The pig rode, he didn’t fly.
Custom SyCip delivery bike from Boccalone at the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace. A more traditional rig with porteur rack is parked to the left…
Swine Rode, not Flew
Zoo and Bridge
Spent the day out and about in SFO. Enjoyed the Zoo, for the most part. Plenty of exhibits closed as I’d guess were still early in the season. Food was terrible at the Lemur Cafe… but today is the 5th of May so Ava and I are headed out for a Mexican feast just up the road from the hotel.
BTV to EWR to SFO
No bike, but hopefully the little one and I will get a good dose of the BART. We’re in San Francisco all week so mom can participate in client meetings. I’ll keep up with my clients with my not so smart phone and the laptop – and Ava and I will play outside.
Sunday Dirt, a Mini Epic Ride
70+ miles – Mountain View out of town, Governor Chittenden Road (dirt, and a ripping descent) down to Rt. 2, Kenyon Road up and up (dirt) drop down into Richmond on the pave, then Wes White Hill (rough pave to dirt, 13% or more) along the pond into Huntington, East Rd. (up and dirt) with views of Camel’s Hump, a short stretch of pavement and then on to Shaker Mountain Road (dirt, steep, and forever), Big Hollow (dirt and a ripping descent), a bit of pave to Lincoln Hill (dirt and steep and a rolling false flat on top) to drop down into Hinesburg for refreshments and then a ‘quintessential’ Vermont stretch – Baldwin (dirt) to Drinkwater (dirt) to Prindle, to Roscoe (covered bridge / dirt) to Lewis Creek (fun descent, dirt, covered bridge) to Spear to Guinea (dirt) to One Mile Road (dirt) to Hinesburg Rd. to Ferry Rd. to Charlotte. Views of Mansfield, Camel’s Hump, the ADKs, Lake Champlain. Three major climbs, three covered bridges and 60% or more of dirt. I had an 85 mile day with ~5,700+ feet of climbing by the end.
Thanks to Jim for snapping some pics as I brought the camera but left the SD card in the laptop. And a huge thanks to the boys for letting me pace it out over the steep stuff. My first Yoga class the Saturday before took its toll… plenty of power to diesel on the rollers and the pavement – not much to deal with the steep on the dirt.
Edeluxe + Mark’s Rack
I’ve been putting off the rigging of my Edeluxe for some time – the Ixon IQ I run for short rides is plenty bright and has good run time – and comes on and off the bike quickly for errands and stops around town. Our Flèche is two weeks away – and I’ll need all night light – so I finally broke down and clipped the wires to the proper length and got the Edeluxe up and running. The light is simply outstanding – test runs in the morning and on the MUP late at night have really impressed me.
Mounting the light has been a bit of an adventure. I use a Mark’s Rack for my rando bag up front. The Mark’s Rack doesn’t have any fittings for front / low light mounting (save for the goofy tab on the end of the rack). Previously I ran dual E6 lights from the lowrider bosses – but with only one light (the brightness of the Edeluxe easily surpasses dual E6s running full steam downhill!) – I want to minimize wheel shadow as much as possible. I purchased the fork crown mount with the light but can’t run it with the bag, debated the lowrider mount, thought about mounting it euro style to the skewer, and purchased a Terracycle mount that works on the fork. None of these felt right (the Terracycle mount comes closest – and if I remove the rack this will be the system I use).
Rummaging through my parts bin I came up with what should have been obvious – use the spare bolts that come with the struts for rear mounting the Mark’s and get the light just below my bag. To do this I had to track down an M6 coupler nut – an email to a friend brought a link to McMaster-Carr (and plenty of time browsing all the cool hardware they sell). I had hoped for the coupler in stainless – but the black oxide variety is the proper length to keep the light tucked under the bag with enough clearance to the strut. I added lock washers towards the strut and a serrated washer towards the light. After some positioning play all seems well. Plenty of light, minimal wheel shadow, and so far rock solid. The mount will get a good workout this weekend – the usual suspects are planning 75 miles of dirt – 3 long and steep climbs, 3 covered bridges, views to the Green Mountains, ADKs, and the lake.