Making Heavy Blue Steel

I had to leave the island on Tuesday to take my son to the airport. He flew to Paris on Wednesday and by now is on a train to Spain.

Living on an island in the San Juans everything in "America" (the mainland) which is further than 80 miles may need to be planned as a night over. The ferry system sucks to put it mildly and making trips off is a chore. So my son and I left a day early. This was to also allow us to do some last minute shopping for last minute items for his trip; another pair of light weight fast drying pants from REI, a pack towel, backpack cover, and so on. I also got to do a little needed shopping.

Bike Computer - Making my hear healthier:
Off of Craigslist I was able to find a brand new Polar CS200cad for real cheap. In fact I didn't realize I was buying the bike computer with the cadence sensor. Without the cad sensor the computer would have still been a bargain.

The Polar 200 has everything that a normal bike computer has but also comes with heart rate monitor, cadence monitor, caloric consumption rate, savable exercise files, and a lot more but my main reason to buying it was the hr function.

YOU WILL USE THE COMFY BARS!
Another Craigslist deal and pickup were some MTB road/mountain handlebars. Makes me feel like I'm wheeling and dealing whenever I get off the rock. I was worried that my son though I was dealing drugs. "I have to make a quick stop off the interstate so wait in the car while I run into this nondescript buildings with this cash in my hand."

Fortunately Gregg's Greenlake Cycle was a block away and so I was able to pickup a stem with a 31.8 clamp area for the larger bars and also picked up a frame pump while there.

Fenders No. 3 - Third times a charm!:
I finally got the right ones!

Almost everything is ordered online and gets ship to the island as there are very few stores here which cater to taste and frugality. I can't stand buying stuff which ends up needing to be replaced soon afterwards. Might as well spend a little extra to get a product which is going to last for a while and does what you need it to do.

The problems though with ordering online are the obvious and I get my fare share of mistakes and miss-orders.

My first fender order was a set of fenders from Nashbar which when they finally got here ended up being the wrong size. Nashbar says they were to one's I ordered but I know my wheels are not 26" and I would have not knowingly ordered the wrong ones. That said my wheels are 700c and in the end Nashbar took them back minus the shipping which I paid twice. I then ordered a set of the SKS Chromoplast silver fenders from Wallingford Bikes, this time it was my mistake.

Being newish to road biking I figured that since I have 35mm (size) wide tires that I should order a 35mm fender set... WRONG! You should get fender larger than the width of your wheels. Having 35mm wheels I needed a 43 or 45mm set of fenders. So while I was in Seattle for couple of days, I was able to find some Planet Bike Chromoplast silver 700c x 45mm. Finally some fenders which fit. The only thing I'm not sure about is that they come with black mud flaps and I'm not sure I like this feature but oh well, I'm content with them for now. Eventually though I want a set of Woody fenders.































Got back late last night:
Getting back last night one more thing was waiting for me, the brass bell I ordered from Rivendell Bikes. I love the colour and the tone is incredible. My wife says it sounds like a Tibetan singing bowl and I agree. Though the dog and cat I think hate the sound.

One last thing is that my Ortlieb panniers should be here tomorrow and then I will be just about set up. I still want to get a Tubus rear and front rack and a front set of Ortlieb panniers and handlebar bag but if we wanted to go on a tour tomorrow night, I would be able to.

Treating my Brooks saddle

I bought my Brooks honey brown Champion Flyer Special off of eBay almost new for around $50 USD but you can find them new for usually under $100. I absolutely love the classic look and and feel. Even before breaking in though I could tell it was going to be a very comfy saddle and I've have certain areas of my anatomy that go numb on not the right saddle so have to watch out.

Before riding on it though, I needed to break it in and so I had to do a bit of research. I ended up using a method described by Sheldon Brown where the saddle is turned "upside-down on a sheet of aluminum foil, then (the foil is formed) up around the saddle for a snug fit. " When I conditioned my saddle I poured an 8 ounce can of Hubberd's shoe oil into the foil and then let it soak for about 45 minutes. There is room for improvising here, in fact Sheldon says that, "RAAM pioneer Lon Haldeman uses SAE 30 motor oil, but his saddles tend to wear out after only 300,000 miles or so (according to Cyclist Magazine)." 300,000 or so miles... if I ever clock that within the remainder of my life, I want a freeking medal!

Here's the foil wrapped Brooks saddle soaking in oil:














Here's the aftermath:















And here it is on my bike!















Ain't she pretty!

A wish list of sorts

If I can find any of this stuff on eBay or Craigslist I'm "there!"

HARDWARE~
Front Panniers:
Ortlieb Front Roller Plus (vol 25L, weight 46.2 oz)
Handlebar bag:
Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus LARGE w/Map Case
Rear Rack:
Tubus Cosmo (stainless)
Front Rack:
Tubus Nova (stainless)
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Pedals:
Crank Brothers Quattro Pro Series SL Pedal - Fast Freddie Blue
Handlebars (current-43cm w/25.4mm clamp area):
WTB Mountain/Road Drop Bar
Stem (current-1 1/8" threadless 96.0° (+6.0°?) rise 110.0mm):
(brand?) 1 1/8" threadless 96.0° (+6.0°?) rise 110.0mm x 31.8mm clamp area
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Extras:
Lizard Skin Chain stay
Seat rain cover
Helmet cover
Tires Schwalbe Marathons w/reflective sidewalls (700 x 35c)
Coffee Cup Holder: Soma Morning Rush
DeLorme Earthmate GPS PN-20 Deluxe BUNDLE
or GARMIN Edge 605 Bicycle Computer and GPS Navigator
Computer:
Polar CS200 w/HR Monitor
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TOOLS~
Hypercracker
Park PCS-10 Home Repair Stand
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CLOTHING~
Musa shorts, knickers, or pants
Wool semi tights
Unisex midweight wool zip T
Bike Pogies (aka Moose Mitts)
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ON ORDER: Rivendell Brass Bell, Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus
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FINISHED MODS (that matter)~
Brooks Flyer Special saddle & perforated leather bar tape
Crank Bros Candy SL pedals & cleats
Chromoplast fenders 35mm
Salsa Cross top levers
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MODS FOR LATER or IF I GET RICH~
Woody fenders
or Fullwood Fenders
or Honjo fenders, hammered
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THINGS TO CONSIDER~
Schmidt Dynamo w/IQ Fly lamp
FreeRadical Hitchless Trailer Kit

Blue Steel Roads

The last road bike I owned was a lime green Schwinn Free Spirit 10 speed that was always out of adjustment and a hit one what little ego I was allowed to have at twelve or thirteen years old. After all, "it was a Schwinn."

Sometime around 1978 the brakes failed for the last time on a wet down hill road giving me three choices; attempt to pass on the left of the car which had stopped in front me while waiting for an on coming car to pass before turning left its self, attempt to jump a tall curb on the right while trying to dodge a telephone pole at the same time, or ramming the rear end of the "offending" car in my path... I chose the later and ended up going through the rear window of the car. The hospital was only a couple of blocks away but fortunately I only had minor bumps, bruises, scrapes, a few pieces of glass to pick out of my skin, and an end to my bicycle torment.

In 1986 I decided to give Schwinn another chance and picked up what the dealer told me was a ATB. I wanted those cool quick release wheels but the salesman claimed that they were no good for anything but racing and would snap the first time I took the bike off of pavement. I wasn't convinced and actually was a little put off not being able to get what I wanted but bought the bike anyway because at the time Astoria, OR was a one bike shop town and I was 20 and hot to spend my money. Needless to say I was bikeless again within six months because I needed the money to move to Portland and sold the thing to a friend.

My next bike was a Diamondback Topenga, a proper entry level MTB which I loved for several years until finally attempting to park my car in the garage with the bike still clamped down on the roof rack. Needless to say the bike was still clamped to the rack when the rack tore off the car while skidding across the roof and off the rear end of the car. This though had a silver lining. Thank God for home owner's insurance which gave me enough to buy a new bike. It was good timing too because I worked at the Seattle REI and was able to pro-deal my first real MTB, a Bianchi Superbee. As far as mountain biking goes, this bike was the love of my life. When I moved to Arizona to go back to school the bike was perfect but eventually I moved to the Hudson Valley in NY where biking anywhere is a is course in road survival not to mention the commute was long and complicated: wake up before sunrise every morning dive my son for 45 minutes across the Kingston bridge to Woodstock and then drive another 30 minutes to my office in Kingston. Even if I didn't take my son to school every morning it would have been brutal especially during the five months of winter. I should mention that my wife had more guts than me and even in the winter commuted into Rhinebeck on many days. But I always played the melodrama and told my wife that if I were killed along a road that I didn't want to be remembered with a roadside memorial. So the Bianchi went into the shed where it lived until we moved back to the west coast in the San Juan Islands.

After years off the saddle and getting fat we started to do bike tours. Something my wife had done for years before meeting me to her misfortune. But besides the obvious mechanical challenges something just isn't right about using a MTB as a tourer and both my Bianchi and my body rejected my attempts to convince them otherwise. So for the last several years and usually while on a tour in the Gulf Islands, I dreamt of a proper road bike, once and for all! After the last tour of the Gulf Island, on an uphill section of Salt Spring Island to be exact, I finally resolved to get a real tour bike.

Thank goodness for friends in high places as my friends who owned part of my LBS said they would give me a good deal on a bike so at the beginning of this year (2008) as part of my promiss to myself and the only kind of New Years resolution I could keep, I picked up a Utility Blue Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT). As a volunteer fire fighter and EMT my dept is also concerned about the number one killer of fire fighters, heart attacks. So during the last quarter of 2007 they got everyone memberships the local gym. To top it all off, my work allowed me to take off in the mornings to work out. The stars and moon had finally all aligned and since I've lost around 15lbs of fat while gaining it back in muscle. I have gotten serious about my health for the first time since 1996 and am on the right track. I'm also riding (even in the winter) around our island and can't wait until this summer's tour when we will take two weeks and will try to get to the Discovery Islands.

Hurrah for my Utility Blue Steel bike and the open road!