JP Bike Research

In addition to the insanely huge RSS feed of bicycle links that I go through each day, I also like to read printed matter as well!

Bicycle Times Issue #2, I just have #3

I heard about the magazine Bicycle Times from Russ over at Epicurean Cyclist, and recently subscribed.  I got the recently got an issue of Bicycle Times and have to say that I love it.  I’ve never been one to get BICYCLING magazine, since I’m not so much into the racing thing.  I’ve been a longtime subscriber to Bicycle Quarterly and Adventure Cyclist.  I occasionally pick up an issue of Momentum at the LBS, but I have to say that Bicycle Times is a great new discovery.  Go check it out!

The summer of 2009 was not the “great summer of camping” I was hoping it was going to be. I had such high hopes!

We went on a Memorial Day camping trip pretty close by in a park with miles upon miles of wonderful bike trails. That turned out to be a lot of fun and met some new people, but we also had to deal with a downpour of such an extreme that it broke our tarps with the weight of the water. Fun, but wet.

I had hoped to sneak away, just me and the girls for some bike camping at a campsite about 12 miles outside of Boston. We had gone there last year and it was fantastic. I had a smaller backpacking tent that would keep things light and we’d cook dinner together and it’d be fantastic.  It rained the two open weekends we had available, so scratch that.

July 4th, we hauled our asses up to northern Vermont to camp near Lake Carmi and ride on the Missiquoi Bike Path (pdf). We had tons of people with us and it rained the entire weekend. Everything was drenched, and if it weren’t for the wonderful company and the one short and one long bike ride we got it, it would have been frustrating.

We also flew out to California (where I’m from) to visit family and go camping in Yosemite for two nights. That was fantastic! And as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that we actually have done quite a bit of camping, but our two big trips were just so wet.

So, here we are on the eve of our annual Cape Cod Bike Trip and the weather looks as if it’ll be fantastic. The wife will have 4 panniers, and I’ll be loading down the Xtracycle and pulling the kids in the trailer. Very exciting.

Wish me luck!

My light Lemond commuter was used on our first trip, where we drove with all of our stuff.

Last year, we were able to carry all of our stuff, and the kids were a little older. For that I brought my Panasonic city bike with front panniers.

I finally convinced a few friends to take a bike-train trip with me.  It helped that the destination was one of the best breweries we had sampled at the American Craft Beer fest: Cape Ann Brewing Co!

We started off around 9:30 from jamaica plain, rode the 8 miles or so to North Station (under the Bruins/Celtics boston garden) to buy some coffee and catch our train to Beverly.  We talked the entire ride and barely paid attention to both the nice marshy/coastal scenery, not to the ghastly industrial wastelands.  From beverely, we took a wonderful path along the coast up to Gloucester, which is a pretty non-touristy fishing town.  There are a few things to do there, but most people go to the beaches at Wingersheek or Rockport.  But our goal was of a higher order: beer.

We decided we had a bit more time to ride, and were going to take a longer loop, but got a little lost, so we stopped earlier.  It was a good thing because after 3 beers, we were running out of time to catch our return train.  It was a beautiful, warm day, and the beer slowed us down a bit.  The best option is definitely the Double IPA, but the Kolsch style Fisherman’s Ale was also tasty and refreshing.  The food selection would have been great had we not just ridden so hard, but combined with some snacks we brought, we were set.

We had a great ride back, caught the train and finished the day with a nice BBQ with the families!

here’s the route we took both ways, with a few extra detours along the way, just to see and smell some ocean air!

View Larger Map

Since I started blinging out my Xtracycle, I really wanted to get my wife a new setup.  One time we were out withe some friends and she commented about feeling dorky on her Trek Hybrid.  It’s got great gear range, it’s comfortable, got double and it fantastic for touring, but for city riding, it really lacks panache.

I’d fallen in love with the mixte frame and really wanted to set one up for her.  Ideally, I owuld have gotten her one of these Soma Buena Vistas:

Alas, I wasn’t willing top spend that much this time around, so I started hunting eBay and craigslist.  I found some great fully built Peugeots on eBay and probably should have been willing to bid higher based on how awesome these bikes looked.  As it was, I started getting frustrated at not finding a frame i liked.  When i went to check out a Motobecane mixte one night with a friend, i really wanted it to be great so i could stop my hunting.  It seemed pretty nice and my shorter friend could judge the way it rode, so I got it.  A few days later as I started to really look at it, I realize I probably chose wisely and should have a) chosen a more standard measurement based bike and b) paid less.  Motobecanes are notorious for having Swiss threaded bottom brackets and this one also had cottered cranks.  Additionally, it has a 22mm handlebar stem, but fortunately the nitto 22.2mm stem i got still fit.  There were a bunch of other issues I was not happy with, where as if I had found a cheap peugeot mixte with much newer parts, I would have been happier.

The end result, however, is much to my wife’s liking, and she looks fantastic riding it.  We joke that she looks more like the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz with her upright position, but it very stylish.  I removed the larger front chainring and front derailler, added a used Brooks saddle, some Nitto all-rounder bars and a basket from REI.

Motobecane Mixte

Wife's new bike

Final build steps are the new Velo Orange fenders, a shiny chrome chain guard and some ReeLights so there’s no fiddling with lights on our date nights.

I can’t believe how long it has been since I posted.  Once i finished the xtracycle, I just wanted to ride it and not post about it.  I have had a few issues with the chain length and the derailer, but it has not hindered me from using it.  It’s fantastic, but heavy, especially with the hills aorund here.  I’ve been using it with the trailer and all our swim gear when we ride up the hill to our swim club (with the kids chanting, “I think i can, i think i can!” from the back).  Much more fun at the end of the day to race down to the bottom of the hill!

We’ve gone on a bunch of family bike trips, one to Vermont’s Missiquoi Bike Path (pdf), which despite the rain rain rain was very beautiful, flat and well maintained!

I’ve also managed to convince the wife to pick up the kids so that i could do my 30 mile commute home.  Fantastic!

This is a great idea:

http://bikehacks.com/leather-shoe-laces-for-handlebarbrake-wrap/

I might have to try this someday soon…