It was a nice day for...

[JohnS]

1. A ride on the QB - The forecast for Thursday was for 70% chance of precipitation, so a good excuse not to paint the exterior trim around our front door.

 

2. Fenders - There was a chance for light rain but not down pours, so on went the fenders. I had taken them off back in the spring when I mounted the folding Pasela tires on the QB. Didn't need them until now.

 

3. Wool socks - The fenders kept most of the rain from splashing up on me, but my feet still got wet. None the less, the wool socks did the job at keeping my feet comfortable.

 

4. Light weight rain coat - When I started the ride it wasn't raining, so this simple rain coat from LL Bean folds up and is easily stored in the Shop Sack. I had to put it on about 5 miles into the ride when it went from a light drizzle to a steady light rain. I wore it for about another 5 miles when it stopped, just before a long gradual climb, off it came, a quick shake to get the water off and back into the Shop Sack it went. I wore it again near the end of the ride when the drizzle picked up again.

 

5. Tail light - this is a strap on Bontrager which uses a USB cable to connect to my laptop for charging. I like how it has a low and high setting for each of the modes. I went with the steady flash in the high beam setting when it was raining.

 

6. Cycle cap - This one is also from Bontrager, LBS is Trek dealer so they have a good selection of Bontrager accessories. It fits under my helmet comfortably and the flaps can be folded up to expose my ears to help regulate my body temp.

 

7. Post ride hot shower, dry clothes and hot coffee - Goes with out saying, but after 38 miles of cool damp/wet riding, they felt great!

 

Moral of the story, try not to let a little rain stop you from getting out for a great ride. Just be prepared and enjoy the time in the saddle!

 

JohnS

 

[Ron Mc]

That's pretty brave, taking off with a 70% rain chance.  I usually dodge recreational riding at 40% rain chance.  I rode both days of the weekend in broken light rain with scattered peeking blue sky, and racked up 88 miles.  

My friends were RV'ing at a KOA on the Salado Creek Greenway in the near southside of town.  Two couples, trained chefs, one a homebrewer - it was an event not to miss.  

Saturday, I started at the north end of the greenway and rode down to meet them, then guided them to the south end of the greenway, which includes a loop around a lake.  

  

My bike is built on a cross frame, with no holes for anything.  I've been very happy with the Raceblade XL fenders, adding a PDW Origami splash guard to the seat tube to make them close-enough to full-coverage.  It takes about 3 minutes to install them and they even provide adequate coverage for my 38mm Barlows.  

With a fold-up tire, two tubes, tools for every fastener, chain kit, saddle cover, and personal sundries, my saddle bag is pretty much loaded.  

So after a mounting epiphany for a Mark's front rack, Ely at Ruthworks made me a 3-l front bag.  In it, I carry my wind/rain shell, goretex helmet cover (worst part of a vented helmet in the rain is the wash coming over your eyes), shortie socks, and have room to stuff layers.  

I affectionately call her the Italian Huffy, roadies call her a cruiser (a strange pedestrian girl on the greenway questioned her gender - some rude comment about the bag), but I think she should at least be considered a Sport Tourer, and I like to think of her as an Upright Rando.  

I started off the morning in knickers, knee socks, long-sleeve merino base with a Columbus tee shirt (from Chuck Schmidt).  Peeled the knee socks before our noontime ride down the greenway.  

My friends loved the ride - one couple is from a town in the hill country, and this was their first ride on the greenway.  It follows the creek through cypress tunnels, connecting a series of parks - there were go-kart races at Covington park.  The KOA was also very nice, in a pecan grove.  

After the ride, IPA was exceptional, as were the carrabba burgers off the grill with sweet potato fries from the scan pan.  The carrabba burgers include copious sweet onions, jalapenos, chipotle peppers and sun-dried tomatoes chopped in with the ground sirloin.  

[Ron Mc]

forgot to add, my friends were riding the first pair of Rockhoppers sold in the state of Texas

[hsmitham]

I love it!

Out here in the land of drought I'm like a cat and freak out when it rains these days. What the hell is this stuff falling from the skies?? Usually John, I can take a day off the bike and merely wait a day for that unusual meteorological event to pass. This past Summer I was on tour up on Vancouver Island with a buddy from Portland. We had some rain and I was running around figuratively battening down my hatches and he was like looking at me like I was a freak! Well from his perspective I suppose I was as he just threw on his rain jacket and just rode. I had brought only a light windbreaker (I was weight pack conscious) so after riding about 15 miles my entire chest was soaked. We stopped into a local coffee shop in Duncan B.C. to wait the storm out, while drinking my coffee the barista offered to throw my wet clothes into their dryer in back. Life is surprising and good. 

In another life I lived in Northern California and well it does rain there, I recall the sweet satisfaction of being out in the rain for hours and coming into the warmth of the home with a roaring fire and hot chocolate.

 
John where do you live for context?

And I really liked the format of gear/purpose and function.

Tail Winds,

~Hugh

[Ron Mc]

we saw a pair of bald eagles on the creek - actually, they were sitting on the ground in the middle of one of the parks and took off for us when we approached - and the biggest buck I've ever seen in Texas - he had to be over 250 lbs - very unusual for here.  

[Ryan Fleming]

Couldn't agree more but I tend to draw the line at thunderstorms with lightning...especially out in the prairie

[JohnS]

Hello Hugh,

 

I'm in Allentown PA. We haven't had much rain lately, but I had a feeling that it won't be too bad, so I went for it. During the light rain I almost bailed but instead I toughed it out and kept going. When it did stop raining, there was still that high cloud cover with light, wispy lower clouds drifting though. I should have included in the original post that the temp was in the mid 50's. I wore shorts, a poly-pro base layer long sleeve top and my Sugoi jacket (also from the LBS). The jackets rocks for cool weather riding, all poly-pro with nylon wind stop fabric on the chest and tops of the sleeves. The sleeves can be unzipped and removed to make it into a vest when needed.

 

Hello Ron,

 

I like your ride, I would call it a sport touring bike. Why is it that non-cyclist associate upright bars with cruisers? I had a neighbor say the same thing about an '80's Centurion road bike which I had replaced the drop bars with Albatross bars. Kind of irked me at the time.

 

John

[Ron Mc]

thanks John, I get many good compliments on my bike at water stops - I've had people walk around it and look at every detail on it, stand back, and look some more.  The girl on the trail blurted out that my front bag (really new to me) was foppish, only she didn't say it that nicely - it was a weird encounter - my teeth were not skinned, nor my manhood.  It's the NAMILs who want to call it a cruiser - seems like a defense mechanism to downplay something not understood.  I honestly built it to be a 10-20-mi bike, but after I got my bars dialed in, I can ride it 65 miles with no circulation pinch anywhere.  I customized the gearing to match my terrain, 23 to 95 inches in 6-7-inch steps, but most everything I need is on the big ring and narrow steps around cruising gears. 

Had some time this afternoon, better light, and got better photos of the bike with the new bag

 

It handles wonderfully and is a genuine all-road bike.  

On Monday, November 16, 2015 at 3:16:25 PM UTC-6, JohnS wrote:

...

[Hugh Smitham]

Ron,

I always appreciate your builds.

Tail Winds,

~Hugh

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[Edwin W]

Ron,

I had a daily commuter 10 years or so ago that was a Raleigh 925 fixed gear with some upright bars. A colleague saw it and said, "oh, you ride a cruiser." For some reason, I took such offense on behalf of my bike! Cruiser is one style of bike that I have never really taken to, and didn't want my (in my mind) awesome bike being called a cruiser!

On my own cuise-ade,

Edwin

[Ron Mc]

thanks guys - It brakes really well, also - the Paul cantis plus the big Barlow feet.  A few weeks on a different greenway, a dad was having trouble corralling his little boy on a 16-inch.  I was already alert and slowing, but I'm sure I stopped from 10 mph in 4 feet.  

[Steve Palincsar]

Most people only casually acquainted with bars like that would probably refer to them as "cruiser bars," and so it would be natural for them to think of the bike as "a cruiser."  It takes a sophisticated eye to see beyond the bars and notice that it's actually a long distance rider.  As for thinking that front bag is "foppish" - I can't imagine.  There's absolutely nothing even remotely foppish about it.

I

[Ron Mc]

the difference is, what I thought about her was true, but I kept it to myself..

[David Person]

At least she didn't comment on your package. :>)

[dougP]

Since converting my Atlantis to upright bars it's been mistaken for a hybrid & a cruiser. Must be the chubby tires.

[Tony DeFilippo]

My albatross bars garner similar comments.  Invariably the conversation goes like this;

Co-worker/aquatence - Oh, you ride your bike to work, what kind of bike do you have?

Me - It's a steel bike made by Rivendell, kind of a fat tired road bike with swept back handlebars...

C-W/A - So it's a hybrid?

Me - (pause)... yeah pretty much.

I do really like the looks of those Jitensha-like upright bars though... might have to give that a try sometime.

[Ron Mc]

good answer Tony, there's really no use in trying to educate people who have no reason to listen.  In any single-person gear-intensive activity there can be a snob factor about the gear.  Doesn't have to be and it's always a test of personalities.  It's rich in fly fishing.  In both sport/entertainment groups, there are industry marketing factors that promote it.  I fish with vintage (and a couple of new) cane rods, because I like the way they fish (like we ride steel bikes, because we like the way they ride).  I also have a hobby business repairing antique fly reels.  Often on the river, I run across people defensively expecting me to be a snob because of my choice.  

1932 FE Thomas Special rod matched with a c. 1940 Young pattern 15a reel, which was also imported and sold as the Thomas Special reel (this rig fished on tv, for an episode of Trout Unlimited On the Rise).  

No question, you pass and get passed by at least a few people who smirk and look down their noses at their pigeonhole of your upright bike.  This doesn't seem to happen when I'm on my drop-bar Moser.  I pass many casual riders on road bikes and of course get passed by many serious riders.  I few bright individuals recognize the set-up and make honest comments/compliments.  Then there is also a hollow, not quite condescending, "nice bike" that seems to automatically come from passing club riders - and it's not offensive, it's intended to be encouraging.   And don't get me wrong, I've had many great conversations with the guy on the left.  There are more nice folks on bikes than otherwise.  

If you do go the Jitensa/Map/Mary route, there are three width choices (listed narrow to wide).  That's the first choice to make.  The width of my 615 mm Map bar is an important part of my joy.  I'm also a pretty big guy, 46-inch chest, and these are my correct size.  

Regards

[Tony DeFilippo]

Thanks for the sizing tip Ron!  Your analogy to fly fishing is a good one, I find myself consistently attracted to the traditional niche's in other hobbies and interests as well... b/w film, manual focus, prime lenses and so forth in photography, traditional/recurve archery (a budding interest), pour over coffee... basically anything that has a record of durability, requires a bit more time/effort and has a bit of romance/nostalgia to it.  Even in choosing our current home my wife and I were both attracted to more traditional layouts and older styles.  

Then again there are some fresh new things like this online community and all the tech that makes it possible that are certainly worth having to!  

Tony

[Ron Mc]

Tony, information is what the internet brings us (and shopping convenience).  In the old days, for information, we had what our LBS brought us.  In 1977 I would have told you Zeus was the be-all, end-all bicycle, because it was nicest carried by the UT Co-Op.  Aside from that, we were stuck with the editorial bent of the magazines.  The internet is the reason I discovered vintage fly tackle, and gained an appreciation of the old stuff I already had - it was certainly dated tackle compared to wares of the local Fly Pro Shop (a great place staffed with great folks - there was a washtub filled with iced gratis beer on Saturday afternoons).  I have filing cabinets filled with engineering papers, but rarely use them.  Yesterday, I used my CRC Handbook in conjunction with Wikipedia to help identify unknown salts from a refinery reformer.  

The internet opens up to so many more ideas, and we can compare our personal preferences with others', and keep learning about why we like what we do.  I think it's the casual riders on the latest/greatest carbon who are stuck in the past.