A Clyde On A Bike

After just installing my fenders and panniers to go along with everything else I have been commuting with, I think I am either committed to commuting or I should just be committed. lol

The bike sure has changed since I started riding it just for exercise a year ago.

I was able to commute to work 4 out of 5 days this week. Weather was pretty bad early in the week so I took the train half way one day. All in all, I am very happy with my progress. I am working up to 5 day a week, mostly all weather commuting.

In support of that, I got my small, waterproof panniers and fenders in the mail today and will have them on the bike this weekend. That should eliminate the need for me to drive once a week to replenish supplies at work. And, it should also allow me to more easily ride in rainy weather.

Pictures to follow after I get everything mounted.

I think I may like my idea of a road bike better than I like my reality of a road bike.

I just went for a short ride on my Schwinn that I fixed up last year.

It is only the second time I have ridden it. I definitely need a set of knee savers for it and that probably didn’t help things right off the bat. But I was having problems with just about everything.

I am not sure I can get comfortable with down tube shifters. I am all over the place when I need to shift. And I am not comfortable breaking from the hoods or riding in the drops. And, the bars feel very cramped (narrow) especially on the top. And, oddly, even though the bike is actually a little big for me, I feel cramped on it.

And, I felt the whole way like if I was in the road instead of on the bike path, I would dump if even the slightest challenging situation arose. Need to downshift fast…not gonna happen. Need to brake fast…not gonna happen. Need to steer fast…oh that’s gonna happen! But I will probably flip the thing in the process.

Maybe I need to give it some time (absolutely on the bike path). Or maybe I need to lose some weight first. Or maybe the setup or geometry of the bike is just not right for me. Or maybe I just need a flat bar road bike if I want to go that way. Or maybe I am just an old fart who needs to stick with a slower MTB.

I do enjoy the little boost in speed and easier rolling effort which were both quite noticeable. But, man I am uncomfortable and unstable on it!

I was able to ride in 3 times this week. Only 1 day less than the average I would like to maintain. I even said screw it and rode in with a light drizzle of rain on Monday.

Had to let the bike and clothes dry out a little afterwords but it wasn’t that bad and I have confidence that I can ride in a light rain now.

Thunderstorms will still drive me to the car or train but light rain cannot conquer me any more. I think fenders are my next purchase.

I have been trying to commute in whenever possible. The weather and job related stuff has made it limited the last couple of weeks. Today was a beautiful day and I was able to ride it.  I did the normal 10.5 mile ride in the morning. In the afternoon, I went and played Walleyball for an hour and a half and then biked the 10.5 miles home. My legs are nicely toasted from the exertion. lol

Also, I went over 1000 miles on the bike about a week ago.  If the weather cooperates and work does too, I should start piling on the miles with the commuting 4 days a week and then a weekend ride. Hopefully.

Have had a few rides since the last post but work and a 3 day camping trip limited my miles. I have also been working on re-doing a 1982 Schwinn Super Le Tour that hadn’t been ridden in a long time. It was given to me 6 years ago as a bike that hadn’t been ridden in a long time. I didn’t ride it either. lol

I decided a week or two ago to get it down and look into what kind of shape it was in.

In general, it was dirty, grungy, had hardened grease, loose components, chipped paint and other things common to a neglected bike. No rust or major damaged components, however. So, after checking a few things online, I decided to take it down to the frame, grease it, lube it and adjust it and see what came of it.

After getting it down to the frame, I decided to paint it. Didn’t turn out bad. Obviously, it will not hold up as good as a factory job but it is ok. I went with all black.

In the end, I replaced tires and tubes, ball bearing in the front wheel, the cables, brake pads and new handle bar tape. Everything else was just cleaning and re-greasing, lubing, etc. Also put a couple of bottles on it and a cyclocomputer. All told, it was probably 50 or 60 bucks for everything.

And now I have a road type bike to play around with! And decide if I want to get a better one down the line.

Took it out for a 5 mile spin tonight and it operated fine. It was quite different than the MTB but an interesting change of pace. Maybe I will alternate my rides as a change of pace.

Went to the MC trails today. Had an idea of trying to get to the Confluence trail but got to the road that connects to it and decided not to today. So, I went down the Nature Trail to see if it was open and it was. This greatly opens up more riding loops for me!

Also had the new tires on the bike for the first time. They are Specialized Nimbus Armadillos and I quite like them. They are fairly slick and thin and it was a very quiet and comfortable ride with them. A little faster too overall.

It was a cloudy day so not many photos.

But I had a good ride of 31 miles and have now become comfortable enough with the trails that I shouldn’t get lost.

I went back up to the MC Trails today. I almost canceled my ride because it was so foggy and it was supposed to rain. But, I get so few opportunities to ride that I didn’t want to wimp out and miss one. So, I loaded up and hoped for the best.

The fog started to break as I got to the trails. Humid as heck, though, and my bike was wet just from the trip to the trails. I started riding with the intention of doing a loop from the Schoolhouse to the Goshen to the Nickel Plate to the Nature and back up the Schoolhouse.

Believe it or not, I was able to find my way around the whole loop without getting lost. There were a couple of times that I thought I might be lost but it ended up that I wasn’t. lol

The more I learn these trails, the better these rides are going to be as I will be able to vary them a lot. The construction on the Nature trail should be done this weekend so that will open up a lot of possible loops for me.

Didn’t take the camera this time as it was possibly going to rain (it ended upo not raining at all until the afternoon when I was safely at home.

I ended up doing 27.6 miles.

I decided to hit the MC Trails again today. I went up the Schoolhouse and Goshen trails and picked up the Nickel Plate trail going North and follow it to the end.

It turned into crushed limestone for about 5 or 6 miles (10 to 12 round trip). and that was the longest I had ridden on limestone. Didn’t do too bad. It slows me down a bit and wears me out a bit more but was fun as there were no people on the trail. Just some sheep.

At the end of the trail, there were a couple of dilapidated buildings that I have an affinity for.

Also encountered a deer on the way back. I don’t know what it is about the deer on these trails. They seem to want to wait for me to stop, get out my camera and take their photo before they will leave. lol

All in all a good day. Weather held up and I ended at 30.3 miles with a 12mph average.

I still have not ridden every inch of these trails. It may take me a while. I still have 2 pretty long legs to do and then the part that has been closed for construction.

I got out for the first time this week. It is so hard to find time to ride during the week during this time when my youngest son has baseball.

But, I got out for a nice 9 mile ride up to SWIC and back. I didn’t even take the camera as I knew I was just going to do an up and back.

It was a nice ride and I just feel so good after doing any ride.