New Personal Record

I woke up to see this:


Definitely time for a ride. The main roads have been clear enough to ride on for the past few days, but over-eager drivers combined with shoulders made of 3-foot (or deeper) plow banks means that my usual rush-hour bike commute is still kind of on hold. An early morning ride a little longer than my usual commute was definitely in order. Partially to shake down Frank in real snow, testing out the new cyclometer (which read -5.2°F by the time I got back home) and partially just to say I've ridden in colder than -5. My previous cold record was about 2 and a half miles at -4.



As for snow handling, these 2.25" tires handle amazingly well, but they still don't have the floating capacity to handle the un-plowed church parking lot down the road from me. In fact, powering into the un-plowed mass grabbed my front tire with enough oomph to throw me into what had to be a comically slow-mo endo. As usual, I love playing in the snow.

June 26th - Family Friendly Bike Camping

This is just a new post, since things changed.



Mark your calendars: June 26th. This will be another caravan-style bicycle camping trip, but with a twist! The family's invited, even if they have to drive. Especially if they have to drive, although I encourage car-pooling if it can be arranged. I'll leave that up to you.

Cyclists should plan to depart from Lenexa Senior Center at 2:00 PM.
Depart from South Olathe Price Chopper at 3:30 PM.
Likely arrive to Hillsdale sometime around 5:00-5:30 PM.

We will try to snag the campsites near Crites Boat Ramp again. It's walking distance from real bathrooms and showers, and spitting distance from running water and "Brick Outhouse" style facilities.

This is not a rain-or-shine event, though. If it looks like it'll be stormy beyond gentle rain, there won't be a Plan B. It'll simply be canceled.

Basically, I'd like this event to be one your families can come along for, even if they don't ride. Accommodations could be a bit more lavish if you'd like your non-cycling relatives to bring out the propane camp stoves, the coolers of beer and hamburger patties, the bigger tents, the kids and the dog. If the family's not interested but you'd still like to ride out, you're welcome to show up solo, too!

If you want to haul some stuff on the bike and have the family haul the rest, go ahead.

If you'd rather ride your racing bike with no cargo, that's cool, too.

If you want to ride down with us, then throw your bike on the back of your team car to get home, do it!

Stay all day Sunday if you want. Go fishing with the kids, try the walking trail or hit the swimming beach. It's your choice, but I'd like a focus on family fun with bikes in the background.

The return trip may be less convoy-ish than the ride out to Hillsdale. My guess is that many of us will be riding our bikes back to town, though, if you feel better riding in a group.

P.S. a more minimalist trip is in the works for the first or second weekend in September. It will be much more focused on the self-support and S24O aspect, like the last Hillsdale trip I planned. Venue, date, and times are still kind of up-in-the-air on that one. Suggestions welcome.

Who's in? Please RSVP by emailing me (contact form at the right side of my site) or by commenting here that you'll be going.

Kicking off Memorial Weekend with a DSR

Keith goes over the basics and what to expect on the route.


Then, we're off.


We always tend to plan these things near a full moon. This is somewhat intentional, I think.


Parked at the rest stop about halfway through the ride.


Darius From Above. Accomplished with a 10-second timer and waving my tripod high above my head.


Obligatory group photo.


"Only" two mechanical failures. Dave flatted (easily fixed). Nan's stem stripped out during a hard climb, and the stem cap bolt just wouldn't bite. Handlebars flopping up and down? Deal-breaker. My own stem cap was held in with much longer bolts, so I swapped one of mine for one of hers. My stem bolt was able to hold things together, fortunately. Her bolt was long enough that it worked fine in my stem. I have spares for it back at home.


One of my favorite parts of the ride is where everyone cranked up the tunes on their phones as we split up into smaller groups. Tinny music of all kinds emanated from tin-can speakers in handlebar bags and jersey pockets.

I had to swing by the pharmacy on the way home, and snapped this. I ended up with just a little over 60 miles today by the time I finished up. By the time the night was over, I was limping home on my blackburn flea blinking very dimly, and my Mini-Mag providing just enough light to spot pot-holes ahead of me at 12 MPH.


More homeward commute railway hotness.


Random Tunage:
Burn In Noise - Raca
Robert Miles - Children (Inpetto Remix)

Dark Side Ride this Friday Night

Imagine a 30-40 mile ride that starts at sun-down. That's a dark-side ride. These things seem to attract bicycle commuter-types, rando-nerds, and mountain bikers. These are no-drop rides with re-group points, but you can usually count on an average pace between 13-16 miles per hour.

As usual, there are rules. They're not my rules. They're just THE rules. The important ones:
* Headlight and tail light required. It's probably a good idea to make sure you can stay lit up for 2.5 to 3 hours, just in case.
* Helmet required.
* Reflective gear: It's ostensibly required, but there may be some leniency here. It's a good idea, though.

Starting point is near the Wendy's parking lot on Woodland just north of K-10. We roll out at 9 sharp, so get there at 8:45 or so. The route isn't going to be too brutal, but there will be a couple of sweat-inducing climbs.

See posts about some past DSRs to get a feel for what they're like:
"June Moon"
Pre-Halloween 2008
DSR-IV
DSR: August 2009
The Impromptu DSR in April 2010

Hope to see you out there! Email me (using the form on the right side of my page) if you have any further questions.

Impromptu Dark-Side-Ride

I tried to rally some troops together for a night ride. Things are stressful and I just needed to get out and decompress. The sun was already setting when I decided I had to get out and ride. I had one taker: Chris. We decided to ride out to Mill Creek Trail and head out to Kaw River and back. Distance was ~24 Miles. A little shorter than most "official" Dark-Side-Rides. The trail was pitch black in most spots, with nothing visible outside the glow of our lights.











Random Tunage:
K's Choice - Not An Addict
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand

Trails

A few weeks ago, I got rejected when I rode to the mountain bike trails at Shawnee Mission Park. Well, I guess the parks department finally decided the trails were dry enough to let people loose on the singletrack this weekend. I can say that the trails were far from dry in many places, though. I did my best not to rut the trail out too badly, going around the mud where I could.

Shortly after I arrived, Chris showed up with his Long Haul Trucker. It must have looked somewhat interesting. A big, heavy urban bike and a steel road touring bike, tooling around on the mountain bike trails. I believe the term for this is "underbiking."


Mostly, I just wanted to wring the Urbana out one last time before I write my final review. The huge tires almost act like a suspension fork. I even managed to get a little air in a few spots.


I haven't ridden singletrack in a very long time. I had forgotten the serene beauty of the trails, and how much work it is to constantly maneuver the bike around obstacles and tackle hills. I'll probably feel the burn in the morning.



Random Tunage:
Amber - Anyway (Steve Porter Remix)
B-Movie - Nowhere Girl (Adam Freeland Remix)

Pics.

Little bit of a family reunion at my youngest cousin's confirmation in Nebraska over the weekend:


Not far from where I grew up, this looks like a scene from Storm Chasers. Where my MCSes at?!


Somewhere in Iowa.


A great Monday night ride with some friends I've not seen in a while. Gray's new bike is far left and I wish I had gotten some better photos of it. We hammered it on Santa Fe Drive/87th on the way home. Damn near killed me. I am not a racer. Gray is.


Random Tunage:
Coldplay - Talk (Junkie XL Remix)
Hybrid - Dreaming Your Dreams

No trails for me

The trails are still too wet to ride on without leaving damaging ruts and erosion. I was looking forward to some off-roading. That's okay, I suppose. I had a very hilly 10-mile round trip to the park and back.


Also, I think this is the most I've ever put on a cargo rack. All told, it was about 50 pounds, or about 1/3 of its rated capacity! I had some refrigerated stuff in my backpack as well. The grocery store is only a mile and a half away via parking lots and lightly-trafficked residential streets, so I didn't have to ride too far. The bike was surprisingly stable, and as you can see, the kickstand even holds it upright when loaded in a top-heavy manner.

Dark Side Ride Recap

I think we had a total of 13 riders, including one who's new to the full-distance dark side rides (he came to the cave ride too!) and to cycling in general. I think he's hooked.

I saw this right before I went on the DSR. Confident in the Hard-Case's abilities, I rode on it anyway, without any problems. I replaced it Sunday night. This tire had about 3,700 miles on it without a single puncture. The tire on the front is now up to 7,400, also without a single puncture since I put it on.


It's hard to put into words exactly what's so awesome about riding a bike at night. Having only a narrow cone of light ahead of you seems to intensify all of your other senses. Nature's noises and the subtle susurrus of mechanized synergy jump out at you. Variances in temperature and humidity surprise you more. Crisp air off the streams, putrid vapors of roadkill and skunk, earthy tones from nearby gravel roads and the distinct smell of recently-mowed grass fill the nostrils.

All the while, you can be cruising with a small group of people and no one says a word for miles, then spend the next half hour talking about hobbies non-stop. The DSR rides tend to vary a lot in pace. On this particularly cool (for August) evening, some people were hammering just to stay warm. We always re-grouped, though. This was taken at 195th and Holmes.


And then the turn-around point in Belton


I'm not sure if this morning was a record low or not, but I don't ever recall needing a windbreaker in August. September will be truly bizarre. I logged a puny 250 miles this month.

Feeding The Fish

This afternoon, my wife decided she'd like to take the bikes out and go fishing at Black Hoof Park. It's been an exceptionally awesome weekend as far as the weather goes. I really hope that next weekend is just as nice.

I hit almost 40 MPH by tucking and coasting down Prairie Star Parkway on my way to the lake. Most Lenexa riders know this hill well. It's a slog-fest coming back up it, but it's a blast to go down.


MUP tunnel under the railroad


Climbing up 91st street west of Woodland, I happened across a Ferrari F430. I'd say "you don't see that every day" however it was in a notoriously affluent slice of town where I used to deliver pizza. I saw plenty of cars more expensive than the F430 (with an asking price of a paltry $200,000 or so) -- No pics. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough.

I came in off the east side of Black Hoof Park and stopped to take this panorama. Click for big.


Goofing off with color curves.


Spillway zoom


More spillway, from mezzanine level.




A li'l bit of the ol' off-roading


Bikes :) hard to tell, but my wife's non-collapsing fishing pole is in the bucket on my rack.


While I was at Black Hoof Park trying out my new fishing set-up again, I also decided to fire up the backpacking stove and make a batch of French-Pressed coffee. I am now quite confident in this stove's ability to perform, and it all packs into the mess kit. I am going to be daydreaming of this S24O all week.


Oh, and we didn't catch anything at the lake. Schools of small panfish were making quick work of our bait -- their tiny mouths resistant to our best efforts and our smallest hooks. We were basically out there just feeding the fish. Hopefully, some larger specimen at Hillsdale Lake become my dinner next weekend. If not, I have a backup plan.

What they're saying...

Scathing review of the official Lenexa Midnight Bike Ride. (Found via kcbike.info) Ouch.

It makes me even happier that people came out to make the alternative ride so fun.
Commuterdude loved it.

Warren loved it. And got some photos worth looking at.

I forgot to mention that Mark gave me a nifty home-made coke-can alcohol stove after the ride.

Last week, I built a stand to hold a pot over a can of sterno (using bike spokes, of course!)


Sterno sucks (12 minutes to boil 2 cups of water?!) so I had to put Mark's coke can to the test. While Methylated spirits, HEET
and many other forms of alcohol will burn just fine, I opted to try the good old standby: Everclear (95% Grain Alcohol).


I had a good flame and boiling water in just about 5 minutes. After I did my boiling test, I opened a can of soup and heated it up for lunch. I just need to make a decent windscreen for this rig. As it stands, all of the stove bits (mason jar lid, can stove, and pot stand) fit inside my nesting mess kit.


When you're camping, Everclear has several advantages over other fuels. First off, it's food grade, so it isn't tainted with toxic chemicals like denatured alcohol, so I don't need to worry about contamination. It burns well, as you can see. It's also great for cleaning wounds, as a solvent, and maybe even to mix in with a beverage =)

Now, to find something to store it in that's convincing enough to detract the Park Ranger, since Hillsdale Lake bans hard liquor. Gee... let me think...

Independence Day and Monday Night Recovery Ride

As usual, I participated in massive amount of explosives and fire on Independence Day. While we didn't have professional-grade stuff like last year, my friends and I all got to set off a bunch of smaller things. And I mean a bunch.

Jon is actually made of explosives. :)


A few repeater cakes (pre-fused multi-shot aerial displays) staged in the yard.


Jon, Angji and Joel setting up a few bottle rockets.


This made me laugh, particuarly seeing Jon cheer as the projectile launched. I made it from a sequence of images taken with an intervalometer script on my camera (thanks to CHDK)


Angji shows off her Twitter Glitter. By the way, this was just about the most underwhelming piece of the night, aside from one ironically called "The Migraine". Both of them were basically a 4-shot roman candle. At least Twitter Glitter could be described in 140 characters or less.


Crackle.


Boom.

This afternoon, Chris was jonesing for a ride. He's on the road to recovery from knee surgery (yikes!) so he showed up at my place around 6:00 and we rolled out to meet the Monday Night Recovery Ride folks. Talk about a perfect night for a ride! We had about 20 participants.


My next vacation day isn't until September. Thankfully, it looks like I have some fun weekend bicycle trips planned to pass the time until then. The Midnight Cave Ride is this weekend, and we're looking at 30+ participants for that ride. We're still lined up to have quite a few participants for the group S24O camping trip at the end of July, too.