School's Out For Summer.

Some times you just feel like being a little wacky.

On Monday, I felt the urge to throw some knobby cross tires on my single speed road bike and ride it up to Annadel. I used my new single speed rear wheel and my oh-so-blingy front cross wheel that I am almost embarrassed to ride in public (it's got a shiny gold Velocity rim). The front wheel had just a little clearance issue with the fork, so I had to tighten down the QR with the axle a little low in the fork ends. That was the easy part, as the rear wheel took some coaxing to get clearance between the knobby tire and the seat and chain stays. Some credit cards sandwiched between the tire and stays seemed to do the trick, and some frustrated wrenching and 20 minutes later, the wheel spun freely. I also had stuck an old 39 tooth chainring on the crank to pair with the 16-tooth freewheel. I figured that this was a good balance of gearing for being able to ride to Santa Rosa from Rohnert Park and climb the hills at Annadel.

Riding this bike at Annadel was a great amount of fun! The gearing was a little tough, but I made it most of the way up Spring Creek before I had to push it. I saw a few people I know riding around and for some reason they didn't seem too surprised to see me on that bike. Other people who passed by had rather funny and perplexed faces. Richardson trail was really fun on this bike, as it is smooth and gradual. I felt like I was going much faster on this trail than I typically do on my mountain bike.

I had a slow leak that I kept pumping up every few miles. I replaced the tube with a 700x18/23c tube that I had in my seat bag and it seemed to work fine in the 35mm wide tire. Although, the region around the valve stem is a little iffy feeling.

I like the idea of being able to use a bike for multiple purposes, whether it be commuting, road riding, taking it offroad, or just riding around town. I think it would be cool to have a 29-inch mountain bike set up with more of a cross feel. Some higher pressure, but still knobby, tires would do the trick. A Surly Karate Monkey with drop bars and an internally geared hub would be a pretty fun bike, I think.

New Single Speed Wheels

My single speed road bike is more fun to ride than ever! I just finished my new set of wheels for the bike, and I immediately notice a dramatic change in ride quality and performance. They are faster, more comfortable, and handle a lot nicer than the old, heavy wheels that I had.
Here's the build:
-Shimano Ultegra 28h front, silver d/b spokes, silver alloy nipples, silver Velocity Aerohead rim
-Surly fixed/free 32h rear, and same spokes, nipples, and rim.

This is now the third set of wheels that I have built, and wheelbuilding seems to only get more exciting. The lacing felt a lot more natural, and I didn't have to think about it as much as the first two pairs. I did, however, verify with Chaz that I was starting correctly. The Surly rear hub was very easy to tension because of the symmetrical qualities of the hub flanges.

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I've still been riding a lot lately, and I'm feeling great. I do have a slight knee problem that kicks up every once in a while, but I think I've figured out how to take it easy on my knees. Yesterday, I went for a single speed ride with Chase and Justin. They both ride brakeless fixed gears, which I think is a bit crazy. It was very windy, and we took turns pushing for short periods of time. It was about a 30 mile loop up to Annadel and back.

Today, on my one day off from everything, I decided to go for a nice and long ride. As indicated earlier, I am loving the single speed, so I took it out. I just rode out and around the neighboring cities on the country roads and made up the route as I went along. There was a mad headwind the first 30 miles, and I was in the drops most of the time. I was standing and mashing into the wind on the flats sometimes because of the wind. When I finally turned around to go back down to Rohnert Park, I really appreciated the tailwind and flew back at the top speed I can push with my 42x16 gearing, which is somewhere around 23 mph or so. The ride ended up being 50 miles long, and I feel great now, afterward. I think I want to push for 75 miles next ride, as I am still contemplating whether or not to try for the 100 mile ride in the Tour de Cure, which is one month from today.

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So what's next for my single speed?

Aaron Abravaya and I will each be picking up a White Industries freewheel for our single speeds (Aaron's is a 29er mountain bike). I hear the quality is impeccable and I will be very happy when my freewheel doesn't make a constant clicking sound while pedaling. I also like that they are a VERY local company, fabricating their products in Petaluma, CA. I am very impressed with their road hubs, additionally.


It was a beautiful day (but still windy):



Rear wheel awesomeness:



Front wheel awesomeness:



My hair legs (I might be shaving them soon for summer):

115 Single-Speed Miles Since Tuesday

It's Thursday night and my legs are sore as hell. I am loving my single speed road bike.

Tuesday morning Chase and I rode to Annadel and back via P-Hill and Bennett Valley. It's around 32 miles there and back. It was a great way to start the day before work. Later, after work and class, Chase, Dustin, and I did the same loop again. This time Chase and Dustin were on geared bikes and I was on the single speed. It was a fun challenge keeping up with them.

Today I was weighing back and forth whether I should take the single speed out on a longer road ride. I decided to go with the single speed again, because I am pretty stoked on that bike. Woody and I did the Chileno Valley loop down West of Petaluma. I've only done that loop twice before on a geared road bike, and it's a pretty good ride with some small climbs and a lot of rolling hills. Surprisingly, I felt great on the single speed. It was a totally different type of ride having to stand up at basically every significant incline. Near the end my legs were definitely hurting, and I had to walk the bike halfway up the steepest and longest hill on Spring Hill. I was expecting the distance to be in the low 40s, but it ended up being 50 miles! I think I'll rest tomorrow morning and have some energy for my mom and sisters.

Thursday road ride and fixed ride on newly rebuilt bike

Today was beautiful. Chase and I went out for a relatively fast ride in the morning. We did the Tomales loop out to the coast, which is a good 35 miles of rolling hills and a few decent climbs. We did it in 2 hours exactly, which means we averaged 17.5 mph, which is faster than I usually ride on a ride like that, unless I am really pushing it. Chase is a really good rider and can climb like it is nothing. I guess that big gear that he pushes on his fixed gear has helped.

Some exciting news (for me): I finally got the new fork for my fixed gear and quickly put everything together for an evening fixed ride with Chase, Dustin, and some of the other fixed riders from town. We road up P Hill, which is a perfect road for fixed or single speed riding. The sunset was beautiful, and it stayed warm enough for cycling shorts and a (wool) jersey. We road back on Stony Point in the dark.

The bike felt great, and it is the first time that I've ridden with drops and hoods on that bike. I think when I save up some money, I'm going to get a White Industries freewheel to put on the other side of the hub. Sometimes I want to go for a single speed ride with the ability to coast. I'll also need to run a rear brake, so hopefully I can find the barrel adjuster for my rear campy brake that matches the front one. Eventually, I'm also going to build up a nice and light wheelset for that bike.

Pictures from last Thursday's ride, compliments of Woody Wu

Trees can't stop the bike

Today is Thursday, which means that my friend Woody and I went on a road ride in the morning before our 2:30 classes. It's great to have a school-day morning to get out, ride hard, and come back feeling accomplished even before heading to class. We just decided to do a faster ride today with just a little climbing. We climbed up Roberts Rd off of P. Hill, and went down the backside down into Santa Rosa.

On the start of the climb up Roberts, there was a wall of tree covering the road. It was maybe 20 feet high, but it seemed like more, and it was quite a sight to see the road disappearing into it. We had to hop a fence to go around, and all of the cars had to turn around, which was probably a real pain, as they had a long ways to go around. We took a few pictures with Woody's camera and I will hopefully post them when I get them. Next time, I want to climb up Sonoma Mt. Rd. as well.

We headed over to Annadel State Park and rode to the end of Channel drive. The weather was beautiful and it felt great to soak in the sun and just cruise up the road at that point. We had talked about taking the Joe Radota Trail over to Sebastopol and riding around the hills, but we decided that our legs just weren't going to carry us up those hills and headed over to P. Hill Rd. Woody and I both wanted to book it back and we were pushing hard on P. Hill. At one point, we were consistently at around 27 mph on the flats. I'm not sure if we had a tail wind, but it felt awesome to fly like that.

After my class, I went out on a fixed ride with some guys from the school and around town. It was a pretty short ride, but still fun. We did a short climb up Cypress off of W. Sierra in Cotati and spun down Poplar. From there, we had a nice pace line going down Old Redwood and came back up on P. Hill Rd. I always forget how much I like little loops like that. I hope to ride with the single-speed crowd again soon.

Starting this Blog

I'm starting this blog to keep up with my hobbies surrounding bicycling and to motivate myself to ride more and try new things. I'll post on bicycle-related news and info, keep ride reports, and just have a good time with this blog thing.