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  1. #61
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394

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    Sheila, DH has 2 bags like the link you posted; he bought them many years ago and used them for his Trek 5500 and the Kuota for when we did long rides or for commuting. He tried it on my bike, but my bike is just too small for it. They are gorgeous bags, though, which is why he has kept them. I don't know what brand they are, but they look exactly the same.
    I axed the idea of using my pannier, too. I absolutely hated it, though I used it for a long time on both my Jamis Coda and my Guru. However, both my new Topeak trunk bag and my Arkel bag don't change the handling of the bike at all, the way a pannier does. It just feels incredibly heavy. The thing is, I can take the Topeak bag off in a second, for rides when I don't need to carry stuff. Like tomorrow, we are taking our granddaughter in the Burley, on the bike trail. I can put my stuff in the trailer trunk.
    I didn't ride to the gym, although it is absolutely gorgeous out, was 56 at 5:30 am. My legs were toast when I got up, from that little 9 miles I did yesterday on my commute. It's fine now, and I suspect riding the Ariel with the packed bag is going to make me feel like my Silque is just flying. I will find out on Sunday.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  2. #62
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Thought about the bag on the ECR, too.

    Unfortunately, the fate of my ECR is uncertain, right now. As I've mentioned, the single speeds and the aftermath of my accident have changed my biking style and uses and the ECR just kind of falls between the cracks, right now. The ECR is a great bike for its intended use, a la loading it up and bicycling in remote or rough road areas, but I have fat bikes that will do the same and more. As far as riding pavement, it's way, way behind the single speeds as far as enjoyment and ease of use. Right, now, the ECR is sitting at one of our bike shops while the owner contemplates allowing me to use it for a trade. It's in mint shape, so really don't want to ride it while waiting to see if I can sell or trade it.

    Kind of open as to what I want as a replacement to the ECR, but I do know that a replacement will see mostly pavement and some gravel. I would like steel, but I want something 25 pounds or less to pedal, same as my steel single speeds. That weight limit might be tough to pull off on a fully geared steel bike, but I'm looking. For sure, don't want another tank for pedaling on pavement, though. Seems pointless. Definitely want a bike that rolls, easily, like the single speeds. Has to be at 37mm tires for width, no skinnier. Prefer flat bar, but will consider drop bar, again. Would like to get something for this fall, yet, but I'll probably have to wait till next spring.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 08-24-2018 at 07:35 AM.

  3. #63
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    I did not get along with the SRAM double tap road shifting on the Fargo. Really struggled with downshifting because the reach was too far to be comfortable for me and, of course, on SRAM, if you don't push the shifter all the way in, you end up upshifting instead of downshifting. Not good on a long hill. Also, the Fargo came with Apex, which is low end SRAM and it basically fell apart on me in one year. I understand why so many gravel bikes come with SRAM, though. It's easier to mix and match road and MTB components than with Shimanon and it is cheaper, but I've never, ever had any issues with Shimano road groups and would gladly pay extra to get Shimano. Bottom line: If Salsa ever decides to go Shimano on the Fargo, I'll grab one, though it's still a bit heavier than I want. The Vaya Tiagra, though, is definitely under consideration. The current Tiagr is actually pretty good.

    As for today's ride, we had a break in our much needed rain, mid-morning, so we biked around the neighborhood for awhile, then I called Star and we did 5 miles of laps on the trails. All riding was done with the old Pugsley. Wet pavement and wet trails don't bother a fat bike.

  4. #64
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    My usual 15 mile morning ride on pavement with a single speed, this time the Gunnar, followed by some afternoon trail riding. The trail riding still has me conflicted. Some days my neck and shoulder are okay with the bouncy ride and some days, not. Yesterday and today were NOT days, even though I rode mostly fat bikes to smooth things out. Today, started trail riding with the fat bike, then, what the heck, just grabbed the Log lady with its skinny 2.25" tires and figured I'd just endure it. Was getting awful tired of pushing those big heavy fat bike wheels, anyway, and just wanted something easier to pedal. The Log Lady certainly is all of that, even on the trail. Turns out that the skinny tires on the LL worked okay as far as smoothness as long as I stayed on the nicer sections and kept my speed down. I do think the lighter overall weight of the Log Lady compared to the big fat bikes helped to keep my head from bouncing.

    I'm enjoying the pavement and gravel road riding more by a wide margin over the trail riding, anyway. The accident hasn't completely soured me on the gnarly single track riding, but it has pushed the trail riding into the background. I'm glad I learned all the techniques to ride some pretty rough trails - that knowledge will not be wasted - but, right now, my heart is no longer in it. The open roads are calling me back and I'm listening.

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    Took our granddaughter on a 14.6 mile rt ride on the rail trail. This time, we drove to the terminus (so we wouldn't have to ride 5 miles uphill in spots to where we usually catch the trail). I rode my Ariel, with DH pulling the Burley on his Guru. It was a lovely day, partly cloudy and about 79. We have a terrible heat wave coming next Monday through Thursday, so I really enjoyed this. The first mile and a half was a new part of the trail for us. It now ends near where it will take a path to a new bridge that will be built over the highway and come out about 1.75 miles from my house, in 2021. We rode to a pond in South Chelmsford, where there's a little beach and a swings, picnic tables, and near a Mobil mini Mart. It's really a beautiful spot, that doesn't require a resident parking sticker to park or use the beach.
    This was the first time we had annoying cyclists on the trail, but nothing like I've experienced, say like on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I have a bell on my Ariel, but apparently no one around here knows what it means when you ring it! We were going a long a good clip for a person with a trailer and me on a heavier bike. We sat and had a snack and let her go on the swings, but she didn't want to go in the water. On the way back, we called out to an older couple going really slowly, and the woman weaving all over. She told me I scared her, so I did retort that she was weaving all over the road. When you don't respond to the bell, you get me calling out in my "teacher voice."
    It was really fun, I feel like I actually worked, and she is now calling it "my trailer" and my "birdie helmet."
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  6. #66
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Day started with rain and thunder and more storms in the forecast today and tonight. Could feel the change in my neck, as in a slight flare up of arthritis. Time to put the comfort bike back on the trainer where it belongs. Yuk! I hate riding, indoors, but I suspect I'll be doing it more when winter hits this year, so might as well get in the habit. Will still ride the roads with the fat bikes when the snow falls, but NOT going to try to keep the trails open, like I did last year. That was nuts. At least my neck and shoulders are comfy when riding, indoors. There's that.

    Can feel the season changing. Most of us, up here, have given up trying to predict what the weather will be come fall and, especially winter. Been here going on nine years, now. Two winters set a record for heavy snowfall and one set a record for lack of snow fall. No matter what, hoping to get in as much riding as I can before the snow falls and I expect most of that will be road riding. Leaves are even starting to fall in the woods and I'm not too crazy about keeping the trails free of leaves for the sake of safety like I did last year. Did I mention how much work it takes to maintain trails? Not worth it for the little trail riding i still do.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 08-26-2018 at 07:37 AM.

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    NWG, we have one tree behind our townhome that has a few red leaves. It's in the edge of a small wetlands area. Every year, we have a few red leaves at the end of August, but I haven't seen any others, besides behind my house. I feel climate change is here to stay... tomorrow we begin a 3 day horrible heat wave, up to 96 and high humidity. My friend from Amherst is coming in tomorrow night, to meet up with former colleagues. We plan to ride early Wednesday, but it may be very early and very short, possibly on the bike trail. I have a short day Tuesday, but I am sure it will be brutal at 4 PM whenI get home.
    We did 50.5 miles today, and I was never more than 12-15 miles from home, which felt nice. Explored some new neighborhood streets in Concord in the beginning, and then rode into Sudbury and Wayland, through the Great Meadows Nature Preserve. At mile 13 we stopped and ate and drank and I said my goal was to get to West Acton, where we could stop and eat lunch at a farm market and then decide if we would continue. It was exactly 25 miles! It scares me to see how well I can estimate distances in my area. As we ate, we decided to press on, and I decided we would make another decision when we got near our former town of Boxborough. I thought we might have to do a long a steep climb to get the miles, but when we got to our old neighborhood, we were at mile 38, so that was not going to be necessary. We stopped and I ate a Shot Block and rued our decision to move from there! We decided to ride into West Concord village, as we knew we'd be a bit short at this point. So, we got to go down a long downhill we usually miss and stopped for ice cream, 1.8 miles from our house, but needing about 4 miles to get to 50. So, we rode around some lovely neighborhood streets and headed home.
    It was partly cloudy and got up to about 82. You can feel the humidity rising. But, it was breezy. I really appreciate the shady roads around here and the beauty. I think it makes me jaded when I travel. A good day. Hope to do a metric next weekend.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  8. #68
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Crankin, that's some impressive miles. I begin to wonder if I'll ever do 50 miles, again. Keep up that pace, though. Gives me encouragement.

    I actually did get to do some riding during an afternoon break in the storms. I figured I better get in shape with theft bikes, since I'l be riding them, exclusively, come winter. Today was a better day for my neck on our trails, given that they are a bit softer, now that it has rained. I also dropped the tire pressure down lower than necessary for this time of year and that also helped with the comfort.

    Did 5 mikes of laps on the trails, then headed out around the neighborhood paved roads with the fat bike for 10 miles worth of laps. Wanted to stay close to home in case the skies opened up, suddenly. One thing I noticed, immediately, was how being able to go faster out on the road really helped to cool me off in the very humid air. Almost like having AC after riding in the woods with no breeze. Yeah, pedaling the fat bikes out on the road is more of a workout, but, of course, fat bikes do offer some advantages. One is comfort, regardless of thread conditions. No weather and no road can stop a fat bike. Kind of gives you that invincible feeling, though, of course, that's mostly a state of mind. Fun, though.

  9. #69
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Traveling Nomad
    Posts
    6,763
    Yeah, good going, Crankin! That sounds like a fun ride (especial the food stops!)

    I can't remember if I've even managed a 50-miler this year. Last year we rode 50 on the Long Leaf Trace, when we evacuated to Mississippi to escape Hurricane Irma. Coming up on the anniversary of that and can't remember any other 50 milers since then (too lazy to check my logs, also). I just have too much lower back pain from about mile 30 on to enjoy longer rides now, so I try to hold my rides to around 35 miles. One of these days I'd love to test ride a recumbent to see if I have the same issues in that very different riding position.

    Next ride will be tomorrow, as I have another orthodontist appointment this morning, and it's too hot to ride later on.
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
    2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
    2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    This is only my 2nd 50 miler this year. I am toying of doing a century on Columbus Day weekend. It's flattish, probably similar terrain to yesterday. And, it's in an area I have not ridden in. Instead of suffering like I usually do, I am trying to train a bit. I can also just do the metric as it doesn't matter which you sign up for.
    My right wrist is hurting, I think from getting used to the flat bar on the Ariel. I rode my Silque yesterday, of course, but it had been 3 days of riding the Ariel before that. I won't be doing long rides on it, so I will deal with it. It doesn't hurt when I am riding, though.
    I feel a little crappy this morning, probably a combo of the ride, pollen, and getting up for boot camp and doing it. I should have stayed in bed, but, I will live.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  11. #71
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Not at my best, either, Crankin. I'm fighting off a seasonal change cold and pollen and insane humidity between storms, but I still ride, of course. Oh, well.

    A couple years back, I switched to all flat bar bikes because it was too hard on my body switching back and forth between drop bar bikes and flat bar bikes. If that flat bar is causing any pain issues for you, you can change to a different handlebar. Looking at the specs on the Ariel, the stock handlebar only has 9 degrees of sweep, back. That's not much. Lots of options, now, for handlebars that sweep back, more. More sweep in the handlebar my make it more comfortable for your wrists. It's helped me on some bikes. Have a Salsa bend handlebar on my Krampus with 23 degrees of back sweep. Very comfortable. My touring model Salsa have a Moluku handlebar with over 30 degrees of sweep. It also offers different hand positions. Very comfortable for long rides. Be sure to explore different grip styles, too. That can also help. I use ESI foam grips on a lot of my bikes and they do help reduce buzz. (Have your shop put them on, though. They can be real buggers to get on the handlebar.) Lastly, I always use good padded gel MTB gloves (not the skimpy gloves some road bikers use) for my riding and they also help.

    More storms in the forecast for the next couple days, so no long distance rides away from home. Will do laps around the local roads so as not to get too far out in case I get caught in a storm.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 08-27-2018 at 08:17 AM.

  12. #72
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    I seem to be able to develop tolerance for this. I've had this happen to my right hand out of nothing. I rarely switch my hand position on the road bike, so I am trying to do that more, too.
    I cannot withstand *any* padding in my gloves. In fact, I have to search far and wide to find unpadded gloves. I get extreme squeezing feeling and pain from just a tiny amount of padding, so that is out. Trek stopped making the gloves I had worn for years, so I finally found some from Giro.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  13. #73
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Managed to get out and ride a bit between storms, but in some very humid air. Relative humidity was in the 70s with temps in the 80s. Did 14.8 miles on the single speed Gunnar, then came home and exchanged it for the new Pugsley fat bike for another couple of trail miles. Called it quits just before the next batch of rain hit.

    Well, looks like another single speed coming my way. I wanted another Log Lady to set up as purely a trail bike. That would give me two Log Lady MTBs, one LL for gravel and pavement and one for the woods. No way, though, to get a complete bike, now. I actually got the last complete bike in medium and there's rumors that All City won't be making any more of these delightful single speed racing MTBs. I did manage to snag a new frame set, though, by trading off my ECR. Got enough for the ECR to pay for the new frame and get started on my new Log Lady build. This will be my first custom build, by the way, so definitely a learning experience.

    Why another single speed steel MTB? Well, I'm finding that going single does all I want in a bicycle, for one thing, and I do have geared fat bikes when I need a lot of gears, anyway. For another, I want to stay steel and I want to stay under 25 pounds for the sake of handling and ride quality. About the only way to keep it under 25 pounds on a steel MTB is by going single speed. Lastly, since my trail riding now no longer includes log hopping, boulder climbing, barreling over roots and, especially, no longer includes any jumps (all the fun stuff), I no longer have a need for the current slack geometry trail bikes. Nope, the more upright and pedaling friendly traditional XC MTB geometry is a better fit for my riding, now, and the Log Lady, after all, is pure racing XC geometry. Also, XC MTB geometry makes for a decent gravel and road bike - basically a road bike with flat bars. Close enough, anyway.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 08-28-2018 at 10:55 AM.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    north woods of Wisconsin
    Posts
    1,110
    Did manage to barely squeeze in a ride of 12 single speed miles of pavement riding between storms, yesterday, on the Log Lady. Had hoped for a break for another ride in the afternoon, but no such luck. Steady rain all afternoon.

    I added up my miles for August and was surprised to see I have a chance of breaking 400 miles for the month. Basically about 80% pavement and gravel versus 20% trail and most of the miles, by far, on the single speeds. Was totally not expecting this, so I've made more progress than I thought in my recovery. Even if I don't break 400, though, I am pleased. I think riding the single speeds has helped build my strength a lot. Nothing like actually racing up a hill to get in shape.
    Last edited by north woods gal; 08-29-2018 at 07:32 AM.

  15. #75
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    Talk about riding through the heat!
    Went out with my friend who stayed over Mon/Tues, at about 8:00 AM today. It was already approaching 80 and very humid. We chose the shadiest route possible, mostly old familiar roads, and we ended up in her old neighborhood, where we stopped and visited with her old neighbor, who was shocked we were riding. At this point, it was about 9:45 and approaching 90. I really did not want to stop, but it was only another 4 miles or so home.
    Riding was not as bad as I thought it might be, and again, I am glad of the total shady conditions. We went slowly, I didn't push it on the hills, and ended up doing just under 26 miles. We met another friend of mine for lunch after we cleaned up, and now it just feels hot, like AZ, and not so humid. School started in most of the towns around here, and we had to deal with stopping for school buses on the way out, and some apparently angry drivers as we got closer back to my house. It's more rural where my friend lives now and she always complains about this, but I think people were just pissed about being slowed by buses and more cars on the road. Most of the ride was quiet.
    She and her DH will be back here Sunday afternoon and we will ride on Monday with them.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

 

 

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