Lazy summer riding: 215 days and counting

Smile from the trail.

A few odds and ends from the past week or so. It is now at the point in the summer when the time seems to be speeding toward Labor Day; it's the same sort of phenomenon that made it difficult for me to enjoy Sunday afternoons as a kid. Looming responsibilities and school somehow seem to cut into enjoying the moment.

In any case, I have maintained my consecutive days of riding, which total 215 as of today. What may have been a bit of a challenge to continue early on has considerable momentum now, and even a family road trip coming up soon doesn't hold much threat to breaking my streak. Daily rides for transportation and daily rides to keep either kids or dog happy contribute to the mass of the spinning flywheel.

A few nights ago, we came upon a fire burning near the dirt trails in our neighborhood park. Julie saw a few teenage boys running from the direction of the flames, but I was too concentrated on the flames themselves and whether anyone had yet called the fire department to notice them. Within minutes, the flames were more than ten feet tall and the area was crackling.

Julie rode to the site of the fire to see if anyone needed help.

Several people at the park called fire and police, and trucks arrived within a few minutes.

We haven't yet found out exactly what happened, but it's likely a group of teenage boys were up to no good. For our girls, it was exciting to be on the arriving end of a fire truck excursion. The firemen had the flames out within a couple of minutes, but smoke and falling ash stayed in the area for some time. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the damage was minimal. A couple of days later, we surveyed the site.

Poor quality phone cam doesn't show a lot, but much of the underbrush here was turned to ash.

The trees in the fire area appear mostly unchanged.

A day after the fire, we attended a local outdoor concert. The highlight of the music was Sousa's Washington Post March, which seemed just about perfect for an evening ride.

The Dummy makes a good seat or picnic table, or provides a little shade during outdoor events.

The low evening sun and a backdrop of threatening clouds makes for some great imagery that I am just barely capable of capturing.

Earlier in the week, our out-of-town guests departed, but not before I took the girls out for one last ride. They took the opportunity to practice some skidding, and were impressed with my stories as a kid of skidding my way through tires all the way down to the cords. Perhaps their parents will have to foot the bill for some new tires for their bikes back home.

Yesterday, I was among a small group who took a B-cycle ride with Mayor Hancock of Denver. The purpose was to observe some infrastructural improvements in a couple of neighborhoods, as well as to see where there are shortcomings in the network. From an advocacy standpoint, it is encouraging to see bicycling issues taking a higher profile than they have in the past, though I have enough experience to know that improvements are hard won and take a lot of time and effort.

Mayor Hancock on the left, as Phil of Denver B-cycle leads the way.

After the ride and on the way to the office, I spotted a derelict and partially stripped Fisher Advance, predating the Trek buyout, circa 1990. It's always sad to see a nice old steel bike go out like this. 

On a ride with 8 girls

Six girls out in front. Another two are with me bringing up the tail.

In our household, I'm vastly outnumbered by females. It has taken some time for me to orient myself in this situation. I grew up with only brothers, and during a long stretch of awkward and ungainly years, girls were a distant phenomenon. To me, they were as unknowable as Martians, or Venusians as the case may be.

In years since, I've had opportunities to make progress in understanding. As it happens, in addition to the female members of my own household, my sister-in-law and her two daughters visit annually, an event of which we are currently in the midst. Added to that, today we also had a school pal over for a visit. As might be imagined, these factors led to a planetary alignment mandating raucous, girly activities.

The afternoon was filled with squealing at various decibel levels, trending toward the upper end of the spectrum. I must admit, I took refuge in the bike barn. The cacophony subsided somewhat as a couple of pizzas met their end. Then, the horde issued a call for a bike ride to the dirt hills. At last! They were speaking my language. It just so happens that I have sufficient bikes to equip them all, so with a little tweaking and adjustment, we were off for a summer evening ride.

My co-pilot kept me apprised of the status of the convoy.

Already accomplished at mugging for the camera.

Our fleet of bikes stretched out for about half a block as we made our way through the neighborhood to the park and the dirt trails. As is the case with this bunch, there was no shortage of competitiveness, so a little racing and jockeying for position ensued. By the time we got to the park, some were ready for the dirt and others were ready for a rest.

The Dummy with my home-built removable second seat back installed. Details to follow when I am able. 

For the astute reader, Scout is the eighth girl on the ride.

Meredith was a first-time dirt bike rider. From the sound of her yelling, dirt riding was a hit.

After many circuits, interspersed with frisbee throwing and running in the grass, it was time to head for home. I'm not certain that I can say I understand the intricacies of the feminine psyche much more now than I ever have, but I do know that they like riding bikes as much as I did and still do. I'm also more than a little proud that my group of girls whooped it up on the dirt hills on their bikes, relishing the bumps and skidding up clouds of dust.

The lone boy of similar age who passed by looked at them in wonder and perhaps a touch of fear from aboard his bike; a pavement-bound BMX with training wheels serving as outriggers. The irony doesn't escape me that I take much satisfaction in knowing that my girls will likely befuddle boys of their generation.

183 days and counting: Bike to Work Day

A little ride with Scout following the Bike to Work Day ride home.

Those of you who live outside the Denver area know that national Bike to Work Day occurred last month. However, for some reason the City of Denver traditionally conducts its Bike to Work Day in June, ostensibly because the weather is better in June than in May. Whatever the reason, today was Bike to Work Day in Denver. As is usually the case on this special day, there were a lot more people on bikes on the streets and trails around here. Curiously, bike to work day is one of the few days that many of the bike-y people I know are somewhat less likely to ride to work, mostly because many are working at bike-related events and may be required to drive vans or other motorized vehicles to haul tables and supplies. I, on the other hand, did no such thing. I rode my bike and talked with lots of bike-y people as they worked.

Activity at Civic Center Park just after Mayor Hancock spoke.  

Many snacks, stickers and other free goodies were to be had.

Coincidentally, today marked 183 consecutive days of me riding a bike. That means that I've officially hit half a year in my current streak that began late last year with the TSBC challenge. Today, like every day during the past six months, I rode in part for transportation, in part for convenience, and in part for fun. Early in the morning I was out the door with my single-speed Bean Green Surly Cross-Check, that I recently equipped with a new-to-me 16-tooth Surly cog to replace a 20-tooth antecedent. The new 16 seems to be well matched to work with the CC's 34-tooth Surly chainring. This gear combo returns a nice gain ratio to facilitate regular around-the-town riding.

Later, I went out with two of my girls; the babbling one and the fuzzy one. Along the trail we made a couple of discoveries. First, we found that people who use chainsaws can exhibit a sense of humor:

Happy stump.

Second, we made a trailside find of the canned liquid beverage variety:

These three survivors were rescued.

While making our way along a well-traveled trail, I spotted a tall Stella Artois can in the weeds along the side of the trail. I thought that the can looked like a good candidate for a new stove design featured on Vik's blog, which, as it turns out, was retired today. I picked it up, and to my surprise it was full and apparently untampered. A little farther along, I discovered another can, then another, and another. The cans looked as if they may have been either accidentally dropped or hastily ditched, as they had a few impact dents and scratches and one had been punctured. Considering the volume of traffic on the trail, it's unlikely they could have been there for too long. In any case, I'm chalking the three survivors up as a decent trailside find and will be enjoying them at some point in the future, once they have been properly chilled. Intact trailside found beer is free beer, and free beer is a cornerstone of our culture, after all. Not a bad conclusion to the day.

Summer Solstice

A couple of days ago we took advantage of the longest day of the year to ride to the park in the late evening. Inevitably, a little dog piling ensued in the freshly cut grass. It would be difficult to not enjoy a place and time like this. Photos by Julie, aka Little 29er Mommy.

Bike camping prep

It's a big fat Pug: at 58.5 lbs loaded, minus food, some water, and a few odds and ends. 

I've been gearing up to do some bikepacking since sometime last year. My philosophy has been to do it on the cheap when feasible, as I don't have the time or resources to commit myself to a load of camping of any sort. By way of checking out what other people use for equipment and compiling a spreadsheet tailored to my own needs, I've been able to ascertain what I have, what I need, and what I can do without. Initially the big gaps were lightweight versions of a tent, a sleeping bag, and a sleeping mat. That's of course apart from the means to carry all my junk.

Selling a few bikes recently and putting the proceeds into an REI sale, I was able to acquire a Kelty Salida 2 tent, a Sierra Designs Zissou (as in Steve) 23 long down bag, and a REI Flash long insulated air mattress. Coupled with the set of Revelate Designs framepack, Viscacha seat bag, and Sweet Roll handlebar bag (via Gypsy), that I've acquired over time, most of the big gaps have been filled.

About as light as most Big Agnes SL series tents, at about half the price.

Spacious for one, plenty for two inside. 

I had originally planned to go with any one of several Big Agnes tents, mostly on their reputation of quality from more seasoned bikepackers. I particularly like the Big Agnes Slater UL2+ and may one day go that route, but for now, in the balance of economics versus how many nights I'm likely to be able to camp to justify a fancier tent, economics won out. There is a bit of a weight penalty, but a pound or so is something that I can live with in the short term.

The Salida 2 itself has a decent reputation as a good value light weight tent, albeit with fewer bells and whistles. The great REI return policy provides a bit of insurance either way. I gave the new items a test with a back yard campout. All seem to be more than good enough for my purposes, and considerably better than my 10 to 20+ year-old, much heavier and bulkier equipment.

As for cooking equipment, I've gone the ultra cheap route. I've now built a few Penny stoves and found them to be a terrific design; nearly free of cost, extremely low mass, using easy to source fuel, and with good fuel consumption. In the same spirit, I sourced an on-sale Stanley 700ml covered pot cook set for $15. There are plenty of lighter pots out there, but it isn't too heavy and it's just about the right size.

I have Lexan utensils, but prefer something that is more heat resistant. I had some cheap, and therefore light, stainless steel utensils in my car camping kit. The only problem was the fork was too long to fit in the Stanley pot. A couple of minutes with a hacksaw and a grinder, and the problem is solved.

Step 1: Hack a bit off the cheap stainless fork...

... so that it's about the same length as the spoon. 

Step 2: Grind a nice curve that can serve double duty as a jelly spreader or tire lever.

Step 3: Beam a little about how this combo is more hobo-chic than a titanium spork, even if it weighs a bit more.

I packed everything up in the bags on the Pugsley and took a little ride with Scout. The whole setup is still missing some food and water, but all of what I'll need for an overnighter is about 87.5% there. The bike is heavy, and it certainly feels somewhat heavy, but is definitely not unrideable. It's just a matter of getting a feel for it in the context of what I hope to do with it, and dialing it in a little more. I'll likely be pushing it up steep hills, but there's a likelihood that I'd be doing that unladen anyway. In all, it's now an all-terrain, two-wheeled RV, and RVs aren't renown for speed.

Hard to tell from this phone pic, but that's a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress going over my neighborhood. Four big radial engines create a nice rumble.

It rolls pretty well loaded.