The Midlander

I rode the Midlander last week with my dad and my brother. Here are the facts:

We missed one turn.

We skipped Bopple Hill.

I stopped to rest about a dozen times going up Gannet (but I never walked the bike!).

My top speed was 46.9 MPH!

We bailed out and headed back to the start about 43 miles into the ride, when it was 49 degrees and raining. In the end we road about 50 miles.

It was brutal and lots of fun at the same time.

Next year I plan to train and be about 30 pounds lighter.

Lumotec Fly review

I went out for my first good ride with the new Lumotec Fly headlight and the SON dynamo hub. I should preface this review by stating that my night vision is really pretty poor. I say that because I was a little disappointed in the light output and I think someone with better night vision would be more impressed than I was.

Before it got truly dark the light wasn't much help. It got better as it got darker but I still found myself unable to differentiate between the asphalt path and the grass on either side. It would probably help if the grass were green instead of brown right now, but anyhow. Things got a lot better once I got to the section of the path with a yellow line down the middle. Then I had no trouble keeping it on the path. Aside from that though I came dangerously close to riding into the canal and I even missed a familiar turn because I couldn't see it.

About the light unit itself - It's really just a typical plastic light. It's made in Germany but if I didn't know better I would guess that it had been made in China. I say that with great regret because I love German stuff. Being of Dutch and German heritage I always go for the German product, if there is one. Maybe it was made in Germany using Chinese equipment, I don't know. But it's lightweight and it seems sturdy enough so I guess I can't really complain about the construction quality.

I was surprised to see that it didn't come with any kind of paperwork. There is some information on the outside of the package, but no instructions of any kind. I guess it's more or less straight-forward, but it's not entirely clear what the four connections on the back are for. Which reminds me that I was less than thrilled to see that the main hook-up wires are attached inside the unit. That will make it more difficult if they need to be replaced.

The beam pattern is a little unusual. I was prepared for it to be less focused than that of an E6, but it takes on kind of an eagle type shape. It's difficult to describe and I haven't tried to photograph it yet. I think it's fine though. I was a little put off by the stray light that made its way to the ground directly below the bike and up into the trees, but then I realized that the light that's leaking on the sides probably makes me a little more visible in traffic. I guess that can't be bad.

The standlight seems very useful. It's bright enough that I would feel pretty confident that drivers would see me from across an intersection. Another nice thing about the standlight is that it's separate from the halogen unit. You can remove the halogen unit to replace the bulb and the standlight will provide a little bit of light so you can see what you are doing. There's some of that German goodness.

All in all I guess it will do the job. I'm happy knowing that I have parts on order to build a couple of Cree headlights though. I'm expecting them to be noticeably brighter. I think I should experiment with mounting the light on the fork too. Having the light on the frame didn't bother me when I was using a 20 watt halogen, but with this light there isn't enough light on the sides to help me see when I'm turning.

Second choice headlight

Well, I decided to call Peter White today to see if they could switch my order. They had the Lumotec Fly Plus in stock so I'm going with that. It might actually be a better choice than the standard Lumotec I had ordered originally. They promised to ship it out today, so maybe by Friday I'll be hooking some lights up to the bike.

Ellen Allien lives in Berlin

I'm a big fan of Berlin. I would say it's my favorite city in the world. I recently picked up Ellen Allien's The Other Side Berlin presented by Time Out (Deaf Dumb + Blind Recordings). I bought it mostly because it comes with a DVD that outlines some of Ellen's favorite spots around Berlin. Turns out the CD is great too! I highly recommend it.

In all its glory...

Schmidt's Original Nabendynamo. My very own SON wheel. Very exciting my friends. A true work of art that works. Well, not mine, not quite yet...

I would be out lighting the canal path right now if weren't for the fact that I am down one dynamo headlight. I ordered on from Peter White, but the model I wanted is out of stock. I really wish they had let me know so I could have ordered a different one. I'm sufficiently anxious to get it going that I probably would have ordered an even more expensive one! Oh well, I know they're busy. Too busy to throw some rim tape on my nice Velocity rim too. That surprised me. At first I thought maybe the Velocity rims don't need rim tape, but that's crazy. Otherwise they would have never invented the Veloplug. So I need one headlight and one rim strip before I can see this thing in action.

I did get my Busch & Müller 4D Lite Plus:

Once again, useless until I get the headlight. Oh well, I'm not riding to work in the dark just yet.

This headlight is really just a temporary fix anyhow. I have designs on a double Cree setup, following the excellent work detailed here. I ordered some junk from Cutter in Australia and a couple of nFlex boards from this dude in California. I'll have to swing by Radioshack and Home Depot to see if I can come up with the remaining supplies. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the whole project, but I'm confident I can get it working. I'll try to document the whole thing in detail here as I go.

Just to make it clear, this wheel is going to do double duty on my recumbent and my winter bike. I have a Bacchetta Giro that I ride most of the year and I just picked up a new winter bike yesterday. I've been riding my full-suspension Trek Y3 the last few years and I'm tired of the suspension sapping me of my strength. So I found a mid-90s Univega Alpina 503 the other day. It's really a pretty nice mountain bike. It has all (low-end) Shimano stuff and some sort of Mavic rims. Anyhow, it'll make a great winter beater once I get the SON hub on there.

Lube

I don't have experience with a lot of chain lubes, but I can tell you that ProLink is the best I've used by far. Most of my experience is with wet lubes (Finish Line in particular). The ProLink is so much cleaner! My chain looks brand new most of the time. I've only been using it for a few weeks, but I expect that I will convert all my chains to this lube. Check it out: ProLink.

Identity Crisis

It's no surprise to me that my Salsa Casseroll is having an identity crisis. It's not a lightweight speed demon. It's not quite a touring bike. I guess you could pretty well peg it as a do-it-all commuter. Anyhow, there are a lot of things that factor in to what kind of bike it is.

I decided that I wanted to try some bigger rubber, so I swapped the Krylion Carbon tires for a set of Panaracer T-Servs (700x32). So far I'm quite pleased with them. They run at 95 psi and they don't seem to be slowing me down at all. They roll over broken glass with no worries and they take the bumps better than the Michelins. Unfortunately they don't specify a pressure range, so running them with less air seems to be a bad idea. I'm looking forward to taking it down the Greenway to see how they do offroad. I like knowing that I can tackle some dirt if I feel like it.

As an experiment I put an old Pletscher rack on it that I had picked up at a garage sale for one U.S dollar. I dig the old Swiss rack, even though it appears to be a bit lightweight for any kind of touring. It turns out that I haven't even had an occasion to use it, so I think it's going to come back off for now. I think I'm going to have to invest in a nice Tubus rack if I want to do any touring. Those Tubus racks look really nice and it seems like they would go great with my Ortlieb panniers.

I finally picked up a nice set of silver SKS fenders the other day. Then I realized that I had to mailorder a Problem Solvers brake nut set in order to install them properly. If you have brakes that have a recessed nut then you run the risk of not being able to install the fenders properly. I was glad that Harris Cyclery had what I needed, but I ended up paying almost $20 with the shipping. That turned my $40 fenders into $60 fenders. I hope I end up riding in the rain a lot! I haven't mounted them yet, but I trust they are going to look like they belong on the bike. Just testing them out it looks like there is going to be very little room between the tire and the fender, which will look nice. I just hope I don't have all kinds of crap getting jammed up in between.

The New Bike

Here are the specs:

Salsa Casseroll frame
Mavic Open Pro rims
Campagnolo Centaur hubs
Salsa Road Pro bars
Ritchey something-or-other seatpost
Fi'zi:k Arione saddle
Michelin Krylion Carbon tires
Campagnolo Centaur cranks, cassette, shifters, etc.
Ultegra long-reach brakes
Salsa waterbottle cages
Cane Creek S8 Headset
Cinelli bartape
the Felt stem is temporary until I decide what size I want

Casseroll in the oven

I picked up all the pieces parts to create the new bike. I started assembling it last night and resumed bright and early this morning. Things were going okay until I stripped the front derailleur clamp. I have to see if they have another one at the bike shop tomorrow. Failing that I'll have to order one. I was having a terrible time trying to set up and adjust the front derailleur. I guess I must have moved and retightened it one too many times. The only other problem I'm having is trying to figure out how to position the bars and the control levers. I think I have them pretty well sorted out but I want to check again in the daylight before I wrap the bar. I don't know why I'm stressing out about it. I guess the worst case scenario would be having to remove the tape, move the control levers and replace the bar tape. Even if I need new tape it's only $20. Anyhow, once I have things together I'll post a photo. I would have taken photos during the assembly but the resident digital camera is on vacation in Las Vegas (hope you're having fun out there Jenn).

Science and the Akashic Field

I picked this book up at Barnes and Noble after reading mention of it in the latest issue of Namarupa. It was recommended in an article written by Robert Svoboda. I haven't gotten very far with it yet but I'm really happy to be reading it. It makes me wonder how I've gone so many years without thinking much about physics and astronomy. It's fascinating stuff, especially since we're having trouble figuring out how to explain so many of these strange phenomena that are showing up in scientific research. I expect that this book is going to give me a lot to think about.

A new bike is in the works

I spent a crapload of money on a new bike today. And that was just the down payment. Anyhow, I'm building up a Salsa Casseroll. Component highlights include a Campagnolo Centaur drivetrain, and... well that's really the only highlight. Everything else is pretty standard. This photo is from Salsa's website. I guess mine will look more or less like this except I'll be using a Fi'zi:k Arione saddle instead of the Brooks they have pictured here. This will be my first real road bike, at least my first with more than one gear.

Lunchtime memory

A highlight of 2006 for me was a trip to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I wanted to share this funny picture of me taking a snack break on the bike path. The scenery here was incredible and weather was perfect. I look like a hamster.

If money were no object...

... I would buy one of these lights. But at $953 I think I'll have to find another lighting solution. Maybe I'll just stick with my homebrew Malibu yard light with the sealed lead acid battery. Sure it's heavy, but it's also very bright and I could build another one for about $40.

Anyhow, if you have that kind of money and you're looking for a nice bike light, check out peterwhitecycles. It's a Busch & Müller Big Bang.

who cares? ... another blog is born

Let's hope that this blog somehow helps someone somewhere.