On April 5th, 2008 I rode a 300K Brevet in my home state of KY. This Brevet is an out and back route from Shelbyville, KY to Stanford KY. As with the KY 200K Brevet event earlier this year, Steve Rice did a great job of hosting this event!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
20080329_OH200K
Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com
On March 29th, 2008 I rode a 200K Brevet out of Lewis Center to Loudonville, OH. Many thanks go out to the Ohio Randonneurs and Bob Waddell for the effort to organize it. Prior to this event, OH was still getting no mercy from a nasty winter, but other then a little chilly weather and headwinds, we where cut a break today. Complete ride report follows.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
2 Days until the 03/29/2008 OH 200K organized by Bob Waddell of Ohio Randonneurs, anticipation is building and the forecast is for temps in the low 50’s. Drawing from lessons learned on the KY 200K earlier this month, I should be better prepared physically for this one.
I came across this video today, the guy was doing OK until he decided to stop. It looks like he hesitated at exactly the wrong point, which resulted in a failed dismount.
I assume he came out of it all right.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The $25 DIY Bike Stand constructed last month has proven to be a very worthwhile project. I love this thing, since building it I am constantly finding excuses to use it. Be it periodic inspections, maintenance, cleaning, or just to stare at the bike. While functional, the PVC stand is still not perfect. Drawing from a little hands on time and the lessons learned from the original build, I worked out some improvements.
The threaded union was added to allow the clamp to rotate into multiple positions. Unfortunately, no matter how much the union was tightened, it did not have enough friction to prevent rotation of the clamp on a suspended bike. The union consists of two pieces of PVC pipe that screw together with an o-ring in between them. The O-ring is designed to form a seal , and limit the rotation between the two pipes in the joint. While it is sufficient for plumbing, it is by no means adequate for holding a bike.
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Giant OCR2 is a very versatile bike, good for commuting, centuries, brevets, and whatever else makes sense at the moment. After putting on a new Brooks saddle and saddlebag, I became apprehensive about riding in the rain and on wet roads. Water and grime where getting thrown all over the brand new saddle and bag off of the back tire. Water is no friend to Brooks saddle, staying wet for too long will ruin it.
This article is an attempt to outfit the OCR2 with a full set of fenders. The installation is surprisingly easy, however when I researched the issue, there was a lot of conflicting opinions if this was even possible with Giant OCR bikes. The only way to truly know would be to try it myself. Below is a high level overview of how to do it, and yes it can be done very easily!
I have not been a fan of fenders, I always thought they made the bike look like a tank, and me a conservative old fart. This year I committed to the UMCA Year Rounder Challenge, plus another 5 brevets and possibly RAIN. In order to accomplish these rides, some wet weather riding will be on tap. In light of this, common sense prevailed and fenders got a closer look.
Planet Bike makes a set of Hardcore Road fenders that are fairly economical, and versatile, see below for picture and link. SKS also makes some nice fender sets, but I chose the PB ones on the grounds of price, availability, color match to the bike.
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7008.html
“Clip-on” fenders are fairly popular, but after trying a couple of pair, I found them to be inadequate in a number of situations. The full fenders had a better protection area and where better at keeping water and grime off of my feet and backside. They also looked more aesthetically pleasing, ( I never thought I would hear myself say that…)
