The new ride came in and was it ever worth the wait. Now I'm not just saying this because I love my Salsa bikes. This Salsa Casseroll Single Speed is a dream to ride. When I picked it up, I was a little thrown back by the size of the tires on this thing. They are ginormously wide--Continental Contact 37 !! Wickid huge pal. But those things can take some serious pressure and I've got them jacked up to 115psi and they roll like nobody's business. And they roll over everything--cracks, bumps, small rodents (no not yet, but close) potholes, you name it these things plow over it with ease and comfort. I mean it's a commuter bike right? Small racing slicks would be a jarring, jittery experience around town and on the bike paths. I think these tires may be one of the best components on the bike. Let's talk abou tsome of the others. 

The frame is beautifully painted in a Guildens brown mustard with some nice sparkly flecks that glimmer in the sun--beauty. It is responsive when standing and smooth and stiff when seated. Stiff and responsive--yeah sounds strangely sexual, but hey it's a nice ride. The welds are beautiful and the matching fork dampers whatever else the tires don't absorb. The straight blades look like a tuning fork and are painted in the same lovely mustard color. Another really nice detail is a custom chain guard--it's sleek and has some nice die cuts that make it look super aerodynamic. Definitely not like the chain guard on that blue Shwinn we all had as kids. The rest of the bike is rounded out with a few nice Salsa parts--Moto Ace Short and Shallow bars and Delgato Cross rims laced up with Surly Flip Flop hubs . The saddle is pretty sweet too--a WTB Silverado Race with custom Salsa embroidery--I mean come on, too cool. The Tektro brakes do an adequate job in stopping. These brakes seem to be the standard in meduim quality, cost-cutting performance. What I do like about the calipers is that they are extra long and tall to accomodate the large tires. This means riders can easily use studs in the winter or a slightly smaller slick with a fender. Bonus points for that. 

I've decided to keep the freewheel on and use it until it starts to deteriorate, which should be in a month or so. It's one of those cheapo Shimano jobs. They are meant for really dry conditions--like desert conditions. I was going through about one a month with my MTB. Granted that was pretty wet an mucky most of the time, but so is commuting. About 5 years ago I made the switch to the White Industries and never worried about again. These things are bomb proof and if for some reason the leave them submerged in water for like 3 years and you need to rebuild them, you can. I have never had to. I use them on my MTB and my commuters. But for the ultimate in no worries/maintenace, just go fixed, which I plan to do this winter? Not sure what I'm going to do with my Redline as it's still in running order (and a fixed). I may just keep that for my foul weather bike. That is if I get another job...

What? Yeah this commuter was laid off last week. What does this mean for a guy who prides himself  a daily commuter? I don't know. It's sad really. Not only will I miss my job, but I'm going to miss the ride everyday. Yes I will still go for rides to the store and downtown for cookie and coffee runs, but it won't be the same. The urgency is just not there. I have started to line up some freelance work (I'm an art director and designer by trade) but look forward to the day I have a full-time reason to bike to work again. I did have a very proud moment this week as my daughter's teacher asked what a certain article of clothing was (she was holding up a tie) and said that some dads wear these to work. My lovely 3 year old said, "my daddy wears bike shorts to work." Thanks Pheebs.

Ride safe.

 

Zm

Well I did it again. I just couldn't resist. I may have a problem saying no to bikes. But an offer came up that I couldn't refuse. Just look at the new Salsa Casserole and tell me that I did the wrong thing. Ok then. Here's my reasoning: The Redline 925 has been a great bike and will continue t be one. However, I will need to get another set of wheels after this season. They've taken a beating in the wet, salt and sand of the winter. So I would probably drop a good chunck of change on that. It also needs some new tires, drivetrain and potentially bottom bracket. All of these upgrades would put me in the $400-500 range. Now wouldn't it make sense to use the discount that I get from one of our best team sponsors (Salsa) to get a complete bike instead? Well that's the reasoning I used to sort of convince my wife. I'm still not sure it worked, but I was able to order the bike anyway.

Now I have a fleet of Salsas. I can't say enough good things about these frames. They're responsive, light, durable and downright pretty. Every year they whip up some awesome new paint/graphic combination that bikers lust for every year. I currently have two full scanduim frames and one scanduim/carbon.  This new Casserole will round out the frame materials because it is steel! I think steel is the way to go on a commuter. It sucks up the little bumps, cracks and chatter that crappy city roads dish out. An aluminum bike would just be a little too stiff. I like to have a little bit of flex to the frame for a commuter. Plus, most other frame material, like carbon, ti, or even scandium, would be too cost prohibitive. And I would worry that it would get stolen or crapped on by seagulls.One thing though with the steel is that it it tends to be a bit more corrosive than the other materials. So it was suggested I put on a frame protector spray to prolong the life of it. Might be a good idea. 

 So the Casserole is set up with some stock parts--so I just can't go wrong. I'm thinking of selling the Redline to offset some of the cost of the new bike, but I'm also thinking it would make a great foul-weather ride. That way I could just keep the studs on it for winter and use it exclusively in winter. Hey, people have a set of snow tires for their cars--probably paid more for them then I paid for that bike, so what the hell.

Speaking of cars,  I did some calculations last month of how many times I drove to work last year. 11 times. That was a record for me--on the low end. This year I don't see that happening, I've already had to drive 6 times because of weather, sickness or picking up kids. And as the kids get older, I wcan only imagine my drive days will increase--it's a sad reality, but one I hope to curtail for as long as I can through the use of a trailer! Yes! Now both my kids are big enough to ride in the trailer, so that will help out on those days I have to drop them off or pick them up (in the warmer weather of course). I haven;t strung this idea on my wife yet, but I'm sure it will go over really well--the kids will like it. 

An update on my lighting system. I got it back in the mail a few weeks ago after sending it back to Nite Rider. They said it was water damage to the battery that caused it to die. Didn't they test these things in rain? I certainly did not submerge the thing by any means. Yeah it was probably some hard rain, but these lights should be made to withstand that at the very least. But they got it back to me fairly quickly, so I can't complain too much. And the new battery still holds a great charge for almost a week (using it for just the ride home--30-35 min), even in the cold weather. Speaking of which, I'm officially done with winter. I just finished shoveling our latest dump of 8-10 inches which puts the snowbank at the end of my driveway at about 7 ft. Enough is enough. Get out there when you can, ride safely.

 

Zm

Hard to believe that I was so smitten with my light just a few short weeks ago. I went to turn it on last night after a very long 12 hour day at work. I was beat. I clicked the power on...nothing. I tried to unplug it from the battery, replug it in, pushed the button several times all with no success. COME ON! It's nearly 9 p.m. and I have to ride home in the flippin rain, again, now with no light? How is it that my $25 Cat Eye rear flashing light has made it through 3 cold winters, dozens of rain storms, dirt, grit, dog sh*t and every other road debris thrown at it and it still works (very well I might add) but this $150 light with three less settings mind you, kicks the bucket in under a month? I hate all lights. They have been the the ultimate weak link in my commuting experience for as long as I can remember. I don't know who these manufacturors think they are. Do they do any kind of testing on these things? And no a spraybottle in the lab doesn't count as "weatherproof" testing. This thing is going back. I need a light that I can use every day without failure.

I was actually enjoying the battery life on this thing before this happened. This night rider will be using his mountaneering headlamp for a bit. Not cool.

Last Tuesday was shaping up to be one of those days I didn't want to ride in. This was entirely weather related. The wind was gusting out of the East at 30-35 mph with sustained winds at at least 20-25 and heavy rain. Slapping on the rain gear I would hear the wind howling outside. I live in a fairly sheltered area, so I knew I was in for a beating. It didn't start off too badly, at least I knew all my rain gear could take the abuse. The fixie was gonna be the issue today. One gear in the wind just plain sucks. It's great on all those other days, but gears would've been my first choice today.
I made it down to the Back Cove in one piece--the driving rain made visibility pretty poor so I put on my front and rear flashers. I am still impressed with the NiteRider Newt headlight. The daytime flasher mode can project onto signs 300-400 ft away in rain, during the day. I had to lean into the cross winds in order to stay on the bike. It wold blow me to the curb and then ease up so I could go straight again. Then the road curved to the East--ug. I tried to keep the pedals moving but I literally had to stand up and really crank just to keep moving. I might've been going 3 mph-- if that. One thing that's really cool is a new application for the iPhone called MapMyRide . I had used this a few times on the computer, manually entering in my route, but now the data is entered by GPS. When I got into work with my legs actually tired from the 5.67 mile commute (my new shortest crappy weather route) all my stats were right there. Distance, time, average speed and a cool elevation chart. it also maps it out using Google maps with mile markers along the way. So in all, this ride in was the second worst one ever. The one that takes the cake was last year about this time. There was about an inch of snow on the ground with high winds and stinging sleet. That stings.

As I suited up to go home I tried to figure out what the best way home would be given that the wind was still cranking from the East. Oh I picked it right, it was awesome. Nothing like a massive tailwind to blow you home. At times I was hitting 25-30 mph on the flats--maxing out my gear ratio. On one section I cross over a bridge and the cars in the opposite ditection were splashing huge waves ov water on me. I just laughed and screamed like a mad man. "Bring it," I yelled, "hell yeah." It might've been the most entertaining ride home ever (plus I was off for the next 5 days). I had a wide grin all the way home. Certainly that ride made up for a week of crappy, cold and wet rides. So even if the day looks to be the worst ever, it may just turn around.

I'm trying to make it a full year of commuting with less than 10 driving days. I'm up to 8 so far and have another 2 months to go. It might be hard if we get some big snow storms, but we'll see. Stay warm and ride safely.

So where the hell did everyone go? All of those folks who started riding to wok this summer have gone back to their cars? Just buy a light, the fun continues even after darkness falls. I have a theory (ok it may be unfounded, but a theory nonetheless) that it may be safer to commute home in the dark with the appropriate lights. My rear flasher can be seen up to 600 yards away--no joke. And it has 4 different flashing modes to mesmerize even the most inattentive drivers. My front headlight prompts drivers to flash their high beams at me from time to time. Do I get that kind of attention in the summer? I don't think so.

It's lonely out there. Sure the old standbys are still riding--Old dude on the 10 speed with the tie--he's still rollin. But what happened to Happy girl? I would see her on the Back Cove trail almost every morning. She even got a cool new cyclocross late in the season. That's it? Season over? She would smile every day and I would smile back thinking she's gonna make it to at least the Holidays. Nope.

Well here's to those of you still pluggin along. Keep the lights charged and ready, and get some studs for when the snow flies. I hope to be stepping up my posts this winter with some more photos and footage. Bikeman has a new content management system that allows me to post my blogs--it was a little more complicated before. Next week I'll be on NBC.com with a funny little "Green Week"  video about bike commuting. I'll post the url when I get it.

No, not a ski lift, a bike lift . Apparently they have these things in Norway to help folks get up steep hills. If this is out there just imagine what other cool things must be hiding out there? I really need to go to Europe...maybe bikeman's own world traveler, Joel Woodman Dexter, would be willing to show me around.

 

I'm sitting here watching the votes get tallied and I find myself wondering which candidate was more pro bike?  I haven't the faintest idea where either of them stand.  It would be nice if cycling related issues were addressed in the mainstream media coverage of the election wouldn't it?  Can you imagine if, during one of the debates, the issue of alternative transportation was brought up and one of the candidates brought up cycling as part of their plan. That would be great wouldn't it? Maybe in 2012

 

Fiat Lux. I took four years of Latin in High School. Although I don't consider it a total waste of time (calculus takes that cake) I'm able to intersperse little phrases like fiat lux into my daily life. It basically means "let light be made." So as we creep towards the bike commuters darkest time of year, I would like to share my initial thoughts on bike lights. You can check back to my last year's blog post for the lights that have failed me in the past. I also got some great recommendations from readers as well. But this year, after some research online and asking some folks at the shop, I think I've found a great lighting system.

I have a bunch of little rants this month--a few things that have been bothering me. But, I throw in some nuggets of joy as well:

I hate cigarettes. Some jackhole threw one out the window after blowing a big puff of smoke as I rode by him. How gross is that? I let out a big cough and a "thanks chubs" and apparently the dude heard me because he said he was sorry. But come on, stop throwing that crap out the window. I guess littering goes along with the stupidity of smoking. What a great couple of habits.

I'm on vacation this week which means no commuting. I'm feeling like a blob and really feeling the pinch of that whole gas thing. Neither my wife or I have to buy gas to get to work (she works from home) so it was a real shocker to fill up a tank for $60 only to see it drain away on a long car trip to Southern MA. I remember the days early on in my career that I was commuting an hour and twenty to get to work. It was 52 miles one way with $1.10 in tolls. What a huge waste of time and resources. I still feel like I'm trying to offset that one. Of course that was when gas was $.90/gal, so at the very least I could just about afford it. I've found a little calculator out there that helps you get an idea of just how much you're saving in gas and how much CO2 you offset.