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My Black Friday ride!
Last Post 11/24/2018 09:26 PM by Cosmic Kid. 6 Replies.
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79pmooney

Posts:3178

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11/24/2018 12:39 AM
Went for my third Black Friday ride, west to the coast range and up a logging and BLM road to the barbed wire fence at the Hillsboro city watershed and back.  66 miles of pavement and probably 5 of good gravel road.  The striking part of this is how well my bike serves for this ride, a '73 Raleigh Competition frame with a mishmash of parts.  (Zero attempt to be authentic or even period but some of the parts could go back that far.)

Frame is small.  21" (59 cm is my standard)  Nitto Pearl 13 (140 in everybody else's book), traditional Nitto bars.  Triple: Sugino 110/74 with 52-42-26, SRAM 8-speed chain to a modern Shimano 7-speed 14-28, SunTour AR front derailleur (roller removed and replaced by a shorter bolt and small washers to narrow the cage for quicker shifting onto the inner ring) and a SunTour GT rear (I forget what).  Power ratchet DTs.  Tektro road levers and Mafac Racer front, Schwinn approved (Weinmann?) rear with continuous housing.

Phil hubs (bolted in front to get the width down for easy removal with a very stiff Jahnn (sp) lowrider rack).  Mavic Sport rims, 36 spoke laced 4X with light spokes.  Good flapped fenders.  Rear rack also.  Today I carried one pannier in back.  35c Pasela tires.  Probably 55 psi on the road, 40 on the gravel.

Today's ride was in rain most of the day, high 40s to 51, getting a real amount colder approaching and going up the gravel.

For this ride, the bike is close to perfect.  Oh, quite a few pounds less would be nice.  But on flattish, wet roads, weight matters little and those flat Paselas roll just fine.  On the gravel with softer tires, the bike rules.  (The flexy BB hardly matters when you cannot get out of the saddle productively anyway.)  Downhill it is a blast.  That old bike is completely confidence inspiring flying down stretches I could barely see and where I had to choose my lines long before I had any info on them.

Shifters nearer the bars would have been nice a few times but still, this is the steadiest bike I have ever ridden in that stuff when I do have to reach down.  And that drive train shifts really well.  Today it seemed I was on.  I only hit the Shimano no-mans-land once (between cogs where the chain wanders back and forth, always in a gear, but often shifting on its own.

Much of the time, I hate that FW and the big spaces but on gravel, that FW and the wide range in front work really well.  And having the 26-28 was also a blessing coming home, allowing me to go easy up a probably 300', say12% hill to save a few miles.  (I'm not in super shape and kept the speeds down all day to keep this ride out of the epic category.) 

It didn't cross my mind until after I got back, but part of my climbing issues today was another source of weight.  My clothes.  I was never dripping wet or soggy under my rain jacket and tights but all of my clothes were damp.  The mittens and gloves under I wore on the ride out were truly soggy.  At the far point, I stashed them and put on dry Showers Pass gloves.  What a treat!  Comfy hands all the way home.  I could have rung water out of those mittens when I got home.  There was a puddle n my pannier.  Peeling those clothes off and taking a hot shower - bliss!  Warm, dry clothes more bliss.  (Memo to self - stash dry gloves for future rides.)

They call today Black Friday.  A month before solstice at 45 degrees N in the rain (for the third year), no.  It's Grey Friday.  (Great day for my yellow rain jacket, yellow Ortleib pannier and wide yellow Planet Bike fenders.  Felt like cars saw me all day - until I ran out of cars; part of the reason for this ride!)

Ben
Dale

Posts:1767

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11/24/2018 04:29 PM
Knocked out 60 hilly miles in northern Arkansas. 50* at the start and close to 70* at the end full sun, minimal wind. Something like 4500' of climbing. Couple of guys touched wheels on a hairpin turn and went down. Lost a little hide but otherwise ok. About 24 of us rode.

The weather is supposed to turn to crap this week-- mid-40's, overcast, some precip. In other words just a summer day in Portland
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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11/24/2018 04:49 PM
Little over 11.5 hours on the local trails (packed sand / gravel, nothing technical) on the CX sled....had just gotten a new set of wheels which I put some knobby CX shoes on for days like today....trail was a bit muddy / sloppy in a few areas. Kinda like riding through peanut butter in those areas.

Got out late in the day, around 3:00...temps were 50* and dropped slightly from there. Had to flip on the headlight for the last mile or so.

Damn fine ride.
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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11/24/2018 05:49 PM
CK, one of the joys of that bike (and the rain throughout the day) was that all I had to do to put away a clean bike was hose it off with a gentle spray, blasting the brake pads. (The chain is a black, oily mess - Finish Line wet MTB lube). I make zero attempt to run clean drive trains on my winter/rain/city sleds.)

The bike didn't actually look all that bad before I sprayed tit down.

Dale, your riding is out of my league entirely. (CK's is also.)

Ben
Dale

Posts:1767

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11/24/2018 08:51 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 11/24/2018 05:49 PM


Dale, your riding is out of my league entirely. (CK's is also.)

Ben


Ben, don't make too much of either my ride or CK's. I suffered like a dog, and his typing ability made a 90 minute ride look like it was 11+ hours
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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11/24/2018 09:24 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 11/24/2018 05:49 PM
CK, one of the joys of that bike (and the rain throughout the day) was that all I had to do to put away a clean bike was hose it off with a gentle spray, blasting the brake pads. (The chain is a black, oily mess - Finish Line wet MTB lube). I make zero attempt to run clean drive trains on my winter/rain/city sleds.)

The bike didn't actually look all that bad before I sprayed tit down.

Dale, your riding is out of my league entirely. (CK's is also.)

Ben


Hah...just ent back and looked at my post. Massive typo....that should be 1.5 hours, not 11.5!! Doh!
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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11/24/2018 09:26 PM
Posted By Dale Dale on 11/24/2018 08:51 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 11/24/2018 05:49 PM


Dale, your riding is out of my league entirely. (CK's is also.)

Ben


Ben, don't make too much of either my ride or CK's. I suffered like a dog, and his typing ability made a 90 minute ride look like it was 11+ hours


100% excellent insight!
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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