Photos From the Saddle

It was a 4 bunny morning, or, as a friend put it in ASCII terms…  Today’s ride: >8x >8x >8x >8x + *{—

The last one is supposed to be the fourth bunny that I saw, which had a dandelion in its mouth as it bounded off into the blackberry bush. It was, dare I say, pretty darn cute. Had it not hid itself so quickly/effectively, I would’ve grabbed a shot… alas, such was not the case.

I did, however, get plenty of shots of other stuff along the way. We had thunderstorms roll through the area last night, which is fairly uncommon. Fortunately, all the rain had subsided by the time I rolled out. I decided to ride the whole way in on the Karate Monkey again to get a sense of timing and pacing. The air was crisp and fresh and a faint mist lingered in patches. Sunrise peeked through increasing gaps in the clouds. Things felt slightly rejuvenated. Physically, while definitely exhausted, I wasn’t near-coma for half the day. I did, though, notice that the seat could be lowered a millimeter or two and tilted slightly forward. Funny how you learn to notice those slight variations… Anyway, on to the pics:

I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to ride through some beautiful stretches.

This is quite possibly the most bizarre sign I’ve ever seen in person. It’s facing the pedestrian/bike trail and is just before a crosswalk… so I’m not sure if they’re discouraging loitering or telling people to make a run for it across the street? Is it okay if you run in place? Dance? Hover?

Caught the train home in the afternoon and managed to encounter two groups of bike-mounted police/security learning how to ride in law-enforcing ways. The first group I passed was being shown how to ride down stairs. I asked if I could join in and was told no. Losers. I was totally ready to shred some steps with ‘em! The other group… no idea what they were doing. They were just standing around talking.

I later encountered a couple other bike commuters, including a gal on a sweet Ti cross bike (which she also races on) and a guy on an older lugged Trek frame who was doing quite the job of being that guy who has to pass everyone. I have to give him props for riding so aggressively in his work clothes, though…

I ended up chatting a little with the Ti bike gal, she seemed pretty cool and confirmed this suspicion when she said she had a Swobo Dixon as her other commuter.

And then a bird shit on me.

The end.

This actually happened last week just before getting the Karate Monkey rolling again. I hadn’t yet mentioned it due to what might be called “shame”. I can say at least that I saw this one coming. From the day I got the Double Cross, I’d pondered how the integrated seatpost clamp would fare over time. Short answer: not quite two years. I don’t have a shot of how it’d normally look when the clamp was tightened all the way, but it looked more like butterfly wings than parallel cylinders and had a tendency to bend bolts (making them more prone to snapping).

This mishap happend after I’d installed a shim (a la Redbull can) and was tightening things up. I quickly determined my options were limited and pulled the dangling half off and went in search of a Dremel tool.

I must admit, that metal sculpture class I took in college is coming in handy (I didn’t miss boogers of steel, though). It’s not the cleanest ever, but it’ll do.

So now a Salsa Lip-Lock seatpost clamp and some other miscellaneous parts I’ve been meaning to order are on the way.

I’m going to add this to the list of reasons why I shouldn’t attempt to work on my bikes without supervision (along with the wheel mishap, chainring bolt, seatpost clamp bolt and a myriad of other non-catastrophic errors).

Thinking I’d shake things out a bit and ramp up a little for Bike to Work Month, I rode the full flat route on the Karate Monkey this morning. For one, it’d been a while since I’d ridden a full morning commute. It’d also been quite some time since I’d ridden the KM further than 5 miles. I’m sure you’re seeing where this is going…

I was rolling at 5:50am and was pleasantly surprised by how light it was. I’d recently reinstalled the cycling computer, but either the wireless sensor needs a new battery or the magnet wasn’t cutting it—after 5 miles I turned the thing off since it wasn’t registering anything half the time. By mile 10 or so I was acutely aware that I was using subtly different muscle groups than my legs were accustomed to and I was feeling pretty spent.

Around mile 15, I saw a guy rolling up to an intersection as I was going through it. I figured he’d be going the same route as me, and welcomed the idea of chatting with a fellow commuter. Sure enough, a little while later I hear him behind me and he rolls up on my side and says hello. Turns out we’re both headed in the same general direction and I pull for a little bit along a 5-lane road that’s mostly used by freight trucks. I wasn’t going slow by any means, but then again, I was on a 30 lbs. bike with only one gear and was already feeling spent. The guy pops around and says he’ll pull for a little bit. If by “pull” he meant “pull away” then yes, that’s what he did. I tried, stubbornly, to keep up… and I honestly could’ve done it, but I re-thought my priorities and sat up and watched him ride off. At a T in the road up ahead, I saw him slow and turn, looking back to see if I was with him… I can only assume he noticed that I was a good half-block behind. In any case, we continued on, further and further apart.

Shortly after this encounter, I started hearing a high pitched ringing sound. Something along the lines of lightweight metal against other metal. It appeared to be coming from the general vicinity of my rear wheel. %#@!&!!, not another wheel issue. I pulled over and did a couple bounce/listen checks and discovered that the lockring on the hub had wiggled loose and was rattling between the frame and the hub body. Knowing there was nothing I could do then and there, I carried on and tried to think of the pinging as a pleasant sound.

Hit the trail and, without any traffic or other commuters around, I quickly started looking for ways to keep my mind occupied. It didn’t take long before I started counting bunnies on the side of the trail (today was an 8 bunny morning). I was feeling quite exhausted, but being on the “home stretch” energized me and I was able to roll into work precisely 2 hours after leaving home.

It was a good shakedown. I saw a couple spots where I might be able to ride some hidden/back way trails, which I’ll have to investigate. Despite being a complete zombie (cyclecoma?) eating nearly everything in sight for most of the morning, I’m really happy with everything and looking forward to May. Though I may rethink my original plan of doing a full round-trip commute every day like last year. We’ll see.

Are you a bike messenger? I mean, you’ve got all the bike stuff… ~Unknown

I’d stopped by the pub on the way home and a guy asked me that as I got up to leave. Before I could say no, a regular interjected and said, “No, he’s just hardcore.”

It made me chuckle.

In any case, I was shocked to find the two different gloves arranged as they were this morning.

CK disc hub up front and single-speed in back with fun bolts (which are pretty rad), laced 3x to DT hoops with 2.0 straight gauge spokes. They’re certainly not lightweight, but I wanted as close to bombproof as I could get. All told, the Karate Monkey now weighs 30.66 lbs (13.91 kg) fully outfitted for commuting (lights, saddle bag, fenders, etc.). Though seeing the Soma Juice set up at 19.5 lbs, I can’t help but contemplate how much the KM would run if I went “ultra light”… Anyway, some more shots:

Living in the shadow of our volcano, I’ve learned to keep an eye out for lenticular clouds (‘lenti’ in my mind’s vocab). They’re pretty cool, especially when the really big ones form (or when you have several lined up). However, they also mean weather is on its way. So on Monday morning’s commute, when I saw this small little orb, I knew the glorious sunny weather would change. Sure enough, change it did. However, what with it being spring and all, I’m a-okay with it being partial-rain and in the mid-50’s.

I’ve been thinking about a number of things lately. Work has kept me busy. Bikes have kept me busy. Life, that thing that often involves bikes, work, and non-work, has also kept me busy. So… I guess one could say I’ve been busy. It hasn’t necessarily felt that way, though.

Anyway, something that’s crossed my mind a couple times has been anticipating that ache. The Thursday afternoon, halfway-home, legs paradoxically strong yet utterly spent kind of ache. I’ve caught some glimmers of that ache recently, but that’s just it… glimmers. The Double Cross has been kinda fickle lately and the seatpost slowly slips down with each ride, which has had the quiet effect of working slightly different muscle groups. Monday was a great example of this, when I felt utterly spent after the ride home, even though I was well rested, fed and hydrated and had done the same ride with ease a week earlier. The experience reminded me of that ache… and I’m curious what the effects of riding a single-speed throughout May will be, as well as how the longer distance and lack of hard climbs will play out.

Which brings up the whole business of anticipating Bike to Work Month. I really don’t know why May is such a pivotal point for me. Yes, of course this whole blog is about bike commuting, and when an entire month is specifically meant to focus on such an activity… sure, it makes sense. But in terms of me, myself and I… I’m really not that much of a hard-charging type that one might suspect would go so headstrong into such an event. Who knows? I do know that I enjoy the challenge of the event, pushing my limits and expectations to points I haven’t experienced… only to find myself surviving the whole ordeal and stronger for it? That’s pretty cool. The Achilles ordeal… not so cool. That’s what lessons are for, right?

So… pictures. I’ve got a lot of words up there so far and I’m thinkin’ it’s time for some pictures from Monday’s ride…

Quit now, you’ll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you’ll be halfway there. ~David Zucker

Looks like it’s going to be fairly pleasant over the weekend and into next week. Fine by me. Yesterday after work, I headed out for a nice little relaxing spin and ended up having a pretty good adventure of it, including an entertaining anniversary celebration.

In other news, I’m moving forward with a hand built set of wheels for the Karate Monkey with the hope that they’ll be about as bombproof as one can get.

Ever tried? Ever failed? No Matter, try again, fail again, Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett

I’ll admit, I’ve neglected the blog lately. Truth is, I haven’t really felt like writing much. After 16 days straight in the saddle, I kinda binged on not riding. Then, a couple days ago, I brought the Karate Monkey home from the office. It’d been a full month since I’d ridden it (wheel issue, plus pulling a pedal off so I could ride the Double Cross). It didn’t go so well, even though it was just two miles. So now I’m investigating new wheelsets for the KM, leaning more and more to a hand built set around King hubs, though the potential price tag is a little daunting.

Yesterday I opted to ride the full way home on the DC, hitting up the new trail again. It really is a spectacular little section of bliss. A downside to being nestled in a greenbelt is that there’s a much higher incidence of debris on the trail, to the point that some spots could get pretty sketchy in the rain. I’ll take it anyway. I realized, too, that the ride seemed to have a much different feel to it since the new route replaces a good 3 miles of little-to-no-shoulder riding on busy roads with empty back roads and a 2-mile trail ‘o bliss. G made a point, though, that the older route is more challenging since it has more climbs in it, which is true. I may consider that if I’m in the mood for more intense riding… but in the meantime, I’m okay with less stress.

Speaking of stress—I didn’t envy these folk, who were stuck in a mile-long line of cars yesterday… which I fley by, unhindered, on my way home (followed by some other random shots):