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Winter Weather Brings Longboard Fenders

Down in the shop last night I mounted new SKS Longboard Fenders from Rivendell Bicycle Works on my Atlantis.  The splash off the front wheels has been  the only drawback to riding on wider tires.   Wider tires equals more water pushed up into my legs and shoes.  I researched all manners of solutions and could not bring myself to the bike hack of refashioned water bottles and duct tape.

How much better are these fenders?  My front fenders were about 9″ off the pavement and these are about 2″ off the pavement and slightly wider at the bottom along with being curved forward along the wheel.  Less height means less water splashed onto me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am hoping to get one more season out of my Shimano waterproof shoes which let way too much water in for my taste.

AFTER I finished the installation I found that Rivendell had a video explaining how to do it.  I am including the video to remind myself to look and plan first.

 

They also have a group of pictures on Flickr showing the actual product.

 

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Rivendell Bicycle Works Reader 43 is Out

Rivendell Bicycle Works who built my Atlantis (disclaimer: I have wanted a Rivendell Bicycle from so long ago that while it is only a bicycle, I believe it might be special) and introduced me to thinking about cycling and realizing that my Engineering background indeed does trump bike lore by providing science, released the Rivendell Reader 43.  I have enjoyed this reader, and it has informed my cycling, since before I had kids.  That would mean when Grant was younger as well.  Give it a read, it is always interesting and one can discuss any of the articles on your long rides, even if you ride alone.

http://shade.keeptrees.com/publications/g30/TheRivendellReader/#page0

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Using RondePDX as a Training Ride

I am writing this in the room closest to the front door where I await UPS delivering my Atlantis from Rivendell Bicycle Works.  I leave for VA in mid June and I am contemplating attempting the RondePDX legendary route for training purposes.  While I know it seems silly, I do recall the mountains.  It seems silly as I am no longer starting in OR and won’t see the first set of hills now until day 5 when I cross the Blue Ridge Mountains.

And I still wonder if this applies That wound will never fully heal. He will carry it the rest of his life.

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Choosing the Right Bike Shop – Rivendell Bicycle Works

So my plans changed, apparently the Sam Hillborne was not the right bike for me.  It sounds silly to say it as I would have been happy to have had it and happy to have ridden it.  I believe it would have been with me a very long time.  But the frames weren’t going to arrive on time and so I have upgraded to a Rivendell Atlantis, which of course is my dream bike.

I leave from Charlottesville on the 20th of June, a change in direction.  One woman writes, it isn’t the wind, as we all know that isn’t so, but I won’t have the sun in my eyes in the morning and I will be out of the hotter areas by late summer and into the mountains in a warmer and drier set of months.  And that made perfect sense to me.  I also heard from my son (@petebikes) and he mentioned motivation and the desire to be home helping guide him.  All of this got me thinking that it was the right thing.  And then it occurred to me that having travel plans when I could actually schedule them would keep my cost down and so it goes.   I know the mountains would have built my legs into a powerful Kansas beating engine but they will still be there later in the trip and I will have good legs when I reach them this time.

So why is the bike shop so important, because it helps to have a shop mirror the values you have and frankly this place simply lived up to what I have always heard, always expected.  I love my local shops and the my favorite mechanics are great.  What these folks did is calmly assist me in Plan B, and with a tremendous amount of elegance they get it.  It is another bike for them to build and at the same time it is a very special bike for me, a bike that I have waited for and wished for over a long period of time.  I know that many adjustments will go into it, and many things will be great, and some will be different, but at the end of this day I find myself extremely happy and aware of my good fortune.