Out for a ride

So I tuned up the Raptobike and took her out on a couple of rides. I did about 15 miles on Friday and 18 on Saturday. Of all of my bikes I am most adjusted to the raptobike and so it was a breeze. No discomfort or real stress even though I haven't been riding at all. I am very pleased and am looking forward to the riding season this year.

Cruzbike Silvio

So I am making some changes in my life and want to get back in shape. This means getting a bike I will ride. I won't ride a diamond-frame or any non-recumbent. I gave it a whirl and it is just too hard on my body. The Raptobike aka White Rabbit is a great bike but it has some failings of my own design. I switched to disk brakes and a drum brake rear making it too hard to change any tire. It still has a 20" front wheel which has been difficult during road construction or any obstruction of my cycling route. I am also more fearful since a few people have been killed on my commute route. It also won't fit in any of the cars we own at the Watson house and I like having that backup if something goes wrong on a ride.

The Mango is difficult to work on and repair. I love the bike but unless I learn to be a better bike mechanic I will be selling it to buy a Cruzbike Silvio V30 or possibly a Vendetta V20 (both are approximate seat angles by the way, not versions). The bent online community is conspiring to have me choose the Vendetta and I do prefer a stiff frame but I get ahead of myself. The two Cruzbike models mentioned are both high end bikes that perform well in the road riding world. They have both been involved in record setting mostly by Maria Parker, who is an amazing athlete. They are Front-Wheel Drive Moving Bottom Bracket bikes, aka FWD-MBB. This means that the pedals up front turn with the front end. It apparently takes some getting used to though it has advantages in climbing. Various types of theorists may fight over that claim but anecdotal evidence supports the climbing benefits. I don't think I will have too much of a learning curve and if I just ride the darn thing then I will adjust. The level of comfort I have even now on the Raptobike is very high and I have had some interesting spills on it.

Given that the Vendetta has a lower seat height and other advantages, if I can get it into a Ford Focus Hatchback than I will likely make that my choice. At this point in time. I could change my mind. I also hope to buy a few new accessories with the mango money, lights, camera, gps, bike bags and a hard-shelled bike box for air transit. But that is more long term. At the moment I am cleaning up my bikes, doing the basic maintenance and riding. Lets see how it goes...

Tired but some thoughts on bikes

I am tired today, I have been slammed at work and kept chained to my desk by trying to support remote people via IM. My Mango is currently down while I deal with repairs and so I have been thinking about secondary bikes and fair weather bikes.

When I hurt my Mango (still a painful thought) I cleaned up and got both my Corsa and Raptobike road worthy again. The Raptobike process was basically filling the tires and adjusting the seat pad. The Corsa had been loaned to Doncl for testing and so I had to adjust the seat, change both tires and tubes. Then I had to get lights, seat bag, and all the accoutrements necessary for riding (water, snacks, keys, tools, pump) all set up.

The raptobike is still my favorite bike ever. It is just an amazing machine and now that I have the mango I am considering modifying my setup to be less commuter/tourer and more light and fast. I was thinking of changing the gearing from Rohloff to 65t big ring, and 9 speed cassette with 11-28. That is 42-108 gear inches, a bit high end but doable for a fast bike. Switch everything back to v-brakes and go as light and strong as I can with the wheels. I would put dacron wheel covers (home made) on the rear wheel too. I would strip off all accessories except the fastback bags. I would leave my tail lights on too (two on rear fork, one on headrest). I could remove the lights for racing. I could use this for sunny organized rides and group rides in the puget sound once I get my fitness back.

I am also considering the raptobike midracer.


Big wheels, fast bike, and it is a travel bike. Wow hard to resist.

Then Arnold at Raptobike also shows us his new prototype, the Raptotrike:




It blows me away that a tiny manufacturer based in the Netherlands has such a variety of amazing products. The raptobike lowracer is awesome and a great price point. I don't even see competition for the raptobike midracer, which is pretty amazing, and then the raptotrike tilting delta, wow. And Arnold wants to do a streamliner kit for the trike too.

Very impressive and I am a very happy customer of Raptobike.

Bikes and Preferences

Since I got my Mango Sport I have found it hard to commute and ride my other bikes. I will jump on the raptobike for a quick ride and sprint around my neighborhood or to get the mail, but I ride the Mango for most any long rides. The difference is when I want to ride with Kristin or a friend. Then I get on the Raptobike as it is better to keep the same pace as others. The few times I rode with groups on the Mango I really put-putted along.

What is amazing is that for commuting, there is no substitute. The Mango Sport "The Carrot" is so suited for packing a laptop, some tea supplies, my lunch and a change of clothing. To do the same with my Raptobike or Corsa means dealing with one or two panniers. With the Mango I just pack it into my backpack or place it loose inside. I get to work, pop out, grab the satchel and go inside. No worries about water proofing as the mango takes care of that.

I can't wait until Wednesday when I get the Carrot back.

SIR Winter training ride #1 in 2010

I rode with SIR and CBC today. We did the first of the Winter Training Series, it was a great ride and I am happy with my performance given my current winter weight. It was a lot of fun and Russel came out from Seattle to ride it with me. I also ran into Bill Gobie, and made a few new friends.

I think I want to get a cue-sheet holder that I can drape around my neck. Digging in my pocket was annoying. The Garmin Edge on the other hand performed flawlessly and kept me on route even when I made mistakes. I am happy with the way it follows courses. All in all a great start to the season.

Waiting

I have been riding the Corsa lately. The White Rabbit is in the shop getting a new front wheel and new brake pads. I miss the raptobike greatly. With the rear rack on the Raptobike I have a much higher carrying capacity and can take my laptop home which I cannot do confidently with the Corsa. The internal hub and easier start off the line makes the Raptobike a much better commuter as well.

The new rim is in and Kirkland Bike Shop is doing their normal stellar job of building me a new front wheel. So soon I will be back to this:

Kitsap Color Classic

Last Sunday I rode the Kitsap Color Classic. This is an Cascade Bike Club organized ride, one of the last of the season. Aden was kind enough to give me a ride to and from the Ferry. The ride was great, if you click through the picture above you can see all the shots I took. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted because I am still using my old canon. The new canon died and I am still waiting for the replacement camera to arrive (a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3).

The ride was moderately supported and since I was with Aden I was with 6 riders besides myself who were looking out for me and vica versa. If you click through the pictures you should see the riders, Susan, Allen, Al, Amy, Lee, and Aden. We got a later start to let the day warm up. The ride was absolutely beautiful and not insanely hilly. It was about 3800 ft of climbing if you did 62 miles. My bike handled wonderfully. I rode my Raptobike as you can see in the photo above. There were some significant hills including one of more than 20% grade. I saw a number of riders walking up that one. I rode up it though I was short of air at the end of the 1/2 mile hill. I had no issues with the FWD slipping on such a steep hill, though I am sure it would have been an issue if it had been raining.

I only rode 54 miles as I discovered a crack in my front rim at mile 25. My poor rim hasn't been the same since the STP abuse in July. I have been trying to "get by" while waiting for the new rim to arrive but now my front wheel is dead. I rode it home and it is now in the garage. I am working various options to get the raptobike out of the shop as I don't want to ride my backup bikes.

SlowCoach's Raptobike in Scotland

Wow! (more pictures on SlowCoach's thread at BROL)

This is Slowcoach's raptobike in Scotland. It only recently arrived; he and I had been corresponding regarding his bike search and he went for the Raptobike after a test ride and loaner from Laid Back Cycles. It is beautiful and highly functional. I have to admit I am drooling.

My Raptobike "White Rabbit" is home again

The "White Rabbit" is home again. She has a new frame, new Terracycle idlers and a new rear rack by Tubus. The rack will allow me to use my Ortlieb panniers in the near term and will be the mount for my tailbox longer term. I need to be prepared for my new commute. BTW, the idler kit for the Raptobike is not on Terracycle's web site yet, just call their office and Pat or Robert will get it out to you. It is very nice and comes with Raptobike specific instructions. The Kirland Bike Shop put everything together for me and got my Raptobike running again.

I am still waiting on my Schwalbe Kojaks, and the new front rim from Velocity but the bike is a dream. I took it for a 20 mile test ride today and loved it. The new idlers eliminate the two issues I had with my Raptobike. I had been having trouble with the chain jumping due to my chain line not being perfectly adjusted. If I hit bumps while coasting it might jump off. That problem is gone, but was specific to my setup, not a Raptobike issue as much as a tuning issue. The other issue I had was that the stock power side idler use to grab jeans, shorts or any non-lycra clothing on my right leg. This includes hair and flesh. I had been just careful to wear 9" inseam lycra shorts. Now with the thinner toothed idler this problem is GONE.

As you can see in the picture there is now a decent distance between my thigh and the idler. I also rode around wearing regular shorts and there were no issues. This is a bigger deal and very welcome.

All in all the bike seems to be better than ever and it was a dream before. I can't wait to move into my new house and set up my workshop so I can build a coroplast tailbox.

Raptobike upgrades

With the Raptobike in the shop, I am performing a few upgrades while it is there. Terracycle idlers are now available for the Raptobike. My stock idlers were a big draggy so am upgrading to the Terracycle product. I am switching to 35-406 and 35-559 Schwalbe Kojak tires front and rear. I am also adding a rear rack to serve as support for my soon to be built tailbox and a front fender. Oh yes, I am also adding 2 B&M cyclestar mirrors.

I should have the White Rabbit back next week sometime. I await completion impatiently.

Inactivity

The Raptobike is in the shop right now. It took some big hits during the STP and so I am not riding. I have the Corsa and am commuting on it but I am not training right now. Part of this is my left ankle is still healing from a sprain, but part is that I miss my White Rabbit.

My brain has been occupying itself with designing new bikes and tailboxes in my head. I have a decent mental plan of a tailbox for the White Rabbit. My current plan is to join the various coroplast parts using a hot glue gun and a technique that Garrie Hill published for joining coroplast. There should be 5 major components of the tailbox. The part that goes against the seat back, the left side, the right side, the bottom inverted U shape part and the top cover. The entire structure will rest on a tubus rear rack and have 4 thumb screw attachment points to the seat. This should make the tailbox easy to remove for transport.

The bike designs are more fantastical. Flowing shapes that want to be carbon fiber or maybe aluminum monocoque. Dual 520 wheels, forward triangulated seat that is integral to the frame, triangulated rear end, front suspension, front wheel drive, etc. I think I need to buy turbocad to start putting ideas into more rigorous form. OTOH, I have convinced myself that if I can get a front fork for the raptobike with suspension, I want it.

Ah well, I wish I were riding but at least I managed to get some ideas in more concrete form than daydreams. Just couple of weeks to be without the Raptobike, so maybe I will have it in time for the new house.

STP retrospective

The STP is over and I have had time to recover and mull over my performance as well as the bikes performance. I had a bit of bad luck going in. I broke my prescription sunglasses at my house the morning of the STP. I hit 2 major potholes on a 33mph descent at around mile 15 during the STP and crashed with a front flat at mile 20 and mile 155. My rim needed to be repaired by use of pliers and sandpaper. And I received some 12 sq inches of abrasions during those falls. All of this obscured the performance of my riding and my bike.

Looking back after a week I can now see how I did without the blur of the accidents that occurred. I averaged 16.9 mph for the first 120 miles, I slowed down from Winlock onward after a near brush with heat exhaustion. I now know how important it is to douse myself in water while riding to keep cool in hot weather. This is something I have been told before but it didn't really sink in until I noticed symptoms of heat exhaustion on the way to Napavine. Clammy skin and feeling cool at the skin layer (best I can describe it). I stopped when I noticed the clammy skin and used my spare water bottle to cool down.

Due to my wheel issues from the crash I also climbed Puyallup using a gear of 34.6 inches. I didn't love it but I was able to without too much issues. This tells me that I could and should bump up my gearing on the raptobike putting my low at 25gi instead of 20gi. I will also add a water bottle cage to the raptobike on the handle bars. This will free up my jersey pocket that I dedicated to this.

I also found that Cytomax is awesome and I do very well with it as long as I have water besides. Next year I will do the STP in one day. I have a number of modifications to the raptobike that I plan on.

1. Terracycle Idlers - the current ones are not as efficient and the power side idler currently is dragging badly.
2. Water bottle cage for the handlebars.
3. A second mirror (B&M Cyclestar 901/3)
4. A rear rack probably from Tubus, maybe the airy. A good base to mount my tailbox too.
5. a homemade Coroplast Tailbox. I have a design in mind that will be aerodynamic, have a decent carrying capacity and have a latching enclosure. I will also build cargo stops inside to allow me to keep smaller loads closer to the front and near the seat.
6. 38mm Schwalbe Kojaks to replace the 28mm Schwalbe Duranos.
7. A front fender.
8. A larger front chainring (62T)
9. slightly lowered handlebars

With all of these changes the Raptobike will be an all weather bike that can handle the rough roads and carry decent cargo. It will also be more aero and have water bottle and hydration bladder options. I will have locking storage via the tailbox and the tailbox will be removable via thumb screws high and low on both the left and right sides. Cheers to winter projects!

STP 2009 - a great ride.

I have now successfully completed my first STP. DKW and I started at 5:30 or so on day one. Here we are riding away from the start line.

Coming down some of the hills I hit some potholes at 30+ mph. I could feel the new dents in my rims when I tried my front brakes. I cursed but since the wheel was still true I just rode onward. Later at mile 20 or so, I turned a bit to the left to avoid hitting a women rider in front of me and down I went. A pinch flat took me out and I skidded to a stop on my left side. A nice rider named Tom was behind me and almost went down with me but managed to miss me. He stopped and helped. We didn't know why I went down until we saw the flat front tire. An STP support vehicle was helping us before I even managed to get the front wheel off. I switched modes as Larry took over the wheel, tire, tube maintenance. DKW borrowed the first aide kit from the support team and gave me an excellent field dressing.

After Larry bent my rim into shape with a pair of pliers and I sanded down the interior rim edges to prevent any more pinch flats we were back on the road. I did have to repair a double set of classic vampire bite holes in my tube. This patch job lasted over 130 miles.

We stopped at the next rest stop to use the port-a-potties and top off our water.

I unfortunately needed to help some one day riders who wrecked with directions for their support car to pick them up. They were through for the day.

As Day one progressed DKW and I both stuck mostly together and regrouped at mini-stops and/or hills. We made good time and averaged well over 16.5 mph for the first 100 miles. There was 13 miles of bike trails that were nice except for stop signs on the path yielding to driveways, which annoys me to no end. I am feeling good as we ride through here though I am keeping an eye out for potholes or bumps as I don't want to go down again.


We continued onward and left the trail about 13:30. Though it looks dark here it will soon be the hottest part of the day.


Later at the hills approaching Napavine on Rush Rd I started to feel clammy skin and I got cold instead of hot, these are signs of heat exhaustion. I stopped on the hill and dumped my spare water bottle all over my head and neck. I rested and waited for DKW to catch up. While recovering I snapped this shot of people climbing up Rush Rd.

A Gullwing rider stopped for us as well and gave us some bottled water which DKW and I both used to cool ourselves down. The temperature had spiked to the 90s here and we just weren't prepared. From this point onward I took the advice of a cyclist friend of mine (Willie) and kept dumping water on my head and neck any time I felt too dry. Another excellent example of the CBC support crew on this ride, I needed that extra water and I should have been keeping my skin wet with it well before the 110 mile mark.

DKW broke a spoke somewhere between here and Castle Rock. So we found an excellent stop at Castle Rock with a full bike repair crew setup. The repair team from Bothell Ski and Bike replaced DKW's spoke, trued his wheel and got him going again.


At this point the Broadus team caught up to us finally. They got a late start and it took them a hundred and twenty miles to catch up. One of the other riders took a picture of us all together at Castle Rock


At this point the Broadus team took off and DKW and I chugged along the final 35 miles for the day. I tried to keep up with the Broadus's for a bit but it was a fools game and I dropped back. I ended up following a pair of one day riders all the way to the bridge into Oregon. This was a bit too far and luckily DKW called me. I biked back to DKW and we went to the drop point to pick up our bags. I managed to hit another pothole at this point right in front of the drop point. I went down with the second bent rim and pinch flat of the day. I was not a happy camper but we walked to the drop point and then to our hotel. After dinner I bought a pair of pliers and DKW helped me get my rim back in shape. Even after all this abuse the wheel is still true. Only the rim bent which is amazing. I know the wheel is through though and after the STP I will need to get a new wheel built with my Rohloff hub in it. All of the accidents are due to reduced sightlines, I was following people too closely at mile 20 and at mile 155 I was just tired and my glasses were covered in sunscreen. I could barely see shapes let alone shadows.

Sunday morning we get on our bikes, ride back to the drop point with our bags and I start my computer again. Here we are riding off in the sun, happy to ride our final 55 miles to Portland.



Day 2 is nice but almost all of the riding is on RT 30 which is not the nicest experience. I am taking care not to hit any more bumps as there is no way my front rim will survive any more surgery. After 50 miles we finish the STP in Lloyd Center.



It was a great ride and I really had a blast.

STP - start

I am just about to head out for the STP. Life has been very hectic with planning for the STP and trying to buy a house. Everything is packed, the dogs have been walked and fed, I have been fed and showered. So I will soon be heading out to pick up DKW and off we go.

I will be riding the Raptobike. Everything is ready, time to go!

Raptobike Pr0n

Front view commuting setup, originally uploaded by Watson House.

Here is a nice picture of my Raptobike Lowracer as set up for commuting/touring. I have 1400 miles on those tires with no flats. I would be happy to tour on them. I love my bike, a great choice.

Training for the STP on my Raptobike

I am riding my Raptobike every day and have been since the beginning of May. At this point the Raptobike has over 1300miles (~ 2100km) on it. It is a wonderful bike and rock steady at speed. The bike has been very reliable and has had no flats or issues. I can ride no handed at speeds >20mph without trouble, lower speeds require some finesse.

The training for the STP is going well. I put in 200 miles the week of the STP and have been riding 26 miles per commute day. Weekends I ride farther if I can fit it in or just ride 28 miles or so. This coming weekend I will be riding with SIR on the 100k populaire in West Seattle.

I am very excited, everything is coming together and my fitness and performance is just getting better and better. I will soon have to take a week off just before the STP but right now I feel strong. My climbing on the bike is a large area of improvement lately and if I can get that to match speeds of uprights (DFs) then I am going to be consistently faster then uprights. Because on the flats or downhill I can really put out pain for any upright trying to keep up. Downhill particularly is where I pass pacelines and TT riders. On the flats I just play hound to pacelines rabbit.

All in all it is a lot of fun.

Solstice Day activities

Today Kristin and I are running lots of errands so I won't be riding until later in the day. I think I will do the Lake Washington Loop even though the Summer Solstice Parade will be going on in Fremont. If it slows me down, too bad, it should provide some scenery.

I love my Raptobike

Lately I have been observing some of the normal maintenance and break in issues of a bike from the outside. DKW has been going through the learning process of riding. Moving from flat bars to drop handlebars, switching to brifters from twist shift, broken spokes, bottom bracket woes, bent crank arm, derailleur adjustment issues, brake changes, etc. None of this is really abnormal, if you start with a low end hybrid and put a few thousand miles on it with a strong rider, you get a certain amount of growing pains.

But I was able to avoid that by building up my Raptobike from a frame kit with a pro-shop like Kirkland Bike Shop doing the work.


By picking the hubs, getting wheels built with good rims and basically using mostly top end components, I have had no issues with my Raptobike. All my little adjustments and learning issues have been very small and KBS has just taken care of it. They are wizards with figuring out stuff. Every time I go in, Matt adjusts a bit here and there.

But all in all my bike in April


is essentially the same as my bike now.


I have updated some of the accessories, lights, bags, etc. But the drivetrain is the way I specified it at build time and it has held up for over 1300 miles without a problem. I have yet to have a flat with the bombproof Schwalbe Duranos. And I ride in crappy weather over broken glass and Seattle area roads.


I rode over a pothole 1/2 mile from the picture above so hard that I dented my front rim. I didn't pinch flat. Matt at Kirkland Bike Shop bent the rim back and I can barely find the spot where it happened. The wheel rides very well.

In summation, I want to say that picking a good bike, getting quality components and having an excellent shop like Kirkland Bike Shop really makes a difference. My enjoyment level of this bike has been sky high and there have been no points where I questioned my decision. The Raptobike is wonderful and I am happy as a clam.

Flying Wheels

I rode the Flying Wheels ride organized by Cascade Cycle club today. It was a beautiful day and I loved it. Here is a quote from my Flickr photo set for the ride.

Flying Wheels summer century ride organized by Cascades Cycle club. A nice 99 mile route. I averaged 15.4 mph and finished in 6h:25m. Elapsed time was 7h:35m, so I was off the bike for an 1h:10m. The ride was wonderful and very scenic. Cascade did an amazing job. My mileage was a bit higher than most as I followed some non-affiliated riders off the course.

The scenery was wonderful and the ride was hillier than I expected. Having 3000 other people riding with you does push the pace a bit though. I was faster than I have ever been on a long ride. And 4500ft of climbing is nothing to sneeze at. Here is the Garmin data from the ride. The first lap is the ride to the start and I really didn't push on it at all. The second lap is the ride itself.

We did it, the Lake Washington Ride in 3h:54m elapsed time.

DKW and I did it. We did our 50 mile ride in 3h:54m with an average speed of 14.3mph and time on bike of 3h:25m. That means were were 29 minutes off the bike which is 9 minutes more than I wanted but given the extra stop at Leschi Starbucks, perfect. If we can manage this on the STP we should get to Longview in 11h:25m elapsed time assuming a 15mph average for the less hilly route. If we average 14.3 mph we will be done in 12h which is perfectly respectable. This is assuming 150 miles to Longview which is an estimate. Day 2 is short and we should be done early.

I spent a reasonable amount of time in heart rate zone 2. Pushing that to zone 3 will increase my average speed a chunk, though I was very strong at the finish today. The timing really worked for me.