Ditch those stupid stock reflectors that came with your bike and cover it in reflective tape cause it’s sooooo much cooler!!!

So, apparently this tweed rideness happended. And if no one from ride lugged was present, then it’s a sad day for the cause. Or a happy one. Still not sure.

the what what:

frederick city alley cat, w/ checkpoints, contests, challenges, scavenger hunting, and rad urban cyclist prizes.

Where: meet at the big bell tower in baker park downtown frederick.  you know it.  MAP HERE
all the normal crap too: skid competion, track stand comp, rapping comp.

do we all know what an alley cat is?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleycat_races

the saturday after halloween, as in nov 7th.  meet at the baker park bell tower….

extra points for rad post halloween costumes.

other stuff:
bring a cell camera or a camera
a sharpie
tail light
beer bucks
messenger bag or basket
$6.66 entrance fee

A new installment on Ride Lugged where I get annoyed by all of the posts floating around in the drafts folder and post a bunch of them. So for those of you who didn’t get a chance to put those finishing touches on your post over the last three years that they’ve been siting in the draft box, feel free to do so now.

Originally written Feb 4, 2008

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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.

DISCLAIMER: Gratuitous use of the letter č in this post
Originally written June 12, 2007.

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So Verča and I headed out for a Saturday morning ride. We weren’t in a hurry, because it was supposed to rain all week-end. But by the time we roused ourselves it was nice and we took a quick jaunt.

I figured we would ride her commute before she had to, to get it down, and if the weather held we could find a better connection from her new job to Točna hopefully with as little road riding as possible.

The commute path was lovely and she was pretty happy about it. So we kept riding. It was nice for a bit, but then we got to some lake where we are supposed to go swimming in the summer and ran out of trail. After a while looking around for a trail we got fed up and pedalled 5 or 6km on a pretty trafficked road.

It dumped us to a town I had wandered to before and I knew a bit where we connected up to some nice doubletrack and singletrack. We rode it for a while, explored a bit more and found plenty more trail. It was all very marked, but with some of the most cryptic marking style I’ve seen. But it was so frequently marked there must be a map of it somewhere.

When we got fed up we turned towards Točna and rode on over. We hit some smooth twisty stuff and Verča was much happier. (She had gotten a little discouraged when she slipped on a wet section of trail and needed some fun parts to boost her spirit again.)

Strangely enough we were confronted by armed local factions three times on the ride.

An interesting thing has been happening on my flickr photostream recently.  I’ve been getting lots of photos favorited.  Not by cyclists.  Or art enthusiasts.  No.  By people who like pictures of guys in tight clothing.  Folks who think man ass crack is hot.