This Morning's Ride 10-18-08

This morning's ride started off great. The sky was clear blue with temperatures in the low 70's and I felt strong as I rolled north through tree shaded residential streets. I reached my destination, the Fort Worth Stock Yards, with no problems. It was the ride back that kind of ruined things. I had taken a few snacks with me but they just weren't doing the trick. I was hungry. I took a little detour to the Panera Bread Co. just north of the trail on University Drive and had a nice big bowl of baked potato soup. I climbed back on my bike and rode off but I felt terrible. My legs and shoulder were stiff and heavy and I had a headache. To top things off my deraileur was making noises that I could seem to fix with the barrel adjuster . I struggled home, showered and jumped in bed. I guess I bonked. I wasn't riding any harder than I normally do, I probably just waited too long to refuel. Anyway, I guess a bad day riding is better than not riding at all.



Feral Cat Colony at Trinity Park. There used to be 50 to 60 cats living in this area of the park a few years ago. I guess the city removed them. They're starting to return and appear to be well fed.


Stopped for a snack just north of downtown Fort Worth.


I've driven by this stairway on a few occassions and always wondered what was at the top.




The view from the top of the stairs. I'd like to sneak in there sometime and do some exploring.


The stockyards were full of tourists this morning.








These are the only "bikes" you'll see around the Stock Yards. Look at the size of the gas tank on the one on the left.


This is a short walking trail just to the south of the Stock Yards.

Shimano DH-3N80

The little Cateye headlight I've been using for my early morning rides is less than ideal. It definately falls in the "be seen" category. My plan is to replace it with a dynamo hub and light. I would like a Schmidt Son 28 dynamo hub but the $275 price tag is a bit much for me right now.



I started researching the Shimano DH-3N70 dynamo hub. Much of what I've read indicated that most people were perfectly happy with their Shimano dynamo hubs despite the added resistance compared to the Schmidt. Many people actually recommend the Shimano over the Schmidt for city riding which is pretty much all I'm doing right now.





Yesterday in the Surly LHT and CC Group, Andrew from Austraila, posted pictures of his new Surly Cross Check built up with a Shimano DH-3N80 dynamo hub powering an awsome little Supernova E3 headlight. Here's a link to his Flickr page for more photos. Good looking bike Andrew.








These hubs aren't available in the U.S. but apparently they narrow the performance gap between the previous Shimano hub and the Schmidt. I couldn't find any reviews posted in english but I did find Roseversand, an online bike shop in Germany that sells them for 67 Euros ($97) plus 30 Euros ($40.00) shipping to the U.S.. That's a savings of about $138 depending on changing exchange rates and if I read things properly on the German web site.

By the way, I also discovered that there's a whole subculture of people who enjoy building freakishly bright headlights and modifying flashlights. You can find them at Candle Power Forums.

This Morning's Ride

During the week I mapped out a ride from my house around the south side of Lake Benbrook. I'm trying to mix things up with different routes of varying lengths so that I'm not stuck spending most of my time riding the paved bike trails On this particular route there was a long section of road that I was concerned about. I used the Google maps satelite images to count cars on this road. There were very few cars in the satelite image so I felt better about trying this new route. When I arrived at the road in question it turned out to be a narrow two lane road with no shoulders (hard to tell from the satelite image) and heavy traffic. I wasn't going to risk getting hit. I had to turn around around and finish my ride on the paved bike trails, kind of boring.

On the positive side, I did add a couple of new items to my bike. A Pletscher double leg kickstand and a German mirror. Kind of dorky but very convenient.

It's Here- Surly Long Haul Trucker

Finally, after weeks of frustration I got the call from Rick at Colonel's Bike that my LHT had arrived, was built up and ready to go. I drove the bike home, put it on the stand and got to work.

I started off with the fender installation. Now, this job might have taken your average person a couple of hours to complete but not me. I won't say just how long it took me, it's embarrasing, but I spent the better part of the day trying to get them set up right and centered over the tires. I love Velo Orange but they really need to add a few more pictures to their online fender installation instructions.

I then set up the Nitto rack, using the bolt on the rack that goes through the fork crown to secure the front fender. I had to run down to Performance Bike Shop to find the right size nut to secure the rack and fender. The rack doesn't sit perfectly horizontal, it tilts up slightly, but it's going to be obscured by my Ostrich handlebar bag most of the time so it really doesn't matter.

Next thing to be installed was the decaleur and the bell which is attached to a headset spacer. This was fairly simple. I installed my Brooks saddle and then re-wrapped the handlebars with natural colored cork tape. Early this morning I applied a couple coats of shellac to the bar tape and took off for a shakedown ride.

I am really happy with the way this bike handles. Everything worked well with a few usual new bike problems, I had to turn one of the barrel adjusters to quiet down the rear deraileur, make saddle adjustments etc. The decaleur will shift from side to side when riding over bumps. I tightened things down but I'll have to find a way to fix that. The brakes are marginal, I knew this beforehand since I've been reading through the posts on the Google Surly LHT group and the stock brakes are the one thing that most people complain about. I'll probably get some Kool Stop pads and see how they work out. I had a problem with my right knee hitting the bar end shifter making unintentional shifts while climbing. I may end up switching to down tube shifters. After a few adjustments the remainder of my ride went smoothly.

It's the LHT

After much too much internal debate, I drove over to Colonel's Bicycles and bought a Long Haul Trucker (complete) in olive green. The bike should be delivered to the shop around September 5th.



I've got to say that I was really pleased with the service I received from the guys at Colonel's. I've bought all of my bikes from upper end bike shops since 1987 and this is the first time anyone has taken the time to properly measure me. I've always thought that a 58 cm road frame was my size, but according to the "Fit Stick" I'm better suited to a 55-56 cm frame.

I'm hoping the bike shows up on the 5th so I can take it out for it's innagural spin at the Cowtown Classic Bike Ride on Saturday the 6th. That's if hurricane Gustav doesn't dump rain on us. I'm in rehab with a shoulder injury so, being cautious, I signed up for the 20 mile ride. Plus if the LHT doesn't show up I'll be on my Kona, in that case 20 miles will be plenty.

Kogswell P/R

I'm waffling a bit. I like the Surly Long Haul Trucker but I ran across Christopher Johnson's blog Pondero. Christopher, a fellow Texan, rides a really nice Kogswell P/R.



I like the way he's got his bike set up with the dynamo hub, light, Nitto front rack, bag and so on.







He's got his set up as a fixed gear, mine would be geared. It's a beautiful bike. The Kogswell P/R is $600 and includes frame, fork, fenders, headset and seatpost. The Surly LHT frameset is $419 online although I'd buy mine from my local bike shop because I'm going to need help with the build. If you add the cost of a good quality set of fenders, headset, and seatpost for the LHT there isn't that much of a difference in price. I'll have to ask Christopher, but I believe I read somewhere in his blog that he had to wait several months to get his frame. I guess I'll be doing some more research before I buy anything. Whatever I get I'm going to have for a very long time.


Here's a picture of really nice LHT that someone posted in the Surly LHT Group.
It's been powder coated and dressed up real nice. Here's a link to the owner's blog, Eco-Friendly Bicycling Photographer.

Clipless or Platform

I ditched my Time mountain bike pedals a while back after developing some knee pain. I haven't missed them at all and I really don't know if I'll ever go back. I've been reading a discussion about this topic in the Surly LHT (Long Haul Trucker) Group. Apparently this discussion was started because of an article called "The Shoes Ruse" on the Rivendell web site. If you're familiar with Rivendell, I don't think you'll have to read the article to know which way they lean.

Long Haul Trucker

I'm thinking about getting a new bike. I'm leaning towards a Surly Long Haul Trucker frameset. The decision I've got to make now is how I want to build it up. Do I build it as a touring bike or as more of a cruiser/ errand bike?

(Top photo above borrowed from Pedalturista. Bottom photo from the bike gallery at EcoVelo)

I would like to eventually do some loaded touring but I'll mostly use it for general riding, long distance weekend rides and around town errands.

I'm going to buy the parts piecemeal using the money I'm making from my t shirt sales. This could take a while. I need a new mountain bike and a road bike but honestly I would use my LHT much more often.