Iron Family

Way to go family! We completed the 30 mile Iron Man ride earlier today, despite some pouring rain, challenging hills, strong winds and a crash.

While some may think this is not such an accomplishment, I am very proud of my family. Harris rode his 24" wheeled Caliente with a limited gear range. He refused to walk up any of the steep hills; instead he stood-up and hammered. To do something this hard for over three hours is an impressive feat for an 8-yr-old.

Claire took a fairly big crash on her 13" Trek 930. Hitting the asphalt knocked her front wheel and handlebars out of alignment and ripped up part of her pants. She literally bounced up saying, "I'm ok." She struggled for a few mile portion of the ride, but finished the last 12 miles strong after the final rest break.

Ling-Hui trooped through adverse conditions on her 13" Trek 930 without complaint. She has not been on her bike for some time causing distress to both her knee and butt. Further, She rode much of the last portion with a low front tire adding to her work. Most importantly Ling-Hui did a great job of not being too motherly, and made sure we had plenty of good snacks.

While the ride itself was relatively simple for me on the Long Haul Trucker, I take pride in being able to have quality bikes prepared, proper gear arranged and my family in the ride spirit to do such an undertaking.

The pictures are of Claire, Harris and a neighbor girl showing off their hard-earned t-shirts.

40th Earthday

I was planning to drive to school tomorrow since I have a track meet that will run late. But, I think I'll ride,

Artcrank 2010/Minneapolis

Bike/Train Touring

Some of my favorite rides while living in Taipei, Taiwan involved hoping on the subway with my bike and riding to the farthest out stations. I could go from the heart of the city to a peaceful mountain road amidst tea fields 30mins.

I've recently realized that a similar trip is possible from the heart of the Twin Cities.

Any of the Metro Transit light rail trains will take bikes and connect to the North Star Line which will also take bikes. The links explain the procedure for loading bikes on both trains. I remember being intimidated the first time I did this in Taiwan, of course my English reading skills surpass my Chinese.

I plan to start a tour from Big Lake sometime in the near future. It will be a blast to load-up, cyle from my house to Fort Snelling and ride the rails out of the city. A day trip would be fun too.

March 31 Family Bike Camping

Claire, Harris and I drove to Faribult and loaded up to ride the the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail and to spend the night bike camping in Sakatah Lake State Park. We had an exceptional day of March weather. The high was in the mid 70's and the low was around 50. The registration card shows camp site 51, the kids favorite. They had a great time with this big rock. We could have stayed anywhere, as we were the only people in the park.

But to keep us from getting lonely, we had a barred owl and its mate calling back and fourth several times during the night. The sounds weren't spooky, but they were startling.


Claire's 13' framed 930 rides wonderfully, but we did have some trouble with the seat-post rack which kept sliding down and rubbing on her rear wheel. Zip ties to the rescue. I connected the top of the rack to the seat rails.

A little red licorice keeps spirits high along the trail. The kids did get a bit grumpy the first day, because dad misjudged the distance to the town where we were going to stop for lunch. It didn't help that the only cafe was closed, so we needed to ride on to the next town to eat. Well fed kids make for happy bikers.

Below, Harris is on his 24" wheel Schwinn Caliente. It really does a nice job on such railroad grade tours. He runs out of gears on bigger hills. This is where Claire's triple chain-ring front shines.


We make it a point on our bike camping trips to spend some time harvesting what nature has to offer. Usually it had been the berry variety or wild plum of the season. This time the best we could do was to harvest baby dandelion greens, which were quite good.

My Long Haul Trucker carried a load and a lot of gear too. In addition to me, I carried two tents, two sleeping pads, two sleeping bags, a blanket, all of our food, all of our cooking gear and all of my personal gear. I can't imagine ever carrying so much stuff on a tour without the kids.

We took time to watch animals, to look at cool mushrooms and to play Pooh sticks. Another good trip!

First bike camping of 10.

Since it's suppose to be in the 70's with lows in the 50's, the kids and I are doing our first bike camping trip of the year Wed. We'll drive to Faribult and ride to Sakatah State Park, 13 miles each way. After camping for the night we'll ride back.

These pictures are from an 08 and an 09 trip to the same park. It's fun to look at them again. I notice that none of our rides will be the same. The bmx touring bike, Fuji and blue Aerostar will be replace with Harris' 24"wheel Caliente, Claire's 13" frame Trek 930 and my Long Haul Trucker. I'm planning to drive the Camry pulling the homemade bike utility trailer.

Harris and I have good pannier racks. I'm thinking of having Claire throw the seat post rack on and pull the "Nob" trailer. I thought we could load it with light bulky things. If it gets too hard, I can hook it to my bike. She thinks it will be fun to pull. More later.

Some Bike Shop People

My local bike shops wants my business, and I don't mind supporting them if they provide a valuable service.

However, way too often the bike shop guy is both arrogant and uninformed. About a month ago I watched Freewheel's Phil Wood hub expert clamp a vice grip on the hub and start prying on it with the thing that sits next to the jaws of life in a firefighters tool kit. This was after my friend told him it is not a serviceable hub. Some expert.

Today, I went to my local shop to pick up a tire for a 1975 Fuji I'm fixing up for a friend. I told him that I wanted a tire with a 597 iso. The owner of the shop adamantly told me that only Schwinn bikes came with this size. A Fuji could not have it. I explained that I was familiar with the S-6 of that same iso, but told him that the Fuji also had it. I shared that I found the catalog specs confirming the wheels and rim were original to the bike.

He insisted no bike other than Schwinn ever used this size. A quick check of Sheldon Brown proofed otherwise.

I don't care if bike shop workers know what they're talking about, I do, however, get annoyed when the fake knowledge with stupid gusto.