Woman Escapes Tsunami by Bike -- Love this story

This woman, of 83 years, turned instinctively to her bicycle as a method of escape from the devastating tsunami in Japan. I just ran out of excuses to ride.

Spring is Springing -- Off With the Studs!

I just got back from a little trip to the Twin Cities, where newscasters were calling the weather phenomenon of Spring "The Thaw." This made sense once we were driving around the city. Ski resort-caliber machinery were on the streets chewing up snowbanks (icebanks, really) and filling up dump trucks with the stuff. I figure, if the thaw is happening in MSP, I can be somewhat confident in removing the studded tires from the Casseroll.

If Madison is anything like the Wasatch Front, snow storms will probably come and go throughout April and May. I just hope the remnants of said storms evaporate as I'm used to. All that being said, the studs must go. Here are the promised full-body shots of the VO fenders with the 35c Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires.

I'll post some pics soon of the 28c Paselas. With the tire change, the bike loses nearly 3 lbs. Needless to say, it feels much faster.

What 1/2" of rain in the forecast looked like this morning

With a "slight chance" of rain, with < 1/2" of accumulation possible this morning, I figured today would be a standard commute. Not so much:

Fresh snow. Mostly.

My feet were in the snow at every pedal stroke. 6" or so of snow. 

Contemplating the 2011 Salsa Casseroll Frame

I'm seriously contemplating changing my frame to the 2011 Salsa Casseroll frameset. This new frameset basically solves all of my problems (well, those related to randonneuring).

First, it has an integrated front rack, which will better accommodate my handlebar rando bag. This would free up handlebar space (as I'm currently using the handlebar-mount method with a decaleur system). Also, I can better mount my light, as it's currently mounted to the fork leg.

Next, it uses cantilever brakes, allowing for much better fender clearance. After my recent fender installation experience, this is a much welcomed advancement. Also, the fork has better clearance at the crown, and has a rake, as opposed to the straight-legged version I currently have.

It also adds a third bottle-cage mount under the downtube. I probably won't always have a cage mounted there unless I'm going on a ride that necessitates three 27oz. Klean Kanteens.

The chainstays have been pinched a little, allowing for better tire clearance. The headtube is a little taller, but I'll probably try to maintain my current handlebar height if possible.

As far as brakes, I'm thinking of the VO canti's.

I like this Crank Brothers Cobalt SL headset (which matches nicely):

With that, everything else will stay as-is. I really have an itchy trigger finger on this one . . . . 

Velo Orange 45mm Hammered Fenders on the Casseroll

Now that I've ridden with what resembles SKS fenders for a week or so, my Velo Orange fenders arrived. I still haven't been able to find internet-verifiable proof that anyone is running Schwalbe Marathon winter 700x35c tires on a pre-2011 Casseroll, let alone with fenders. Let the project begin.

First, I needed to find a better brake solution. The medium-reach brakes that come stock on the Casseroll were not quite wide enough to really run a 45mm fender with 35c studded tires. My wife's bike (parked for the winter), has Tektro 556's (or Rivendell Silvers), to adapt a 27"-wheeled frame to 700c wheels. They are much wider (allowing for fender clearance), but would they work on a 700c frame w/ 700c wheels? That's part of the project below. On to the fender install.

The VO fenders are definitely more rounded, better following the profile of the tire tread. 

Profile comparison.

For the rear fender, I needed to trim around the mount to allow space for the chainstays. Markings for said trimming below:

Marks to trim front of rear fender.

After trimmage.

I tried the daruma mount setup under the fork crown, but the tolerance is so small that the nut on the underside of the daruma would rub into the tire. That, and the crown has too much material on the inside to fit a daruma and Sheldon fender nut (or any recessed brake nut for that matter). Daruma aborted and L-bracket engaged.

Tried the daruma.

I drilled the holes for the L-bracket. I had to mount the screws with the head on the underside of the fender, with the nut and excess screw length on top. Again, tire clearance is at a premium with this setup. The larger hole here is pre-drilled for the daruma setup. I lined that hole up with the fork crown, and set up the L-bracket accordingly for hole drilling.

Holes drilled for L-bracket.

Once installed, front and rear, careful tweaking and adjusting was absolutely necessary to eliminate rubbage. Heres a shot of the rear fender stay. The fender stays have subtle markings, so centering the stay in the daruma mount is simplified.

Rear strut mount. Centered & leathered.

These fenders have incredible coverage. The mudflap rides about 1/2" off the ground (it would probably touch the ground if it were new and rigid).

The mudflap rides about 1/2" off the road.

Heres a closeup of the front tire clearance off the front of the fender. The fender covers more tire out away from the front of the bike. Hopefully this helps control some of the snow spray I've been experiencing with the relatively short SKS setup.

Pretty tight clearance.

At the back fender bridge, I refashioned the SKS bracket instead of using the one provided by VO. It was smaller and easier to work with. Notice the long-reach brake with the cartridges slid all the way up. It doesn't look the best, but it works great. The braking power is actually better.

The Tektro 556 and fender bridge.

Here's a detail of the front brake, fork crown, L-bracket area. Notice the mounting technique for the L-bracket. Again, the long-reach Tektros featured here.

Front brake and fork mount detail.

The front mount on the rear fender needed to be spaced back a bit. In the absence of cork, I used the extra leather washers I ordered. It worked out nice to get the fender line correct.

View downward.

Had to space this quite a bit.

The hardware for these fenders has a really nice finish, and holds the stays securely in place.

Clean hardware finish.

Front fender line shot with light.

I'll get some full-body shots in the next day or two. 

All the Way Across Lake Mendota, Madison, WI

I was headed to the gym the other day, but I forgot my bike lock. So . . . . I did the next best thing and rode out on the lake again. Except this time, I had a different goal in mind. Originally, my plan was to ride to the "center" of the lake. The conditions this time were a little less bike friendly, with a crust of snow 1-2" thick, with occasional drifts (although shallow) of 3-4". The added resistance made for a nice 1-2% grade replication. Once I got to about the center of the lake, I thought turning back would be lame, so I forged onward, to the opposite side of the lake from Memorial Union.

Here is a shot just after turning around. The bike track points almost directly to the Capitol. 

I recently installed BikeTrack on my Android phone, so I tried it out. It's a really well-made app, actually. I can upload my track as a .gpx file, easy. The Google earth shot is provided below:

4 miles across the lake with this direction of travel.

Since this ride, the temperatures have warmed to above freezing, so the lake looks like a slush pond at the moment. If the temps dip below freezing for a few days conditions will be excellent to hit the lake again before Spring officially comes. Here's hoping.