Winter Solstice Commute

Riding to work on this darkest day of the year felt particularly bright.

Little Dick Power

The builder of this tiny bike is Dick Power, no joke. Dick build a number of track bikes in the 50's.

First Snowy Commute of The Winter

Ok, it's officially autumn for a couple of weeks, but it's cold, dark and snowing. I ended up doing a fair amount of sidewalk riding to get off the crud snow on the streets. Despite being called "crazy," commuting on days like this are more fun than a challenge.

Grimm Dec. Ride with Jared

Jared and I went for an exploratory ride today at the Carver County Park Reserve. In addition to the trails and nature, we walked through the ruins of an old trappers camp and a late 1800's farm stead.

The historic Grimm Farm is where Wendelin Grimm, who immigrated to Minnesota from Germany in 1857., developed a winter hardy strain of alfalfa. The Grimm Farm has been restored. (from the park website)

A view of the snow dusted trails. It was quite rough in places.

My bike next to a wall of the trappers cabin. Plaster still clung to the rock surface in some spots.

Jared on his Pugsly. I'm amazed at how well his bike works in a range of riding conditions. He'll have some great rides here once the trail is too covered with snow for my bike.

Anyone up for winter bike camping?

A simple joy/Good socks.

I found something that make me happy today. Wigwam Distance Running Socks - 2 Pair $12.00 XL sizes 12-15. How can $6 dollars a pair make my feet feel so good? I'm going to sleep in them. Thank you Jared for your longitudinal research data.

My Bikes

I've included pictures of my three main bikes. The first one is a Trek 950 that I purchase new in Moorhead in the mid 90's for around $700. It has been solid. I wore out two geared drive trains, ran it as a single speed for a year to now have it as a 1x8. Perfect gearing for its use as a winter commuter. I lubed it up and tightened the rear hub; an adjustment after putting the freehub body in.

The next bike is a 2000 Diamondback XR4. I purchased this a NOS in 2002 for $1000, about $800 below list price since it was a held over two years. This has been a good bike with few problems. I'm, however, leaking some oil out of the front shock. I emailed Shockspital for a price quote and possible diagnosis. I also need the rear wheel trued and tensioned. I will not likely ride this bike again until next spring.

The final bike is my LHT that I purchased in Sept of this year. I cleaned up the drive train and relubed it. I'm very please with this bike thus far. I was fortunate enough to get this bike for cost, $690. It retails for $1,100.

All three of these bikes are mid-level bikes that have served me quite well. The 950 and XR4 have proven overtime to be quite dependable; I expect the LHT to do the same with good maintenance.

More Luce Line Trip Oct. 17-18 2009

Riding home.

The Long Haul Trucker loaded up.

My bike and tent, the morning after.

A group photo of the riders on the trip.

Zombie biker

Harris' Halloween costume this year. He's a road-killed, biker, zombie. We made his outfit by spray painting the car tire and running over his shirt. Click on the picture to see the road-rash face make-up. Also note the antelope skull on the fence.

FREEhub body

My neighbor, a bike geek, and I both thought we were having issues with freehub bodies on our old Trek bikes. His is a 930 single speed, and mine's a 950 1x8. I mined a freehub body off an old wheel I had. I think it was the original wheel from my mid 90's bike. It, however, didn't work for me because it was a 7 speed. So I gave it to my neighbor to fix his wheel.

Turns out his freehub body wasn't his problem. After replacing the freehub body on his wheel, we discovered that it was a worn single speed cog causing his troubles. Thus, he picked up a new cog cheap. I was then able to put his 8 speed hub on my bike since it was still good.

This is cool for three reasons. First we thought that we were both going to have to buy new wheels, but didn't. Second we learned how to fix freehub bodies. Finally, by working together, we both go our bikes fixed for $6.

I learned to replace a freehub body by watching a video Bicycletutor.com. They have other helpful videos as well.

Luce Line Oddities Oct. 17,18 2009

A garter snake in the shadow of a bike wheel. (above)

Ugenuius' homemade camera holder. This is what would happen if NASA had to shop at the Home Depot. (above)

Jared with a giant puff-ball. Speaking of giant puff-balls. I wish I would have gotten a photo of his "satchel." (above) Finally, (below) nice weather for the first time in weeks during the two days we all arranged to go on our overnight ride. We even had a tailwind on the way home.

Touring circa 1230 BLHT

That's Before the Long Haul Trucker. 12:20am, I'm too excited for our trip to sleep. Off to bed anyway. I'll post pictures when I return.

Bike Joy

Some of neighborhood posse of kids having fun last week. The boy is loving granny gear.

Maiden Commute in the Rain

Great first ride to work this morning. I had to give the rear derailleur barrel adjuster a couple of turns, but other than that it was smooth and comfy. It was a bit hard to ride my new bike in the rain. I had to let reason override emotion at first. The bike is, after all, made to be ridden.

On the way home feeling stable and confident while bombing down a hill that flowed with rain water got emotion back in line with reason; it was really fun. I'm still stoked about the purchase.

The Labor (of love) Continues

Today was busy at school with teaching and with coaching my 7th grade football team. Despite a 34-0 victory, I found I was more excited thinking about coming home to start building up the Long Haul Trucker than I was watching the 4th quarter scrub action on the field.

Right after dinner,I put the headset and uncut-fork on the frame. I wimped out and ran to my local bike shop to have them put the star-nut in the fork. I was going to jury rig a tool for setting the star-nut, but was afraid I'd mess it up.

The derailleurs and rear brake came mounted with cables attached. I strung up the front brake, put the stem and bars on, filled the tires with air, added pedals and the obligatory Brooks saddle. At this point the bike was ride able. The every thing seemed tuned up far beyond my expectations.

One problem is that I don't have enough spacers for the uncut steer tube. I plan to leave it long and add spacers on top of the stem if I find I want to ride a bit lower in front. Q did this on his Cross-Check. Despite the this problem I could test ride because the brake cable hanger clamps on the steer tube with a hex-bolt. This allowed me to hold the fork tight until I got the stem clamped down.

Tomorrow I'll pick up the spacers, wrap the bars, take of the pie plate, add fenders, mount a rack and do some finish up adjustments.

I cruised around the neighborhood some. The bike is so comfortable and solid. Looking forward to finishing up and going on a long ride.

Birth of a Long Haul Trucker

I drove out to Steve's tonight to pick up the Long Haul Trucker still in the box. I'm very appreciative for him helping hook me up with a deal.

Too late tonight by the time I got home for assembly, but I'm keen on getting a good start tomorrow. I hope to have it built up in a couple of evenings.

After living and biking in Taiwan, even the box makes me happy.

I'm a Truker

Steve has dispatched my 58cm Truckaccino rig from QBP, 10-20 unknown. ETA is next Monday. I'll make a run up to St. Michael to pick up the load.

Once I'm a Long Haul Trucker, I'll be using CB slang, a lot. Here's a link to a dictionary for all of you 4-wheelers.