June rides, summer begins

[Railtrail]

Woah! Love the decals on that Surly!

I could have sworn I saw a Log Lady decal in a photo somewhere. I was a little disappointed when it arrived without such. However, I have found a fun alternative. It turns out there is a vast amount of Log Lady kitsch on Etsy. I picked up a Log Lady patch from a shop called blacklodgepress and sewed it to my seat bag.

I agree with you, NWG, it’s a lovely frame and I’ve really enjoyed it since my last post here. I think I’ve put in about 200 miles and it’s very hilly here. The hills have kept me away from ss before but I’m glad I switched things up. I’ve been really surprised by how well it climbs. I will say that I do stand to climb and have lost traction on the back several times on wet or sandy hills. I am running with the rocket rons, which I otherwise really love thus far. They are super quick.

The frame is really well made and has a unique ride quality, in my experience. I think the Log Lady really slid under the radar or perhaps All City may have missed the mark in marketing it. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I’m enjoying mine!

[north woods gal]

Thanks for the link, Sheila. Might try getting some decals. That's one fine looking Surly, too. Love it.

Hope things ease up a bit for you, rebecca, so you get some ride time. Of course, we'd all like some of those great pics, too.

RT, oh yes, I love my LL. Had to change out to a 22 tooth cog in the back to manage my trail climbs without blowing a knee (not to mention I just turned 68). After all, All-City advertises the LL as a single speed race bike. Not sure I'll ever get into the category. With the 22 tooth cog, I still have to stand for my steep climbs, but it's doable and I am getting stronger. The good news is that with a 22 cog I can stay in the saddle for a lot of my easier sections. Gives me the option of loafing a bit on the easy stuff.

You're right about the frame. It's not as good as my Gunnar single speed, but that's a custom frame, after all. Still, I'd rate the LL frame as outstanding. It's a steal for that price. Love that front fork, too. Nice and stable on the downhills and the rough stuff. For tires, I went with the much more aggressive Continental Trail Kings on mine, but am thinking of trying something else. The Trail Kings are on the slow side, but they do have a great bite. Have had no slippage on my climbs while standing with these tires. They also manage the sandy spots with minimal fishtailing.

Now that I have one, I feel very lucky in having grabbed the last Log Lady available. In fact, while checking availability, just this week, with a lot of bike brands and models, I was amazed at how many models have sold out for the year. Wow! Lesson learned. For anyone thinking of ordering a new bike, do it as early in the year as possible. Summer is not a good time to buy a new bike. The popular models are usually sold out for the year.

[Crankin]

Sounds like you're having fun, NWG.
I knew I needed to not ride today, despite the beautiful weather. So, in keeping with our decision to enjoy the places we don't get to enough, we took the train into Boston and walked the entire Rose Kennedy Greenway, plus a lot more. The Greenway had an exhibit of old neon signs rescued from restaurants and businesses that have closed. One was a restaurant I went to as a kid. Tons of people out at the beer gardens, some Pride activities, a Portuguese festival, etc. After our walk, we walked to the North end, found a restaurant on a side street we hadn't been to and was not full of tourists, and sat by the open windows by the street and had some appetizers. We are going away Thursday for a quick weekend trip to Chicago, so instead of our usual grocery shopping, just stopped by to get something for tonight.
I always feel guilty when I don't ride on a nice day, but it's not like I am inactive. DH thinks I am a little over the top; he's probably right, as I've had long periods of obsessive exercise, but since I don't weigh 92 pounds anymore, well, I feel guilty. The weather until we leave looks good, so I will get at least 2 rides in. Looking forward to the trip and we plan to walk everywhere.

[north woods gal]

Sounds like fun, Crankin. I do miss some of those activities the big cities offer. I did ride into town, yesterday and there was a motorcycle rally and meet going, complete with stands selling hamburgers. That's more our speed, up here.

Did 12 miles of laps on my trails, today, first half with my old Pugsley and the last half with the Log Lady. Pretty pooped out when I was done, but the two bikes were an interesting contrast, of course. The old Pugs is no racehorse, but you just can't beat those wide tires for smoothing out the trail and rolling over anything in their path. No need to do any fancy darting or dodging. Just plow right on through. As for the Log Lady, after riding the Pugs, it was like going from a pickup truck to a Porche.

[emily_in_nc]

nwg, there are a lot of online shops that sell custom decals. For awhile, a lot of folks in our bike club in NC were getting decals with their names on them, so I did the same when I built a lovely Aegis Swift with bronzy-gold decals. I matched the color as close as I could on an online shop and added my name to the frame. Can't remember the online shop, as this was back in 2004, but they did a great job with the decal!

Crankin, your ride (including campus and bike path) sounded really fun. Just the kind of ride I would like. I like variety during a ride rather than just a long road ahead, where the environment is the same the entire way. Keeps my senses clicking.

We finally got a ride in yesterday (first in nearly a week after traveling and have been visiting my mother and step-dad). This was in my mother's and adjacent neighborhoods. She lives in the foothills of the Appalachians, so it's quite hilly, though there is one road connecting a couple of the neighborhoods that is flat, a welcome break. No shoulders, but at least the speed limit is only 25-35 mph, and it doesn't get much traffic. The neighborhoods are hillier but get little traffic on Sunday mornings. It was hot, humid, and sunny, so I only put in 18 miles, about half my Florida normal. With the hills and riding my Bike Friday, which is slower than my Trek, I still got a great workout. Glad to get out there, even though conditions are never ideal in this area for riding.

[north woods gal]

Good for you, Emily. As they say, where there's a will, there's a way. Can't always find a place that is bike, friendly.

When I lived in the Chicago area, my suburb was NOT bike friendly, other than a couple of short paved bike trails in a couple local parks and, of course, those had to be shared with people walking. No bike lanes in town, not a one, or even bike routes for dealing with traffic. Bicyclists were totally on their own for dealing with traffic. While it was technically illegal to ride on sidewalks, the cops actually encouraged me to do just that on some sections of roads for my own safety. These were road stretches where several bicyclists had been killed. Did get to do some mountain biking in the nearby Forest Preserve on gravel trails, but those same cops and some locals also warned me to be ever vigilant. Those were known hangouts for drug dealers (and, yes, I saw these people). Worse yet, more than one gal hiking or jogging on the trails while I was there disappeared without a trace. Pretty darn spooky. Still,those were some great bicycle years for me. Will never forget them.

[Crankin]

We've had beautiful weather, but today is cloudy, humid, and breezy, although not too hot. It's supposed to rain a bit this afternoon.
I rode to the gym Monday and did my class, which apparently set my recovery back, as I was really not feeling well for the whole day at work. Kind of sucked, since I had 8 clients until 7pm, as I am going away tomorrow. But, a night of sleep helped and yesterday I finally felt much better. Still not 100%, though, so I went out for a little ride of 13 miles this morning. At mile 5 I thought I was sweating a lot, but it was actually raindrops I was seeing. Along with that, there were a few nasty wind gusts. I started thinking that every time I am on the road I was on, going in this direction, it has been either sprinkling or foggy and I've had to shorten my ride. So, at that point I made my decision and was fine with it. The sprinkles were intermittent, but the head/crosswind was not, so I was surprised that my average was as good as it was, and not at "touring" pace. Not high, but about average for me when I am not really pushing it. In addition to the wind, there's one short, but steeper hill right before the final 3 miles home, which is flat.
Glad I went, but vacation for 3 days will give me enforced rest from the bike, although we may rent bikes and ride along the Chicago River. Hope to ride a lot next week on Wed, Thurs, and Fri, as we will have our granddaughter for the full weekend next weekend. I wish we had a bike trailer, but DH doesn't want to invest in one, and would rather wait until she can ride a tagalong or on her own bike. I will be able to do a shorter ride on my own, one of the days, but we most likely will hike with her in the carrier one of the days.
We get home at midnight Saturday, so I also hope to ride early Sunday, before Father's Day festivities. It's supposed to be 90.