2019 Miles

Somehow during what was a chaotic and busy year, I rode over 3600 miles. This total is the most since 2004 when I rode 4604.

I still don't know how it happened. My son played more baseball games than ever, and sadly I am still employed with a full-time job.

At any rate, I have no intention of exceeding or even matching that total next year. In the end it was just too much. For the last couple months I was obsessing over setting a "record" and rode for mileage instead of enjoyment.

Next year the goal is more fun and quality over quantity.

Later.

Getaway

 Jennifer and I went to the coast again to do our thing. We went to the aquarium:

Took long walks along the beach:

Enjoyed the wildlife:

Went for bike rides:

And had a beer (or two) of course:

Good times, as always.

Later.

June 1 Weigh In

Over the course of Bike Month I lost 4.5 pounds. Not bad.

Later.

Mayo

I ended up with 507 miles in May, barely eclipsing my goal of 500. This put me into the top ten at work for the first time ever, which isn't saying much because participation by "real cyclists" is way down. In the past we would have a few guys with over 2000 miles, but this year I think only one guy went over 1000.

Later.

Failure

Well, Bike Month didn't start too well. Yesterday I had my first flat with a tubeless tire ever. I cut the tire on a rock and the hole was just too big to seal. She bled out and died right here:

I put in my spare tube, which has been in my seat bag for years, and it was no good. I had to stop and pump it up numerous times before it finally failed altogether.

I called the sag wagon and Jenn picked me up. Mileage total after day one: a whopping seven miles. It was a sticky, gooey, failure of an evening.

Later.

Weigh In

Bike Month is here and it's time to weigh in. One year I lost almost 10 pounds in the course of riding 825 miles. I only pledged 500 miles this year, but it would be nice to drop a few pounds in the process. This is more than I should weigh.

Later.

Coasting

A break in the baseball schedule allowed us to make a trip to the coast. We arrived first and then Roger joined us later. A great time was had by all.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Later.

RIP Nine Speed

Jennifer had the last bike in the house with a nine-speed drivetrain. She also had the last bike with a front derailleur. It was only fair that she now has the first 12-speed drivetrain in the house.

The parts are Sram Eagle GX except for the cassette, which is NX due to the compatibility with her Shimano hub.

I went with Sram over Shimano because she needs the extra low-end Eagle provides over Deore XT 11-speed—it's very hilly around here. To use the new XTR 12-speed I would have to build a new rear wheel. I would also need to sell a kidney to afford it.

I found the setup to be pretty routine and not much different than Shimano, unlike with the road components. Shifting is pretty damn good right out of the box. I found that Deore XT shifters need a little break-in before they feel good, but these Eagle shifters are smooth already.

One benefit to going with a one-by-twelve system is losing the clunky fat bike front derailleur clamp. It was so thick that it required a bunch of washers under the water bottle cage. This pushed the cage out so far it overlapped the frame. If you tried to put a bottle in the cage it bottomed out on the frame. Consequently, this bike has never had a second cage until now.

Jenn will get plenty of time to test it out during our upcoming trip to Monterey. I am curious what she will think about the new setup.

Later.

The Eagle Has Landed

The size of this cassette just doesn't come across in pictures like it does in person. It is massive.

More later.

Sram Update

I took the gravel bike out today for the first time in a while. To be truthful, my new Sram drivetrain wasn't really meshing with me too well, so the bike was gathering dust. I was finding the shifting to be far inferior to the way Shimano does it. The one lever thing . . . I don't know. I was always finding myself between gears. The most maddening thing is when you shift a little too far when wanting a harder gear, and you actually get an easier one. Hilarity ensues!

The other thing I found was that the adjustment is far more finicky than I am used to. With Shimano you only need to get in the general ballpark and it shifts fine. Not so with Sram.

So the other day I spent some time lubing the hell out of the cables and really dialing in the pulley position and cable tension. It's now shifting much better.

Today I tried to really slow down the shifting motion—much slower than I would with STI—so I could feel and hear when the shift actually takes place. This helped tremendously. Once I made this small change the user experience improved. I rode for a couple hours today and very much enjoyed riding the gravel bike again.

In the end, it's not like I am racing, so shifting more deliberately isn't a big deal. I assume eventually I will adapt and not have to think about it anymore. Old habits die hard.

Later.

Double Tap

I like to replace my bike parts every 20 years or so, whether they need it or not. I am weird like that. The parts in question are the shifters on my gravel bike.

I bought these Dura Ace 7700 STI shifters way back in 1998. They have been used on countless bikes over the years, and they have seen a lot of racing.

Frames came and went.

As did styles of racing.

And they saw use long after I stopped racing.

These are only a few examples of the bikes they have adorned. On each bike they dutifully performed their shifting and braking duties without complaint.

But it was time to move on, and time to move into the 21st Century. I looked around and read about what was available out there. All my mountain bikes at this point are utilizing a single ring in front, so I thought I should go that route. In my opinion, Shimano just isn't there yet on the road side. Ultimately I decided to buy my first Sram drivetrain EVER.

I decided on an 11-42 cassette and a 44-tooth chainring. I typically used a 38/48 chainring combo on my cross bikes, so I wouldn't lose much on the high end. On the low end, I would make great gains with the massive 42-tooth cog.

My current gravel frame uses mountain bike spacing (135mm) in the rear. Paired with a road crankset, the cassette is spaced 2.5mm outboard in relation to the chainrings. For this reason I used the outer position for the Race Face narrow-wide ring, and the chainline is spot on.

Setup was pretty straightforward. The only hiccup I encountered was my first chain being too short. I ordered a 120-link chain and it was perfect.

I really like the clean look without a front derailleur.

After over 20 years of shifting with STI, I must say it was frustrating to adapt to Double Tap. At one point I said aloud, "This is #%&@ing stupid." As that first ride progressed, it because easier, and the cussing subsided, but by no means did shifting become second nature.

On the pro side, braking has improved significantly. I think the Sram levers have a slightly higher cable pull ratio, so the brakes felt less mushy and I didn't have to run the pads so close to the rotor. I also liked how much more solid the lever blade feels because it isn't also a shifting mechanism like with Shimano STI.

For the cons, I would say so far using one lever for both shifts is not great. However, I know this is simply because I am not used to it. Millions of cyclists, including top professionals, are successfully using the system without issue.

I worried that the wide range of the cassette might not lend itself to road riding, but I noticed no difference. In reality I simply added two bigger cogs (which I have yet to use) to the nine speeds I was used to for all these years.

Overall I think this will be a fine drivetrain choice. Will it last for 20 years? Doubtful. When I purchased the Dura Ace so many years ago, it was top of the line. This new equipment is pretty far down the Sram food chain. Anyway, time will tell. Either way, it probably outlasts my aging body.

Later.

Another New Year

Last year one of my goals was to ride more miles than the year before. For a cyclist this is sort of a given; we always want more miles.

I performed a Garmin dump for 2018 and found that I barely eclipsed 2017 by a mere eight miles. Considering that I have no formal schedule, and I don't pay much attention to mileage until the end of the year, this is interesting. On the one hand, it's somewhat amazing that two yearly mileage totals can be so close. On the other hand, I am sort of a creature of habit.

From a big picture perspective, life was much the same in both years. My son played tournament baseball for the same organization, played Babe Ruth, made All Stars both years, and then played fall ball for his high school. I filled in the gaps where I could with rides, so it stands to reason the riding time and mileage would be similar.

The one area that saw a mild reduction was elevation gain at 159,000 feet, which was 5,000 feet less than the year before. This is likely due to Jennifer riding with me more, a good thing of course, but we don't do as much climbing when riding together.

One variable that I obviously don't control is atmospheric conditions. We lost countless riding days this year to wildfire smoke. I often sat on the indoor trainer those days, in addition to doing it on rainy days in the winter. These indoor days are not captured by the GPS. I think without the effects of the Carr Fire I beat last year quite handily.

I hope this goes without saying, but let me add that I feel awful even putting the wildfire topic in writing. Thousands of people lost their homes. But this is a cycling blog, so I can't ignore factors that affect cycling.

The new year opens with much promise from a cycling perspective. My son will play baseball almost exclusively for the high school, which is right down the road. The decreased driving time should be significant. On the downside, we have a couple years of home projects that have been back burnered due to our busy schedule, and they will need to be completed. I also have a lingering shoulder issue that may require some downtime at some point. Still, I see no reason why 2019 can't be a great riding year.

Later.