My Evil Twin

Everyone has an evil twin - that little one that shows up the night before/morning of a big event and says "let's try this" - even if you've never done "this" before.  Most of the time, the results are fairly benign, maybe a little funny, but can be chalked up to a 'learning experience'.  And they make great war stories. "There I was..." - Nah.  More like "...and then I realized..."

Many of the examples are reminders of a cardinal rule of racing - never experiment on race day.  You train hundreds of hours to prepare for races, and then the morning of the race, your evil twin decides to try some 'superfood' one of your buddies picked up at the expo last night.  And you try to ride a 4 hour event on the stuff, even though you've never used it before, and didn't read the label to find out it has zero carbs and lots of caffeine.  And 3 hours in, "well hello, Mr. Bonk".

Some of my classics:

• My evil twin set my mountain bike wheel on the opposite side of my wife's car (where I rarely pass) and then driving 5 hours to a race.  Realizing at 9:30 at night that I have no wheel, calling home and asking my sainted wife to meet me halfway with the wheel - and not picking the right meeting place.  (I made it. I took 2nd. I had a lot of dinners to cook over that one).

• My evil twin decided to completely pull the saddle off the bike the night before the State Time Trial (I guess to clean it).  22 kilometers into the TT, I realized it was loose.  I kept it on the bike by periodically reaching under the seat and hand tightening it for the next 18km.  

• The day of an 18 hour canoe race, my buddy's evil twin decided it was too hot, and he should wear a pair of shorts with mesh lining instead of his normal gear.  Did you know that mesh turns into a cheeze grater after it gets warm and sweaty?

• My evil twin has, on several occasions, placed new tires on my wheels the night before a race.  *Usually* this is an OK thing, but on one occasion the tube got caught under the edge with very predictable results - about 10 miles in.  And with no support wagon.  And no spare.  And... And...

• Food is often a favorite of the evil twin.  Mine has, on more than one occasion, taken a free bar or gel from someone (usually a race sponsor) flacking their product.  Mostly there are no bad consequences, but once in a while, I've either come up short on energy or long on gas.  Either way, it makes for a miserable day in the saddle.  

• Holds true for ski races too.  My evil twin put my wax belt in my finish line bag so it would be easier to carry.  And it went to the finish line.  Which meant I was reliant on sponsor supplied food (see above) for 3.5 hours. 

• And unfortunately, evil twins don't just affect you.  Mine decided to use a binder I *never* use the night before the high school section ski meet.  Well, the athletes thought their skis were great - until the track softened up and their legs got tired.  And then, no more grip and no winning team.  

The point of these little episodes is to drive home the cardinal rules -

• Never experiment on event day - be it a race, a century ride, a canoe trip, or whatever.
• Always check your gear a couple of days before your event and then ride it before the actual event day.
• Have, and stick to a plan.  What you'll eat, what gear you need, where you'll stage gear, etc.  
• Last minute changes are almost never a good idea.  And if it seems like a good idea, it probably isn't.

Just a bike

Over the years, I've owned and ridden a bunch of bikes, from ultra tight track and crit bikes to some of the earliest mountain bikes with super slack angles and extra long wheelbases.  And I've come to realize that the highest compliment I can pay to a bike is that it is "just a bike".
Regardless of intent, the best bikes all share some common characteristics.
- They do what you expect
- No quirky handling
- Anyone used to riding the type/purpose of bike should be able to ride it

It really doesn't matter if you are riding a cargo bike, crit bike, fat bike or climber, the rules still apply.  It should be fit for purpose - a crit bike should be able to sprint and corner; a cargo bike should be able to haul a load around town without popping wheelies or twitching when crossing cracks, a basic hardtail mountain bike should handle most singletrack and jeep roads with reasonable aplomb.
On the other hand, there have been bikes...  The Trek 770, which I rode thousands of miles, raced a season or two, eventually converted to a fixie and then gave to my son had toe-clip overlap, and a horrid tendency to go straight ahead in a corner (race car drivers would call it 'push').  I loved/hated that bike.  And 30 years later, that monster is back in my garage.
A Colnago track bike that had bottom bracket flex. (not good on the track)
A crit bike of questionable origin that was so twitchy you didn't dare take your hands off the bars to remove a jacket.  Darn fast, but no way would I ever want to ride that more than an hour at a time.

But by and large, I've sought out bikes that were fairly neutral, again - just a bike.
There was the 2nd generation mountain bike I had in the mid-80s.  The chainstays were a mile long, seatpost and fork rake were probably sub-70 degrees and it weighed about two tons.  It creaked, groaned, climbed like a pig, and I rode it for at least two years over every available trail in Seattle and the Cascades before finally trading up to an REI Ponderosa, which weighed significantly less, had a UBrake, and much better handling overall.

But the ultimate 'just a bike' was my long departed Raleigh 531 racing frame.  The only bike I ever regret parting with.  Fairly light, totally neutral, and trustworthy.  I rode 30,000 miles and then some in 3 years on that bike, raced innumerable crits, local road races, a handful of stage races, around Mt Rainier, a State Time Trial Championship.  This was a bike I could throw into a crit corner and *know* it would come out the other side like I planned, or rocket down Washington Pass at 50 plus and enjoy the ride.  And damn -I was foolish enough to 'factory swap' it for a newer frame when a braze let go on the rear triangle.  Stupid. Especially Stupid when I knew some of the best framebuilders in the business who could've fixed it for a couple of beers.

Since then, my wife and I have owned several 'just a bike' bikes.  In the late 80s, Huffy (of all people) sponsored the National Team.  We are fortunate to have one of the appliance black and white 'Huffy' bikes from that era.  It doesn't get ridden a lot and at some point, I'd like to put it back to the de rigueur Suntour Superbe Pro that I think was on it as a team ride.  But we had a box of Campy parts, so that's what's on it now.  And when my wife would let me ride it (usually after giving it a bath/tune) I'd go do a couple of 'test laps' in the neighborhood.  Like the Raleigh above, I felt like the Huffy would do exactly what I expected it to, when I expected it to, and climb or sprint pretty well on command.  And yes, if you look under the bottom bracket, it does say 'Serotta', but who cares?  When at RAGBRAI, it's a Huffy.  Just look - it says so right there on the frame!

When it came time to move to a more current bike, my wife spent weeks test riding all of the bikes in her chosen price range before riding the Scott CR-1.  Not the most expensive bike, not the lightest, but when you get on a bike and it goes 'Ommmmm' you should listen.  No bad habits, it climbs by itself, corners and descends as hard as you want, and doesn't beat you to death on Iowa and Wisconsin pavement.






It really doesn't matter if your bike costs 1,000 or 10,000. If you don't ride it, it's wall furniture, and until you ride it enough to be completely comfortable with it, you just own it - it's not really yours.  And if you don't ride it because it handles badly, dump it.  At the end of the day, the best ride you can find is "just a bike".

~marsh

Favorite rides - NIMROD

This is the first of a series of my favorite rides.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures for most of the rides.  Most took place in the 1980s or 1990s, before the advent of digital photography - and I didn't pack a 35mm camera along for them.  The good news is that they all still exist, the pavement is still good, and the traffic light.  But - unless you are in the west, they do require a bit of driving.

At least in the 80s, Cascade Bike Club (I think) sponsored - and that may be overstating the case - a ride called RAMROD.  RAMROD stood for "Ride Around Mt Rainier One Day.  It's an epic ride, a true beat down covering roughly 195 miles and around 13,000 feet of climbing.  Only the truly dedicated will attempt this one, and not nearly everyone finishes.  Weather can be a real decider in this event, and the saving grace is that sundown in Seattle in June is nearly 10:00 pm.

And then there was my club.  Most of our members were more seasoned business type people - I was one of the young ones at 29 or thereabouts.  We decided to do the same route, but called it NIMROD (Not Interested...). The goal was to ride from Enumclaw to Paradise Lodge, overnight there and finish out the next day with the extra climb up to the Sunrise visitor's center and back to Enumclaw. (204 mi, 16,000 vertical)

Truly an epic trip.  We started around 7:00 AM, working our way south and east along the park roads. Light traffic, few log trucks on the weekend, and our ever so wonderful support driver in her station wagon with food and water every few miles.  The scenery through the Douglas Fir, hemlock and cedar trees is breathtaking. Beautiful glacial fed streams, and an occasional glimpse of the glaciers themselves.  It's interesting to note that once you get close to the mountain, you can't actually *see* the mountain.  At somewhere around 65 miles in, the group stopped for 'pie'.  Not being the brightest bulb on the string that day, I decided to grab a bar and press on up the road.  Which was beautiful, and the day was beautiful, and I was riding well and easy and, and well hello there, Mr. Bonk...   I've bonked before and since - it happens, but this was ugly.  I was 30 minutes or so in front of the group, and absolutely no food.  I polished off the last of my water, and continued to crawl up the road.  And about a mile later, a family was sitting at a roadside table enjoying a WATERMELON!!!  With absolutely no shame, I asked if I could possibly bum a slice of their melon.  And thankfully they realized I was harmless and not only gave me all the melon I wanted, but refilled my water bottle and sent me on my way.  Awesome people.  Tastiest watermelon I've ever eaten!

A few miles further along, I made it to the Paradise parking lot, and only a couple of minutes after that was joined by the lead riders in our group.  We had a total of about 30 riders along for the trip, so we continued to trickle in for a while.  While waiting, we had a chance to make friends with the world's best fed marmots who hang out around the parking lot cadging handouts from the tourists.  They aren't quite tame, but will definitely eat out of your hand.

Paradise Lodge is one of the wonderful National Park lodges built by the WPA in the 1930s, and it's held up pretty well.  Low on creature comforts, small bedrooms, shared baths (at least at the time) but well maintained.  And the dinner service was anything but ski resort fast food.  At this point, I couldn't even begin to tell you what I had, but it was certainly good.  Servers in traditional black pants, white shirts and ties.  Linen and china, wine poured at the table.  Special for a bunch of bikers in shorts and polo shirts, to be sure.

After a beer and a good night's sleep, we got up early enough to watch the sunrise, which is amazing, by the way.  A good breakfast (not a buffet) and it was time to put on arm warmers, tuck in a newspaper, say goodbye to Paradise Lodge and head down the mountain.

Descending off Paradise gives you a pretty good feeling for some of the tamer descents in the Alps.  Long straight roads at 8-12% grade, tight switchbacks, and really nice pavement. The road is closed all winter, so the normal freeze-thaw-beatdown cycle doesn't occur.  The road stays snow covered until it's warm enough to melt and stay melted, so the pavement is, well, pristine.  On a couple of stretches, I was able to glance down at the computer and see 60+, and later confirm 64 as a max speed.  Faster than I've ever gone on a bike, before or since.  The weather was beautiful for a second day in the row and after a very rapid descent, we had a long climb back up to Chinook Pass.

Chinook Pass is home to a group of the most agressive, gregarious and notorious Camp Robber Jays.  As we shared a snack, the birds would land on your hands, head, bike or anywhere that might enable them to steal a bite of your food.  Utterly fearless, and just so darn cute.

A quick descent of Chinook Pass, followed by another long (14mi, 3000' vertical) climb to the 6200' high point of the trip at Sunrise visitor's center for lunch.  About a mile from the summit, I heard that horrid phttt, phttt, phttt sound coming from my front wheel.  A flat... I changed the tire (sewup) and finished the climb.  I'll have to admit that on the way back, I really, really watched my speed and the corners on the descent back down!  Back on Highway 410, and a long hard ride for the last 40 back to Enumclaw and a much looked forward to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

If you go, be prepared to bail if the weather doesn't look good.  There are lots of rides in Western Washington that can be done in the rain, but Paradise is not one to recommend.  Hypothermia is a real danger, and snow is not out of the question.  Plus, 100 miles in the rain is just plain miserable.
If you can, divert to Cle Elum or Yakima and ride on the 'dry side'.  I love the ride from Yakima up to Cle Elum via the Yakima River canyon.  Only 90 miles east of Seattle across the summit of the Cascades, and the weather is totally different on the 'dry side'.
Bring a light jacket or arm warmers (and maybe knee warmers) for early morning.  Any good road bike will do, but make sure your brakes and tires are in good shape.  You'll be at 40+ for extended periods of time regardless of route.  There are/were several small cafes along the route, but be sure to bring enough food to carry you 50+ miles if one is closed.  There  is really no support of any kind out there in the wild.
I rode this on a steel framed Trek 770 with a 42x25 as the low gear.

Test driving gravel bikes

This is sort of a 'part 2' of yesterday's post.

What makes a good gravel bike?  Opinions vary, but I'll try to give a few thoughts on what makes one good to me.
Note - even if you fall in love with the very first bike you ride, you owe it to yourself to ride several more. This is a major purchase - you may like every one you ride, but to be sure - one will talk to you.

First and foremost, it's got to fit you.  My preference is to have it sized just a little more upright than my 'best fit' for a road bike.  Most gravel bikes will be set up with a slightly wider bar which makes the position feel 'right'.  You want to make sure you don't have an overlap between your toes and front wheel (toeclip overlap).  While this isn't a big deal on the road, I think it's a lot more of an issue on gravel. You are a lot more likely to encounter 'awkward positions' that entail very low speed turns like going up a steep hill and tacking back & forth.

How does the saddle feel?  Start out with it dead flat, and adjusted to 1/4" less than your road saddle height (you did bring your own shoes and pedals, right?).  Why the difference?  Most people find they push back a little bit more, and the extra reach gives better leverage at lower cadence.  You may find it better at the same height.  I have the same length cranks on both road and gravel, and set my seat about 1/8" lower than road.  My bars are about 1/2" closer at the flats, and almost an inch closer at the hoods (different bar).

Run up and down through the gears. How does it shift? Does it feel right to you?  If not, ask the shop guys to check it and make sure everything is adjusted well.  And do the brakes work without squealing or shuddering?  Be careful how hard you grab disc brakes until you get used to them. It's very easy to lock up the brakes even on dry, clean pavement.  This will take a bit to get used to the action.

When you test ride, make sure the tires are pumped up to something like 60 psi.  I did a test ride, and the very diligent shop guy pumped the tires up to the rated 90 psi and sent me out.  I got all the way around the corner before I dropped the pressure to around 50 psi for the rest of the ride.  When I got back, the other shop guy apologized for sending me out on such low pressure.  I spent a few minutes educating the guys on 'good' gravel riding pressure and why it wasn't the sidewall pressure.

Try to find a sidewalk or some rough, crappy pavement that you'd ordinarily avoid and ride that.  You still can't bang into lips, breaks and potholes, but normal breaks in the sidewalk are perfect.  You should get a feel for how the bike handles rougher stuff.  If you need a reminder, borrow a road bike with properly pumped road tires and ride that first.  You'll get the idea.

Next, take it around a few corners, progressively faster.  Not criterium fast (if you've ever ridden crits), but see how it feels.  Make sure it doesn't 'push' (want to keep going straight) when you corner.  This is often where bikes will emit a very Zen-like 'Ommmm.'  The right bike will 'flow' around the turn.

And now climb.  Climb in the saddle, climb out of the saddle.  It's a sad thing, but most bike shops are located on the flats, and away from hills.  Try to find *something* to climb.  You should feel connected to the bike - not flopping around when you climb, and without a bunch of flex in the bottom bracket.  Hint - if you hear the front derailleur rub when you climb, the bottom bracket is flexing.

Finally, try some fast riding. If you can go downhill, make sure it feels OK.  Any twitchy feeling?  If so, it will feel more pronounced at full speed on gravel.  Make *sure* it feels right to *you*.  Most things can be fixed.  A noodle-ey, twitchy bike on a long downhill is one thing you can't fix.  A good bike should feel solid, not bouncing around, and not require tons of steering input to hold it on line.

Make sure you can reach the water bottle without difficulty, that 2 bottles fit, and that you understand how to take off the front wheel, the rear wheel and more importantly put them back on!

Now go ride your new bike!

~mj

Picking out and equipping a new gravel bike

I love my gravel bike.  I built it pretty much like I wanted it, but I know not everyone has the time, expertise or desire to build up their own bike.  Like every IT project, every bike purchase needs to start with a set of requirements.  These can be a little fuzzy, but you do need to have some.  And it's OK to recognize that you may not get it perfect.  If you haven't ridden a lot of gravel already, I'll almost guarantee that you'll wind up with bike lust again after a year or so simply because you'll know more, skills will have improved, and you'll have a better idea of the type of riding you want to do.  It's OK - it's just a tool, you aren't married to the bike.  Just get a different one.

I'm a big believer in "just a bike".  Too many people go for a bike that has unique handling characteristics, a really cool custom paint job, super relaxed (or twitchy) geometry, or an unusual design (like the Cannondale lefty fork).  Unless you are a builder or manufacturer, gravel bikes are TOOLS to be ridden hard, occasionally put a way damp, and a fancy paint job is going to get trashed - or you aren't riding hard enough!  Just a bike.

Any old cyclocross bike will do quite well, but most have limits on tire width, have a tall bottom bracket (for clearance, rim brakes and the kind of handling CX requires), and few brazeons.

Picking out your requirements (in order of priority):

The big thing is to go ride at least a handful of bikes.  You probably won't be able to ride gravel, but you can often sneak off onto into a park and onto a soccer field or baseball diamond to at least get a feel for 'off pavement'.  Ride the bike, ride another bike, ride another bike.  One of them will sing to you.  PAY ATTENTION!!!

Granted, this is *my* priority list. Your choices may be in a different order or have different criteria.  These will give you an idea of what to think about.  I am working from the assumption that most people will be on road bikes now.  If all you've ever ridden is mountain, the information is still about right, but I'd steer you toward a 29er with 35-38mm tires, flat bars and no suspension.  

Where are you going to ride?  

If your plan is to just ride on the Wisconsin 'gravel' state trails, you will approach several of these choices differently.  On the other hand, if you have dreams of the Dirty Kanza, Land Rush 100, or Rebecca's Private Idaho, you'll want to select on the 'beefier' side of things.

Price point.  

Start out by figuring out what you can afford to spend.  This is probably the most important criteria, since it will set out components choices, frame materials and other choices.  Within a given price point (like $1000, $1500, etc), most bikes will have a very similar group of components.  The brands may change, but the quality and weight are very similar.  It'll be the minor details that help with your choices.

Brakes

Price point is really going to drive your frame material choice, but within a range, you'll probably have the option of disc or rim brakes.  After riding both rim brakes and disc brakes this season, often on back-back days, my jury is in.  I have bought my last rim brake bike.  Disc stops better, allows more rim choice, better modulation of power, and they stop better.

Tires

Pick your tires based on where you ride.  Maybe you'll even want a couple of sets.  I have 28mm tires for the road only, and 38mm tires for gravel, plus a set or two in between.  If you are spending 1500 and up for a bike, you can afford an extra set of tires for smooth cinder trails and the road if it matters.  Otherwise, go with as wide as you can cleanly fit in your frame, and look for something moderately smooth in the middle with knobs out on the edge.  Something like a Clement MSO or Challenge Gravel Grinder.  And if you can afford them, I'm very partial to Challenge Latex inner tubes. Thinner, lighter, and more puncture resistant.

Wheels

The late Steve Hed designed possibly the ultimate gravel rim - the HED Belgium C2+.  The wide rim gives you extra volume, a better ride, lower rolling resistance, and probably folds your laundry while you sleep. In any case, I firmly believe they'll improve the ride, comfort and handling of any bike.

Frame material

Everybody seems to have a preference. I've heard all the 'steel is real', 'buzzy aluminum' and 'harsh carbon' comments, Bah.  Steel rusts, aluminum is inexpensive and can be formed to make laterally stiff, vertically compliant frames, and carbon can be tuned to perfection.  At lower price points, steel or aluminum dominate, at the upper reaches, expect carbon or titanium.  Ti is a great material, but is difficult to form, and expensive.  Any buzz from aluminum can be dampened out with good bar tape. A purpose designed 'gravel' frame will have a longer stay and more relaxed fork, which will also smooth out the ride.  And yes, I'm in love with my Foundry Auger, and highly recommend it, but there are plenty of other good rides out there.

Drivetrain

At a given price point, you'll get what you get, and unless your price point is <$500, you'll get pretty good.  BUT - look for, or talk to your LBS about getting 'cyclocross gearing' or even more custom.  36x46 or 34x44 front rings will give you plenty of top end gears and still allow for a low-low without resorting to that hideous combo known as a triple.  In fact, it is possible to set up Shimano Ultegra 10 with an older Shimano XTR 9 speed derailleur and use an 11-36 rear cluster, which will give you a 1:1 ratio on steep climbs.  I've only walked once this year, and have climbed numerous 14%+ grades.

Cockpit

Stay with Aluminum stems and bars. Period.  Carbon bars are a lot better than they used to be, but they still should be regarded as 'one bounce', and may snap at the worst possible moment after that.  I'm really partial to Ritchey WCS stems, tape, and Salsa Cowbell bars. There are any number of other good brands on the market, this happens to be my preference.

Accessories

Bags - start with a seat bag.  Banjo Brothers and Revelator both make great bags that expand and provide some level of waterproofing.  Add a frame bag for really long rides, and maybe a Bento box if you really want to.  For rides under 100 miles, I find that I can fit everything in my tail pack, jersey pockets.  Your mileage may vary, of course.

Cages - you want something secure.  I'm sold on the Arundel Sport cages.  Cheap, light, idiotproof.

Lights - lots of good choices out there.  I'm picking up a set of Seca 1700 Enduro.  Bright, long life, and easy to mount.  Did I mention bright?

And that's a short list of picking out your own gravel bike.  See you next spring at the Miesville 56 or maybe the ride formerly known as Almanzo.

~mj

 

2000 mile review - Foundry Auger +

If you've read my initial thoughts on the Foundry Auger "Plus", I fairly gushed about my intents and early thoughts on how it rode.  Now that I've got a couple of thousand miles of road, gravel and

everything in between, I thought I'd share a few more thoughts at the end of a season's riding.
First, I'm still in love with this bike.  I've had a number of bikes over the years, and my riding style/goals have certainly changed as I've aged.  Bikes that felt good 20-30 years ago now are overly twitchy.  What felt just right for crits is not much fun to bump along on backroads.  And frankly, I don't care.  I'm not riding crits, time trials or road races.  The occasional road gran fondo can be ridden just fine on a responsive cyclocross bike (with decent brakes, of course).

One of my original changes was to go with the thru-axle fork, and I've been very (very, very) pleased with the choice.  I like the total lack of ambiguity in steering, and I don't notice any bad habits with jarring or buzz from the stiffer front end.  The overall configuration of the Auger helps here too - good vertical compliance, but rock solid lateral stiffness at the bottom bracket.  I've noticed no click/creak in the BB30 either.  A couple of people have asked why I use the heavier, cheaper Gossamer crankset instead of one of the more svelte carbon ones.  The answer is pretty simple - it's bulletproof.  Not that much heavier, 1/3 the price, no flex, no bad habits.  Understate, overperform.

A couple of changes I've made since the original configuration. I think I'm swapping the saddle back over to my old favorite Selle Italia Flite '91 instead of the more current Flite, complete with center relief.  This thing has just never felt quite right, although it's a pretty comfy saddle most of the time.

15% pavement descent on LaCrosse Gravel race

Also, I have changed tires. I still think the Challenge Almanzos are one of the best tires I've ridden, I've had no problems with them, and no complaints about the way they ride or durability. But then I got on a pair of Challenge Gravel Grinders, 38mm and in basic black.  Whoa...  what a feeling.  These tires are marked '3 bar' for racing on the sidewall, which seems just about perfect for mixed surface use.  I've ridden road paceline at 23-25mph, paved descents at 45+, and gravel drops at over 40.  They fly.  With latex tubes, they don't have a bouncy 'ping' to larger rocks, and really smooth out pavement cracks, rough roads and track through loose gravel amazingly well.  Yeah, these are a keeper.  The only downside is that the tread life may not be super great, which isn't really surprising since they weren't intended for a lot of road use.  I've got to rotate front to back to balance wear.  I'd love a set of 35-38mm road tires with the characteristics, but a harder compound and more of a road profile. Maybe name them IARBGARs or something.

To date, the only adjusting I've had to do was to the brakes.  I *did* find that the bosses for the Whisky 9 match up to a 140mm rotor (options?, don't know), so I added the bar to move it to 160mm.  After a couple of rides, I noticed an occasional clicking, which I finally traced to an slight interference between the edge of the rotor and the caliper.  Huh? What?  So I started to look at moving washers under the caliper - and realized that the bar could be turned around and then it lined up perfectly.  Again, who knew? I'll rack that up to unfamiliarity with proper adjustment...

I've got my bike for the next few years.  Anybody want a really nice Ridley Noah?
Future tweaks and enhancements.
- 1000 lumen headlight set.  Night riding on commuter lights isn't bad if you are in town and there's lots of ambient light.  Pretty sketchy on gravel though.
- Different rotors.  The stock TRP rotors have a tendency to 'sing', and growl/grind under braking.  I'll put on some kind of 2 piece rotor to see if that improves things.
- 2nd set of wheels, configured more for road.  Fewer spokes, smaller freewheel (like an 11-26 instead of 11-36).

Foundry pushes the 'workman' status of their bikes, and I agree.  Not the lightest, not the sexiest, but it tops the 'just a bike' list,  And that's a high compliment in my mind.  No bad habits, nothing to snark about, just a bike. Again, understate and overperform. Chapeau, Foundry.

Plus one more

Earlier this year I did a post called "Plus One".  Not a meaningful post, more a riff on how garages tend to fill up with bikes, boats, skis, golf clubs or whatever "because they do".
Nature abhors a vacuum, and since I am not coaching high school Nordic, I seem to have time on my hands to look at some other opportunities.  More to come on a couple of those later, but I'm also busily dreaming my way into another bike.  It has to be a 'plus zero' this time - sell one (or two) before building a new one.  I've decided to build a fat bike next year.  I'm still not sure what it will be - single speed, 1x11, internal or just what, but that's part of the fun of doing a build.  All I can say at this point is it won't be some pipe steel clunker with 42 bottle mounts.  I know there are lots of folks who love steel bikes, but I'm not one of them.  I don't miss the BB flex, don't miss the noodle-like response, and don't miss the weight.
To pay for this little exercise, I need to sell a couple of bikes that just aren't getting used.  My favorite road bike, 2nd favorite of all time behind my 1985 Raleigh 531 (long gone), is my Ridley Noah.  Actually, it's not my favorite any more.  My single speed OPAAT CX bike and my Auger Plus have both surpassed it in terms of utility, miles ridden, and likelihood of being pulled out for a club ride.  It's a great bike - fast, non-twitchy, climbs and sprints like a dream, but it's not a bike my well-seasoned butt wants to be on for a long day.  Time to move it along to some young buck who wants a screaming fast ride.  Seriously for sale, make realistic offer!

So follow along over the winter as I agonize over hubs, rims, components, frames and such.  My bike lust can be your opportunity for a little schadenfreude, and in the end we might all learn something.

In any case, it'll be fun.

Foundry Auger "Plus" - first impressions

Finally.  The bike is all together, the bars wrapped, cables trimmed and everything torque checked and adjusted.  And today was the first real ride.

We did a 30 mile road ride this morning, with a fairly consistent 15-20mph wind blowing out of the southeast, some moderate hills, and pretty good pavement. No gravel though.

If you noticed in the title, this isn't a plain Foundry Auger.  I didn't particularly care for the flex I felt in the Whisky 7 fork (your mileage may vary considerably).  I'll put up with a little more bump/buzz/whatever to have steering and braking that I can absolutely rely upon, and I just didn't get the feel I wanted on the stock frame.  Also, since this is a disc project, I wanted thru-axle.  It works well for MTB, why not use it here as well?  If you've read my other post, I talk at some length about component choices, so I won't rehash that.  Suffice to say that I was pleased with the way everything came together.  I did swap out the Challenge Almanzos for Challenge Parigi Roubaixs for the next few road rides.  Sweet tires.  They feel like a great sewup, with great road feel, and really soak up the cracks and bumps.  Probably the only downside is mounting them for the first time.  Challenge open tubulars (like this) are very interesting to mount, and really take strong thumbs and persistence.  I wound up cheating and using a quikstik to get them popped on.  My experience is that they'll stretch a little bit, and subsequent mountings on the HED Belgium+ rims will be much easier.  Also, I'm running Challenge latex tubes, which contribute to the great feel.  Oh yeah - 85psi today.  Will try them at 80psi as well.

So about riding.  My ultimate comparison points for any bike are my old Raleigh Derby 531, and our Huffy Serotta.  Both of these bikes were great to ride.  Comfortable for a long day in the saddle, predicatable diving into criterium corners or descending off Mt Rainier at 50+mph.  Just_a_bike.  No quirks, no tricks, no overlap, easy to service, all those things.  And (I think) the Auger lives up to that standard - just a bike - which actually aligns quite nicely with the marketing literature.  It climbs pretty well, is laterally very stiff, but even on a couple of rough stretches of pavement, no twitches in steering or any fun things like that. And I love, love, love the disc brakes.  Crosswinds are a real telling point, too.  A bike with 'classic Italian geometry' is a real handful in a crosswind, but the Auger settled right in. Even dealing with puffs coming from gaps in hedgerows, it was predicatble, and a little lean was all it took to keep straight.  Just a bike.  And I did press hard into a couple of corners, and it sat on the line I asked for like it was on a rail.

In short, darn pleased for a first ride.  I'm looking forward to how it behaves on gravel, but I suspect it will do just fine.

~marsh

Almost nearly a bike!

Ritchey WCS tape, plus underwrap of Cinelli cork on tops

In amongst all the other side projects, 24 hours of work in the last 28, and getting ready for the Miesville Grinder, I've been slowly finishing up the 'fiddly bits' on the Foundry "Auger+".  Doing the main bolt-ons is easy.  Building the wheels - straightforward.  Figuring out cable runs, adjusters, chain length, brifter placement, stack height, cutting the fork... ...those are the hard ones.

• Dry fit bars, stem, brifters
• Set stack height to same as existing favorite bike
• Balance on bike to try it out.
• Add 2 5mm spacers on top of stem, just to make sure
• Disassemble
• Cut steerer (ever cut the steerer on a $600 fork?  It's a little daunting.)
• Figure out cable runs, end fittings
• Realize that XT derailleurs don't have an adjuster
• Get in-line adjusters from LBS (thanks NOW)
• Decide where to put said adjusters
• trim cable housing
• install all the bits
• tweak until it's right
• tweak a little more
• tape and tie in place
• install cable
• stretch, adjust
• set brakes (TRP Hy/Rd - easiest setup EVER!)
• adjust derailleurs
• Double check torque on stem, seatpost, crank, pedals, brakes
• Go for short ride!!!

And so I did.  Only about a mile, but a little climbing, descending, corners, braking.  Initial impressions are that "it's just a bike" - which is high praise.  I won't have to learn any weird twitches or tweaks.  I will have to learn the brakes. They stop better than cantis - or calipers for that matter.  I do have to take a couple of links out of the chain - not used to the amount of takeup and stretch an 11-36 has and I mis-judged.  And I have to wrap the bars and clip/end cap cables.
But it's quiet and quick and not too bad for weight.  I can't wait to ride on gravel!
BTW, Challenge is providing me a set of Paris-Roubaix tires, and a pair of their new Gravel Grinders.  Watch for a future writeup on both!  I love my Almanzos, but I hate burning them up on road, so I'll be flippping back and forth!

Pardon me while I gush.  Whiskey 9 thru axle fork, TRP Hy/Rd brakes, Hope EVO Pro 2 hub, Sapim CX Ray spokes, HED Belgium rims, Challenge Almanzo tires

Shimano XT 9 spd derailleur, XT 11-36 cassette, Shimano 9000 cables

Ritchey WCS Stem, Cowbell 2 44cm bars, Ultegra 6700 brifters

FSA Gossamer 36-46 crankset, Shimano XTR pedals, Ritchey WCS post, Selle Italia saddle

Common sense tips for riding gravel

There's a whole cadre of really experienced gravel/adventure riders out there, and y'all are welcome to chime in with your thoughts.  This post is for the new to gravel riders, who maybe are used to doing well organized centuries, club rides and weekend rides with friends - but not 4+ hour totally unsupported, where-the-heck-am-I rides in the puckerbush.  (Actually, Miesville isn't puckerbush. Far from it - you are <15 miles from the start no matter where you are on the course, and usually no more than 1/4 mile from somebody's farm.)
So here goes with the tip sheet.
Know where you are - bring turn list, map, GPS, phone - and KNOW HOW TO READ A MAP!!! GPS devices have batteries that die. Phones may not connect and batteries may die. Maps seldom lie.  Pay attention to your map and turns even if you are with a group.  You may decide to stop for a nature break and the group may not.  Keep track of where you are on the course!
Be prepared for the weather - and pay attention to what's coming.  If it's 85 degrees, your biggest weather concerns are hydration and sunscreen.  If it's 45, a sudden shower can bring on hypothermia.  Make sure you have enough clothing to add a layer if you have to stop for a while. (I carry a jacket, stocking cap and long finger gloves on spring rides).  No cotton is the first rule.  Know your body and the weather is the second.  Especially in the spring, be prepared for a sudden storm.  If there is any chance of thunderstorms, keep an eye on the horizon - especially behind you!  Spring storms can travel at 40+mph, and bring wind, rain, lightning and hail. Be prepared to find cover quickly if you see one approaching.
Make sure you have enough to eat.  If you are used to road rides at 15mph, and view 60 miles as a 4 hour adventure, make sure you have enough food for 5-6 hours of riding.  (400 kcal/hour is about right for most people).  Eat things that sit well on your stomach, but not simple sugar based food (like candy and pop).  These cause an insulin rush followed by a crash.  The exception - Shot blocks or gel packs are an essential element in dealing with 'the bonk'.  Quick calories to consume while your body processes better foods.
Carry enough tools, but don't go crazy.  At a minimum 2 tubes, tire irons, patches (none of which you need if you run tubeless), hand pump, optional CO2 inflators, multi-tool, $21 (1 dollar bill makes a dandy boot for a cut tire), a couple of zip ties, quick link for your chain.
Headlight/taillight.  It's amazing how much more visible you are when you use these.  If it's a gray day, maybe a neon vest, too.
Riding habits.  When the going gets rough, you need to ride more lightly.  Soften up your elbows, loosen your death grip on the bars, sit lighter on your saddle, and transfer more weight to your hands and feet.  And maybe click up a gear harder if you have them.  And don't stare at your front wheel.  It's not going anywhere, but the bumps it'll hit are up the road in front of you.  Keep searching for the smoothest hardest line.  I will change lines fairly often as I see patches that look firmer, drier, smoother, or whatever.  If you are in deep loose stuff, look at the shoulder and even at grassy strips.  Don't be afraid to experiment.
Challenge rollers - go down them as fast as you dare, pedal up as hard as you can without going over redline, and strive for the top.  You'll get a quick recovery over the top anyway, so if you can use your momentum to help blast UP that roller, you'll have much less to do to finish it.  This can save many minutes on a typical south Minnesota/Iowa rolling farm road, without spending any extra energy.

Final tip.  Don't forget to enjoy the ride.  There's always going to be someone who has their head down, hammering away and never realizes that they missed a herd of deer, or goats being silly on a farm.  They never see the green valleys, classic cars, waving farm kids or talking to the people they were riding with.  Which really makes me wonder why they are out here. Much more fun to smell the roses.

Enjoy.

~marsh

Minor details

And still the process of assembling this new bike goes on.  It's amazing all the piddly little tasks that have to get done when you build a bike up 'kit form', knowing that you are going to make some of it up as you go.

Progress today:
Unpackage cables and snake out the old basic Jagwire.  Realize that Shimano's slick, sweet, bloody spendy 9000 derailleur cable kit includes 2 inner derailleur cables, but only 1.2 outer cables. Yup - they assume all bikes have a partial cable for the front derailleur.  Clue stick time.  I'm hoping that one of the pro level shops here in town stocks that housing, not just the kits.  Cheap b@strds.
Realize that in order to really do my setups, like measuring cables, I need to stand on two wheels.  I've got a pair of Challenge Almanzos all set to go on the bike, but I need rim strips.  *@&#!$.  Not just any rim strip - it's gotta be a wider one...  No, I'm NOT using gorilla tape.  Ever clean that stuff off?  And no, I'm not setting them up tubeless until I get a second set of wheels so I can have two sets of tires mounted.
So tonight was spent doing the piddly stuff - like putting anti-seize on Ti bolts, torquing brake rotors, taking measurements off my existing bike in order to duplicate them on the new one - stuff that occupies time.

~marsh

It's a bike! (well almost)

I'm closing in on completing my build.  Bits and pieces dribble in, I find more little quirks (like Whiskey 9 forks are set for 140mm rotors), and little odds & ends like that.  but mostly - it looks like a bike now.
Handlebars, brakes and cables came in today.  I'm splurging on cables and using Shimano BC 9000, which are supposed to be absolutely the cat's meow.
The wheels are built, true to <.005", and within 50 newtons variance across all spokes.  I love working with HED rims.  This is the 3rd and a half set I've built, and I definitely put them in the 'stuff that works' category.

By the weekend, dial in the cockpit, disassemble so I can cut the fork - talk about a non-reversible task, and then reassemble everything with lots of lube where lube needs to be, locktite where it needs to go, and maybe get to go for a ride.

Miesville Grinder 2014 - Map up

It's a bit of a teaser, and the Dan Henrys on the map are a bit confusing, but here's a sneak preview of the course.  The arrows denote the *direction* of the turn, not necessarily the direction on the course. GPX, TCX, KML and cue sheet files will be up later in the week. They are still being reviewed by our highly paid team of editors.

Plus one

Riding a bike is pretty simple for most people. We learned how to ride as a kid, and some of us just never grew up.  Riding a bike well - now that's a different subject.  For some, riding is something that they do occasionally - renting a bike at the lake or the beach, pumping up the tires and hooking up the trailer to take the kids to the park, or maybe doing a Sunday afternoon trail ride on one of the paved trails around the region.
Or maybe it's doing rides with friends on the weekends. Going for a breakfast ride or to ride for coffee along the greenway.  Or maybe do part of the Grand Rounds and wind up at a cafe for lunch.
At some point, some part of some people make the slow (or fast) slide into 'bikers' (or riders, depending on your upbringing).  This is accompanied by the inevitable acquisition of a helmet, actual bike shorts, and maybe even a jersey. Which is generally followed by the sad realization that the bike you've been riding since high school isn't really up to the task of riding from here to wherever in the company of whomever it was that you wanted to ride with in the first place, and they aren't really in a mood to wait for you at every single intersection. So down to your local bike shop you go, and the salesperson says "you would be really happy with this year's Hornsucker Zipflash".  It's right there with the Makoozie, and we've got a special discount package on it.  And since it feels *so* much better than the cast iron pig with octagonal wheels that you've been riding, you buy it.  And you feel pretty good about it - at least until you go for a ride with your friends, and now they only have to wait at every other turn.  And as they talk over coffee about tires and chains and things, you listen - and decide that maybe if you get better tires, and maybe a new jersey, you'll be able to keep up better.  And you know what comes next.  Plus one.
You are standing in the bike shop and the owner walks by and sees you eyeballing the Velociraptor 7000 that's a replica of the bike that won some big race you've never heard of, and he says "looks like it's your size, take it for a ride..." and you do. And now you have 3 bikes in the garage, not just two.  And you are trying to explain to your significant other what a great deal this was, and why it is going to help you achieve your fitness goal which will make you a better performer at work,  And. And. Plus One.
And then comes the fall, and you actually can keep up with the guys.  And occasionally be the first one to the top of that hill, and your buddies are all congratulating you on how much you've improved (and they really do mean it).  So now when you sit around drinking coffee on Saturday morning after your 80 mile base ride, and the subject of tomorrow's ride comes up, 'the boys' are talking about going on a little ride that's on gravel roads - just about 50 miles, but it's epic countryside, and you don't want to miss it, but... Your Velociraptor only takes 23mm tires, and it's stiff as a board.  And one of the guys says "I've got a spare cyclocross bike you can ride".  And so you do.  And it's pretty fun feeling dirt on your face, sand in your crotch, and damn that was a cool picture with all of you after the ride, all covered with mud.  And Joe casually mentions that he thinks your friendly local bike shop has the Mudpuppy like his (only black) that's about your size, and clearance priced.  Plus one.
Somewhere along this progression, your sainted wife, who has turned a blind eye to all this adult male pirate-looks-at-50 foolishness, watched you buy new toys, and really hasn't made a big deal about it decides that perhaps she'd like to ride more with you.  Since she is actually pretty fit and active, and you being the smart partner who knows that buying her a cheap bike is not going to make her a better rider, you take her down to your friendly LBS (who by this time is rolling out the red carpet and firing up the cappuccino machine when they see you approach).  And they get her set up with a nice woman specific Terraplaner 3000, helmet, jersey and matching shorts, and all the trimmings as you calmly watch her lay down her platinum card.  Plus one.
Pretty soon, she's riding with you, riding with a group of women on Sundays and Tuesdays, and mentions that a grocery bike would be really good to have so that *you* can go to the store by bike instead of in the car.  Plus one.
And now in December, those same friends are calling you to go ride down along the river on something called a 'fat bike', and since you are both bored to tears riding the trainer, you make another trip to your LBS to get her a fatbike so she can go for rides with the girls all winter long.  Plus one.
And then you realize that she's having a lot more fun than you are, and you know what happens next...
Plus one.

Time for the hard men

When most riders start talking about their 'wanna do' rides, typically something like les Alpe d'Huez, Galabier, or one of the other great alpine climbs comes to mind. Riding your dream bike, weighing a touch over 7kilos, on silken tubulars, carefully selected to minimize rolling weight and maximize climbing/descending efficiency. Traveling  the beautiful roads of southern France, climbing for hours in the sunshine and crystal clear blue skies to gain the insight and wisdom that come from attaining one of the legendary summits of Le Tour.  The warm summer breezes, good French wine and cheeses that await you at your pension upon your return to the valleys.

On the other hand, there are those (like me) who yearn for the cold, grey mornings of March as the wind comes off the North Sea in Belgium and Flanders. Straddling a slightly workmanlike steed shod with distinctly plump tires, low profile rims, and lots of tire clearance. Wearing a rain cape in the damp morning, with the distinct smell of embrocation providing a wakeup call.  No spidery lads from Columbia and the Basque country.  These are the days for the hard men.  Names like Boonen, Cancellara, Flecha, O’Grady, and Voight.  Men who revel in the knowledge that only the strong will survive the day and only the bravest will win...  Today was a day of that sort. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the opening race of a series of one-day 'classic' rides in the north country.  Ian Stannard beat Greg Van Avermaet in a sprint.  In the end, only 33 riders could be considered 'in contention' at 10km, and only the two at the finish.  Hard men.  The dominant features of most of these are long, windy flats, secteurs of cobbles, and short, narrow, steep and often greasy climbs.  The legendary Kapelmuur - Muur van Geraardsbergen has pitches approaching 20%, cobbles, moss and mud - on the dry days!  Hard men win bike races here.  Cancellara launched an insane attack on Boonen here in the 2010 Ronde van Vlanderen (Tour of Flanders) that had people talking about a motor in the seatpost (honest!).  

I love the Classics and the hard men who race them at the front.  It’s a particular kind of misery that isn’t for everyone, but God help me, I love it.  Watching a rider court that thin line between speed and disaster as they attempt to thread between the fans on one side, bowler hat cobbles on the other while tapdancing down a little stripe of gravel, grass or hammering a big gear in order to skip across the tops of the cobbles, all while battling dust, grit, rain, mud…It’s poetry of the soul. But it's the long sections of flat and windy roads that send the sunshine riders out the back.  One hundred and eighty or so kilometers of wind, rain soaking through your cape, wet gloves, dripping glasses, and leg numbing cold are sure to make the sunny boys look to the warmth of the team car, and another 'training ride' come to an end. 

There's a special reverence in the pits and garages for the mechanics who carefully select the wheels, tires and frames, all customized to meet the individual needs of their riders.  The perfect saddle, just the right combination of bar tape. That extra O-ring or zip tie to hold the computer in place, or a bit of friction tape on bottle cages to ensure they stay put.  Top tube charts noting the cobbles, feed zones, sprint spots.  The legion of 'team staff' recruited for the day to carry spare wheels to remote locations on the course.  Team cars or neutral support may be many minutes behind the leaders in the special sections. Having a wheel at the end of a cobble section may be the difference between winning and not even being in the group.  And by the end of April, all of this gear will be carefully disassembled, inspected, lubricated and stored for next season.

Tires and bikes play a huge part in the Classics.  Building a bike for the roads of Belgium and the North is very different from a ‘climber’s bike built for the mountains. In the first place, it needs some shock absorbing characteristics.  Longer forks, chainstays and more relaxed angles help, as do double wrapping the bars, and maybe a slightly more padded seat.  Probably even more important are wheels and tires. 

If you look across the pro tour team pits, you’ll see a wide array of sponsored equipment, some of which may even carry the actual manufacturer’s logos.  And some that carries the branding of the team’s sponsors, but doesn’t look quite ‘right’.  Wheels are often a bit suspect.  It’s amazing how many different logos you see on the old standby Mavic SSC tubular rims.  It’s basically unchanged in 30 years, but still a benchmark for ride quality and reliability.  And glued to those?  Well, *anybody* can make tires, but as often as not what you actually see are Dugast or FMB tubulars in ‘drag’ – with someone else’s label carefully applied.  There are a few real brands (like Challenge), but mostly, it's a rebranding game.  In the end, it's really about feel - supple casings resist punctures, soak up shock better, and provide better road feel.  Better contact means better power transmission.  It's hard to be powerful if your tires are off the ground part of the time. 

OK, what the hell does L'enfer du Nord and the other spring classics have to do with riding gravel roads in Minnesota?  Quite a lot, actually.  We don’t really have cobbles here – or at least not enough, but we’ve got an abundance of crappy pavement, gravel roads and crushed limestone trails, a few B roads to explore, and maybe even a ski trail or two.  I’m at a point that criterium setups don’t do much for me.  They’re fun for a quick blast around the lake, after which you make reassuring comments to the kid that let you ride his/her pride and joy, and then give it back.  After riding such an awesome bike, my general thought is “glad I don’t ride *that* all the time!”.    And honestly, the older I get, the more I want something that’s got a bit more ‘give’ vertically than you get from a traditional road race bike.  (I have a very nice Ridley Noah for sale if you are interested).  There are so many good bikes out there now. Custom designs from people like Steve Hampsten, Linskey, Moots, Peacock Groove and a whole host of others (NB - Steve is an old friend from Seattle days).  And lots of production bikes from Foundry, Trek, BMC and many others all targeting the current 'gravel' market.  If I were to guess, I'd bet gravel is the 2nd fastest growing segment of the cycling industry behind fat bikes.  And this is good for bike shops -- and consumers.  Getting people out the door and onto bikes is a good thing.  Having people believe that they are onto something new is a great thing.

Our spring gravel races have a lot in common with the Classics.  Weather is often marginal, the roads are sure to be pitted, gritty and often littered with 'poodles'.  It's that great chance to have an adventure, and finish the day with a beer (now if we could only get good frites!  

And it's a chance to reflect on the hard men.

OPAAT Gravel Grinder

What do you get when you decide to build up a single-speed bike out of the spare parts bin and a little aggressive sniping on eBay to fill in the blanks? An OPAAT bike.  (One Piece At A Time).
It's a mutt, but it's turned out to be my favorite bike to ride - on the road, gravel, to work - whatever.  A lot of it has to do with the more comfortable sized tires (28-35mm) that fit it so well, but also a good geometry - around 71/72, and 'longish' stays.  Your basic budget 'crosser.
I wanted a 1x1 mostly to equalize my riding with the rest of my friends on our Sunday outings.  We typically ride 40-55 miles, average around 13mph for the day, and find all sorts of hills around the River Falls, WI area.  Two 'truths' I've learned riding the hills and valleys over there:
1) You are always in the right gear, so you never miss a shift
2) Be prepared to suffer a little on steeper hills
Outside of that, and occasionally getting spun out on long downwind runs, it's been as close to an 'all around' ride as anything I've ever had.  I swap tires to match what I'm doing - the Challenge Almanzos are 'race tires' reserved for mostly gravel days.  For commuting and general riding, I use Conti Gatorskins - pretty much impervious to routine damage, and the feel is OK (but not nearly as good as the Almanzos!).  The C2 rims make such a difference in the feel of the bike, and if I am reasonably careful I can run pressure down around 50-55psi on the Almanzos and a bit lower than that with 35mm tires.  Makes for a very comfy ride!

So what's on the bike?  FSA Gossamer cranks, HED Bastonge C2 wheels, Salsa Bell Lap bars (double wrapped on the tops), Tektro levers and 720 cantis, and a Wound Up fork.  Weight with pedals and without mud - 18.5lb.  The brakes are 'reversed' cyclocross style.  OK, I know it's an affectation, but I actually did ride 'cross for a couple of seasons, and I do occasionally come flying in to something that requires a quick dismount.  Gearing is 38x16 - which seems pretty reasonable for my needs.  As with most things, YMMV.

For comfort, I used my favorite Fizik tape over leftover Cinelli cork, and a Selle Italia classic Flite saddle.  Yeah, it's a little hard but my butt prefers that to most of the new saddles I've tried. And with a few thousand miles on this bike, I'm pretty OK with it.  I use a Banjo Brothers frame bag, and seat bag in various combinations depending on how much junk I have to haul.

One note - this has been my RAGBRAI bike 3 of the last 4 years.  The off year, I rode my Ridley Noah. It's about the opposite of everything this bike is - fast, a little twitchy, fast, tight, and you feel every. single. bump. crack. and. pebble. I whined a lot that year!

All in all, sort of a Subaru Outback of bikes. Not too big, not too small, a little underpowered at times, but gets the job done and will go anywhere.

Wheel building for geeks, nerds and compleat idiots

I've been dinking around with wheelbuiding and wheel repair since Kevin King and Sally Hildt tried to teach me a little bit about building back during my bike racing days in Seattle.  I still regard them as masters of the craft, and I'm just a piker.  But I do know how to lace up wheels, properly tension them, and they rarely blow up.  
In the last few months though, I've started working on upping my technology, adding to my existing Park Pro truing stand.  I've found several resources like wheelfanatyks, plus pretty good reference sites like Sapim's website, spoke calculators from Sapim, Wheelpro, and Pro Wheelbuilder. I also like Eric's blog, from whom I have unabashedly stolen some great ideas.

Roger Musson's Wheelpro site does a great job of discussing how to build, so I won't repeat that and Eric has a pretty detailed analysis of how to take measurements, what to measure, and a bit on why it's important.  I didn't want to analyze this too heavily, just get to the point that I could build a wheel that is 'dead on'.  

Modern rims, like the HED Belgium C2, make this pretty easy compared to the old (and flexible) 19mm x 15mm road rims of the 80s.  Let's face it - 36 spokes was de rigueur for any sort of wheel that you wanted to rely upon.  Now, the options are plentiful - if a tad more expensive and heavier.  

I'm still getting my wheel stand workspace dialed in, and there are a couple of 'gotta gets' left to make it like I want, starting with a solid steel plate base.  Two reasons for this. First, a half inch plate of steel isn't going to move unless I want it to. Second, it's magnetic, which provides a place to affix the dial indicator in a little more stable manner than my current 'on the stand leg' position.
Next is better lighting.  My building workspace is in a 'crawl space' in the basement. 5'11" clearance, not great light, but it's warm, dry and spider free. A task light and some side light would be nice.

So anyway, there are a couple of new tools that I've added to the kit.  A Hozan spoke tension meter, which I've always coveted, and sniped on ebay for a pretty good price (but had to wait 30 days for USPS and Italie Poste to deliver); and a Spokey spoke wrench.  Inexpensive, easy on the fingers, and spot on placement.  I also picked up the dial indicator and base from a local 2nd hand tool store.  It's accurate to .001", which is plenty for me.  I've always built good wheels, but the geek in me has always looked for repeatability and metrics.

After all that, here's what I wound up with for the wheel I just rebuilt. I reused the spokes (Sapim CX-Ray) because they were in pretty good shape, and the things are bloody expensive to go get new ones.  I used to buy DT straight gauge by the box for what a handful of these would cost!  I was shooting for a drive side tension of around 160, so this should be pretty good.  I guess I'll find out on the road.