In 1903 the Wright brothers flew for a few seconds in a heavier than air craft of their own design. They worked outside of typical aeronautics thought, reworking and recalculating established thought. The wooden propeller they developed, hand hewn from laminated wood, was 83% efficient. Modern Propellers, the most advanced among them, are a mere 2 percent more efficient. The Wrights had no computer models, no expensive wind tunnel testing facilities. They were just bike mechanics from Ohio with some spare time on their hands.

In the early days of the century, racers looked down on 3 speed hubs and derailleurs with pulleys. It was thought that the bend in the chain and the rotation of the pulley wheel added friction (with requisite loss of efficiency) to the chain. 3 speed hubs, with their complex internal workings, were indeed less efficient than derailleurs, although they certainly had advantages including a straight chain-line, sealed against the elements, no derailleur to snap off. Fortunately this paranoia of friction had some good outcomes: the invention of the quick release (to change cogs in the back by flipping from one fixed gear to another) and time. Time for the tourists to perfect and explore the concept of multispeed shifting without the undue influence of racing.  Racers in those days prized simplicity and low friction over all other factors.  They were willing to sacrifice ease of use, smooth shifting, and even low weight in this quest for the cleanest, slickest (friction-wise) and more durable gear changing equipment.  This often lead to ridiculous shiftering systems like the Campagnolo Paris Roubaix, the Vittoria Margeita, and the Egg Super Champion.  In fact, there were numberous durable, low friction derailluers on the market, being used by tourists daily.  These cyclotouriste derailleurs saw a range of conditions, and endured incredible distances.  The Cyclo Standard was used on four and seven thousand mile tours, with only oiling and adjustments needed.

Interestingly, hub gears have regressed in efficiency over the years: pre WWII Sachs 3 speed hubs, lubricated with oil have an efficiency of around 95% averaged across the 3 speeds. Contemporary hubs are about 3 percent less efficient. Oddly, the Rolhoff, with its precision machining, is only 88% efficient on average. (Berto, The Dancing Chain: 351-352)  This is mainly because of the sheer number of planetary gears it contains.

Tourists, from say, 1900-1985, knew another established fact of efficiency that has been lost to contemporary cyclists: Bigger cogs are more efficient. The current trend towards eleven and twelve tooth rear sprockets not only prematurely wears chains down (and cassettes and chainrings by default) but also has an adverse effect on efficiency. 12 tooth cogs are 2-3 percent less effiencent than 14 tooth cogs. This is why the old french tourists ran 14-16 tooth cogs as thier smallest cogs in the back.  The current micro-drive rage has come to its logical conclusion in the world of the BMX drivetrain.  Eight tooth cogs and 22 tooth sprockets are the norm on contemporary bikes, and the resulting strains on the chains is seen in the ridiculously overbuilt chains that are needed to withstand the added stress.

So for the last week of her full-time work with the research hospital (she has started her new position with the Academy of Sciences now, and still consults with the hospital) Verča had a conference in Vienna, Austria to go to. It was a Wednesday – Sunday deal (6-10 June) , so I tagged along so that we could hang out and do a bit of riding in Vienna if riding was to be found. Also, since I’m not really tied to an office these days, I just put my computer in a bag and was only off work for a day in transit, then telecommuted from our apartment in Vienna.

(Just to warm you this post is about to get long, as I realized I was going to tell a few little stories. You were warned.)

We actually planned to leave on Tuesday morning, but for a series of cascading events that included: me getting a registered letter from the immigration police on Thursday, the US embassy being closed after 11am on Fridays, Mr. President George W. visiting my new home on Monday and Tuesday, then me sneaking into the embassy on Monday morning while W was still in the air(and nobody was looking), getting the signature of the Consul General then getting his signature (and I’ll quote) “super-legalized”, driving to Rakovník and back to pick up Verča’s original birth certificate, registering our marriage in Prague and then driving to Brno (3 hours away) to “really” register it, when the proper office worker wasn’t off at her doctor’s office. Needless to say a more complicated story would need to ensue, before we could go to Vienna.

We ended leaving Prague on Tuesday anyway around lunchtime. We arrived in Lednice on the Czech-Austrian border about 4pm and found a cool little boarding house/pension were we rented a little cabin for something like 14 bucks for the night. It was a cool little one room with a little bathroom. It looked out onto a common lawn and up to the town’s Chateau/Castle.

our little week-end hut

a look across the lake from the minaret

We took a nice long stroll around the big lake/preserve of the Chateau. Verča had studied biology at her university and spent a couple weeks in this region studying in the field, so I quizzed her on some dendrology and she had forgotten most of it, but was able to spout some Latin names. At one end of the lake was a minaret, on axis with the Chateau for no obvious function, other than for some rich guy in the big house to admire. (turns out he wanted to build some Christian chapel, but the church wouldn’t let him, so the old f-you instead!)

the anti-establishment chapel

Anyway we walked around and saw some deer, birds, and lots of fish. The trees and shrubberies were blooming so it was nice. We followed a bunch of signs to try to find a demonstration of birds of prey (falconry, I presume.) But it was a Tuesday afternoon and a bit windy, so apparently no demo for us. We did make it back to the Chateau and wandered around the gardens a bit. On the opposite side from the lake/preserve they had the full-on formal Baroque gardens with 25′ tall 15′ deep groomed hedgerows. It’s a bit difficult to understand how you can justify the maintenance of gardens like this. I mean, couldn’t the old Lord (or whatever) think of something more productive to do with his riches. (Like develop the bicycle a little earlier of something?)

a look back towards the minaret

and up to the chateau

no cycling in the entire park area

Anyway we were hungry, so we wandered through town past a couple pubs stuffed to the gills with drunk locals, til we found a nice terrace to sit on and eat some steak. Then we took a short walk home and played a few games of pool on the outdoor table at our pension. Verča beat me 2 out of 3 with some Czech rules. (Apparently you have to hit the 8 ball in the pocket opposite of whatever pocket you put your last ball into. It makes for an interesting twist and a definitely longer game for the novices like us.) We called it a night early and retired to our cabin. We then got up early the next morning and headed the half hour back north to Brno to be at the office at 8:30 to sort our marriage legalities out. After jumping through a few more flaming hoops than we had hoped for (but expected) we were done and on our way to Vienna by noon, with the super legal Czech marriage certificate.

So a bit behind schedule we arrived in Vienna, and ran in circles to get things sorted out as we were meeting a local named David to go riding, at 4pm at our apartment. The reception checking in to our place in Vienna wasn’t very fun as we argued a bit, sorted it all out, then ran to get Verča registered at the conference and back. We realized we needed food and to figure out how to and pay for parking. It was 3:55 and I was still standing at a park stand waiting for our food a few minutes away while Verča was off sorting out parking, trying to find a store to sell her the 2 hour parking tickets. After not being able to find the place, she went up to some stranger who was taking his bike out of the car and getting ready to ride about 2 blocks from our apartment. She asked him (in German, the language in Austria) if he spoke English and knew where to buy the tickets. He laughed asked her if her name was Veronika (in perfect English of course.) He had recognized her from here on ridelugged.com. See it was David, who we were to meet in about 5 minutes. He gave her a couple of tickets to put in our car, and started back to walk towards where I was. I was a bit amused to find they had already met as I arrived with lunch.

BTW, I had found David (and Sunil, keep reading) on mtbr.com. See you can search users by where they are from so I found a few in Vienna, and emailed them about a week before we were going to Vienna asking for some info on where to ride (kind of last minute, but worth a shot, right?). It turns out all three people who I emailed responded. One was out of town and the other two offered to take Veronika and I for a ride and show us around. We took them both up on it and we were very glad we did. I also posted on the 29er discussion board on mtbr about Vienna, and ended up getting a reply from a guy that lives in my neighborhood here in Prague. I’ll give you the lowdown when we catch up and go riding, too.

finishing up lunch on the ride

So David and I chatted while Verča ran upstairs to change, then we switched places and were off riding away in about fifteen minutes. Wien (Vienna in German) is bisected by the Danube and the Danube canal which run parallel southeast through the city. We were staying on the island between the two, next to a big park and old-school amusement park called the Prater, along the canal. We headed northwest up the canal on what David assured was the best bike path through town. It had been closed at the center of town for 4 years due to construction of a next subway station, and literally had reopened less than 2 weeks before we showed up. There was fresh smelling asphalt to prove it (and fresh smelling graffiti). David spoke of how Wien keeps talking about adding more bike paths, but the cyclist complain that they can’t maintain the ones they have. It’s true that it was a little hard to follow the paths sometimes when the stripes were worn away or signs were missing, but it didn’t seem to matter. There a soo many bike paths in the city that when you wander from a path you are almost immediately on a new one.

a straight bike stoplight

I mean come on, on one way streets, there is a sign saying bikes can go both ways, and then there is a striped off bike path on one side. Verča and I joked that when we walked around town, that we kept taking bike paths everywhere. It was because there are so many. Come on they have three different type of traffic lights for bikes, just that I saw in 5 days.

the public city BMX-ican park

And there is a BMX park in the public park open 24-7. Cars even stopped for me when they had the right of way. Wien is a VERY bike friendly city. The most friendly I have seen (at that time. most of Belgium seemed even better, now looking back.)

bike cross walk

Anyway so we started to ride out of the city, while David gave me some opinions on the local architecture. I looked in a couple places before we left to see if there were any buildings of note. I got a bunch of old non-descript Otto Wagner houses and eastern-blok looking public housing, so I decided we would just wander around. Near our apartment is the Hundertwasserhaus. On the bike path is a new Zaha Hadid project called the Spittelau Viaducts, that looked finished but not occupied (maybe they didn’t pass the Use and Occupancy inspection!)

zaha hadid buildings have plenty of places to lock up

roadie+modernarchitecture=mix of vanities

There is a Coop Himmelblau law office project that I forgot to visit and kind of regret not seeing in person now, as Coop buildings in reality are quite few and far between. Plus a weird but cool gold sphere on top of a smokestack that is actually a trash incinerator also designed by Hundertwasser.

plenty of scenery on the bike paths

So past these and the bike path along the river actually runs underneath a highway out of town (which was nice on the way home, read on.) At the foot of the hills that border Vienna to the north at the start of the Vienna Woods, David gave us two options: either up the steepest road you can ride or the easier way. We of course opted for the easier way having no idea where he would lead us. We wound up though a small neighborhood on the edge of the city and the road turned uphill. It was pretty much as steep as I would like. Then it turned up under some roman era viaduct and proceeded a bit steeper. It was then I realized that in my haste to get unpacked and underway, I had hooked my rear wheel up wrong and couldn’t get to my easiest 4 gears, which killed me. I had to stop on the hill, detach my shifter (it is a quick release thing so it only took about 15 seconds) adjust it and reattach. Then I was on my way and had to sprint a bit to catch Verča and David. That killed me a bit more.

riding with David through dark forests

The hill gradually flattened a little, but it was too late and Verča and I were panting a bit. We were beginning to become somewhat frightened by David’s fitness level, unsure of what lay in store. So 30 minutes in and we were rolling in the foothills through vineyards that overlooked the river and city below. It was very pretty. Then we dumped onto a nice shaded fireroad climb, where we could see that the trails would be kinda wet in spots. David led us mostly through wooded fireroads and dumped onto an occasional fast section of singletrack. I think all of the singletrack was either rolling or downhill which reassured me since i was able to creep away from David when it got more technical. Strangely he kept catching me on the next climb, though. He took us down this little sluice way that was so muddy and slick you had no hopes of control for about 200m. Luckily we all made it though, but were all covered in mud now.

The next 10clicks or so was mostly sandy gravelly fireroad and logging road that weaved in and out of the gullys at a constant grade. We made our way around the ridge we came up to the west and spiraled back towards the top, on what apparently had been a nice section of singletrack a few weeks before. The Vienna Woods is actually controlled by local logging and hunting interests, and the trail we had ended up on was being reclaimed for some selective logging. Logging is a powerful force in this part of the world, and here in Vienna is no exception. The trails were lined with stacked up firewood like a guardrail 2m high 1.5m deep and up to 100m long at a time. Apparently a large number of people buy the cheap (pine) firewood as fuel to heat their homes, much more cheaply than gas, oil, or even coal.

As we began to make our way towards the top, David told scary tales of a very difficult and slippery technical downhill from the peak. But as we neared the top (and passed 2 XC racer types on carbon Scott sub-1kg hardtails) a nasty thunderstorm began to rear it’s ugly head. We opted to not go to the highest point within 50km and took a nice fast fireroad descent that eventually dropped us to the opening for the first bit of dirt we had ridden. From there in a light rain we began our road descent back to the river. And the road kept getting steeper down. This was the harder way up. The road peaked out at 26% for a couple hundred meters or so, steeper than anything in the Tour or the Giro. We were happy to be going down not up. Until we hit the cobblestones at the bottom. It was raining hard now, and with the cobblestones came neighborhood traffic. We all navigated wet and well back to the river and bikepath. (the gloomy weather meant that no pictures of David made it out of the camera, maybe next trip.)

2km or so later and we were soaked but now riding under the expressway we had come up under, so we weren’t getting any wetter for the time being. Getting back into the city, David took a little detour and drug us out into the rain and onto the long skinny island that runs down the middle of the Danube. It’s only about 250m wide, but maybe 15km long. It was made in the 1970′s from dredging the shipping channels in the river, and now is a series of parks, fields and stands of trees intertwined with tons of foot and bike paths. We began to revel in our wetness and even tried to clean the mud off our bikes a bit in the puddles. We took a bridge crossing just south of where we were staying and zipped back through the Prater to our apartment just as the rain stopped and the skies cleared.

Back on the street by our car we chatted and scraped the mud from our legs and chainstays. As we talked an Austrian couple rode up on townies (nice ones. her’s was steel, with fenders, and XT/XTR.) She asked if we had a pump and I reinflated her back tire while we all chatted. He asked David if he worked on his own bike, and David ended up adjusting the guy’s V-brakes and maybe even tuned his rear mech. We all laughed. Verča and I thanked David for the tour and he was on his way; home to dinner with the wife and kids. We snuck in the side door of the pension with our dirty bikes and selves and jumped into a warm shower.

The next morning while Veronika was at the conference, I tooled around Vienna to catch a few more sights. They have a pretty extensive bikeshare program, with access points all over the city and ATM access. I saw a few people using them, but most seemed to be locked up? Maybe it was just a slow part of the day? Also there was a rad fitness center with outdoor pool floating in the river and anchored to the bike path embankment. It moves up and down with the wake from passing boats and changes in river flow.

city network of sharedbikes all plastered in a bank sponsors logos

a floating swimming pool in the river Danube on the bike path, and the super-high-speed ferry link that run between Vienna and Bratislava, the Slovak capitol

So that afternoon, we met up with Sunil, another american expat in Vienna. He lugged us around in basically the same area as David, and although he has been in the city less time, I think he had devoted more time to exploring. We basically went first to the overlook, we had avoided the other day due to the pending storm. It had a big restaurant and terrace overlooking Vienna and the Danube.

Sunil and Verča looking back to the city

Where David knew lots of double track and fireroads, Sunil knew all the little singletrack links from one place to the next. There were lots of steep rooty sections that dropped from on trail to the other, obviously pedestrian shortcuts, that made for some fun sketchy drop ins.

Verča on some more tech trail

There was plenty of good smooth track too, and we even crossed and rode on some of the trails from the day before. Definitely a good ride with a very different flavor in essentially the same exact place. It was maybe 35km vs. Davids 55km but took about the same amount of time. On our way down Sunil brought us to the Am Himmel tree circle, a very cool tree/zodiac circle again overlooking the city. We each found our corresponding astrological tree, relaxed a bit, then zipped back towards the city.

Sunil in the forest

As we were about to cross a bridge off the recreation island Sunil warned of a nice fall-away drop down the bridge embankment. I followed his wheel and zipped down and turned to look and saw Verča walking down the super steep embankment instead of riding it or riding around. oh well.

Verča taking the hard way

Sunil went on his way and we strolled back into the city center for dinner.

i've gotten better at the over the shoulder shot

Again with the wife at her conference, I wandered the city by bike and occasionally got stuck in traffic.

viennese traffic

It really was nothing to come upon groups of 10 or more cyclists of all ages coasting through the mostly flat city center. I even found a messenger in the car free central district rocking what appears to be an Alan lugged aluminium road bike.

local messenger with sandals and lugged aluminium

With that I’ll leave you with Verča hitting some dirt jumps in the BMX park.

Presidents Day week-end 2008
We flew out to AZ to escape the winter in Prague and then the winter in MD, only to find winter in the desert.

assembling the dumb light bike with ominous desert clouds behind

When we landed it was 60s but the wind on the approach and a choppy landing were ominous signs. It seems a storm was a brewin’. A couple of hours later at about 5pm on Thursday it started raining. Winter rain in the Sonoran desert is not the worst thing. It usually lasts less than 12 hours and actually knocks the dust down. Both of our bikes made it on the plane this year, so we were excited. Plus, as always, or better than ever, the Clarks met and welcomed us like their own. So with warm food in our bellies and the bikes ready to go we turned in for the evening. When we woke the next morning it was still raining, but was expected to stop by noon. By then we were already heading north with Wanye III (Damien’s pops) in their eco-suv, the hybrid Highlander. And we were using it since the road, usually about 15 miles or dirt, was completely mud and stream crossings.

moots SS and giant SS with desert snow

Wayne and Zac's local bikes 1st snow

This was not looking good.
I had done this race a few years back in the rain, and it wasn’t as fun as usual.

When we got to the venue, Wayne 4 (D’s bro) and friend Zac had already set up camp. They had gotten up there Thursday to beat the rain and all were glad they did. It’s always amusing to see how hard it can rain in the desert. Temps were hovering just under 50 now up at a little higher elevation in the foothills of the mountains.

the wintery airstream and camp

the wintery 4x4 van and camp

We settled in here too, and started drinking and listening to music in the mostly-renovated Airstream of W3. Food and beer and a nice waterproof trailer made us forget about the rain a bit. Unfortunately we still had to go out to get more cold beer and to hit the portojohns. As night fell 2 things happened. The temps dropped and some virus later determined to have likely found us on the MD-AZ plane caught up with Verča, so she started regular and often trips out to the second option above.

She only hinted to me at her condition that night, but by her mood, I realized all wasn’t perfect. plus when I awoke in the middle of the night to hit the head myself I found 2″+ of snow covering everything. A strange desert site for sure, especially on my friendly cholla, whom I try to piss on as much as possible.

my cholla with a warm spot in the center from my effluent

By late morning the rain had let up, and the race itself got underway, so we rode in circles for several hours and had a generally great time.

Verča had a pretty amazing race, considering she had to stop to desecrate every other cactus every time she rode, due to her shall we say, intestinal distress. She ended up in fourth place in Solo SingleSpeed Female with 6 laps, while essentially riding only on oranges, cliff bloks, and water.

I had only 1 more lap for a total of 7, placing me at 24th in the Solo SingleSpeed Male.

Only after the race (and into the next day) did I appreciate her will, as the evil virus found me and completely incapacitated me. I could barely get out of bed. We even had to stop 2x on the way back to Tucson, so I could vomit/lay on the side of the road and moan.

Funny thing is, we both loved it and Verča, especially wants to go back soon!
(eds. update: although last year 2009 didn’t happen for $$ reasons, and it looks like we are maybe too busy for 2010.)

ouch!

ok, so I went for a short ride the other day to meet the misses after work, for a tool around on some city park paths. it turned pretty short, when on a steep little dirt climb my front wheel kicked up a piece or path debris (a stick or a rock, in the end I wasn’t able to determine which was the final culprit.)

It nicely struck my rear derailleur, which is of course a Campagnolo Record 10 with a carbon outer plate. And with enough force to push it pretty hard. And to an insult to injury, I will have to assume that I had not conservatively enough set the inner limit screw, as the impact was enough to send the carbon mech spokeward.



It grabbed a spoke, snapped the carbon loops off the pivot and bent my alu hanger/slider a bit. So I trashed what appears to be a $400msrp derailleur. I looked up the part number for the replacement carbon outer plate from campy and it’s like $150!!

Needless to say, I bent the hanger straight and put an old all aluminum 8-spd Athena that was in a car accident crash on, and shifting is back to perfect for the 2×10.

As an added amusement, when I flipped the bike over to see how the hell I was going to ride home (which was suprisingly not a problem as long as I didn’t try to shift or do any drops over 8″) I found that my no-good-drunk mechanic didn’t tighten my fancy campy record aluminum chainring bolts very tight. 2 were missing. 60% of them were there, though; and that’s passing.
He still gets a D for that one.

And I’m gonna stop paying him in bourbon and Pilsner Urquell

anyway here is a conundrum I am in these days, see if you can answer it:
(I’m pretty sure it’s a recurring issue I know the solution for, which I’ll pipe in with later.)

when I am pedaling along at a normal (~75rpm) cadence under a light to moderate load (generally flat terrain) on my mountainbike I have a distinct slipping feeling at my left foot with each revolution as the foot passes the top (12:00) dead spot. it has the feeling of a loose pedal or loose crank or even a poorly adjusted cleat. seeing as how none of these have turned out to be the culprit, please help me try to solve the problem. as a note, I do sometimes have the feeling that pedaling smoother circles can somewhat diminish the issue, and also that it may seem to go away on longer rides (maybe I just forget about it.)

in the interest of science I have replaced the pedals, with a new pair of a similar model; I have replaced the cleats with a new set; and I have tried a second set of same model shoes with their old cleats; none of which have alleviated the issue.

clean drivetrain

btw, everything is always (85% of the time) lubed and cleaned directly (within 3-4 weeks) after every ride. and all (~35%) rides take place in ideal (or possibly rainy, muddy, or snowy) conditions.

that’s about it.
lots of little checks and the problem persists.
leave questions and answers in the comments!

-cory

state college gets less than two months of sun a year.  the winters are long and sloppy, not cold enough for serious snow accumulation but cold enough to get the occasional 2-3 feet.  but when the sun does make its presence felt, it is remarkable, perfect temps, scattered clouds, deep blue skies…  as a side note, i lived on the side of mount nittany, and in my last year there i had a close encounter with a bear.  returning home i hear a noise in the bushes about 5 feet to my right.  i look over and see fur moving: a deer.  the deer stands up and emerges from the bushes, inches from the road.  i think, oh, thats odd, a person in a bear costume. right as i breeze by, i realize it is of course a real bear, but i am past and no harm has come and it happens so quickly that i do not have time to get scared: looking behind me i see him ambling across the street.  i believe he was checking for cars.

ahh but back to yesterday.  i stop for coffee at mile 120, (or so), at a proper david lynch roadhouse, with wood paneled interior, waitresses in smart red uniforms and thick diner mugs of steaming hot coffee, served too weak to bother with cream.  in proper lynch mode i buy a squishy donut.  back on the road the sky blackens from a flannel grey to a muted midnight.  the wind tosses the car half across adjacent lanes.  the mountain passes loom ahead, made eerie by the crack of good weather i can see at the top.  descending the backside of the twisting road, passing thousands of acres of thick pines and tiny deep blue lakes, i emerge into a world sheltered by 1200 foot mountains, which serve to hold the cold front at bay, roiling just a mile back in my rearview mirror.

i arrive at the yellow wooden post office with bright white trim in Lemont, the same post office that i picked up packages from for 2 years.  i am to meet a fellow named whit, who will be the ride leader, a philosophy major turned pro bike racer turned philly english teacher.  we will generate a cue sheet for the ride, i will drive, point things out, make the right turns, get us mildly lost, and he will diligently record our path on a custard yellow note page with a dying pen.

i have already driven 4 hours.  i am about to drive 8 more.  onward.  i point out local oddities, the house with the stream under it, the barn filled with rare bikes and roosters…  our journey takes us through rolling, impossibly scenic farm lands, past tiny streams, chuttering black buggies with dour amish drivers.

rusted cars about 3/4 of the way to milheim

on a side note, my toes are unreasonably tingly right now.

our rough mid point dumps us in milheim, a squalid down shoved at the bottom of a mountain pass that no one uses any more because the timber industry has dried up.  we are looking for food.  the local pub is closed, not open for 4 more hours.  turning back to the car we see what appears to be a missplaced western hotel, a rambling brown wood fascade with a wooden sidewalk/porch, and a carved painted sign reading hotel milheim: fine food, spirits, and lodging.  we walk in.

we wander thru 3 ancient dining rooms, the last of which oddly has old iron bathrubs serving as salad bar containers.  our journey ends in a darkly paneled bar, attended by a sparely tooth’d woman with a cackling smile and hair that looked like an eminent fire hazard.  we ordered the special, and 2 drafts of cheap local beer and sat back in our cracked fake leather bar chairs and taked about racing and not racing and marriage and gear ratios and beer and i think, how strange, i have only just meet the guy.

pine swamp road

leaving the hotel, meager bill paid (28 dollars, 4 beers, sandwiches, fries, and soup!) we emerged into a torrent of rain.  epic rain.  fitzcarraldian rain.  i had left my window down.  i sat on a soggy fabric seat and we drove on.  the road twisted and turned past sinking creek, now a flooding river, mere feet from the edge of the road.  logs drifted down like whitewater rafters.  we turned over a bridge and left the river behind, climbing into the mist on dirt roads that were build to connect logging communities that no longer exist.  the visibility drops.  mist hangs like spanish moss from the leaves of laurel, pines press in close, their tops obscurred in white.  we slide thru muddy turns and bump over sharp rocks, the suspension protesting and chattering.

penn

ahh the reason for the ride.  penn’s view overlook appears suddenly on our left, a shear drop of 1000 feet to the winding river we left below, mountains stretching out only to dissolve in the gray curtains of rain.  white clouds scatter at our foot steps.  whit has to snap a few pictures.  i hide under a scrawny pine, clinging desperately to granite boulders.
more views await, the car sliding around turns as even downshifts will not slow our progress.  we emerge on the otherside of the ridge, passing a lake that has been recently drained for dam maintenance, an oddly visceral site, like a corpse post autopsy.  soon we are climbing again, road names like vonada gap, synagog gap, mountain church road, locust grove road.  we drive a twisting ridgeline, and suddenly turn down, barreling down the mountain back toward the valley.

pine swamp view

midsentance i yell: fuck.  i slam my brakes and slid across the road.   i have almost run over a giant yellow cock.  the rooster is making his way across the road, oblivious to the fact that his death was nearly imminent.  whit chases him back home with his camera, and in fits of laughter we continue our descent, but at a more stately pace.

ahh i need more tea.

yellow cock!

so.  well.  how much more is there to tell?  those are the high lights.  we were mildly lost at one point, but after looking over a huge topo map that whit thoughtfully brought i divined the route (ok not really, we just sorta kept going and found the road) and we finished with no more yellow cock run-ins.  i took a slight break from driving and poked in an antique store for old cameras.  when i emerged, it was snowing softly.  i drove home having consumed 2 more cups of coffee and a bad gas station sandwich.

11 hours after i started, i returned to frederick a tired tired tired man.  mission accomplished though, and that’s the important thing.

all photos used up there are whit’s.  see more photos from this recon, whit’s last recon, and past state college rambles.

So here is some reverse chronology for you:

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This past week-end (Jan31-Feb1) was the UCI Cyclocross World Championship races in some place I can’t spell or say in the Netherlands. We all know I love me some time spent in the nether regions, but Verča had some yoga seminar on Saturday and driving 8 hours 45 minutes each way for a scant few 45 and 60 minute bike races seemed silly, plus the World Champs will be about 35 minutes away next year in Tábor, here in the Great Czech Republic. I could probably go on about diesel prices here (that even at all time low) are still 2.5-3 times higher than in the US even though (somehow the US of A’s dollar is quite strong now and) the glorious Czech crown is in the tank, but I won’t, so we’ll leave it at that…

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Anyway, Sunday was the UCI Elite men’s and women’s races, so Verča and I decided to honor it, czech-style (like old pueblo-style, only colder and with less weed.)

We linked together a road ride out of a few familiar sections that tie together some of our fairer weather mountain bike trails. What Verča didn’t realize is that I had been riding a bit more recently and knew good and well that there is no such thing as a road ride in the Czech Republic in January or February.
It’s pretty much all cyclocross here now!

the missus riding a snow covered bike path

We had mud.
We had snow.
We had mud and snow.
We even had ice and snow.
(luckily no mud, ice, and snow! not sure if we could have handled that.)

Verča riding along still

suprisingly it took me like 6 tries to get us both in the frame. (as you can tell by my look of astonishment!) which I blame on the thicker winter gloves.

Verča crossing it up along the river on the way home. As you can see, she was channelling Marianne Vos

but she is truly her own smart ass self!

Verča wasn’t too happy with the last 205 meters of cobbles just before home on the cross bike, as her wrists were tired from yoga the day before and some long hairy braking sections on the day (where she has a tendency to over brake.[veronika's eds. note: i wouldn't over brake if the damnit bike would slow down when I need it!]) I had to remind her that it was the first and last section of my fixie commute to work, and that it is our last section at the end of nearly all mountain rides (which apparently doesn’t bother her on the squishy bike!)

at the end of the ride my bike was muddy, but not nearly as bad as the day before, when it was too dark to photograph

I was pretty happy. We were relatively clean, warm, and dry when we got home. And not dark yet.
(read on to see relative to what.)

so about 40km & ~3hours on cobbles, asphalt, dirt path, and crusher run
with starting out Sunny (for 10 minutes) then total overcast with a high temp of -3.3 °C

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Saturday was the Junior and U23 WCXChamps so I saddled up the XMY♡ and headed out with a youthful vigor while Verča went to a yoga clinic somewhere warm.

I opted to take Ole’ No. 7 out with James recommended Ruffy Tuffy 28′s for the first half of a favorite urban mountain bike ride with a road (but marked bicycle route) connection and the riverside city bike path finish. I thought I could hammer it since I was alone with no problems.

In the first section of single track I crashed hard going about 35km/hr right as it was about to dump me back onto the street. Apparently all that pretty snow was covering the sheets of ice from a thaw we had a few weeks ago. Out on dryish asphalt I was fine again and put the ice behind me. 200 meters down the road and 10 meters in the next section of trail and I was laying on the ice again this time on the other side for a balanced aching effect.

It was pretty much a skating rink.

Needless to say I slowed down on the trail.

But it was a beautiful ride and quiet. (not too many people out and very few if any tire tracks in parts.)
A few old ladies stepped out of the way and made jovial comments as I rode down steep trails sheeted in ice.

I managed to not lay down on the ground again (or maybe only one other time) but definitely benefit from those Sidi toe spikes. (Why is it that I don’t have studded tires? Not even I can answer that one!)

On the road section there was some welcome adventure as well.
It seems the construction of a new beltway with a few tunnels and spectacular bridges around the south of Prague resulted in the closure of the road the bike path was on, to make way for the highway construction. So I got to have about 1km of ground roughed up by dump trucks and track loaders then hard frozen over, followed by 500m of active winter dirt construction access road, which we all know means a thin coating of slippery mud (awesome!), followed by about 5km of soupy paved road (as there are few if any silt fences or rock tracking pads on czech sites.)

the bike in its natural habitat, come f-ed up trail out of season

Needless to say the Clark Custom Cycles XMY♡ Ole’ No. 7 looks good in its campy record (pre-11 shenanigans) livery covered in snow and mud.

plenty of clearence in the AlphaQ even paked with snow

clark custom down tube logo, protected from the elements inside the front triangle

record works even when it's cold!

As for the build: The AlphaQ fork is very stiff to the point of being rough at times. The Campy Khamsin wheels with weirdo G3 lacing (which really only makes sense in the rear wheel) are quite stiff as well and have proved admirably durable. The Panaracer Ruffy Tuffy 28′s measure up just shy of 26mm mounted and are really just a road tire (but one durable enough for my stupid adventures.) I’d like something more like Verča’s big 35mm Paselas for true on and off road adventuring and exploring. The Nitto Randoneur bars are pretty but completely inappropriate on this bike. Their drop is too small for my medium-big hands, hand positions on the tops and hoods are narrow and yield a twitchy instability on a fast handling cross bike. They are more suited for a relaxed head angle, high rise stem, loaded lowrider pannier equipped forked touring bike, where the curvy shape will make for nice hand positions. I am thinking that I will try either a bell lap or another Midge. So I love the Fizik saddle. White synthetic leather Arione is sweet, and the matching pseudo leather perforated white bar tape is nice and tacky (more ways then one?!) but it’s pretty much a gray color now, strangely similar to road spray?

As an added note, it is amazing the quality of shifting you get from a complete campy drive train (with the bling of a gold KMC chain.) I highly recommend it.

classic czech open field crossings, luckily the ruts were frozen solid

so about 65km & 3.5hours on cobbles, asphalt, crusher run paths, single track, and a construction site
with it totally overcast & light freezing rain, avg. temp of -1.7 °C, & a nice 45km/hr wind out of the north

But I didn’t take many pictures. You see; I’ve seen it before several times; and I was either struggling up snowy slippery climbs; or fighting through the slushy, slippery, snowy flats; or bombing down the snowy descents trying not to fall off the ridge.

This was the ride when I discovered ice.

it looked like dirt, but shiny!

It started out as a weird frozen slushy stuff, like if they made artificial snow and someone screwed up the design and the snowflakes ended up round and 5mm in diameter. It was a chore to pedal in, but I stuck it out cause I drove 30 minutes to ride my bike alone damn it! Then the ice came. I guess I just looked down all of a sudden and realized under a light frosting of snow it was sheets of ice as far as the eye could see. And I could see it pretty well since it was about 3cm from my eye cause I was laying on the ground.

What was I doing on the ground?
What a good question you pose.
I don’t really know. I’m pretty sure I was riding my bike down the trail a second ago.

Anyway it was below freezing from mid December through the first week of the year. Then it got up to almost 8°C for a few days and the snow that had accumulated got wet, then back below freezing and we have ice. Lots of it!

I lost track around the 5th or 6th time on the ice; but I did get enough practice in to avoid landing on my face after the first 2 times. I ended up Paris-Roubaixing a lot of the ride where I could find a bit of extra texture in frozen leaves or deeper snow. Late in the first half of the ride I was trying to make up time on an flatish asphalt section and hit the deck while top gear pedaling. It seems black ice and asphalt look pretty similar under the tree canopy on an overcast day and I was lucky to have lasted so long. And I actually got nice and wet on this one, since I slid for quite a while on the slowly melting ice sheet.

edge to edge ice

I did manage a couple pics when I turned back on a forest road and couldn’t even walk up the trail. It was rather pretty covered in ice. I ended up hiking and riding in the woods for a couple hundred meters, but then had nice snow covered ice which could be ridden on with low tire pressure (about 16psi) and a fair bit of prudence.

yeah, more ice

True to form I made it back as darkness settled and was thoroughly pleased to see that the car was where I had left it (with our new Thule roof rack still attached.)

so 22.5km & 3 hours on single, double track, dirt, gravel & paved forest road;
all with either ice or snow or some horrific combination of both
with overcast skies with slivers of blue, avg. temp of 0.6 °C, & highs of almost 4°C

Monika is a bit nuts; but Maca, on her left, and Lukas, on her right, agreed, while under the influence, to go for a ride on Saturday

Needless to say both dangerous and entertaining.
By the end of the night our group of around 10 drank something like 30liters (more than a half keg) but one other table of 5 guys beat us with almost 50liters (a fullkeg!)

Luckily the have a huge ass tank of beer.
(I’ll take a picture of the delivery truck one day. It’s looks like a little fuel tanker.)

So we got drunk and stayed late.
With 2 other guys I agreed (late in the evening) in Czech to meet on Saturday morning under a bridge on the edge of town to go biking, assuming it was expected to get up near 0 °C.

under the bridge downtown is where I drew some blood

Anyway, 9am on Saturday(Jan10) as planned I was waiting under the bridge.

it was warm and dry under here

It was -8°C, and I was alone.
I sent a couple derogatory SMS’s and then went for a ride by myself.
(one guy forgot who he was supposed to go riding with and called the wrong guy to cancel and the other just bailed due to the cold.)

rollin' up a forest road

more logging road style cruising

It was a perfect ride.
Snowy (not icy) and lots of fresh track.

open single track

great wintery scenery

I saw several bikers, just none I knew. One even asked me if I knew if the next bar was open at 10am. I assumed yes (it still being in the Czech Republic and all), but didn’t know, but sure enough when we got there, it was so he split off for a beer and I kept riding.

as long as you don't need the sun

some parts were quite well travelled

and even hinted at blue sky

solid water makes for some shortcuts

The creeks were solid which made for some easier crossings, but a few of the little log bridges were too shady to even walk. All the little bridges were fine though.

some bridges were still the best option

and some were not really rideable in the snow

All n’ all a great ride

almost back home

22.5km & 2.5 hours on single, double track, dirt, gravel & paved bike path; all snow covered.
with overcast skies, avg. temp of -5 °C, & a high of almost -3°C

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The next day(Jan11) Verča was itching to ride after not having ridden since before new year’s so we drove 15 minutes outside of Prague to the part or Brdy closest to the city. (we did this in lieu of the out and back on the riverside bike path that would have been rather unbearable with the -7°C weather and a probable headwind on the way home.)

We parked on top of the ridge in a little town and ventured off across a snowy field and then down a creek valley to the river below.

hmm... she hasn't got the hang of not using brakes yet

much better (but that left foot is still not clipped in!)

Right of the bat Verča was a bit iffy on the steep technical descent on snow covered leaves and I had to wait a bit, since I am not so big on using brakes. After a little warm-up she was fine and we were on our way.
But there were still a few obstacles to our progress.

not riding again

OK, so this really wasn't rideable. I think I may have hit a tree trying to ride it.

We passed a lady walking up and she made some comment like “are you lost?”
No we weren’t, but we did slide down a few step chutes and portage over MANY felled trees.

ha ha! she's still following me.

sucker! (oh wait she might be able to hear me now!)

There were some good smooth riding sections too, see!

railing a slick turn (on the third try)

at times even too fast for the camera man!

We even had to hike-a-bike a few steep ass hills.

cyclocross!!

why isn't she pedalling?

oh yeah, long and steep! stupid trails designed for hikers!

It wasn’t too icy, but it was definitely slow going.

In the end we only rode 18.5km & ~3hours, but it was 99% single and double track completely covered in snow
again overcast skies, high temp of -6 °C, & low of -8°C

i went hunting today.  for antique cameras.  they were safe from purchase because i literally have 5 dollars in cash, nothing in my checking account, and only savings to fall back on.  but i went hunting anyway.  because i like antique stores.  i like the smell of them.  i like the pursuit.  i like going to the same stores i have been to tons of times, since i was a teenager, and looking for new stuff.  for instance i used to be into records alot.  now i dont even see them.  i see cameras, and old tools, and rows of books.  but i dont see vintage beer trays.  i dont see old military stuff.  all of that is stuff i used to sweat but now…  its different.  i consume hobbies…  anyway, bang, the hunt was on, the first booth had pile of old cameras.  i had never seen any of them before.  there were old canon and minolta mid range SLRs, very 1st year film student, boring and predictable and loud.  CLICK.  there was a kodak retina, which was the most complicated camera i have ever seen, levers and dials, and incremental this and millimeter that…

kodak retina

there were two argus ‘brick’ range finders which weigh as much as say… your lap top, but are smaller than a brick.  they have external focusing gears that click together, very odd…  the viewfinder is about the size of an eraser head, maybe smaller, so looking into the camera was strange indeed, made stranger by the fact that the argus brick is a rangefinder, which means there are two images in the viewfinder, one of which is yellow and sort of floats in the center, and lines up with the other image when shit is in focus… hard to explain.  basically it means that if you are trying to take a picture in low light, you can, because you arnt trying to see if its in focus, you are trying to line stuff up, which is easier when its hard to see.  regardless, looking into a pencil eraser sized window to focus anything is hard at best.

argus brick

i continued on, heartened by my initial sightings of some relatively interesting beasts.   i next encountered an 8 dollar cheap 35 mm camera from the 70s in its original wrapper.  cheap cameras give interesting distortions, so sometimes its worth the cash.  needless to say, i didnt even have that paltry sum, so i moved on.  there is a rash of cheap kodak brownie cameras out there, which take shitty pictures and are a pain to use, but from 1901-1960 they were dirt cheap or free, so there are piles of them, as they were basically ‘america’s camera’.  in the 1970s america’s new camera became the polaroid, which was also dirt cheap but the film was not…  there were scattered piles of cheap plastic polaroids, all whose film has been long discontinued, and so are good for nothing, not even good to look at, no metal bits, no german design, no japanese elegance… i passed these with a sneer and sniff…

you can usually tell who will have cameras.  they are the guy booths at the antique mall, the one with gadgets and beer paraphenalia, and oscilliscopes and fly fishing gear.  i found a yashica electro in one such booth: not a rare camera but a good one, a cheap japanese rangefinder with good optics and a big viewfinder.  it was 60 dollars.  i moved on, and quickly found a rash of yashica electros in leather cases, lens cap, etc.  cheaper!  also in the mix was a canon canonet, a strange camera in that it managed to look very sleek, but only because it hid all of the levers and dials on the bottom!  the canonet was a midpriced rangefinder, roughly equal to the yashica, but somehow more dated looking and less compelling…

yashica electro

canon canonet

i haunted the rest of the aisles but came up with only some cheap brandless box cameras of no worth, more brownies, and anouther argus brick with a mildewed viewfinder and stuck gears.

the hunt will continue anew.  when i get some fucking money.