Racking Rocinante

If you've perused this blog much you'll know that my family has a river place up north on the Kettle River. You might also see pics of our trusty old Toyota truck, Rocinante. This truck belonged to Liza's dad. He named it. He gave it Liza a few years ago before he died. It's really a perfect truck for us in the context of the river place. I load it up with all sorts of crap for projects up there. And while there, it's the main hauler for people and supplies on the back roads of Ferry County, where you're expected to load up the bed of your truck with people, coolers, and inner tubes for floating the river.

Since it was made back in 1983 when compact trucks were truly compact, it fills up quickly when I put a couple bikes in the bed. I've been bugging Glen for at least a year--in the subtle way that I do-- to help me get some racks going for it. Since he started the stock NFE project though, he's just slammed all the time trying to keep up with demand. That's great and I'm a part of machine that is generating orders for him and watching the schedule and trying to keep customers informed of progress -- so as a result, I've backed off in the last few month with my nagging about racking Rocinante.

Before racking: two fatties pretty much filled 'im up.

A couple weeks ago I had big pile of crap to bring up to the river. I wanted to bring *my* NFE for obvious reasons, but with all the crap, it was a pain to wedge in the bed of the truck. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention... and as a result, my jammed up truck resulted in what I like to think was a pretty innovated solution for hauling the bike. To wit:

For some reason this horrified Glen. Perhaps it was the zipties holding that grate to my lumber rack. Perhaps it was the thought of the grate grating on the NFE paint that got under his skin. Maybe it's a class thing: he didn't want his NFE associated with a dumpy-ass, Joad-looking pile of crap. Who knows. If you know Glen, you know he's not the most verbose dude in the world. All I know is that after posting that pic to Instagram, he sent me an email with a picture of a bed-mounted, side-load bike hauling solution that made me WANT. He told me to bring my trays over on the next Saturday and he could probably knock out that solution in about an hour. Had I know that just hacking my own solution would've motivated him into action, I would've done this a year ago. Handy bit of intel for the future, that.

Sensing the zeitgeist, I pushed it as I often do: "Hey, while you have your welding shit out in the driveway, how about you hook me up with a front hitch mount. There's a plate with holes in it down there and really, how hard could that be?"

He crawled around under the truck for a while, gave me a shopping list of two metal objects, one of which, of course, I screwed up. And told me to be there Saturday. He's always got home and yard stuff going on, so I told him I'd try my labor for his: I'd do his Saturday work of pulling out a little retaining wall as he racked the truck. Until the stock NFE project came along, he would normally  work through his honey-do list on evenings and weekends. But now he's working early and late every day. So weekends are really his only time to block off and get other projects done. So it's win-win.

His time estimate on the side racks was on the money: it took him about an hour. It's simple, elegant, and pure Glen excellentism.

The front hitch part, which he reminded me that he hadn't "estimated the time for this tomfoolery," (that's a direct quote, "tomfoolery") -- took about 4 hours. In that time I moved approximately 2 tons of rock, debris, earth, and trash (that's a direct Truth).

Sidenote: The supplies part that I screwed up was that I got the wrong receiver hitch. So it turns out that there's a 2" receiver and a 1 1/4" receiver. Everyone knows that. I knew that. What I didn't know is that there's a sleeve for the that fits in the 2" receiver that looks damn like a 1 1/4" receiver. They might as well be identical. Anyway -- looked good to me, but Glen wouldn't have it. No hacks for Glen when you're hauling bikes in front of the car. So it looked like he'd get mostly done with the project but not be able to put the actual receiver on. This was about 2 hours in. Getting this time with Glen and his welder out in his driveway was such an opportunity.... and it would be difficult to reconstruct as we're trying to get these NFEs out the door.  I was bumming but trying not to show it, when buddy Pat showed up to watch the progress.

The muddy ass on the left belongs to Pat. That's the most recent picture I have of him. It's from our recent Orcas ride.

Pat is an engineer in the outside world, but in real life he is a super nerdy problem solver ex-grease monkey (build, modified, and raced stock cars: fucker's legit) dude that loves building cool bike shit and being involved with building cool bike shit. He knew of this event and wanted to check in on progress. AND, like Glen, Pat's a solid. So he shows up. He and Glen barely exchange more than a few grunts and nods and Pat gets it -- understands the fix Glen is making. Totally sees the stupid wrong receiver that I bought and he's out of there. He shows up a 1/2 hour later with the right hunk of metal and a receipt for $25 for me. At this point I had moved approximately 1.5 tons of rock. It was hot. I was dehydrated. But I swear I nearly cried with joy when he showed up with what was of course the correct receiver and I realized that my project would complete.

It goes without saying that my "simple front hitch solution" was neither simple nor a solution. Click for big. One hunk of metal that I did get right is a 1/2" plate of steel. That's the money piece there wedged in between the receiver and the truck.

That's Glen's Pugs. Liza borrows it when we head to the river.

The rack is the best value hanger rack of all time: a Sun Lite. It's burly and super easy to hack/modify. Glen shortened it a tad to increase visibility.

In the end, I'm thrilled. Glen has asked for a picture with the truck loaded up with at least 8 bikes. That will come, but I want to happen naturally. Watch this space for that someday in the future.

Your standard bike pile at the river.
 There are 7 bikes here. Five of them came up with us on this particular hang: 3 in the truck, 2 on the car. This year: all on the truck.

Parts and stuff

You wouldn't know it by reading this blog, but I do still ride a bit. I don't have a lot to say about my riding, because I feel like I've said it all before a few times. And I'm not in the mindframe of late to talk about policy stuff. So that pretty much leaves gear discussion for the time being.

Lately, I've been into the mountain bike. It's a fall/spring thing I guess. Glen told me a couple weeks ago that he had some tires for me. I finally picked them up today: they are Schwalbe tires -- Rock Razors - 650Bx 2.35".

I've only got one High Drive ride on them so far, but I immediately noticed the cushy volume difference compared to the 2.10" Maxxis I had on there before. I liked the Maxxis, but I was drifting a bit too much on the wet trails this past weekend and was looking for a bit more grip as the moisture settles in for the season.

You can see the big honking knobbies on the edges of tire -- this is what Glen liked about them and after an hour of farting around on the wet trails, I can see his point. As noted, I also really appreciated the volume - they've got reasonably soft sidewalls for a mountain tire, and I like that. The center has a bunch of small knobbies -- sort of Thunder Burt-ish, but a bit bigger and more spaced out, knobbie-wise. So they roll good-enough on smooth trails and pavement.

Take note of the sparkly white bike. That's not just picture-clean. That's the new John... Glen sort of busted my ass about wanting a white mountain bike since I'm not known for fastidious (or any) post-ride wipe downs. But that's the old John. The White Elephant will always be white. Disclaimer: the new John approach to post-ride fussery does not extend to other bikes btw... that's just too much work.

Fenders went on the Legolas. And by fenders, I mean a rear fender and a front coroplast fender. This is a temporary state. I sold the Purple Elephant to fund the parts for the incoming stock NFE. When the new NFE comes along, the Legolas will go back to normal mode. Great bike. Notice the platform pedals on there. That's another gear change that I'll discuss in a future post. It's a big change for me. 

The sharp observer will notice that the orange saddle pack is becoming the standard tool bag on my bikes. It's a cheap, just-big-enough solution for carrying the basic tools/tube. I like it because it's tiny and holds tight to the bottom of the saddle and doesn't encourage me to bring the kitchen sink, which I am wont to do with my previous solutions.

This bag change has actually been precipitated by my saddle changes. I'm done with Brooks. I have one on my beater bike, but otherwise -- I've decided not to care about saddles. I want cheap and plastic. And it's liberating. The saddles on the Legolas and the White Elephant are both XLC -- which is the cheap knock-off Seattle Bike Supply house brand. I dig them.

I just cleaned my workbench about 2 weeks ago. I cannot keep it managed for the life of me. I may change my saddle, tool bag, bike-cleaning ways, and pedals, but I can't seem to get the trashed bench thing changed.

Cooking an Elephant

Elephant mountain bike: initial impressions

I've been talking to Glen at Elephant Bikes about a mountain bike for at least a year. Probably more like two. I really liked the Kona and I had no pressing need for a new bike, so the Elephant mountain bike was always sort of pushed back on the priority list.

But as it often happens: a bike gets in your head and you want to make it real. Over the last couple years Glen has built a handful of mountain bikes. Most of them have been 29ers. He built himself a 26" and he built one 27.5'er. Mine is a 27.5. But I prefer calling it a 650b.

Glen likes a long front-center, a slack-ish head angle, and tight rear triangle. That's what my bike got. And so far, it's rad. Glen and I ride enough together where he's been able to watch me ride and understand what I like/want.  He didn't like how much drop I had between my saddle height and my bars on my last bike. He thought I should be more stretched out, but not with as much weight forward/down. I didn't specify any angles or other design elements of this bike. The only input I provided on this bike was the color.

I've only taken one ride on this bike, so I can't claim to understand it completely. Also: I have a really hard time verbalizing how bikes "feel" when you ride them, especially when comparing handling characteristics. It's like watching people taste wine or coffee or beer and picking out "notes" of exotic, random flavors (nutmeg, rosemary, straw...).

In any case, I took a super familiar route for my first ride: down the HD trails to the river trail out to megachurch, up to SFCC drop into the river trail again, then looped back at Meenach. I've done this section a million times and I know it inch by inch, so I know how it feels to ride all the various interesting sections.

 My descending on twisty stuff was a bit slower as I'm getting used to the front end handling. I want to provide way more steering input than this bike requires, so I'm getting used to that. When sitting, my weight is more evenly distributed on this bike -- more over the center of the bike, whereas on my Kona, I really had push my weight back on descents -- so on this bike, I don't need to do that as much. That kept me a bit conservative on the switchbacks.

But the straighter/flow sections of the descents were ridiculously wonderful -- the input thing and the weight distribution thing that kept me a bit tentative on twisty stuff, allows me to just friggin layback and lean through the long turns. As a result I went way faster through the rollouts than I have on any other bikes.

I also really noticed a difference with climbing: both seated and standing. Again: it has to do with where my weight is. I don't quite understand it yet, but the rear wheel seems to grab better and my feet feel like they are more behind the pedals a bit -- it feels right. With the higher cockpit and more weight back -- transitioning into a climbing stand seems way more intuitive right off the bat. This is hard to explain. But I'm digging the bike.

The bike has Columbus tubing for a DT and TT. Not sure what he used on the ST. It's all basic Shimano stuff -- mostly off my last bike. The big difference is that I upgraded from 8 speed to 9 speed. Component wise though: nothing fancy, but good enough and reliable. Fork is a new 100mm Fox 32. Tires are Maxxis Crossmark -- the non-fancy versions. Once they wear out, I'll find something a bit more supple.

Glen built an XO-1

A couple months ago, I noticed this frame sitting in Glen's shop. I mentioned it on the Elephant blog here. It's beautifully done -- fillet brazed with a standard diameter top tube, True Temper front triangle. Glen built it because a customer of his gave him a Ritchey Logic fork from the 90's and he wanted a bike for those famous forks.

Most of Glen's bikes are TIG'd. Sometimes he'll fillet braze a bottom bracket. The whole front triangle on this one is fillet-brazed. And it's pretty exceptional. It's a skill/art that takes time even when you know what you are doing.

Anyway I didn't think about the bike again until I went to his shop the other night and saw the bike back from the powder coater. The color is really mellow blue in a cool matte finish. I think the low-key, matte color makes the contours around the welds look even more remarkable.

So, this morning, I go to his shop and he's got it all built up and rad looking with drop bars. I'm already a sucker for 26" wheels, but the drop bars make it awesomer yet. He says he's not sure what to do with it. He says something like, "it's basically a road a bike with 26" wheels," and how that's not very interesting to people.

So there's that. If I were still a highroller, I would've bought it on the spot. This is my perfect bike. This whole "road bike with 26" wheels" thing is what got me obsessed about cycling as an adult -- about 10 years ago...

I pin him down on the geometry, which he has in BikeCad.

Sure enough, Glen has pretty much built a 1993 Bridgestone XO-1, but awesomer in exactly the right spots, with a shorter rear-triangle and a lower bottom bracket.

Dig it:

	Elephant	93 X0-1
ST/HT angle	73/72	73/73
ST length	54	55
TT length	56	56.5
Stand over	800	797
Chainstay	410	425
Drop	50	45

And he's put super components on it: White hubs, Sun rims. Specialized cranks --pretty sure these were the cold forged ones made by Sugino back in the day. LX canti brakes -- the super sweet mid-profile ones.

He'll probably ride it around the block or on a ride or two, but if you are interested or if you know anyone that loves this style of bike: it's for sale. Contact me if you are interested. (SOLD).

Bar swap and some High Driving

High art

The Xmass bike has one more season in it.
But only with the saddle jacked up and some reach added.

Glen's work.
Indexed 7 speed: Suntour shifts Dura Ace derailleur.

Guidonnet levers.
De fantaisie.

She digs it.

Rare event: new-to-me trail on HD. This is off the lower section. (Go down Corvair trail, roll out through section  into climb by golf course, at T, go left descent to power lines, then go left again at divide -- don't climb, keep descending -- drop down on fire access road and immediate right to old double-track that transitions to single track).

It ends up popping you back up to powerlines. This is a good route if you don't want to end up all the way down by the No Trespassing section that pops you out on the Avista access road. A great route actually.

With a lovely view. But that's per spec on most of the west-facing trails.

This is the new trail that's been built between the middle and top trails. Roughly, it's here. If you've been paying attention, you would've noticed the flag markers along the side of the hill about a year ago. A few weeks ago the trail was roughed in and there's been a lot of work since then. Good work. Man it's solid.

Monster switchback. This nearly meets ADA requirements. Mostly flat and gobs of room to negotiate the turn. This could serve as a perfect training switchback for new riders.

Backside of the same switch back. Excellent work by the Friends of the Bluff crew.

Interestingly, the top of trail is nearly invisible. That rock there at the right/center is  next to the  trail access -- which is not visible from the top trail. This trail is the easiest climb of all of the routes that traverse the middle-to-top trails.

S24O mode

The first S24O ought to happen soon. Perhaps next weekend? Hmm? Anyone?

Lasher rack. Info here.

I've been riding the Elephant rackless since school started. That's all well and good (and fine and mellow), but as the weather warms up, I'm pining to do some touring. Did I mention I have this summer off?

I'm pondering. A lot.
About this summer.

The annual glove rant

Today was another C&W event. It was colder (about 35), but not as wet as the last time I whinged about the weather... which, technically would be my last post.

When will the world see a friggin glove for this scenario?

Here's the gold: just make a Gortex or Gortex-like mitten shell. That's it. That's the million dollar idea. No gauntlets. No Everest-climbing features. Just a GD shell that I can put over some fleecy gloves/mittens that will keep the rain and wind out. That's it!

Someone left a comment on my last post about using neoprene. I've tried it and it doesn't work. It seems like it should work. But when you get out there in the miserable range (mid-30's and wet), it totally makes sense on why it doesn't work.

Here are my unsubstantiated claims:

-- circulation: as in, water. The ideal scenario for neoprene (AKA: "wetsuit material") is when it's submerged. There's something going on when you're underwater and the idea of wetsuitness works: there's a layer of relatively static water sitting on your skin, which in turn, is warming the water, which in turn is keeping you warm. That doesn't work outside of the submerged scenario. When you wear porous material, like neoprene on your hands, the water (and the cold wind) flows through. You know, 'cause of gravity (it's similar to magnets in the mysterious ways it works). When cold water flows over warm skin it makes the warm skin cold. Pretty much always.

-- Dry suits. Those are for cold (like near freezing) scenarios. If wet suits (AKA: neoprene) were so awesome, they wouldn't need dry suits.

And Travis: if you are reading this, and you suggest some Mt. Everest Climbing Monster Huge Glove for my "ride 20 miles in the cold rain/snow" scenario... I know where you live.

Just give me the outer layer. I have the base layer. I want the water/wind layer in a simple, light, not huge implementation.

In other news, the Elephant has become the daily driver.

I yanked the front rack off it, and I'll be damned if I don't love it even more. I'm not sure how that works, but it does. I'm a backpack guy now.

This bike, with its fenders and lights that just work (I added a wired rear light this week -- rad), and fat supple fast white Hetres is just the bomb. Wow. If I was still a moneyed bastard and I didn't already have studded 559s and 622s... actually, wouldn't matter.... If I was a moneyed bastard, I'd splurge for the studded 584s.

Creepy mountain bike van exursion may happen this Sunday. If that sounds interesting, send me a mail.

For context, here's a bunch of glove posts.