Tag: bike

Matilija Creek S24O

This past weekend I was able to coax a couple of buddies out for a quick s24o camping trip up in the mountains behind Ojai.  Not an easy feat for most of us to pull off as life gets too busy, but a few emails, a month of lead time and I had two out of 6 invites along for the ride, thanks Mike and Mike.  We headed out Saturday afternoon towards the Murietta Camp near the end of Matilija Creek Rd.

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Weather down on the coast was foggy all day, and I was looking forward to getting some time in the sun.  About 6 miles in we could see the end of the clouds, and then it was clear all the way to camp.

6.9 MC T WP-2 6.9 MC T WP-3 6.9 MC T WP-4 6.9 MC T WP-5 6.9 MC T WP-6Up around Lake Casitas and through Miner’s Oaks we stopped in at the Farmer and the Cook to pick up some last-minute energy snacks (peanut butter cookies) and then it was out of town an up HWY 33 into the Santa Ynez mountains

6.9 MC T WP-9The turn off for Matilija Canyon Rd comes up quickly.  Mostly uphill to get past the most useless damn in the region, and then down into the canyon.  This is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever been through.

6.9 MC T WP-11 6.9 MC T WP-14Just over 5 miles of empty rolling hills heading back to some dirt and creek crossings.  The sun would be giving us light until 7:30 or 8, so we were taking our time getting to the trail head

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I theory we were almost there.  The campground should be less than a mile up and easy to spot.  Twenty minutes of single track, and a creek crossing and it was becoming painfully evident that Plan A was not going to be as easy as we thought

6.9 MC T WP-17The trail was well marked, and a heck of a lot of fun, but the campsite was a bit elusive.  Plan B was to head back towards Matilija camp, and or the first workable flat spot before it got too dark.  Two miles back the other direction, one dry riverbed, 3 creek crossings and a whole lot of hike a bike and we found our home for the night

6.9 MC T WP-18Tired, hungry and needing a rinse in the creek the camera went away until morning.  While the Matilija camp sees a fair amount of traffic, it was fairly quiet this summer Saturday, there were a couple of other camps to the south, but by no means crowded.  The night was clear with bright stars and no moon.  Sleep came easy.  Fog had rolled into the valleys by morning, bringing some chill with it.

6.9 MC T WP-19Dinner Had made it evident that I had left my spoon at home.  There is a good bit of humor to be found in that in consideration of all the camera gear and other stuff I had dragged along.  It was not that big of a deal, by morning I had thought of a work around for my oatmeal.  Have I mentioned how much I like my Soma tire levers?

6.9 MC T WP-21The sun was starting to break through, it was time to break camp and enjoy the ride out.  A mix of single track, and hike a bike, with creek crossings, plenty of poison oak, and did I mention poison oak?

6.9 MC T WP-266.9 MC T WP-246.9 MC T WP-25 6.9 MC T WP-316.9 MC T WP-226.9 MC T WP-32The time in the sun was short lived and we were flirting with the edge of the fog the rest of the way back towards home and the ocean.

6.9 MC T WP-33 6.9 MC T WP-35After a look back we crested out of the valley and back out on the HWY 33, tempting us to head north for a bit.

6.9 MC T WP-37At least it was tempting me.  The rest of the afternoon committed for all three of us though, it was back to town.  Trips further North will have to wait for another time.

6.9 MC T WP-406.9 MC T WP-39The trip was a success, even had a little adventure thrown in.  Total time away was under 19 hours with about 60 miles of riding.  All of this is just to the North of the comforts of home.  Everybody wants to do it again.  Time to start planning the next round.

 

 

 

Eureka Moment

On yesterday’s ride I was looking down at the rear brake when I had a giant light bulb go on over my head.

M6 coupler brake light mountA simple M6 coupler replacing the nut on the brake shoe stud.  Then I drilled out the PB Superflash mounting bracket to 6mm and bolted it on.  Yes, that simple.

Why not just use the rack mount just out of view at the top of the picture? On many bikes as with this Rambler, the light interferes with the chain stay and can not be properly aligned without a spacer.  Often in my experience the spacer will end up letting the bolt come loose.  This coupler solution solves both the mounting of the brake pad and the light with a single commonly available piece of hardware.  I have had the Superflash down at the rear drop out for a few months now, but find that I am more likely to turn it on if it is up higher.

Hooray for the corner hardware store that stocks plenty of bike friendly Metric nuts and bolts!

 

Overnight Tour on the Central Coast

Earlier this week I headed out with a couple of buddies on a two day tour on the central coast of California.  The trip was originally conceived by two different friends who ended up having to pass on the trip, and that is a shame, as it was a fantastic ride.  Mike, Jefe and I met up Monday Morning to take the Surfliner (Amtrak) up the coast to the small coastal station of Surf.  Day one was the ride to Buelton, camp overnight, and then over the mountains and down the coast home.  Pictures, as always will tell most of the story:

View of “The Ranch” from the train, this strech of open coast is all privately owned and off limits for most of us.  I dream often of being able to ride and surf there.  Beautiful open land, the way this stretch of coast has been for hundreds of years.

Surf Train Station, no Cell coverage, nothing but you, the beach and a road out.  Not a place you are likely to end up by accident.

Out of the coastal fog, through Lompoc and heading down Santa Rosa rd.  This is an incredible example of the hundreds of miles of country roads the California central coast has to offer.

Yes it was hot, and consensus was clear, it was time to stop and sample the local “grape juice”!

To help keep things light we ate in restaurants, Buelton is home to a few good ones, and we picked Firestone Brewery.  Sorry no Pics, hunger was over riding the creative side of the brain.  The Burger was fantastic, I could have had two, but logic prevailed.  The Flying Flags campground was pretty nice.  Although, next time we all agree that we would rather push a little further into the ride for the first stop.

The next morning started with a few miles to wake up and grab some breakfast in the next town of Solvang.  The whole town is Dutch themed, one of those places you have to visit to really understand.  Bellies full, we pushed off.

This was the start of the real climbing on Refugio Rd., 4 miles of sustained 10-14% grades.  The legs were willing, the heat was climbing, and I will admit, that I opted to hike-a-bike through plenty of sections.  I was carrying too much weight for this leg of the trip.  I had looked at the map and elevations, but did not really appreciate it until I was all the way immersed.  It was hard going up, I was focused on making the top, and the camera never came out for the next hour.

Over the top and well above the coastal fog.  At the break between the fog and horizon you can just make out the top of the channel islands.  The ride down was a blast, but Refugio Rd is in terrible condition, many potholes.  I elected to keep my hand on the bars and not fool around with the camera.

Heading into Santa Barbara.  As we worked our way South East along the coast, we were flirting with the edge of the fog bank the whole way.  The summer temperatures were cool and crisp, but the regular tailwind never made an appearance.

The last view back up the coast before the final 10 mile push home.

The trip was perfect, the company, weather, terrain etc.  This is sure to be a stepping stone for more local rides like this.  The whole thing was comfortably pulled off in just over 36 hours.  I could have brought less, we could have done a few things differently, but it all worked out.  My legs are the only part that is not in a state of recovery this week.  I am still processing my thoughts on the trip and will be sharing them over the coming weeks as I make some changes in my gear.  The Rambler continues to exceed my expectations for this type of riding, and we are all looking forward to getting back out there.

Thanks Mike and Jefe for helping to make it all happen.

 

Resist Nomad Early Review

I have been riding the Resist Nomad 700×42 for almost 6 weeks and almost 1000 miles, and feel comfortable sharing my initial impressions of the tires.  Over the years I have come to appreciate the ride quality of fat light weight tires on the road.  Experience has proved for me at least that you can get the comfort and speed, rolling over all of the little stuff and most of the big stuff too without having to give up speed and acceleration.  The catch in the 700c size is a limited selection of true light weight performance tires wider than 32mm.

While the selection for tires like this is improving, most have a more pronounced knobby tread.  I was excited to see the Resist Nomad hit the market a little over a year ago.  These tires are primarily designed for the freestyle urban scene.  The fact that they meet the demands of the mixed terrain / fat tired road bike crowd was a bit of a surprise for Resist.  The catch for me at the time was not having a bike that would fit tires this wide.  Rambler No.1 then entered stage left.  My Rambler is purpose-built around tires this wide.  While my production samples were under way I was in contact with Resist to get some samples in my hands.   Currently these are the lightest 700x42mm tire on the market that I know of.

Out of  the box I was pretty impressed.  I have samples in both the skin wall and black wall.  The skin walled tires average 530g while the black walls average 560g.  Both currently are only available with a wire bead.  While not a svelte race tire, the weight is quite reasonable when you consider that the popular 650bx42mm Grand Bois Hetre’ is roughly 430g with a folding bead.  The width is a rue 42mm.  The tread is a semi slick with micro pyramids broken up with a larger square grid.  The street price on these tires is around $30.

Enough with the stats, the ride is what really matters, and it has been great.  Initially they were a little bit loud, a sort of hum from the tread against the road, but that quickly faded as the tire wore in a bit.  I have kept the pressure between 40-50 psi for my combined rider/load/bike weight in the 240lb ball park.  Handling has been superb.  They get a little bit of roll or dive at the rim if I let the pressures drop below 35psi.  The road buzz from our currently terrible roads is gone.  It really is like riding on pillows.  Average times and speeds, about 18mph cruising, are on par with my previous data I collected riding Jack Brown greens or a variety of 28mm tires on other bikes.  Cornering and grip in dry weather is fantastic.  I am able to carry more speed through turns, ride through rough patches and hold more consistent lines than previously possible on narrower tires.  Unfortunately (or Fortunately) we are a bit spoiled with a lack of rain in the SoCal basin and I have not had a chance to push these in the wet.   On fire roads and the trails they have held their own well.  While obviously not as grippy as a true MTB tire, the added volume and contact patch has been welcome in easing the attention I need to pay to my line with the “skinny” 35mm tires I have been on in the last couple of years.   The Nomads help to bridge the gap between true underbiking and a knobby tire.

The build quality is what you would likely expect for a tire at this price point.  For $30 retail you can not expect the level of detail and finish that has been coming out of the Panaracer Japan group for some of the other popular boutique tires.  As you can see in the picture the two sides of the mold were not well aligned.  The casing and rubber around the bead on the skin walls is a little thin.  One of my samples has a short tear from being a bit heavy-handed with a tire lever, and that tire is now out of service.  I have only had one flat to date.  It was in the rear and caused by a thin truck tire wire.  Considering the amount of glass and debris on out roads this is pretty good.  I tend to pick up flats or slow leaks like this every couple of months. Thus a single flat early on is just that, a flat, and marginally an indicator of long-term performance.

Bottom line, these look to be a great tire for the price.  I will likely run them for a long time, and look forward to a long-term follow-up review.  If your bike has the room to fit these tires I would not hesitate to pick up a pair.  I am happy enough with them that I may be adding them to the storefront in the next few weeks.  There are a bunch of variables in that equation, but I know I will stock them eventually.

Number One

Bikes number one and two made it here yesterday.  I found the time (read not sleeping) to tear down my Roadeo and get a preliminary build on Number One so I can get to the business of riding it.  I am really happy with this bike, particularly as it is a first sample and we had to just go with a few details that will be refined for production.  I will let the pictures do the talking.

Wiring port for internal routing of lighting wires.  Crown mounted rack bosses.  Tons of room around the Jack Brown 33mm tires.  The Paul Racer brakes are so freaking awesome.

On a side note, I went with the SRAM brake levers on this build.  After years of wrestling with Shimano and Tektro levers, these things practically set up themselves.  The cables just floated through the routing ports without even having to twist, fiddle and hold a flashlight in your teeth to find the little hole.  I really like these.

I am really stoked after a couple of quick rides.  It is everything I expected.  There will be a bit of refinement on things like bridge and boss locations, but only a few mm, nothing that makes you scratch you head and go back to the drawing board.  The colors are fantastic.  Today number 3 and 4 are on their way.  Next build is No.3, then number 2.  It is going to be a crazy weekend.

Stay tuned, way more pictures to come.