September rides, bringing in the fall.

Sorry both of you had crashes, Emily and Sheila. Both sound like stuff I would do! Sheila, yours reminds me of when my DH fell backwards off the stability ball while we were working out at home, into my bike on the trainer and got gauged by the chainrings on my bike. I hope you don't have a tattoo from those pins, like he did from the chainring. I admit I couldn't stop laughing at him when it happened. It was so slow, he could have stopped it.
We are having a real fall like weekend, so today we will do a shorter ride and then tomorrow, a long one. We have to avoid some of our favorite spots, as apple picking season has begun and the hordes are crowding the roads, as well as parking alongside many of the narrow country roads we ride on. Yesterday, I didn't ride, but went to boot camp and then took a 4 mile walk with a friend. My legs are feeling it; we walked on the bike trail and my calves are tight from that. Next time, we will hike.

Love my flat pedals on all my bikes, but, yeah, you have to respect those pins in the pedals. I've been "bitten" many times with them as I walk my bikes up and down the steps of our deck getting the bikes in and out of the house.

We did a nice neighborhood ride with one of my husband's sisters, yesterday, even though the wind was howling and we were getting hit with light rain and mist. She did very well on the Specialized Roll comfort bike. Not to surprised, since this modern breed of comfort bike is designed for people who haven't done a lot of biking, but she really did manage to get up the hills in very good form.

As for the rest of my daily ride, spent more time getting on and off the fat bike, clearing tree limbs and debris off the trails from the high winds. Definitely more cleaning than riding. I could, of course, just ride the fat bikes over everything - they can roll over just about anything in their path - but I still want to ride some my standard MTB bikes on the trail before winter sets in. Standard 2.25" MTB tires are susceptible to trail debris and wet leaves, so taking no chances when I ride these bikes. Clean trails, only, for these bikes.

I may still get to wear shorts now and then for the next month if we get a nice warm day, but those days will now be few and far between. Leggings and a sweatshirt/jacket are now pretty much standard when I ride. Even gloves on some days. Missing summer, already, though fall, up here, really is a gorgeous time of year.

We accomplished our goal of a short ride, 18.5 miles, with an average above 14, despite starting out going quite slowly. The humidity is gone and it's windy and partly cloudy. It felt quite cool for the first mile or two, but then we climbed, so it was fine wearing shorts and a regular LS jersey. The temperature was between 62 and 66. Basically went south, into the next town of Sudbury and it took quite awhile for the traffic to quiet down, when we were riding through a wildlife area. It's disturbing to see how busy it's become around where I live; but then again, normally in the fall, we are riding in the afternoon on Saturdays, and today we went out at 11 or so. People driving their kids to soccer or doing shopping. In the summer, everyone is at the beach or in the mountains and it is significantly quieter. We stopped at a farm market to grab a sandwich to share, about 4 miles from home. So busy there... this is fairly easy for people from the city to get to, as opposed to where we usually go and it's also a meeting place for cyclists. I don't go here much, despite it being close. When we first moved to MA, took my kids there to get a pumpkin. We got up to the register and it was 26.00! We left it right at the register, with 2 crying little boys. The food and produce at the other place is just as expensive, but I like the vibe better.
Getting ready to meet my son and granddaughter in Somerville for the Fluff festival, as in Fluffernutter. Yes, it was invented here; should be interesting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muirenn

I'm sorry you got hurt, too, Emily.

But I think I can one-up you on that spill. I get the sheer idiocy award.

Yesterday I took a short ride around my block on the Karate Monkey after lowering the stem. When I was in front of my yard, I got off the bike and walked it a few feet while looking at the dying oak tree in my neighbor's yard. I somehow managed to trip on the bike, and the bike and I both fell. Slowly. The pedal and pins made a 4 inch swatch of scratches above my ankle. I too made certain not to hit my head.

Duh.

---

Oh man, that must have hurt (bodily and mentally!) So sorry. Sounds like something I would do. I have banged into things while being too busy looking off at birds or some such, and that is no fun. This is one reason I think I need to ride a recumbent trike! Hope you heal up quickly.

My boo-boos are much better today, hardly even noticeable. But I still don't think I'll be telling my mom on our Skype call. She already thinks cycling is accident-prone enough, and at times like these I really can't argue with her!

Crankin, I love fluffernutter! Have not had it in years but it was a childhood fave. Of course, anything with peanut butter is pretty much okay with me. $26 for a pumpkin...I would have walked away too! :eek:

Accidents? Me? What accidents? :) Really, though, bicycling is pretty safe as sports go, depending at what level you bicycle and where you bicycle, basically how much risk you're willing to take. When I look back at all my spills, the lion's share of them could have been avoided, even this last nasty one.

Nice second ride of the day, today, out on the road with Bill and his sister. I rode the Gunnar, today, and had no trouble keeping up, given it's more road friendly gear ratio. Will probably go to an even smaller rear cog at some point to up my level road speed a bit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muirenn

Looked at the geometry, and was surprised how long the top tube and reach are. The stacks are fairly high, though. Then I compared to the men's version, and the numbers were the same. So, more choice. Jeeze. The men's are available in some larger sizes. Not sure if there are smaller in the women's not available in men's. But in general. They are no different.

---

Wow, you are right. I don't think Trek makes different frames for women anymore. They just change the color and put on a women's saddle. Even the handlebars are the same.

When I went from a men's road bike frame to a wsd frame it made a huge difference in comfort for my neck and shoulders. I no longer had to stretch to reach the handlebars. I don't understand why they would go back to offering only men's frames unless they just think women are too dumb to notice.

I will ask about this at the LBS.

I cannot believe this would be true. My Silque (basically a WSD Madone) is not that old and there were definite differences in the geometry. I get a lot of online stuff from Trek and much of it is for women, about the desirability of their bikes for women. It would be pretty awful if they thought we were stupid enough to believe that changing the saddle and bars makes a bike WSD. I, for one, have never fit right on a unisex bike, even if it was the right "height." My Kutoa was wrong in so many ways, but yes, I could stand over it.
We ended up not going to the Fluffernutter festival, because there is no place to park in Union Square. We usually use Spot Hero for situations like this, and there was nothing. The other choice was to drive and park in Harvard Square for a price and then walk 25 minutes, or worse, drive, park at the train, and either do the walk or take a bus. This is an area being revitalized; eventually they will have a trolley stop, but on a line we can't easily access.
So, we went to our son's house and visited/had dinner. This must be the week for dumb accidents, because I walked in the house and didn't really look, and walked right into a trunk/coffee table in a place where there was nothing before. I kind of fell halfway over on my left side and gauged my left shin. There's a minor scrape, but I got ice and Arnica on it right away, so while it hurts to the touch, I am not in pain there. However, my whole side is kind of aching, like when you turn around and run into a wall. Oy... my son was laughing at me, because this is something he would do.

Cross bikes are notoriously not women specific, in that by nature, there is long reach and geometry to help go through sand, etc. Gravel bikes are a bit better, but after I did my research, the Specialized gravel bike for women seemed to be the only one I would even consider to try. In the end, that's what made my decision.

I just decided, in the end, I didn't want another drop bar bike. Maybe a silly reason, but I wanted a bike that was substantially different from the 2 I already had.

Last night I compared the Checkpoints and one of the Domane carbon models -- men's and women's in frame size 54 (which is what my current bike is). They were identical. Paging through the road bike listings, all I saw were "women's" bikes, nothing labeled as a WSD bikes. Their "women's specific design" page says this:

"Every Trek road, mountain, or city bike with one or more WSD parts can be found in our Women’s collection. What differentiates a Women’s bike from a bike from our mainline collection varies by model. All Women’s models have WSD touchpoints, like saddles and handlebar width. Some Women’s models also have WSD frame geometry, wheel size, crank length, and stem length."

I don't see any easy way to find a frame with different geometry for women vs men. The bikes just say "women's" and that can just mean that the saddle is different. It looks like they are intentionally making it hard to find actual women's frames, so they must not have very many anymore, and they are trying to hide the fact that they are no longer offering them. And calling the men's bikes "mainline" is just an insult.

The bike that is offered through the program at my job is a Trek, a 2018 men's commuter for which there is no comparable women's model. It is sold out according to the Trek website. I was going to ask the company that handles the rewards program to issue a Trek credit to me for the cost of that bike, and then use the credit at the LBS toward a new Trek bike that fits me and would be useful. (So far I've sent the rewards company a message through their "contact us" page but haven't heard any response yet.) My current Trek road bike fits me well enough and I've been content with it, and it is the primary brand at the LBS, so I saw no reason not to get another Trek bike. I was assuming that bikes listed on their website as "women's" meant the frames were WSD, but that is clearly not the case.

The LBS handles other brands too (though I rarely ever seen any other brands in stock there). Instead of asking for a Trek credit, I could try to get a different Trek bike through the rewards program and then trade it in for something else. I would expect that to be a 2019 hybrid at the same price point as the one they show on their website. However I don't know if I could trade it in for full value. I hope I could, since I would be trading in a brand new bike, but I would have to talk to the shop owner about it. And if I want to try a different brand bike that's not in stock, I don't know how easy that would be since I have no idea what their policy is about ordering a bike that I might not want to buy once I have a chance to test it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Muirenn

How does the checkpoint compare to your trek that fits well?

---

I don't know. I don't know how to measure to get an accurate comparison.

I am doing a live chat with Trek now. This is what they say: "We found that the majority of women would rather have WSD touch points than a WSD frame."

He says I should just get a shorter stem.

I tried that with the old men's road bike, used the shortest stem possible and it wasn't short enough. When I tried the WSD Madone that I have now, it fit right off the rack, no messing around with stems or anything else.

He also claimed that the women's bikes have different handlebars and stems than the men's but that was not the case for the bikes I compared. When I pointed that out he "apologized for the inconvenience."

===
Looking at my bike shop's web site, they also carry All-City, Surly and Felt. However when I look at the list of bikes available for special order (none are currently in stock at the shop), not all models are shown -- for example for Surly the Vaya is not shown. Most of the All-City bikes are for 2018 or earlier.

This is turning into quite a project. I don't even really know what I'm looking for.

NY, I remember discovering the same thing as far as the men's and women's frames having the same frame specs on my old WSD Domane. Thinking it was way back in 2013 or so. Kind of surprised me. All I got for my Domane being a WSD, then, was a narrower handlebar, shorter stem and WSD saddle. That was enough, though, to make it the first and just about the, only, bike I've bought that needed no mods to make it fit me. Since, then, I've gone more and more to brands that don't really offer any WSD options, so I always have to change something on the bike to get a proper fit. Always need to change the saddle and go to a shorter stem, no exceptions. Same for cutting the handlebars on the MTBs to get a proper width. I'm okay with this, because I know what a proper fit is and how to do the mods needed to get it. A lot of gals do not and just go by the manufactures generic instructions about bike size and call it good. That's a shame.

This is most disturbing and sleazy... trying the shorter stem on my 48 cm men's bike made it squirrelly as hell. This was with the same handlebars I have now and even shorter reach brakes they no longer make for Ultegra. Oh well, I don't think I'll be buying another road bike (I mean, 5 years down the road, would I at 70, really need one?), but if I do, I'm on to Specialized. And, btw, NY, I have an acquaintance who had a Felt WSD road bike. She is my height and really needed it. She sold it recently and bought a flat bar road bike/hybrid, but I am not sure if that's a Felt, too. But, I remember when she got the road bike and it was *really* nice.
So, as happens more and more lately, DH and I need motivation to get out there, 2 days in a row. I could have been convinced for a long ride, even though I really wanted to hike. However, my calves are still sore from walking Friday, on the bike trail. So, since we both seem to do better with destination rides, we decided since the only thing we needed to do was go to CVS, we could combine that with lunch at a café next door. Mind you, this is not the closest CVS, but it is the one we usually go to. We had thought we'd do some miles on the bike trail after riding there the longer way, but as we got going, we realized the café closes at 2, and we didn't want to rush. So, we ended up doing shorter, but considerably hillier, which was fine. I rode my Guru, first time since our trip. I didn't feel as weird with the change, and the truth is, I love the feel of this bike. It is cool and cloudy today, so I wore commuting knickers and a Terry Soleil hoodie with a SS base layer, and my vest. It was appropriate until we did the climb up Strawberry Hill, but then we were almost there. We both stuffed our vests in DH's trunk bag, thinking we would not need them after lunch. However, when we came out of CVS, it was colder, windier, and then when we started off in the shortest way back home, rain drops were spritzing! However, they did stop, once we crossed the highway.
Could have done more, but, who cares. Not sure I'll get any riding done until after I come back from visiting my son, unless I ride to work tomorrow. Tuesday is rainy and cool and Wed. still chance of rain and thunderstorms. I really want to go on the group ride Wed., as it's an 80th birthday party for a man I like, but I suspect it will be cancelled.

I love the All City bikes for their frames. Very, very traditional, strong, but not overbuilt. Really bring out the best in the ride quality of steel. Love my Surly bikes, too, but Surly builds their steel bike frames heavy enough to withstand a nuclear blast. My factory complete Log Lady, for instance, compares, nicely, in ride quality and handling to my MUCH more expensive, fully custom Gunnar Ruffian. My next bike will be another All City and it will be used for pavement work. Probably go with a Macho Man flatbar or a Nature Boy single speed and then convert it to flat bar. After riding my light, fast, super easy rolling steel single speeds all summer, it's really, really hard for me to go back to riding big heavy bikes for road work. No point in it. I'm not packing heavy loads, after all. Just making daily rides on pavement for the sheer joy of riding.

But even in my trail riding, I'm now thinking lighter and faster. My Log lady, though geared a bit higher than my Krampus single speed conversion, nevertheless pedals easier than the Krampus. Those big heavy 29x3 tires/wheels on the Krampus are harder to pedal single speed, no doubt about it. You can do the calculations in gear inches to determine what gear ratio you need for a particular type of riding, but wheel/tire weight is also a big factor in how easy a bike pedals and how easily it rolls. That's one part of the equation that is not easy to calculate.