Confessions of an Average Cyclist

On, Concord!

alexstar — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:46:05 +0000

Lately I’ve been making improvements to my long-suffering touring bike. It’s a 1983 Specialized Expedition I got one year ago. I bought it to use as an all-rounder, which for me means commuting and tooling around the bay area, dreaming of loaded tours.

Here’s a photo of how the bike looked when I took possession of it. It came to me with many of its original components, most of which were top-notch when the bike was built, but the march of time has not been kind to them. I’m talking about the triple crank with the half-step plus granny gearing, the Suntour Symmetric shifters that theoretically trim the front derailleur as you shift the rear, and the Suntour Mountech rear derailleur that works great until it decides to disassemble itself mid-ride.

Last fall my old roommate gave me a pair of plastic clip-on fenders. They had mudflaps and decent coverage, rainy season was approaching, and I didn’t want to spend too much, so I went ahead and put them on. They rattled and needed constant adjustment, but I used them until the rear fender broke. Luckily, by that time it was spring and I had little use for fenders, so I took them off and started shopping for a nicer set. I finally settled on the “Le Paon” fenders made by Honjo Koken, which I ordered from Velo Orange and installed two weeks ago, and which you can see in these pictures.

Finally, here it is today. I’ve made a few more changes since I took that last photo. I added a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Supreme folding tires, which are 32mm wide as opposed to the 28mm wire-bead Gatorskins, and have a retroreflective strip on the sidewall for added visibility; I replaced the cables and housing with SRAM’s Flak Jacket setup; I replaced the handlebar tape with Fizik Microtex “soft touch”, with Fizik’s bar gel; and I added a bell. Altogether, it’s a versatile bike and I’m very pleased with it.

I still need to change some things; the current brakes are old Mafac cantilevers, which function well, but they have a wide stance which interferes with panniers. I’m on the lookout for a set of Suntour XC Pro canti brakes which should have more clearance. I also want to modernize the shifting system, probably 9-speed Shimano Deore or similar, with bar-end shifters. The wheels will come later, as these are perfectly serviceable, but eventually I’ll have a Schmidt SON dynohub on the front and a Phil Wood rear hub, laced to a pair of Mavic A719 rims. The next immediate step, however, is to upgrade the derailleurs before they explode and strand me somewhere.

Team In Training

alexstar — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:16:21 +0000

This happened last fall, when I was still living in San Francisco, but working in Alameda. I had just left work and was riding to the ferry, which I take to SF. The road to the ferry terminal is a 1-mile stretch of crappy, potholed pavement, and that time of day there’s always a vicious headwind coming off the bay, so it’s a grueling little ride without a chance to really warm up. I often see cyclists training out here, since there are long, flat, straight sections that are good for riding tempo. I was just riding my bike home, like I do everyday, minding my own business; this time I was on the touring bike. I was headed directly into the wind, crouched as low as possible in the drops, head down, when I started to notice a higher-than-usual concentration of bicycles around me. Many of them were on hybrids and mountain bikes, which I thought was unusual; generally I only saw the aforementioned roadies and the occasional triathlete. I passed a whole bunch of these average looking bicycle riders, many of whom wore matching jerseys for some reason. Eventually I cruised into the parking lot at the ferry terminal, where I saw a whole bunch of balloons and people wearing the same matching shirts, and a big banner that said “Team in Training”. As I rode into the parking lot, they all turned around and started cheering and clapping! For me! Thinking quickly, I held up my arms in the time-honored victory salute and grinned like a madman, exulting in my having accomplished whatever it is they thought I did.

Their smiles and cheers turned to confusion as I continued past them and got on the ferry.

Whoops.

Getting there

alexstar — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:55:03 +0000

Two years ago, during the summer and fall of 2008, I was in the best form of my life. At 5′ 11″ I was carrying 179 pounds, most of which was muscle, and I was riding upwards of 220 miles a week. I lived in San Francisco, so most of my riding was done on city hills, with bi-weekly excursions over the Golden Gate Bridge for rides upwards of 40 miles. I had just ridden Mt. Diablo for the first time in July and conquered it with no problem, riding my old steel Colnago with a bail-out gear of 39×26. I had started riding in groups for the first time and raced a few informal races; my best result was a 5th placing in my category. I was strong as hell and hungry for more, and I knew the following year would be my year.

Fast forward to February of 2009. I had gained the requisite 6 pounds over a lazy winter, but I was back on the bike and showing flashes of my form from the previous summer. Then I was hit by an inattentive driver while riding my bike home from work. The bike was trashed; I survived with relatively minor injuries and no broken bones, but I lost valuable time. For the next 6 months I was wasted, stressed-out and broke, dealing with the insurance claim and the psychological damage from the accident. By August I had my new road bike together and by September I was riding regularly again, but I was up at 195 pounds, and winter was approaching. I resolved to ride as much as possible over the winter. You know how that goes.

Last November I moved across the bay to Alameda, in order to be closer to my job there. Since I don’t own a car, my commute from SF was upwards of two hours round-trip, so moving to Alameda was the best way to save time and money. Alameda is nice from a cyclist’s perspective, too; the drivers are more careful and courteous than in San Francisco, the bike infrastructure is good, the island is small, which encourages taking trips by bike, and it’s very flat. Unfortunately from a hopeful bike racer’s perspective, flat = boring, so I would have to step it up if I wanted to keep my fitness without the convenience of San Francisco’s ubiquitous hills. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. I noticed I was putting on a little weight, but I didn’t think it was much since it was winter, after all, and I usually gain a little bit, either due to inactivity or because my body thinks I should be hibernating like a bear or something.

In March of this year it was time for my biannual visit to the doctor. Many people go once a year, but I was born with a condition (hypothyroidism) which requires me to take a daily supplement; therefore, I go to the doctor more often, usually twice a year to get my blood tested. Two days later I get a message from my doctor; my TSH value was 26.04. To put things in perspective, a normal value is from 0 to 2; anything higher than that is indicative of an underactive thyroid. Among other things, an underactive thyroid can lead to weight gain, and guess what… I had gained 20 pounds since the fall. I was now sitting at 215, which was an all-time high for me. Doc hypothesized a case of thyroiditis, which could have caused my thyroid to flare up like that; I went back every couple of weeks for the next two months for additional blood tests, which confirmed her hypothesis. Eventually my TSH came back down to normal levels, but the additional weight stuck with me, and I topped out at 218 in April, still an all-time record. This whole time I had been riding regularly and eating right, but through the miracle of hypothyroidism, I still gained weight. It’s something I’ve lived with my entire life, but it can be extraordinarily frustrating at times, especially when trying to regain lost fitness.

This morning I stepped on the scale and it hit 210.4 pounds, so it’s finally coming off. I’ve maintained my “diet” while increasing my riding efforts; in addition to commuting 8 miles round trip daily, I’ve been taking 8-mile lunchtime rides three time a week, and I just added a 10-mile ride after dinner every night. Weekend rides at this point are around 25 miles; those will increase, though I will still probably take one weekend day as a rest day. If I lose a pound a week I’ll be back around 180 by the new year. Here we go, again.

New Hotness

alexstar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:00:47 +0000

You may have read about my accident where I made the mistake of bringing a bike to a truck fight. As I mentioned, the driver was at fault and his insurance company covered everything: my medical bills, new eyeglasses, and a new bike, since my Colnago was toast. So without further ado, here’s the new steed. Click any of the pictures to enlarge.

Me trying not to drool on it:

It’s a 2004 Cinelli Super Corsa, which was new old stock from GVH Bikes in Oregon. Tom has a good selection of classy frames and he can build them up to your spec at a competitive price. I had him install the headset and Ultra-Torque cranks since I don’t have the tools.

I went with a 2009 Campy Centaur group – I don’t need more than 10 speeds yet and I wanted alloy components for durability, since I’m using this bike as an all-rounder, including commute duties. (yes!) I had to get 2009 because the hoods are so much more comfortable than the older stuff.

This frame is ridiculously sweet! I love the details. The headlugs and rear triangle are chrome. I believe the entire frame is chrome under the paint; we’ll find out as soon as the notoriously-thin Italian paint starts flaking off.

I’ve since filled in the “Super Corsa” on the brake bridge with black paint, it looks killer:

Putting on the chain… my least favorite part of any 10-speed Campy build. I never use their fancy chain tool, just a Park CT-3, but so far so good.

I bought the 2008 Campy Shamal wheels from a UK site, saving lots of monies. I wanted wheels that were light but still strong and durable, since I live in San Francisco where the streets are not exactly buttery smooth. So far I’m impressed.

And here’s a shot of the finished bike. I’ve changed saddles since this was taken.

It’s a sick ride.

So what is it?

alexstar — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:00:05 +0000

I picked up a frameset on eBay a few weeks ago and it came with an unmarked bottom bracket.

I figured I’d pull it at my leisure and then take the frame to a shop and have the BB shell chased and faced. Well, Murphy’s Law reared its ugly head and I was unable to get the bottom bracket out. It has two holes for a pin spanner, but it wouldn’t budge. It also had splines for a removal/installation tool, but they didn’t fit any tool I have. I’ve broken pin spanners before and I wasn’t about to go all Red Green on this frame, so I know when I’m defeated – I took the thing down to the shop to have them pull it.
I went to Avenue Cyclery to have a new headset installed – it came with a Suntour XC Pro that was a little rough, and they had the Chris King headset I wanted in stock, so they got the job. He couldn’t get the BB out though, so I took it down the street to American Cyclery, the oldest bike shop in San Francisco. I figured that they would either have the right tool, or the ingenuity to get this thing out, and they did! (The ingenuity part, that is.) So, I owe them beer.

Here are some pictures of the offending bottom bracket.

You can see the rounded splines for the mystery removal tool.

As you can see, it has cartridge bearings and a pretty beefy spindle. Everything is nicely machined but there are still no markings!

I think it’s a vintage Phil Wood BB. Here’s why:

-cartridge bearings
-machined aluminum sleeve
-rounded splines for the installation/removal tool (although mine only takes 12 splines, whereas newer Phils have 18)
-hollow spindle

Without any markings, though, it’s impossible to say; but here’s a blurry photo of Phil Wood BB #1, which resembles mine. This photo is on the Classic Rendezvous website, and the BB is at Shaw’s Lightweight Cycles in Santa Clara:

So who knows what it really is? Stay tuned..

It’s here

alexstar — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:20:18 +0000

The mail was good to me yesterday. My copy of Bulgares arrived.

I also got my tax refund check from the state of California.

Notice how it’s an actual check and not a registered warrant (IOU). Cashed that right away.

The new Excel Sports catalog came, too. It’s always full of cool stuff to drool over.

My new bike ships out today. I should have it in my hands by Thursday. It’s not a complete bike, just the frameset and most components, which I get the joy of assembling. I still need to get wheels for it but I may rob the purple bike of its wheels temporarily.

The Thrill of the Hunt

alexstar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:00:41 +0000

Besides cycling, one of my great pleasures is reading books. I’d like to collect them as well, but since most of my fun money goes into the bikes, I don’t have much cash for rare or expensive reading material. Occasionally I will make an exception for something that I absolutely must have, cost be damned (within reason). One such book is Bulgares, a book of photographs by Bulgarian photographer Jacko Vassilev. He has a very stark, yet humanizing B&W style that I really like.

I first saw some of his work in an issue of Harper’s magazine in 2005, and immediately began the search for this book. I scoured every used bookstore I came across, to no avail. Even with the power of the internets, it was no easy task. As the years went on, my hopes of owning a copy dimmed, and I came close to giving up many times. Sometimes a copy will show up on Amazon Marketplace, but usually at an exorbitant price. (As a matter of fact, there are two copies available right now, at $130 each plus shipping.) Finally, after reading Bookride,an excellent blog regarding the used-book marketplace, I decided to try ABE Books one more time. What do you know, there it was. From a seller in Paris, in new condition, for a reasonable price, I could finally realize my dream. (The key to happiness is to make your goals easily attainable.) Soon my prize will be winging its way to my doorstep. Hurray!

To see a gallery of Vassilev’s work from Bulgares, click here.

Am I worthy?

alexstar — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:12:46 +0000

I may be slow, lazy, and out of shape, but I have good taste sometimes. So when I saw that ProBikeKit was having a sale on SIDI road shoes, I had to check it out. I owned a pair of Sidis already, their Dominator MTB shoes, and they’re awesome. My road shoes, though, were cheapie Performance house brand shoes – clearly an upgrade was warranted. After browsing the shoes available in my size I settled on the Genius 6.6 with the full carbon sole – luckily they had one pair left! – and I pulled the trigger. They arrived today.

bling bling!

These things are super freakin’ hot and they fit like a glove. The build quality is amazing, as it should be for a $450 shoe. I got them for a little over half price because I had a couple coupons, but it’s still the most money I’ve ever spent on shoes. Needless to say I’m looking forward to riding with these tonight.

Getting Hit by a Truck is Not Good Times

alexstar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:14:12 +0000

I didn’t want to write anything about this until the whole thing got resolved. Here’s what happened.

I live in San Francisco (in the inner Richmond district) and work in Alameda. I ride my bike every day. On the way home, I usually take the Wiggle out of habit. This route takes me from Market up to Fell street, where I jump into the Panhandle to GGP. It’s a nice ride.

On February 5, I was riding westbound on Fell Street after a long day at work. Fell is a supremely busy one-way street, especially at rush hour – it’s one of the main arteries to the west side of town, and cars always travel very fast. Luckily, it has a bike lane on the left-hand side, which I always use.

I had just started from the red light at Divisadero, and this stretch of Fell Street runs slightly uphill, so I was standing on the pedals to build up some speed. I was going about 15-18 miles per hour in the bike lane, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silver pickup truck come up on my right. It passed me and then slowed down dramatically – not a good sign – and before I knew it, the truck turned directly into my path, without signaling (or, presumably, looking). The last thing I remember is trying to swerve left out of his path.

I woke up on the ground, tangled up in my bike. People were crowding around and yelling. I opened my eyes – I think I was only unconscious for about 30 seconds – and tried to move my arms and legs to see if anything was broken. Everything seemed more or less intact, so I tried standing. My whole body hurt, but nothing terrible, so I figured I escaped the worst. Somebody called 911 and the police and fire department came to check me out and file a report. I had a pretty bad cut under my left eye, some road rash, and lots of aches and pains, but no broken bones. An ambulance came and I went to the hospital to get cleaned up.

I ended up having 4 stitches under my eye (literally, directly under my eye) where my glasses cut me. I have a little scar there now, but it’s not very noticeable.

My glasses were thrashed, with road rash on the lower left corner – apparently I hit the ground with my face.

Oh yeah, I also had some bleeding in my left eye. That healed, too. This picture was taken about a week after the accident, when it was mostly gone.

I had some cuts inside my mouth, my jaw was knocked around a bit, and two of my front teeth were loose, but that all healed up just fine. My top left incisor was chipped and now hangs lower than its neighbors. My helmet has a few scratches too.

My body ached for about a week and I had some pretty spectacular bruising going on. I had some pain in my shoulders for awhile – I couldn’t lift anything with my right arm – but after some physical therapy, that’s all better now.

My Colnago was destroyed – bent downtube and the top tube was cracked halfway through.

The driver was a really nice guy, and kept checking on me throughout this whole ordeal. He was at fault of course, and his insurance company covered everything, and then some. Wear your helmets, kids.

Just Riding Along

alexstar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:00:31 +0000

Bike parts will eventually break when you ride every day, it’s just a fact of life. Sometimes you can get home okay, sometimes you’re left on the side of the road calling your friends to come pick you up. So there I was, Just Riding Along and I felt my right-side LOOK Delta pedal “click” like I was clipping in. That’s funny, I thought, since I was already clipped in. So I look down and there’s an extra half inch of pedal spindle showing.

Bad news, since I was on the way to San Jose, and I didn’t have time to go home and fix it. So I did what any normal person would do: I shoved the pedal back onto the spindle and kept riding. When I got home the next day, I swapped pedals and found out that I could easily pull the pedal off the spindle:

So, lucky me, I really should upgrade my pedals. All my road bikes are LOOK Delta though, and buying a bunch of new pedals would be expensive, so craigslist here I come.