Vermont to Switzerland
The view from our stay in New Hampshire – atop a hill on a dirt road in what felt like the middle of nowhere. I taught a 2 day SketchUp class in the tiny town of Tamworth to a few timber framers, builders, and designers. We focused on general model building and then tightened in on timber specific joinery techniques. The scenery and the students were magnificent…
I’ll be teaching at Heartwood this May, and hopefully I’ll secure a spot at the TF Guild’s Eastern Conference.
Took a hard fall on my way to the Sunday ride. 15mph or so heading downhill on the slick slick snow and ice. Even with the studs and knobbies the front wheel washed out in the car tire snow wake. Once it started there was no recovery. I got out of my pedals and landed clear of the bike in the lane on my left side. Elbow bashed and I have a football sized bruise on my left hip. No traffic behind me so I popped up, did the mental systems check, snagged the bike which slid 10′ down the road, slipped on the ice in my cleats and was slowly moving again. Sat with the boys sipping coffee and we stayed warm inside for most of the morning. When we finally hit the road we climbed up to UVM and then I decided to headed home… content that I got out and thankful that I escaped with only some serious soreness and bruising. Bike seems fine, front wheel has the slightest wobble – but the Surly is covered in grime – so I need to do a quick cleaning and have a look and see if anything is out of alignment.
Fluffy Sunday ride. When the sun was out it was gorgeous. 1/2 of the Sunday crew took off on the XC skis – so we enjoyed the coffee at City Market and slopped and slid through town. I broke off to cruise the side streets in the neighborhood after a slog on the lakefront MUP. The Nokian 35’s did OK in the snow… wish I had a Pugs with really wide tires for the deep stuff. Battery on the camera went dead – maybe due to the cold + my lack of remembering to charge it – so no fluffy pics with blue sky.
Fixed gear ride in the hills and snow south of Utica, NY.
2 plows, 6 cars, lots of snow.
Happy Holidays!
That didn’t work too well. Headed off to the Y @ 5am. Feet digging into the fluffy stuff with every turn of the crank. Decided to wait it out.
The social ride was a little more spirited this week… add in the snow and we had a fun ride. John’s $4 fixed gear is still holding strong. Jim and Patrick were riding slicks. John and I were on studs. We did some hills, a run through a cornfield, and a dash into the wind on Spear St.
Church Street is somewhat abuzz with holiday cheer. The lights are up, the tree is lit, and the shoppers are out and about. It seems a bit more mellow than previous years.
The Burlington Bicycle Council painted some new stencils about the city center. I lobbied for changing the language to the more positive ‘Walk Bikes’ message – I even did up several versions with my limited photoshop skills – but the group compromised and did two versions. A local design house designed the graphics and output the stencils. That bumpy thing is supposed to be a ‘universally’ recognizable mountain bike wheel… debatable from how I see it. Sigh.
We’ve turned our Sunday morning long rides into meandering social rides as the weather turns to winter. Last week we meandered about town, through the intervale, and ended at Flatbread to warm in front of the fire and enjoy some local brew and pizza brunch. This week we took off for ‘the cut’. We keep to the MUP and quiet roads so we can chat and catch up. This week I was on the Surly riding fixed, Jim was on his all-rounder and John made the winter bike into a budget fixed gear. It was his first ride fixed – we had some comedy as he adjusted to the gearing and ‘never stop pedaling’ – but overall he did great. His JB weld freewheel fixed wheel special held strong. Temps were mild with a strong storm moving in. Snow capped the high peaks in the ADKs to the west and the Greens to the east.
Jim enjoys cold water, John brought the thermos of hot coffee…
John on the all-terrain-a-fixed-a-saurus.
The JB Weld fixed wheel special. A freewheel thats been stripped of some of its innards and epoxy welded fixed. Not sure what method John used – but here’s a good write up.
Mansfield and Camel’s Hump.
The ADKs and Whiteface.
More changes for the Surly…really pleased with how versatile this bike can be – and I’m thrilled with the latest changes – just about have it where I want it (with the exception of the stem and bar height (hence the long-ish and loopy brake cables) that I’m still sorting out). Initial report on the On-One Mary bars is that they are very comfortable and well made… adding the Ergon grips was a bit of a last minute splurge – but they seem to add to the comfort of the bars. I can see keeping this setup rolling into next summer – if I remain comfortable there is no reason to go back to the road setup except for smoother rolling tires – even for a fixed 300k (something I have as a goal).
Surly CC in 54cm. Planet Bike Cascadia fenders (work well enough… not as nice as the Honjos on the IF), Avid V-Brakes and Single Digit levers, Carradice Barley, Ixon IQ (not pictured) battery LED front light, Cateye rear light, black, white and red reflective tape, Time ATAC pedals. Gearing is 42/17 on a 17/19 Surly DingleCog with 35mm semi knobby cross tires. (I’ll move to the 19 when I swap for my Nokian W106 studded tires). I run 42/16 in the summer on Paselas. This is the bike I really want to do a dirt road tour / S24O camping trip with
The Surly CrossCheck on the Winooski pedestrian bridge. New On-One Mary bars – still sorting out the stem. Ergon grips – wow! Studs will go on tonight. Ixon IQ is proving to be a great battery light (I’m spoiled with a SON dynohub on the IF). Planet Bike Cascadia fenders could work better – but they are serviceable.
