Birthday Bike Build and Campout

[Tim Baldwin]

In early February, I decided to pull the trigger on a Susie frame for my birthday. Doing my taxes early and the seeing number of frames dwindle made the decision for me. My federal tax return was almost exactly the cost of a shipped Susie frame. I wasn't sure how backed up Riv was with shipping frames, so originally I planned to take my time to collect parts and build it up. I then talked to Will on the phone and he said the frame would ship out in a few days. Once I heard that, I started to think I could get the bike built up by my birthday on February 28. Not only that, but I had a campsite booked for 2/27. I could ride my new bike to my birthday campout!

After that, it was on! I scrambled to figure out all the parts I had on hand and what I would need to order. Considering this would be my birthday bike, I decided to go all out on the parts. I wanted to really deck it out right away. The frame showed up on the 15th and I had the bike mostly built up in the first week. I was trying to be patient waiting for USPS to deliver the last few parts. However, they are super backed up right now. I have packages that landed in Chicago Feb. 14/15 and are still undelivered. In the end, I made a couple audibles to get the bike built up in time. I worked all Friday evening and got up at 5am on Saturday to finish the build and pack. With the early start, I even had time to tape the bars with various ends of Newbaums. Here's how the build I ended up:

Wheels: I was planning on building wheels but found a set of Cliffhangers laced to Deore hubs for $220 shipped. They came taped for tubeless and I was able to get the tires seated up first try. Hard to beat that deal. I would like to build up a dynamo wheel soon.

Tires: Schwalbe G-One Allround 27.5 x 2.25

Cassette: 9 speed Shimano 12-36

Rear derailleur: Altus for now, still waiting on USPS to deliver an XT rapid rise.

Crankset: Silver two piece with 38t Raceface ring. No front derailleur for now but I am going to switch to a 36/22 in the future. I want to find a cool vintage derailleur for the front.

Pedals: Blue Lug panda pedals. Cute and they feel great!

Seatpost: Nitto S83

Saddle: Brooks Flyer special

Stem: 85mm Riv/Nitto fillet brazed 31.8. Had this on my Atlantis but wanted a shorter stem for that bike.

Bars: 31.8 Tosco. I put 55cm Boscos at first but those felt so narrow when I sat on the bike. The Tosco showed up in the nick of time Friday Feb. 26.

Shifter: Suntour barcon. This shifter has been on multiple bikes and is always a joy to use.

Brakes: Paul touring cantilevers with stock straddle cable hangers. I have cool old Dia Compe roller straddle cable hangers that I'm still waiting for USPS to deliver.

I used a Paul Funky monkey in front and a Surly cable hanger for the rear.

Brake levers: some Origin8s for now. Waiting for some Pauls.

Rear rack/bag: Nitto R14 with a large saddlesack

Front rack: Riv/Nitto basket rack with Wald 137

Lights: Blue Lug copper Koma

Bottle cages: a Widefoot liter cage, a King anything cage, and a side entry one I got in a trade

Stem bags: a Roadrunner Auto-Pilot (huge), a Blue Lug stem bag, and an XS saddlesack for tools and various odds n ends

Pump: Zefal frame pump

Once I had the bike built up, it was time to take it on a test ride. The campsite at Bullfrog Lake in Palos Woods is about 25 miles from my house in Chicago/Logan Square. For the ride portion, I was able to get my friend and Gus owner Joseph to come along. I had a couple other people interested but they bailed. It's surprisingly hard to get people on board for camping in late February in Chicago. Anyway, the weather was great on Saturday with temperatures getting into the 50s. We left around 1pm and were at the campsite by around 5pm. We took a couple breaks and made a couple wrong turns, which is my kind of riding. We navigated mostly by memory and a paper map but consulted the phone when it looked like we were getting onto a highway.

The campsite was snowy and sloppy. Joseph wisely wore Bogs but I only had Vans and Crocs. I made due by wearing two pairs of wool socks, plastic bags, waterproof mittens and Crocs on my feet. We borrowed a shovel from our neighbors and cleared and packed down a spot for our tents. Next, Joseph went and got some firewood from the camp store. I scooped and cleared the fire pit the best I could. For almost an hour, we did all we could to get the wet campground firewood to catch. We used firestarters, matches, alcohol soaked pieces of cloth, leaves, and whatever else we could find. We were about out of stuff to burn when my friend Tom showed up. He lives nearby and was just coming to hang by the fire. Not only did he bring dry firewood but hot dogs, tater tots and chocolate as well! Joseph and I are usually pretty good about packing food but this time not so much. We were hungry and starting to get cold at this point. Thanks for saving the day Tom! With the dry wood, we got the fire going right away and cooked up some hot dogs. My friend Nick showed up at about this time. He drove out but camped along with us. With the fire going strong, we had a great evening sitting around the fire and talking.

In the morning, we woke up to a light mist with the temperature around 40F. After a few weeks of the temperature rarely getting above 20F, it felt wonderful to be outside even in this. Joseph slept in a bit while Nick and I got up and drank coffee in the misty morning fog. After coffee, Nick packed up and left. I made another cup of coffee for myself with the last of the denatured alcohol I had. Then, Joseph got up and we started packing up all our wet gear. After we got our bikes loaded up, we sat in the heated campground bathroom for about 15 minutes before riding out. Although colder on Sunday, we had a nice tailwind home. We stopped at the first gas station we saw and wolfed down an obscene amount of food, stowing a little away for later. The toughest part of the ride was when I routed us on the Salt Creek trail. First, I had a piece of glass find its way into my tire. Luckily, I was able to pull it out and let the sealant do its magic. This was my first time riding tubeless and I have to say it's nicer than swapping tubes. I did have my bike tip over when doing this so fortunately/unfortunately I got that out of the way. Second, although this is a paved trail, it was still packed with slushy snow. So we had to push our bikes for a bit and ride when we could. After the trail, we rode mostly side surface streets and tried to keep up the pace to get home before the temperature started dropping. Overall, it was another fun and challenging day on the bike.

I've wanted to camp for my birthday for a couple years now and am glad I made it happen this year. I'm happy I was able to get a few other people out as well. It's much more fun to celebrate a birthday with good company. The new bike was icing on the cake. It really rides great and I felt at home on it right away. I like my Atlantis quite a lot but this bike really has me smitten so far. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. This turned into a bit of a monster post.

[Tim Baldwin]

And now for some pictures...

[Tim Baldwin]

[Tim Baldwin]

[Tim Baldwin]

[Tim Baldwin]

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

This story was a lot of fun to read. I can’t believe you were out there in the snow in your Crocs with plastic bags around your feet. Also, your friends are a blend of crazy and awesome. I’ve never bike camped (I’ve never been the camping sort) but I almost want to after reading about how magical it was to drink coffee in the morning mist.

Happy birthday! (Mine was the 26th - cheers!)

Leah 

[mark etze]

Too bad your Birthday is in February, that looks pretty cold.

I owe on my taxes this year, I hope that doesn't mean I have to give up a bike.

[Tim Baldwin]

Thanks Leah! Hope you had a happy birthday and were able to get out for a ride. The mist was great; a perfect backdrop for some early morning black metal on my bluetooth speaker to go along with some black coffee.

Mark, it really wasn't that cold. The temperature never dropped much below 40F. The snow was leftovers from a blizzard that came on the same day as my Susie. No need to give up a bike. Just have to find a different way to justify a new bike.

[Justin Kennedy (Brooklyn, NY)]

Great post Tim, thanks for sharing the build info and camp story & pics. Makes me wanna head out for an overnighter this weekend!

[Pat Smith]

Nice writeup, thanks for sharing. Makes me miss the winters when I lived in Lake Geneva, WI.

Pat in DC where it's just cold and wet and no fun snow.

[Ray Evans]

I am sitting in 70 degree sunshine reading your post, thinking, "No. No way. Hanging out in the latrine just to warm up before a bike ride? No, that's not happening." And yet...and yet, I'll bet that coffee tasted damned good. So happy birthday, Tim, and thanks for sharing this tale with us.

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[Tim Baldwin]

Thanks all for reading. Justin, I recommend getting out weather be damned. It's good for the soul. I'm already planning my next one.

[Paul Richardson]

Awesome post, thank you.  This board needs more write-ups like this!  Great photos too.  Love seeing Gus and Suzie out together.  Your bikes look great.  Big time inspo.

paul

takoma park, md.

[Doug H.]

Great post Tim. The orange frame with the black rims and big Schwalbe G-Ones looks nice.

Doug

[Eric Marth]

Rad trip! Thanks for sharing :) 

[Tim Baldwin]

Thanks for reading Paul, Doug, and Eric. Glad people are enjoying the post. I'm hoping this is one of many overnights this year. The Gus and Susie are some great riding bikes. I got a couple commutes in this week and I've been having a blast cruising fast, flying over the rough streets here. Those G Ones set up tubeless probably help.