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.

The Shards of Narsil - SKS Chromoplastic Fenders

I wrote earlier about my fender explosion, and the time has now come to install the replacements. The original fender has been enshrined, as were the Shards of Narsil, only to be remade by the most skilled elves of Rivendell (not Rivendell).

Photo Credit: Wikipedia (Lord of the Rings)

In the meantime, I'll be working on installing these:

Good thing tomorrow is Saturday . . .

Riding Across Mendota - Ice Road Biking

Since winter began, I developed the itch to ride across the frozen Lake Mendota. I check this site regularly for updates on ice thickness from local fishermen. After a couple months of reported thicknesses of 10", I started to build confidence in the endeavor. Then it rained. And got warm. And some guy's shanty on the lake looked like this:

This shanty is on a trailer. The wheels are buried in the ice. Shoulda moved it before it rained.

But, I do live in Wisconsin, and it's February, so it got cold again and froze really nicely. So, this morning I headed out on the lake. Here's a shot of my entrance to Mendota:

By UW Hospitals

About 100 yards out, I ran across my first obstacle: a ribbon of slush. I noticed that 4-wheelers and trailers have been dragged across this ribbon, but it was SOFT and not so confidence-inspiring. A couple shots:

I picked what looked like a sturdy line, and this happened:

Not Cool

Pucker factor. Didn't like this one bit. So I kept riding. I headed toward the sinking shanty, and then on toward Memorial Union:

Smooth sailing to the Union.

Here are some shots in between my journey from the Union to Picnic Point:

Once I was close to Picnic Point, the ice really started to crack and give way a little, so I abruptly turned West and headed back toward the sinking shanty:

A nice handlebar shot facing the Union:

To wrap up, a shot from Bikely of the route:

I'll probably ride a few more times before the weather turns the top layer of ice into slush. I could really use a Mukluk-'twould make life much more fun on adventures such as this.

How Not To Lock Up Your Bike

I'm sincerely trying to think this one through. Did the dude(tte) assume they know how a U-lock is used when they bought it and didn't ask how it's supposed to be used? Did they ask and the salesperson said "just make sure you put the lock through 4 or 5 spokes at a minimum."? 

Interestingly, the bike has been in the stall for a couple days. Maybe when it warms a little the thieves will be more attracted to it.

SKS Chromoplastic Fender mishaps

A few days ago, the portion of my front fender that protrudes from the fork crown snapped off. Lovely. I figured I'd deal with it and forgo replacement. This morning, I was riding along through semi-frozen puddles, with a layer of ice across the top. Apparently, a chunk of ice wedged itself on my rear tire and followed the rotation up into my fender. The rear wheel went into a skid, and I found this:

Oh Snap

Here's the front fender:

Double snap.

Looks like I'm in the market for some replacements. I may consider some Honjo's or Velo Orange fenders.

Supernova E3 Rear fix

Recently, I noticed that my Supernova E3 Rear light had stopped working. The juice that comes off the hub is AC, and the headlight converts the current to DC, powers the front light, and sends power back to the rear light. I was nervous that something in this technical electronic system had malfunctioned, necessitating service from Supernova in Germany. I did not want to do that. I did, however, email them for help (more on that later).

I started diagnosing the lighting system, starting at the hub. Voltage was good at the hub (AC). Of course it was, since the front light is functional. From the front light, the wiring is sealed all the way back to the rear light, so I was skeptical of a problem along the way. I opened up the back of the E3 Triple, put a meter on the wires (DC current this time). Voltage good. I then took apart the rear light only to find no voltage at the miniature circuit board beneath the three LEDs.

So, power out of the front light, but nothing at the rear light. I started investigating at the splice about 8" off the back of the front light. Power on both sides of the splice. Still no power back to the rear light. I cut the wire strategically (at about the chainstay) and I found no current at the supposed supply. I connected the now cut off rear light directly to the exposed splice at the front light, and voila, it works. The wire had actually gone bad in line. Lame. I replaced the bad section of wire and soldered the system back together.

Standlicht

Finally

I still haven't heard back from Supernova.

Ran out of gas today . . . in a blizzard . . . . with kids in the car

After picking up our niece today at the airport, we . . . I ran out of gas right by the Capitol building. With my wife, kids, and niece in the car, I felt even more stupid than with a typical Morse gas outage. To make matters worse, a ridiculous blizzard was hitting the city (UW canceled school), and the nearest gas station was 1 mile away. The good news was I had my Casseroll with me on the roof rack (I met up with my wife). So, I bundled back up, and pedaled my way to the one-mile-away gas station. At least I was going faster than the cars.

Gas can purchased and filled, winter gear back on, and no real awesome way to carry the gas can. If my Morse instincts got me into this mess, they could get me back out. I took off my belt, worked it through my Tubus rack, and had a quite secure gas can transport system. I only wish my belt wasn't post buckle style, but prong style, but gravity kept the post in place. I did almost go down while waiting at a red light, just from the wind. Crazy.

Enjoy these:

Ortlieb should look into this. 

Pistols baby.

Bike 1 - Car 0