Giving Thanks

This week I'm especially thankful for passing 500 miles for the month, only the 3rd time that's happened in the 5 years I've been commuting. And... I rode all three bikes this week, the bilenky to work a couple days, then the kona for rainy days, and today I took the Klein out because it was cool (50ish this am)... and a little breeze so I kept it rolling and stayed warm. Sadly I have felt guilty about not riding the Klein enough as most of my rides are utilitarian so I am going to sell it next year.

Hope to get the fenders on the Kona this weekend and ride it to work that way, it's going to be my every day bike and the Bilenky will get cleaned up and painted next year and become my pretty weekend ride.

I'd like to get another tour in this year that was so much fun but I have to get the house painted first... so I'll be doing some scraping and priming tomorrow and Sunday, and hope to finish the job the first couple days of Xmas break then get a 3 night ride in by next year! Where will I go? The only direction I haven't yet gone is southeast so I think I'll try to get down to Sebastian Inlet or Kissimmee Prairie State parks and back in a 4 day. We'll see how the wind blows and the painting goes!

09 Tour with the Kona

Well I found out the Kona Sutra is an awesome bike for touring, on, or off road. It was pretty windy all 4 days. I got dropped off at Riverview south of Tampa and had only 20 miles to Little Manatee River state park the first night. It was real windy, and Rt 301 was under construction most of the way, single lane, little or narrow shoulder part of the way, with rumble strips on the outside of the white line about 10-12 inches, leaving about 10-12 inches to keep the bike in, with the wind... amazingly I was able to keep in that narrow groove and guide the bike within inches.

Following a refreshing campout at the park, it was 63 miles into a fierce headwind all day Friday. I didn't think I'd get in by dark, but made it about 15 minutes before... lots of shifting mostly about 8-10 mph, it was all open prairie and at times little ring, little gears doing 5-6... Highlands Hammock was an awesome park with the Cypress Swamp and old Hammocks, though the camping was chock-a-block it was quiet and I got a campsite under pine trees lots of needles for a soft bed.

Saturday it was more of a crosswind though a good portion was into the headwind again, 60 miles. Then 3 into the park and 3+ to find the primitive campsite, they call it a bike trail but it was more a horse trail, rough in spots with sugar sand and grassy bumpy others. It got dark on me never did find the primitive campsite the bike was excellent on the rough trail never missed a shift and all the racks and gear was solid. A great quiet cool sleep in the wilderness and up early to get home.

Coming home Sunday was supposed to be 53 miles but the google map should always be double checked, go east 5 miles... well... .5 miles out of the park the road dead ended into a wide creek/canal, the boatmen told me there was not road on the other side, had to go west and since my phone battery was dead navigation was poor at best. 77 miles later I was in Kissimmee when darkness fell, didn't really have the lights to come up John Young so took a bus to downtown and then home, 82 total.

The bike and panniers were great, no problems, though for the 230 total it took a couple days to recover since the work into the wind was so hard. see the pics

A couple things I learned this trip. Always double check your maps and take a printed map with you. This isn't the first time I've had dead phone or no service counting on the pda for navigation. Pack for warmer than you expect, the all day of work in the saddle leaves you good and warm for hours I never cracked out the sleeves or pants or caps it was short and short the whole time. Pack your food and water for the day and trip as if you will not see any stores along the way, Friday on hiway 62 I saw 4 convenience stores and nothing else for 40 miles. Count on picking up fresh fruits and vegetables from roadside vendors along the way... the fresh tomatoes, zuchini, apples, and potatoes were some of the highlights of the tour, cliff and power bars and trail mix get tiring after a while. Do have that cup of tea at the end of the day and enjoy the rest. Go light on the tarp or rain gear I had a heavy plastic groundcloth I put under everything it will be much thinner next time.

Getting ready to roll!

The Kona is ready and the 09 mini-tour is about to roll! The panniers are about packed to take off one of these weekends. Planning a car or train ride to Tampa and from there to 3 State Parks, a night each w 50-70 miles between, before returning home the 4th day pm. I'm altering the packlist from www.liketoobike.com since it's 3 nights and the weather has turned cool at night. To save space, I pack each days outfit in a newspaper sleeve... socks, shorts, jersey, headband, rolls up real small and makes it quick to find stuff. The Crosso Panniers come with a mini-bag on the outside so I'm reorganizing some quick grab things like clif bars, bandanas, poncho, etc for easy retrieval. Primitive camping is available at all 3 places $5 a night. I was worried about spending $22 a night to shower and pitch a tent but not to worry they are reserved except one place, they have "wilderness camping" just show up. Need a good cracker western or adventure story to read in the woods but still have a week or two to find a couple. Really looking forward to this years adventure on the sturdy Kona Sutra.

October Doldrums

I'm getting bad about updating, super busy lately, now tired from that and a little down about not getting the Kona set up yet... ordered Crosso panniers from Poland, they are great, got stainless fenders, cool. The 35cm Schwalbe marathon tires are too beefy, sent them back for 32's. Avid disc brake pads never showed from Jensen, cancelled after 3 weeks and ordered from another site. Measured the bilenky seat to bars and stem height and ordered an 80mm adjustable stem, figured that would work, but it is still too far to reach, returned to GottaRideBikes in exchange for a 120, but they sent a 120 straight, which makes it even further of a reach, so that's back in the mail w a note for a 120 adjustable. The Tubus Logo rack looks great, so... maybe next week the tires will come, then I'll take the wheels off and put in the brake pads, tires, new rack, fenders, and stem, strap on the panniers, and be ready to shake it down commuting to work for a while. Our weather is supposed to cool this weekend, it's 74 to 92 or for the next 3 days, but I'm starting to look at routes and when can I get a 4 day camping trip in... Thanksgiving weekend is the best time, but campgrounds are full and I'm having heartburn about $22 a night to pitch a tent in state parks... need something primitive but then there's safety, anyway, more to come once the bike is setup.

On the upside, I'm loving the Bilenky ride every day, around 19 mins in and 23 out in the heat, no extra mileage I'm resting evenings as much as possible to recover from the long days last week w IFMA World Workplace convention in town and catching up w work as much as possible. I could take the Bilenky loaded but the last 3 years I've said this is the last one... already looking at routes on Google aerials I'm finding off the path gravel and dirt roads to short cut and keep out of traffic, perfect to test out the Kona with a load.

I'll post some pics when all the gear is on... Would really like to get one in to see how the new bike and gear works before the traditional Christmas ride, though this year, with Gracie and Julie in India for Christmas, I'll be wise to stick around home, M tells me... maybe I can get an overnight out to the seashore at least, then get a long weekend after Gracie gets back on the 30th.

Finally the Bike Bus business is happening the 24th...going to the Vegfest and Florida Renewable Energy Expo... here's links http://www.metroplanorlando.com/site/plans/bicycle.asp, http://commuteorlando.com/bikebus

New bike update

So... I rode the Kona for about 10 days, and got on the Bilenky for a Saturday trip to the store... and I've been on it since! It's such a sweet bike, just not setup for touring and off road. I've compromised w myself, I'm going to ride the Bilenky until I get the Kona set up right... and I have tires, an adjustable stem, rear rack, and panniers all on order, oh a new set of disk brake pads too... then I'll try the Kona for a few weeks commute and a tour, and see how it goes. Cross our fingers it will work out. A little concerned about the frame size (54) my other 2 road bikes are 56 & 57... but the dude in the bike shop in Dallas told me 54-55 should work fine maybe better, we'll see. I measured distance from seat to bars, floor to stem, and crank to seat top, and there's about 1.5 inch difference, which will change w the new stem and adjusting the seatpost up a little.

Otherwise life is great riding every day the weather has started to cool morning and evening though the humidity is still high and mid-day til 6:00 or so the heat is on, one more month and we'll be seeing some cooling. I owe Commute Orlando an article that will be on my list 2 weeks out, after the IFMA convention next week here in Orlando. I'll post again after I get the new rack, stem, and panniers on the Kona w a pic of that setup, and the bilenky which is now stripped down and I'm carrying a messenger bag on the commute.

Oh the bike-bus to veg-fest next month (Oct 25) looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, hope I can recruit a few people to ride along with me and eat veg for a change!

Got a new bike, a new community bike resource

So I got the Kona Sutra off ebay and it is a sweet little thing. At first it felt slow and heavy, but the front disk brake was dragging so I don't know how to adjust it but turned the dial all the way one way and it is totally disengaged, now it rides fine. A little slower than the Bilenky and the frame geometry is smaller but I'm getting used to it. Hopefully will get an overnight trip in the next couple months as it starts to cool here.

The http://rustedchainbikecollective.blogspot.com/ is happening at Public Storage #626 Colonial at McGuire Thursday 5-9, Sun 3-7... we saw the group meeting at Ethos tonight (Mon) they meet there... we just happened to be going to dinner and saw them all.

Finally getting back to bike shape, although with some extra hours this week at work I didn't feel much like riding this weekend, we had a great long day at the beach Sunday and I got sunburned so no riding at all yesterday or today!

At work people riding bikes is I think at an all time high percentage wise and that is so cool... we are still in the hot season when it cools we should get a group ride or two together, I definitely want to plan an overnight to Hontoon Island and have the cabins staked out... if no one shows up then we won't do it again, but if people do we'll do it again next year.

I really enjoyed showing pics of my india trip to everyone that showed up to thursday lunch at work, I had many many more pics it took a long time to go through them and pick out representive pics, there were so many more things i could have talked about... but I think everyone got a flavor for some of what india is like. I'll definitely go back for an extended time in some years when I have more time, like 6 months.

Had a great labor day weekend at back to work tomorrow.

Bicycling is all I can think of!

I'm on ebay half the weekend looking at used touring bikes, and also craigslist and the new sites looking for bargains. I'm riding extra to make up miles, took the Klein out for 35 today to Oveido back thru UCF and Blanchard trail. Almost bought a 58cm Fuji touring bike, coming with full Arkel grand touring panniers front and back, alone worth $500... but the 58 is too big I'm sure and checking the guy's web site out he's touring south america and busting spokes, who knows what else, by the end of the tour the thing may be shot anyway I don't want to start off with repairs and the panniers are heavy from all the reports. Back on the Bilenky tomorrow, looking forward to my daily to downtown and back, with a little extra. Julie is having a heck of a time, look at a past post to find her blog... it's a difficult adjustment I'm just happy she's only in Delhi at the college for 9 months not over in Africa in the peace corps for 2 years... she's really homesick and it's a strange setup. She's going to come home for Christmas break the girls are all looking forward to that(so am I, though nobody does much with me anymore). Looks like I am going to have a tour bike by Thanksgiving so planning that again... I'm seriously leaning toward 26" wheels for the durability and off road capability, the time I cut through the Ocala forest for 12 miles or so it was incredible and I'd like to go up there to Salt Springs again it's only 90 miles. Getting to bed early to start off Monday morning fresh and strong... last week of August already!