THERE’S A PRESENCE IN MY HOME!

June 3, 1944.. From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Italy during WWII… “2 planes go out of squadron. Repaired but 2 come back in. one crash landed – other blew tire. Plenty of work.”

 

I’ve been away. It has been 12 days since my last post. The Navigator and I have purchased her family home following the passing of her father this past New Year’s Day. Getting one home ready for market and one home ready to move in to has left me with limited time to write. Yet, much has been happening on the cycling front. Unfortunately, I’m acutely aware of more recently having been “talking the talk but not walking the walk” when it comes to riding…

AND THE BEAT GOES ON…

February 5, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Rain: All day. Sleet and hail. Snow in Mts. Wind blows many tents down …”

As I sit here on Sunday, February 5, 2012 in 60 degree temperature with mostly sunny skies, it is hard to imagine what my father-in-law, S.Sgt. G.C. Watts and his “brothers in arms” were experiencing 58 years ago as they huddled together in tents in a war zone as rain, hail, and heavy winds surrounded them. My toughest decision so far today has been…

PROFORM LE TOUR DE FRANCE ONGOING REVIEW…

January 29, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Week of 01/25 through 02/01 has note “Huge Air Forces operating over Germany) Daily note for 01/29/44 – Go to air field. Joe E. Brown comes down and gives us some good laughs. Eat supper and go to Foggia to USO and see Humphrey Bogart and wife. Cold- …”

 

This may not be pretty… Even after a night’s sleep, I still may have a RANT getting ready to erupt. Just be warned. Maybe it won’t be more than a mini-rant. It will certainly be about my ongoing review of the ProForm Le Tour De France spinner bike.

But first… A cyclist’s dilemma…

(This is a test provided by a local survey crew…What’s a cyclist to do?)

Imagine if you will…

Le Tour de France Spinner Bike – An Initial Review

It is 18 degrees outside this morning as I begin to put finger to keyboard. I’ve been off of my normal writing schedule this week due to numerous commitments in different areas of my life. I did, however, get to spend some time on my recently received Le Tour de France spinner bike from ProForm.

(Shown here in its 99% unpacked and ready to go state!)

I’ve written about the delayed receipt of this product elsewhere so I’ll move on beyond that stage now, i.e., ordering and delivering….

BIKE PLAN ADOPTION REALIZED!

Monday, November 7, 2011, saw the Haywood County Comprehensive Bike Plan unanimously adopted by the Haywood County Board of Commissioners following the plan presentation and submission at the Board’s regularly scheduled meeting…

LITTLE EAST FORK RIDE CLEARS THE COBWEBS

Thursday past looked to be the last pleasant day for local riding before the cold front accompanied by rain invaded Western North Carolina so it seemed prudent to get out and enjoy it. A late afternoon ride up NC 215 helped work out the cobwebs and stiff muscles associated with little sleep and uncomfortable time spent in chairs in the family waiting room at our local hospital ICU where the Navigator and I spent the early morning hours attending to a family medical emergency. The ride proved to be a perfect antidote to that “stove up” feeling in my bones…

(Enjoying my colorful new Road Fish jersey from our recent trip…)

The ride started amidst a crowded parking lot of Bethel Middle School footballers…

TWO BIRDS AND A BIG ‘OL MESS

O.K., I know what you are thinking and I’m pretty sure that the image you have this moment of birds and a mess isn’t where this story is going. But, then you never know until the story is finished…

ZEKE AND THE NAVIGATOR GO INTO HIDING!

The Navigator and I have been away. We’ve been enjoying some quite secluded time in the woods on a mountain top far, far away. Our favorite campground was running at less than 50% capacity over the end of the work week and through the weekend. It was, in the fullest meaning of the word, glorious…

(Saturday brought clear blue skies highlighting the beginning of fall colors)

The trip started on Thursday amidst…

FINALLY, THE FARGO IN ITS ELEMENT!

Sunday was my first opportunity to take the Salsa Fargo out and enjoy it in its real element – off-road, loose gravel, steep climbs. The Wood-Man and I headed out to the Sunburst Picnic Area above Lake Logan on NC 215. A Forest Service Road just off the picnic/campground area was our destination. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t what I got…

MY FIRST FARGO RIDE!

Well, the first ride on the new Salsa Fargo is in the books and has found its proper place in history. That is probably somewhere between what I ate for lunch yesterday and the current status of my bank account. None of it is earth shaking…

SMART PHONES MAKE ME NERVOUS

Given the headline I’ve chosen, you may have jumped to a conclusion that this post is going to be a rant about drivers and cell phone use. I can understand why you would think that and, a minor element of today’s post just might go somewhere along those lines of thought. But, I think I’m mostly going in a different direction…

I FOUND IT… WELL, SORT OF…

As I mentioned in my last post, a mysterious crashing sound behind me turned out to be my Planet Bike Superflash as it achieved separation from my seat bag. On Friday, I realized that I knew exactly where the light came off my bike on Thursday’s ride so I decided to return to the scene of the loss and determine the light’s condition. I’ve had the light come off before when hitting a pothole or other bump in the road and it has survived each time. I was hoping it would be the case once again. Upon returning to the bridge crossing the Pigeon River, I found…

THURSDAY NIGHT RIDE SETS STAGE FOR METRIC CENTURY THIS SATURDAY

Our BicycleHaywoodNC sponsored Thursday night ride served two purposes this week. It continued our summer long effort to encourage new and newly returning riders to get out, exercise, and enjoy our community. This week it had the added benefit of serving a final warm-up for me as I go into my first metric century ride on Saturday as the inaugural Blue Ridge Breakaway unfolds.

Our group was somewhat smaller this week in numbers but not effort. The reduced size could easily be written off due to the start of school and the return of tourists to their homes. This was the first week in several in which we did not have a visiting cyclist to ride with us.

We branched out with our route this week and did some “country cruising” rather than staying in town and within the city limits. Our ride included Raccoon Rd., Ratcliffe Cove Rd., Francis Farm Rd. Business 19 & 23 and both South and North Lakeshore Drive around Lake Junaluska.

Being out in the country meant reduced traffic once folks got home from work and very pleasant scenery as we rode by family farms and gardens. We were blessed with improving weather throughout the day and had great late day sunshine and white puffy clouds as we enjoyed the weekly ride.

(A happy group of riders at the base of the Cross at Lake Junaluska)

Today, Friday, is my final prep day for tomorrow’s ride. I had my monthly massage and then picked up my registration packet for the ride. While there, I was able to help load vehicles with supplies for the various stops tomorrow. A lot of (wo)man hours have gone into the planning and implementation of this event.

After arriving home, I gave my Fuji CCR3 a good once over and installed the holder for a new pump that I purchased today. After seeing “Cross Country Stan” use his last week, I realized how much better it was than the small hand pump I’ve been lugging around. I purchased a Lezyne Alloy Drive M with a stated weight of 128 grams. Installation was a snap as all I had to do was remove my water bottle cage, slide the mounting clip under the water bottle cage, and screw everything back down. I liked the hidden hose and clearly marked hose ends for Shraeder or Presta valves. I topped off my tires just to be sure the pump was working.

The Navigator and her sister are working one of the stops on my route tomorrow so I loaded up the truck with their chairs, my work stand to use at the stop, and my floor pump. Hopefully, no one will need their services! Now, all that remains is for me to get myself ready!

As part of the community wide awareness regarding the Blue Ridge Breakaway, the local newspaper, The Waynesville Mountaineer, covered the dangers that face cyclists every day with an emphasis on how traffic can interact with the riders on Saturday. This fit very nicely into our Advocacy and Education activities for the year and I was pleased to be able to provide some input to the article. The article is available on-line for those interested.

I’ll be forcing myself up early in the morning and turning on SPOT about 7:30 as the ride gets underway. This time tomorrow I will have either set a new personal best for myself and achieved one of my main goals for the summer or I’ll be one tired, less-than-happy dude! Either way, tomorrow will be interesting!

Until later,

- Zeke

LOOSE THOUGHTS ABOUND TODAY!

The last several days have seen me doing more reading and writing than riding, which is a condition that I need to correct in order to be prepared for my first metric century ride on August 21st. I was “gifted” with a fine piece of writing by my friend Nick on Monday morning – an ugly day at the time and the usual, for me, Monday morning blahs of being back to work. The piece titled “Four Corners, Two Wheels” by Christopher Solomon appeared in the July 29th edition of the New York Times travel section. I expressed my displeasure with my good friend for sending me such a fine piece of writing about cycling knowing that I had to be enclosed in my office as computer networks and equipment failed all around me. The piece definitely made it hard to stay in the office.

Quite popular in the cycling-related blogosphere today is People For Bikes. Both Ecovelo and BikingInLA featured stories on the organization. Check out both of these sources for more information on People for Bikes and BE SURE TO SIGN THE PLEDGE!

Bro Dave out on the West Coast took some time away from his basketball coaching duties and  has been making some mods to his recently acquired Salsa Fargo. He reports:

… I have made some mods to the Fargo. I didn't have the "Woodchipper" bars that came stock on it, but I really liked the Albatross bars that I had installed on the Crankforward. I thought I would give them a try on the Fargo. Switching the bars was pretty easy. I didn't have to undo any cabling so that helped tremendously. I'll try the Albatross bars out and see if they are going to work for me. I also mentioned that I was switching my tires over to tubeless with Stan's Notubes. I had tubeless ready rims on the Crankforward and liked them. After my roofing nail flat last weekend, I decided to go for it. This too was pretty easy. I just watched the Youtube video of the installation on the Stan's Notubes website and followed that. I had a little trouble getting the rear wheel to seal up initially, but it finally did. There is no way you could do this without a CO2 inflator. Better yet, if I had a good air compressor it would have been even easier. All in all the "wrenching" went pretty well for someone who has no "wrenching" skills. Of course if I roll a tire or my bars fall off on a descent, then I'll have to revisit that boast!

 

Check out the mods (sideview, topview, cockpit view)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s also good to see Jim Artis getting back to one of my favorite “ladies”. Jim has been working the last couple of days on getting “Silk” back roadworthy. Silk is Jim’s Catrike 700 that is one beautiful ride. “She” donated some wheels for Jim’s recent excursion with his HPV Fargo but she’s coming back together now in a slimmer, for the moment, form. Jim is applying his knowledge and experiences from the recent Fargo tour regarding lighting to Silk’s new incarnation. Check it out at Cycling Experiences!

I’m curious if anyone has used the Garmin Oregon 400T on their cycle as a replacement for a bike computer. I purchased the Oregon 400T last year but haven’t really gotten much use out of it. I realized that some of its accessories are a heart monitor and cadence sensor. The travel screen seems to show all of the other essential data that I would want PLUS it gives me topographic and mapping utility. It almost seems to be a larger version of the Garmin Edge 705. I would have to invest about $150.00 in order to use mine on my Fuji. That is substantially cheaper than purchasing the Edge 705 but, at the same time, would be a large investment for something not to work. I tried my old model Oregon Scientific heart monitor but it wouldn’t pair with the Oregon 400T. If anyone out there has tried this particular setup, I’d sure appreciate some feedback!

Finally, if you still need a fix for Tour De France topics, you might just consider pre-ordering what sounds like an interesting DVD box set of movies. The set entitled “Heart of the Peloton” features 3 DVD’s covering in-depth and behind the scene stories of professional cyclists. I’ve already sent a short email to the Navigator suggesting that this might be a very nice gift for SOMEONE close to her. I hope I haven’t slipped down the list of people “close to her…”

Until later,

- Zeke

DOWNTIME LEADS TO MIND IMPROVEMENT – MAYBE!

It is certainly no secret that the eastern part of the country has been hammered with winter storm after winter storm this year. For those of us who are single bike owners and that one bike is a skinny tire attired frame, it has meant too many hours inside. I’m currently enjoying that first cup of morning coffee as I await the next round of moisture to enter the area and drop some additional snow. We aren’t predicted to get snow starting before late afternoon but you can tell that Mother Nature is setting the table this morning.

(Flat, heavy clouds are rolling in from the southwest – upper right of image) 

With an apparent break in snowy freezing weather finding us on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend, my ambivalence about mounting my new rear tire was resolved. Rather than keep the old tire mounted for trainer purposes, I went ahead and mounted my Continental Grand Prix 4 Seasons rear tire last night. I’m ready to roll on the roads now when the opportunity arises. I went by my LBS the other day to look into purchasing an additional wheel, cassette, and tire for trainer specific use. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to connect with anyone so that little detail will remain to be checked off my list of “to do” things.

I have spent the down time trying to improve my Cycling IQ. In addition to my normal daily readings of my favorite blogs, I’ve finished off all of the current cycling related magazines at by favorite local bookstore, Blue Ridge Books.

(A small grouping of recent reading materials)

Note that, in the center, is the 2005 edition of Bicycling Magazine’s Bicycle Maintenance & Repair, which I received earlier this week. Normally, I don’t respond to telemarketers when they call hawking products but the Rodale rep was just so darn pleasant on the phone I agreed to 3 easy payments and a free 30 day look at the book. Yes, I know the 30 days will come and go and another book will find its way onto my already crowded bookshelves. My “best half” will tell you that I am a book “pack rat” and have difficulty parting with them.

My initial reading of this book though leads me to believe that it will see some significant use as a resource and reference guide. In addition to expanding my general fund of knowledge in the world of maintenance and repair, it has already proved interesting and useful in filling in gaps in my personal cycling database. The book was published in 2005 so is already 5 years old. Still, the information is new and relevant for me so I think it is a Zeke’s Keeper. The book can be purchased in either paperback or hardcover on Amazon. If you are interested in purchasing, please let me suggest that you go to Kent’s Bike Blog, click on the Amazon link, and purchase from there. Kent will use the proceeds from sales originating on his site to fund his fixed gear assault on the the Great Divide Race later this year. Heck, if you buy anything on Amazon, go through Kent’s site and help out a dedicated cyclist and very interesting writer.

If you haven’t done so recently, click on over to Cycling Experiences and check out Jim’s ongoing development for the 2010 Tour of Discovery: Ride for the Republic. Jim’s trailer development is well underway and coming together nicely. If you’ve ever wanted to meld technology and cycling, this is the place to go.

I’ve also used my downtime to try and improve the functionality of this blog. Thanks to Jim Artis for his support and suggestions. To get started, I’m adding a Table of Contents called “My Stories” to make finding past posts easier and to make seeing posts in related categories a single click away. I’m also working on some other concepts but they are quite ready as yet.

Until later,

Zeke