Bicycles!

[altoid]

Hooray, I rode again!

I very intentionally wanted to ride at rather low heart rate, so I set myself a goal: 10 miles at no higher than 140 bpm. The ride was 10.7 miles at max HR was 139, so go go gadget me. It was quite difficult to ride slowly enough for that, but I think it was worthwhile to force myself not to exceed Zone 2, as I usually end up riding mostly in Zone 3 and some Zone 2, and that’s probably not ideal for my base miles. With increased fitness, speed will come, even at low HR. Next time I’ll probably reward myself with some free range riding, haha. Strava link here.

 

[CraigB]

I accidently (really, finger slipped while looking at the discount) a Breezer Thunder. Features 29x2.5 tires, 12 speed Shimano Deore drivetrain and a chrome-moly frame. I added Crank Bros Stamp pedals and swapped the grips for Race Face Half Nelson, both in orange.

Went to ride the local singletrack only to find no one is maintaining it anymore and the woods are full of homeless, so I instead explored an area that is supposed to be the mountain bike park the city is building. It's extremely flat, so I hope it's all least entertaining.

 

[Eye-Q]

Yo dawg, I heard you like bikes so I put a bike box on your bike - good thing the steerer tube hasn't been shortened yet so I was able to put the handlebars higher, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to ride like that...

 

[altoid]

At some point I put the Route Werks handlebar bag on my wishlist, mostly as a reminder to reconsider it later, but then my wife used the wishlist for, you know, its actual purpose, and bought me one.

Pictured with a Town Mouse Bikes headlight and my trusty(-ish) Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT.

Haven’t gone on a ride with it yet, but excited to. It’s more bag than I need most of the time, but kind of a nice luxury item nonetheless.

 

[Eye-Q]

New bike day - again?!? Canyon Grizl CF SL 7 eTap

 

[eizbaer]

Huh, look at that, I'm running those same tires (albeit in 42mm) and am actually quite astonished by what they're capable of. also I don't hate the tan sidewalls on a blue bike (in stark contrast to the tan GP5000s on the red aeroad - that annoys me every time).

 

[altoid]

Speaking of tires, I think I’ve basically decided to try Schwalbe G-One RS in 700x40 next. I initially thought about 45s for dat phat contact patch, but I don’t actually ride wild terrain all the time. In fact, I still ride over 90% road, so maybe even 35s would be good? 40 seems like a good compromise without really having a plan. But I’ll let my stock Bontrager GR-1 Team Issue set wear out a bit more at least. That, and I kinda want to switch to Fillmore valves and Silca foam sealant, and it’d be nice to do all that at once. Oh, and tan walls for me, which I think will look good on the gray frame.

In other news, I put the Route Werks bag and Town Mouse light to the test on a little ride to the bookstore.

The bag kicks butt—I’m a huge fan of it for errands. So nice to just throw my crap in there: phone, wallet, car key, AirPods case, and Garmin InReach Mini satellite tracker, and it’s all accessible while riding, too! Definitely a huge upgrade in convenience over the LeadOut Mini Handlebar Bag, which I enjoyed tonight. We’ll see how I feel about it on exercise rides, as it’s bigger and heavier.

The light seemed quite dim, but I never charged it. It’s charging now and then we’ll see how it does. (I had the trusty Cygolite Hotrod set to flash the whole time, so I felt reasonably good about being visible.)

At some point I realized I didn’t properly tighten the bag’s handlebar extension, so it came loose and the light started pointing down. Since I somehow managed to bring zero tools, I couldn’t tighten like a normal person, but the bag’s external cords helped salvage the situation.

And now for some media as a reprieve from that wall of text!

See, the bag is super nifty:

The well lit part of the bike path:

My MacGuyver’d light attachment solution:

The ride is obviously on Strava:

 

[Adunaphel]

Has massive bag that can fit so many tools *slaps roof*. Forgets to pack any. Yeah, tracks.

 

[eizbaer]

My MacGuyver’d light attachment solution

That honestly looks like it would blind the bejeesus out of everyone coming towards you… better than no lights at all though, and since it was a bodge…

That, and I kinda want to switch to Fillmore valves and Silca foam sealant

Huh, any particular reason as to why? I’m running the cheapest valve stems I could find that’d fit my wheels (so 80mm long) - I think lezyne on my gravel? They come with a very nice cap that doubles as a valve tool. Also Stan’s sealant - which is also cheap and a bunch of people seem to like. Both have given me exactly zero issues or trouble despite me setting it all up myself for the first time. so as far as I’m aware they just do their job… I don’t even have any idea what could be better with other brands

Also: screw bags lol I don’t even have a saddle roll or anything. Just a mini tool and mini pump in the jersey pocket (along with phone and keys and, if needed, food). And no I don’t notice it’s back there.

 

[altoid]

Has massive bag that can fit so many tools *slaps roof*. Forgets to pack any. Yeah, tracks.

The ironing and dumbassery involved in this did not escape me.

That honestly looks like it would blind the bejeesus out of everyone coming towards you… better than no lights at all though, and since it was a bodge…

It honestly wasn’t bright enough for me to feel like it was an issue for anyone. I’ll test-blind myself with a freshly charged battery before doing that again, so I at least know what I’m doing to others. Especially since I do have front and rear flashers.

Huh, any particular reason as to why?

I like what the Fillmore valves promise: no more clogged valve stem cores and better airflow for seating tubeless tires. And the Bontrager sealant I currently have doesn’t have the best reputation, while the Silca foam stuff seems wildly good at what it does according to tests I found on YouTube. And it’s been in there since I bought the bike ten months ago, so it’s due for change anyway.

Also: screw bags lol I don’t even have a saddle roll or anything.

I like bags when they’re attached to the bike and not me. You also have an entire cargo bike, though.

 

[eizbaer]

You also have an entire cargo bike, though.

Fair point, haha

 

[Redliner]

New bike day - again?!? Canyon Grizl CF SL 7 eTap





View attachment 3571160

"Hamburg ist braun we..."

 

[Eye-Q]

The whole sentence is "Hamburg ist braun weiß" (Hamburg is brown white). That's referring to the Football (yes, Football where you primarily use your feet to advance the ball, not the handegg throwing and carrying) club FC St. Pauli.

 

[Redliner]

I thought it said that, but it made no sense to me.
Danke!

 

[altoid]

This was a fun one, really endeared Tadej to me:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxjM8k639yQ

 

[eizbaer]

This was a fun one, really endeared Tadej to me:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxjM8k639yQ

As much as I’d like to hate on the guy, he honestly just seems like a super fun guy to be around. So many shenanigans behind the scenes (also ones where I’ve joked with friends at times that “another UAE health and safety officer just quit”). In comparison vingogo feels a bit like a robot…

 

[altoid]

In fresh new cycling adventures, I went back to the same bookstore, again to get a gift card for someone. The return route from the first trip was perfect, so I took it both ways, and it was great. Though I did forget to air up my tires, so I had to abort just a few hundred feet in, and restart after a quick stop by my parked car, since I’ve for some reason decided to keep my floor pump in the trunk permanently, I guess.

I couldn’t really figure out a good place on the frame to mount the U-lock bracket, so I improvised by inserting the lock through the saddle rails and then strapping it to the seat stay bridge with light tension:

Voile straps (aka ski straps, I think) are pretty awesome:

The RouteWerks bag continues to kick butt, both as a great place to stash stuff during the ride, and also as a place to keep the flashers so they don’t get stolen off the locked bike:

Since I brought the lock, I got to make this a café ride even solo:

And the ride is obviously on Strava, as Books, Bikes, and Brews:

Happy riding!

 

[CraigB]

I still really like that solution for the U lock. So much so, I've ordered a few straps for myself.

 

[altoid]

Went for a lovely ride solely to get some exercise and had to change my route because of a flooded…beach?

When I got back, my wife noticed a faint whistling sound coming from the bike, and it turned out to be a front puncture I must’ve gotten near the end. The sealant is all dried up because I was being lazy, so I should probably clean the inside of both tires and pour in some fresh sealant. Though I’ll probably first try just topping it up via the valve, if I’m being honest. (The Schwalbe G-One RS + Fillmore valves + Silca foam sealant project awaits the end of funemployment.)

 

[Eye-Q]

I just realized I already swapped or added an unhealthy amount of parts on my two new bikes in the last three weeks...

On the cargo bike:

• Swapped SRAM Rival crankset for one including powermeter (my local bikeshop had an offer I wasn't able to refuse)
• Swapped SRAM Rival chain for a Force chain I hotwaxed earlier
• Swapped seatpost for a Canyon VCLS 2.0 seapost I had on my old cargo bike
• Added two Fidlock bike base, a Lezyne Micro Floor pump, a generic mount for the Hammerhead Karoo 2 headunit and a Lizard Skins saddle bag I had on my old cargo bike as well

On the gravel bike:

• Swapped SRAM Rival crankset for one including powermeter (see above)
• Swapped saddle for an SQlab 612 Ergowave Active I had on my old gravel bike
• Swapped handlebar for a Ritchey Comp VentureMax I had on my old cargo bike (that one will be reverted to a straight handlebar for sale, I kept all the stuff for reverting it)
• Added a small bell, a Deuter bike bag bottle (the bottleholder is perfect for the bag I carry all the Diabetes accessories in), a saddle mount for the Garmin Varia rear light/radar, a rear view mirror on the dropbar and a Topeak UTF Multi-Mount for the headunit and the Cateye GVolt 70.1 light