, or just one outer OR one inner, as I thought it was) so there was going to be trouble when it chained big to big, which would happen eventually, despite my efforts. There’s some question about what failed when in the damage… the cassette may have already been bent in the biggest cog, from my previous problems having strung Villain together and riding that for a year. Anyway, it was sub optimal, and when it collap, it collap BIG. At the time, I fixie skided to a stop on a descent. But had it been the crabon frame, I’d very likely have lost the rear triangle, judging by the marks all over the back of the Cinelli and the damage to the wheel. I’d have gone down AND lost the frame. So, while the escalating repairs were unexpected and unfortunate, and the fact that I felt it better to let them keep whacking at it rather than sit on it in the shop for a few months and then start messing with it later, at least it was throughly vetted. And now it’s very rideable. In fact, better than ever.

But it was just hard in that way it’s always hard when you can point to a decision and think, had I not done that, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Even if that isn’t really true. With my first Look theft, and even with Lung’s lock-the wheel-without-the rear-triangle thing, sure they were errors but we had false expectations of security in each case. No sense in regretting that. Each led to newer, bigger, better builds.
So, in the end, this calamity COULD have ended in serious injury and worse damage, instead of ending in a sweet, sweet bike.

PS Zoe tried to pick out yet another wrongrobot-approved ride for herself. I said ‘now you have 3 bikes already. Only Daddy needs a stable of 8 bikes. It’s excessive.’ to which she broke into a toddler wail. Pretty funny, being commentary both on her bike denial AND on my excessive rides.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log- Rogue: Framed!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Fix-e 3.0
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!

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