Turning New Pages, Part 1

à Paris

I've added a new feature to The Curious Randonneur blog: pages. Under the banner, I have added ten labeled tabs, one for each new page. The pages are:

• à Paris!
• Stanzas
• Rantings
• Captured
• Ahhh!
• Scribblings
• Heartholds
• Vintage
• One World
• Sillinesses.

Each tab is a new page for this blog, and it is focused on a distinct idea. So, for example, if you are interested in my preparations as a newbie for entering the Paris Brest Paris Randonnée, then go to the à Paris! page and you'll find links to all the relevant posts plus a few pictures.

Stanzas

Stanzas is a page devoted to art. So far, it is my handful of cycling poems and information about the artist, Aaliyah Gupta, who created the banner for this blog. It will expand as I introduce other art or artistic endeavors.

Rantings

Rantings is just what it seems: a collection of links to my occasional rants. Who doesn't love a good rant?

Captured

Captured is a page with links devoted to my latest experiment--sound recorded during rides--and a few video links. I am digging the nighttime sounds especially. Tricky business as sound pollution permeates the night just as light pollution does.





Ahhh!

Ahh! is the page that folks have been asking for. It is designed as one place for links to all my observations about my new (now a year old) custom randonneuring bicycle and other observations on what makes a comfortable performance bicycle. I still have many posts to deliver here on my promise to document the new Pereira, and they are forthcoming. Promise.


The pages will grow over time as I post about relevant topics, so I hope you'll check them out. You can also search the entire blog for any topic by keyword by using the Search engine at the top left of the blog (above the banner). Or, you can search by Topics in the sidebar to the right of the main body text.

I hope you enjoy the new pages. I like them because they pull out some arenas that either are important to me or that I think others mind find useful, and it gives them a little more attention by putting it all in one place.

I've described the final five pages in Turning New Pages, Part 2.


Keep it archived,

CurioRando

Carry a Spare

I started carrying a spare tire on my Night Brevet 200k this past weekend. I like the way it worked out on my Gilles-Berthoud saddlebag.

This is what it looks like under better conditions. This is all a part of my PBP prep.


Keep it spared,

CurioRando

Fenders and Mudflaps!

Went for a little spin yesterday through some puddles. Pictured above is the spray from the front tire hitting the mud flap. What you don't see is street water hitting my shoes...because it mainly doesn't.

I love my fenders and mudflaps. I know most folks hate fenders, but I believe that they just haven't experienced quality fenders mounted properly. They make a rainy day that much more enjoyable.

And then when I ride behind somebody without fenders on a rainy day, I just think it's plain discourteous of them. Why should my bike, my handlebar bag and I get muddy? Why should I get dirty glasses and eat grit, etc. because they go fenderless?

Yes, I could stay farther behind them, except not if I'm going to pass them on a busy road. I mean I live in the Pacific Northwest for crying out loud: it rains. Of course it's worst on a brevet or other group ride where a paceline might be in order. Damn near impossible to stay clean among the unfendered.

And even many of the fendered bikes aren't set up adequately. Many of the fenders don't go down far enough or the fender is a poor design. Part of the problem is also that quality fenders aren't sold most places. The demand isn't there. But they are out there, and if you're one of those unfendered riders who rides in the rain (how not in this neighborhood?), how about giving those of us in your wake a break so we don't have to give ourselves a brake!

Thus endeth the Fender and mudflap rant. I do love my fenders and mudflaps! And so do others. On a recent brevet, a guy walked up to me who had passed me in his truck to say how much he admired my dashing (hammered) fenders. They're just cool!

PS: You can't quite see the mudflap, but it extends out to the left of the fender. You can see the farthest left splash point. That's how far it extends.




Keep it diverted,

CurioRando

Randonneur Handlebar Bag Stiffener à la Dr. Codfish (and others)

I got the idea from The Dr Codfish Chronicles Blog by Paul Johnson, but others have been onto this coroplast idea too. Will de Rosset posted about building the handlebar bag itself from nylon with a coroplast top frame for stability while keeping it extremely light weight, and then my neighbor across the street, Dylan the blogger behind if i had a bike blog..., built up his very own coroplast handlebar bag together with his partner Grace. Beautifully constructed and finished! And of course, old reliable Kent Peterson has already posted on this subject with his artfully crafted coroplast handlebar bag.

No way I was going to go that far, but I did have a hankerin' for stiffening up my Gilles Berthoud bag for the same sag-prevention reasons that Dr Codfish outlines. I love my bag stiffener, and it was a fun little project.

See that little gap between the white coroplast liner and the canvass of the bag in the right side of the photo above (the front of the bag)? I discovered last weekend it is the perfect new pocket into which I can slip my little plastic bag containing my brevet card! With this arrangement, any time I get the obsession to look "one more time" to make certain I still have my brevet card I can scratch that niggling obsessive itch. Very satisfying!

I also really like the way it brightens up the interior of the bag for finding little lost items.

Here you can see that I bolted right through the coroplast with the decalear-mounting bolts.

This is a photo of a Gilles Berthoud decaleur from the Peter White website.

Thanks, Dr Codfish, Dylan & Grace, and Will! Also, all you other unknown-to-me coroplastic pioneers. I may not be an early adopter, but I do know a good idea when I see one. And all these stiffening benefits without the need of any prescription. Positively stimulating!

For other posts about handlebar bags and their racks, please see:

• a handlebar bag without a rack
• a cool handlebar bag
• my racks being custom built by Tony Pereira
• the Ostrich bag mounted on my fixie.

Keep it stiff,

CurioRando

Water, Water Everywhere...But Is It Safe to Drink?

This Katadyn "My Bottle" purifying water bottle was given to me by a thoughtful coworker. She had meant to give it to me before I left for India, but I boogied before she could.

But my mind quickly went back to a cyclo-touring trip DartreDame and I did a year and a half ago in Eastern Oregon. The guidebooks and map indicated that we could get water at the campgrounds, but not so fast succotash. No such water!

It led to landing a story from a bunch of Elk hunters about their encounter with a nearby Wolf pack. We got this story when I asked them for water for our bottles.

But this bottle solves that issue because there were countless streams we crossed and soaked our bandannas in for cooling purposes. And what about on certain brevets?

Interesting possibilities. Probably weighs more than the SteriPen, but doesn't depend on batteries. Dependable. I like that. I see experimentation in my future.

Keep it pure,

CurioRando

Handlebar Bag...without a front rack

Dartre's ride with her new Gilles Berthoud handlebar bag.

Dartre's birthday came rolling around so I crafted a way for her to carry more when we go out riding. No, just kidding. I did get her this new Gilles Berthoud Model 192 bag, but I used it as camouflage to be the box for a little something that I knew she'd really like for her birthday.

Nonetheless, the GB bag was also a hit. And why not? Check this out.

If you'd like a place to put your cue sheet, but don't have a front rack on your carbon fork, then here you go. Additionally, if you'd like to carry a few light items up front, have a zippered pocket, and a bag you can easily remove and carry like a purse with its strap, then this is it.

It uses the Gilles Berthoud Klick Fix mounting system so the bag swings off very easily yet is most securely fastened when mounted.

For a more thorough review, check out this description from the Rene Herse Bicycles website (you'll have to scroll down the page). I don't like promoting commercial items, but here I make an exception. If you want that handlebar bag with all its advantages but aren't ready for a full on conversion to a front loaded bicycle, then this might suit you just fine.

 For other posts about handlebar bags, check out:

• a handlbar bag stiffener
• a cool handlebar bag
• my racks being custom built by Tony Pereira
• the Ostrich bags mounted on my fixie.

  

Keep it up front,

CurioRando



Tour de France Heads to the Mountains...and so do I!

Mt. Rainier on the road to Sunrise Lodge.

I rode SIR Permanent 0243 Sunrise Climb last weekend, and what fun it was on my new bike! I love the 650B tires, and the geometry fits me. Ahh!

Here's the Mt. Rainier National Park entrance.

At the Summit.

Fig Newtons as alternative fuel source.

I love Fig Newtons, and I'm told they're not bad as fuel. That's all I needed to hear since I left my bottle of Perpetuem sitting in the refrigerator! So guess how many Fig Newtons I can eat at one time?

Well, back when I was (I'm guessing here) ten years old or so we tested this. My cousin/brother Jeff (yes, he is both my cousin and brother and it is a story for another day) and I were hangin' out with no adult supervision. so we had a contest and I believe I won with a grand total of TEN FIG NEWTONS in my mouth. All I remember was laughing so hard and spewing figgy crumbs all over the kitchen floor. God, that is a fond memory.

Greenwater Skis now carries bike stuff in the Summer months.

Being the sensible adult I am today, however, I stopped at Greenwater Skis hunting for biker calories like sport gels, and they had them. But that didn't stop me from eating all the Fig Newtons. Yum! Greenwater Skis' owner has a good dog, Bell, so that says alot about the owner. Worth stopping if you need something on the way.

Frying Pan Creek.

My new Pereira on the bridge overlooking the Green River.

Green River from the bridge, Summer version.

You can compare the above Green River Bridge/Bike photos to those we took in February for comparison.

Keep it heading up,

CurioRando

Pereira First Impressions & Weasel Confirmed on the Woodinville Permanent

First pic of my new Pereira Randonneuse.

A small farmer who supports unionized electrical workers. Nice to see.

Wiki photo of a weasel.  Remember my post about my Oregon Randonneurs 400k brevet last year wondering what it was I'd run over? In the subsequent post I hypothesized I'd run over a weasel in the middle of the night.

No, I didn't run this little fella over. I came upon him as roadkill. As soon as I saw him I remembered my pal from that 400k. It got me thinking: I'll bet it was a weasel.

Then I looked just off the road from the carcass, and spied this burrow. Aha! The habitat we were riding through at the time was tall grasses just like this, though not as hilly. I feel quite certain now it was a weasel, by gum! See how some of the soil is moist, but the carcass seemed not so moist? I wonder if the mate is still inhabiting that burrow? Poor mourning mate!

Here, my new ride is parked against the barbed wire fence at the top end of a long driveway into a place I used to fish for Steelhead along the Skykomish River.

It was called "Two Bits" for years since the farm owners had a heavy steel lockbox with a sign that said "25 Cents". The deal was you put your quarter in the box, opened the gate and drove your (hopefully, or you were likely to get stuck) four-wheel drive vehicle through, and closed the gate behind you. The owner sold the place and the new owner...you guessed it, raised the price to fifty cents or a buck. That was many years ago. I was tempted to inspect and see whether one could still get in, and if so at what cost, but the large, pit bullish dog put me off this trip. A little too exposed on my new one-wheel drive vehicle.

This is a view from the bridge crossing the Sky at Sultan, just upstream from Two Bits. I used to spend a lot of weekends crawling around these parts.

So how was the new Pereira? Fabulous. I'll be giving more reports soon, but it is a joy. Just one note for now. I really never was comfortable descending on my old Fuji. I'd always felt like I was riding on top of it rather than down in it. On the Pereira with the geometry matched to my rather odd body geometry (legs too long or torso too short), wide 650B tires, and a proper trail to match the tires, it was a delight to descend! I felt stuck to the road. Oh my, what a difference. But there is so much more to tell in future posts.

All of this took place on the Woodinville-Granite Falls-Woodinville Permanent, RUSA #0359, a Permanent organized by Geoff Swarts. Great route, Geoff. Thanks much!

Here is the route.

Here is the elevation profile. See those descents? I passed one cyclist who was coming up as I was descending and he yelled out "Yippee" as I passed because it must have been obvious how much fun I was having! I was yelling "Weeeeeeee" myself.

Keep it carving,

CurioRando

First Wheel, a Finicky CycloComputer & a Feast for Fathers!

Grandpa Jay, DartreDame's Father or "GJ" as I call him, holding my first ever hand-built wheel. This wheel is not for my new bike but rather for a commuter fixie. My earlier post on my inauspicious wheelbuilding beginning can be found here.

Dartre's mother Maya, or AmmaMaya as I call her, holding my wireless cyclocomputer. It took me a long time to figure out how to measure the kilometers for each leg without resetting the trip distance. Whew!

But it wasn't all bicycling this Fathers' Day. We Fathers--GJ, SingingCyclist's Dad Alan, and I--were treated to this fabulous Indian dinner. Can't quite make out the dishes? How about a close-up?

Peas and Mushrooms. Yum!

AmmaMaya's Special Eggplant & Yogurt. Scrumptious!

Dartre's Potato Concoction: Sukhi Aloo (Potatoes roasted with Garlic, Ginger, Turmeric, Cumin, Coriander, Fennel, Chili Powder, and Oil). Delectable!

Salmon Molee. Heavenly!

Saffron Biryani with Cashews and Raisins. Texturalicious!

Tomato and Cucumber Salad. Simply cleansing!

AmmaMaya

Alan

Dartre

GJ

Janak, the SingingCyclist

Keep it spicy,

CurioRando