I've decided it's time to ride a two-wheeler more often.For the last ten years I've mostly been riding a trike from ICE (Inspired Cycle Engineering); my model (Explorer NT) isn't offered any more. While the trike has its good points, it is slower than a two-wheeler, and I'm sitting low enough that it's hard to look over the corn. Joan has to wait for me to get to the top of hills, and she hates to wait. Or slow down. My long-time bike was a 1984 Cannondale, yes, almost 30 years old. Much of the equipment on it, while still functional, was obsolescent and tricky to replace. In May I bought a new bicycle from a local Trek store, a Surly Long Haul Trucker, or LHT. (Surly is the brand name). This post is about the modifications I've made to the stock Surly. Here's a picture of the LHT, named Jolly, soon after I picked him up. He looks good, but several things needed tweaking to suit me.
Gearing The LHT stock gearing has a top end that's absurdly high for me; how often will I want to pedal at 30mph? If I'm at 30mph, I'm zooming downhill. I found a custom cassette -- the nine gears on the back -- online at Harris Cyclery. This gives me a top end more like 24mph at comfortable pedaling rates. I purchased the cassette and took it along with me when I picked up Jolly, and the Trek store put it on for me. Issue #1 solved. (For you gear geeks, the small cog is now 13 teeth instead of 11 teeth.) Pedals The bike comes without pedals, because the manufacturer expects riders to have definite ideas about what kind of pedal/shoe system they want. I felt retro and wanted toe-clip compatible pedals, not click-in pedals such as are on the trike. I had the Trek shop where I purchased Jolly put on the best "regular" pedals they had in stock, which was $20 wasted. I immediately replaced them with the Shimano 105 pedals (vintage 1987) that had been on the Cannondale. That was issue #2 solved.
Seat Post The next problem to come up was the seat post. To avoid having the seat tip up or slide under stress it was necessary to crank down much too hard on the fastening bolt. As you can see in this picture of the stock seat post,
the two-piece bracket that holds the seat by its rails sits on a curved but smooth surface. Here's a closeup.
The matching channel in the seat bracket is smooth as a baby's bottom too.
Therefore, the only gripping surface involved in the whole shebang is the small piece held by the bolt.
Everything else is just smooth metal on smooth metal, and any sudden pressure, such as hitting a pothole or thumping your behind back down onto the saddle, will tend to shift things. This is in contrast to the classic Laprade design, where the bracket has a convex bottom, grooved, which nestles into a concave bucket on the seatpost, also grooved. Here's a picture from the Web.
My first two rides on Jolly convinced me that the seat post had to be replaced. My closest bike shop, a local, two-store outfit called Bicycle One, had a $20 Laprade style seat post on their web page. I inquired by email whether it was in stock, and it wasn't. But the good news was that they had a Cannondale seat post that had been taken off a new bike (perhaps the purchaser wanted to upgrade) that I could have for $20. Aluminum alloy, and wrapped in carbon fiber for that snazzy look. It also had an advanced two-bolt seat post mechanism. Looking online, I could see that I was getting a $50 part for $20. Sweet. Here's a photo of the business end.
There is one bolt in front (left in the photo) and one in back, giving almost infinite adjustment of the seat angle. Best of all, the design of the mechanism doesn't depend on grips or grooves to keep things in place: the bolts do that. Handlebar Bag Next I needed to search for a handlebar bag. My old handlebar bag wouldn't fit on the new, thicker handlebar stem. Did I mention obsolescence?And the old panniers don't fit on the new rack. After some Internet shopping I settled on an Ortlieb bag. It has a novel attachment mechanism: wires. The plastic-coated wire threads in and out of the bag mount and over and under your stem, impossible to describe and barely possible to show in a photo:
Here is the front of the bag mount. The hex head nut on the left is how you tighten all the slack out of the wire.
It holds a just-right amount of stuff ... not too much, not too little.
There is a map flap (purchased separately).
It can unfold into 10" x 10", but this covers up the handlebars and the bike computer!
Brake Shoes The final piece of tweaking was the brakes. The trike had spoiled me by having disc brakes that did an excellent job of stopping. I felt that on a two-wheeler I didn't need the extra expense or special hubs required for disc brakes; however, the brakes on Jolly seemed soft on the first two rides (better on the second after I adjusted them, but still not the best for a panic stop). Web research quickly led me to the Kool Stop "salmon-colored" brake pads. I ended up ordering the dual compound brake pads. Here are the stock and the Kool Stop pads, off the bike.
Jolly has cantilever brakes:
From the top, it looks like this.
Aligning the new pads is a bit of work because you're busy in multiple dimensions. The pads must be properly positioned so that they are not higher or lower than the wheel rim, the pad surface must be parallel to the rim surface (not tipped up or down), the pad must follow the curvature of the rim and not dip below or above the rim, and then there's the matter of toe-in: to reduce or eliminate brake squeal, it's often recommended to have the front of the brake a bit closer to the rim than the back. You have to adjust all these things at once and then lock them in by tightening the outer bolt cap with a hex wrench, which tends to rotate the pad if you aren't gripping it firmly. It took me a while! But the new pads are working well. Here's a daylight picture:
Also, a photo of the new handlebar bag in context.
And an overall look at Jolly with his new bling. (The pig is optional.)
We live in a neighborhood where the effects of the emerald ash borer are clearly hitting home this year. This Asian insect was first discovered in North America near Detroit in the summer of 2002, likely a hitchhiker in wooden pallets or packing materials. By now it has spread to a considerable portion of the United States.
Here is a photo of the borer, courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. Small but deadly.
It took the borer a few years to arrive in central Ohio, and death takes three to five years of larvae munching on the inner bark of ash trees, but this is the time, this is the year that the die-off in our neighborhood has taken hold. Here a photo with an ash tree and another type of tree, taken on June 3rd.
When the entire ash tree is visible, the result can be stark.
While some are completely dead, some are hanging on but sickly and doomed.
This one has one small leader still alive. The old squirrel nest is exposed.
Some houses have an entire row of dead or dying trees looming above them.
The various arborists and tree-trimming outfits have already been busy this year.
Sometimes the ash will develop bleached bark or will shed bark.
We had three of our ash trees, the ones close to the house, treated in the fall of 2010 with injections of emamectin benzoate, with a repeat treatment every other year. So far they are still thriving. Our fingers are crossed.
The Columbus Metro Parks system has many parks and sponsors many programs, one of which is called Metro Five-0, activities for adults 50 and over. These activities run a wide gamut, from casual workshops on writing about nature to observing butterflies to canoeing and hiking. Our favorite spot for nearby hilly hiking is Clear Creek Metro Park, just under an hour away. Through the Metro Five-0 program Joan and I can take guided weekday hikes into areas of Clear Creek that are unmarked and normally off-limits. So far I've been on three of these Metro Five-0 Clear Creek hikes, and Joan's been on more. I have enough photos to lightly document the last two. Ice Cave/Jan 18 Here our Five-0 group is gathering on a chilly but sunny January 18th for the Ice Cave hike. This parking area is at the office for Clear Creek, the white building.
This hike generally has a broad trail, which in one spot blends into the landscape a bit, and has a couple of intersections. This photo is actually from the return leg, but it will suffice to illustrate.
Here we have arrived at the mouth of the small gorge where the ice cave lives.
We have stumbled into a perfect day for the ice cave. There is a steady drizzle of melt water, but the cold snap earlier in the week has left plenty of ice.
Pre-registration was required for this hike, which has a maximum number of participants, and you can understand why when people are maneuvering for a better look at the ice formations.
This is one of the views looking out from the cave into the light.
The combination of falling water and cold temperatures has laid a thick skin of ice over the sticks and stones.
This shot has a more accurate coloration.
When inspected more closely, the wet ice resembles a congealed flow of shiny glass.
Some small critter left his or her skull here.
Then it was time to hike back. The fellow in front of the group in this photo, wearing a cap, is Bob Neinast, or Barefoot Bob, who maintains a barefoot hiking blog here and has info on and maps for hiking in southeastern Ohio there. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)
Winnowing Rock We returned for another Metro Five-0 hike on June 7th, this time to Winnowing Rock. This hike didn't require pre-registration, but the turnout was modest anyway. Here we have just departed from the parking area, crossing Clear Creek, which is muddy from heavy rain the night before, which might have suppressed the turnout.
We proceeded at a relaxed pace, observing the landscape and listening to the guide, Marcy, point out features and flora and answer our questions. Here we have paused to admire some blooming mountain laurel.
There was even more just down the road.
I zoomed in for a closeup.
Early on we passed a beaver dam.
This picture gets a little closer (click on the image to enlarge).
The damp environs of the first part of the trail supported ferns, whose spores Marcy is describing here, as well as the difference between spores and seeds. Seeds contain food as well as the plant embryo, spores do not.
There was also a lush crop of skunk cabbage, which fortunately bloomed long ago, in January and February.
The low-lying portion of the hike was near its end at Emily Lake, known to Google Maps as Benua Lake. The Beck and Benua families donated much of the land that became Clear Creek Metro Park.
View Larger Map From the dam visible in the above map, this is the view.
Eventually -- the skunk cabbage and fern photos were taken just beyond the lake -- the trail began to rise.
Along our way to winnowing rock were the remains of two cabins. The first was smashed by a tree that fell during Hurricane Ike's September 2008 visit to Ohio.
The pieces have been stored, as you can see to the left of the photo, with the hope of rebuilding the cabin. It hasn't happened yet. A foundation is all that remains of the other cabin. Rumors say that this cabin hosted celebrities and wild parties many decades ago.
After a short bit of steeper climbing, we were at Winnowing Rock. Legend has it that farmers would come up to the rock to winnow their wheat, to separate the heavier wheat kernels from the lighter chaff. It sounds like a long way to go.
Here I have zoomed in on the rock at the far tip of the bluff.
After eating our snacks, it was time to head back. Now that everyone had become familiar with the route on the way up, Marcy allowed the hikers to return at their own pace. Some, who had places to be, went quickly. Some, including Joan and me, continued to take our time and enjoy the sights and the company. Here Susan pretends to be collecting a scat sample (real scat) for later analysis.
It took us almost four hours to cover four miles, and we enjoyed every minute.
