THAT was an interesting training ride

Intervals said my coach.  4 minutes long in a painful state.  I rode into work as usual, then, after work, loaded up the bike (why yes, I *do* train with the panniers and lock and all hanging off the bike) and headed out.



During my 15 minute warmup on SW Sewell, a rider came up behind me and "this isn't Lynne F is it?".  Indeed it was, and I was very happy to see Brian C, one of my Portland Velo riding buddies.  I haven't been riding with PV, so I have not seen him for a good long while.

I told him I'd be zipping off in a couple of minutes.  His comment: "I never thought I'd see you doing intervals."  Me neither.  He allowed as how it was good discipline, having a coach, and he is right about that.

Off I went, with him right behind me.  We got in two intervals (stupid headwind), and at the corner of SW Jackson School and West Union, he went left, and I went right.

Got in most of two more intervals.  The second was cut 30 sec short by a driver who passed me much too quickly and closely with traffic in the other lane, honking to boot.  It was deliberate, so I paused and gave the Washington County Sheriff non emergency number a call (now programmed into the phone).  West Union has two narrow lanes and NO shoulder.  I shall have to investigate other routes, but I still want to get home before too late.

Then ten minutes easy, and I did the last interval on SW Rock Creek.  Except it was gently downhill, and I spun out, because the bike wouldn't shift to the big ring.  I thought I had fixed that at lunch.  Oh well.

Pedaled on home (the training route loops out to the west a bit before heading home, so I get in 90 min riding instead of my usual 45-50).  The bike was not shifting well.  And it is friction, so I did not understand why.  I'd look at it when I got home.

Last hill, Park Way, and the bike was just NOT cooperating.  Stopped, then pushed off again.  SNAP!  Sounds of metal hitting the pavement...

The inner chainring broke.  Wow.  I have never seen that before.  Close inspection revealed that many chainring bolts were gone.  Now that crank has less than 500 miles on it.  Foo.  I am going to get so much ribbing when it goes in to be repaired.

I was maybe 1.5 miles from home, and once I summitted the Park Way hill and crossed Hwy 217, I could coast home.  But I did text the spouse, and he came and picked me up.

Commuting is now off the table until the Gitane is repaired or the Rivendell returns from repair.  I will NOT leave the Sweetpea in the bike racks, and it isn't set up to carry that much anyway.  The bike shop figures they can fix it for me this weekend, so it won't be too long.  I'll drive out with the Sweetpea, and then loop out west on lower traffic roads than West Union.  Spin-ups tomorrow.  I'll have to plot a route.

First Commute in over Three Weeks

Not that I haven't been riding.  But somehow, riding to work was just not very appealing.  There was more than enough apprehension about the whole thing to want to do it again.



First, I needed a bike.  Husband suggested I repurpose Sweetpea.  Daughter and I both gave him the Glare of Disbelief.  Bad enough my Rivendell got whacked on a commute.  Not to mention that bike parking at work is outside, and I don't get there early enough to score one of the few covered spaces.

I had retrieved the Gitane from Daughter, and thought I had it ready to go.  Mike R. loaned me a 700c SON generator wheel; I swapped over lighting, pedals and adjusted my panniers to fit on the Gitane's venerable Blackburn rear rack.  Rode it around the block for a quick test.

Six days later, I hopped on, ready to ride into work.  Except I was pedaling, and nothing was happening.  The vintage Maillard Helicomatic freewheel was not engaging.  After a bit of searching around the Usual Suspects, looking for a replacement freewheel that did not cost a small fortune, I decided that I wasn't as invested in the vintage-ness of the Maillard Helicomatic components as I had been when I originally restored the bike. Velo Orange offered a nice 126mm freewheel-compatible hub rear wheel, and a 14-28 Shimano Hyperglide 6 speed freewheel, the same range as the Helicomatic, was found somewhere else.  I couldn't get any fancier, because then I'd need a new derailleur and so on and so on.

It all arrived, did the installation... and the temperature plummeted.  Freezing fog.  Especially where I work.  Waited that out.  Finally, this past Tuesday night, got everything ready.  Up at 6, on the road by 7:30.

And it was a completely uneventful commute, which was good, because Gitane and I had to get used to each other!  Kept reaching for the bar end shifters.  Not.  The bike doesn't have the gravitas of the Riv (translate - weighs somewhat less :-) ).  It can feel downright zippy.

Commute home had a few apprehensive moments in the dark along NW Evergreen before the shopping center.  High speed limit, and the bike was twitchy.  But I survived it.

Fast forward two days (today).  Convinced Fitz to commute also (he turns off about 1.5 miles before I do).  The bike felt much better.  Rode over to Hawthorn Farms for an after lunch meeting (just under 2 miles) with a lunch date with the son, who works there.  Discovered on the ride over (cutting through Orenco Station), that I can ride no-hands.  I can shift with impunity.  Today was a 24+ mile day.

Well THIS Year Started Off With A Bang

Not the good kind.

There I was, at about 8:45am on Thursday Jan 3, commuting in to work.  I had just come up the rise on NW  Evergreen from NW Cornell, heading west.  Three more miles to work.  I was in the bike lane.

Then I heard the screeching of brakes, and saw a red car turn left DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME!  My immediate thought was "this is not going to turn out well"... BANG!

I whacked the pavement hard on my left side, two lanes over.  Fortunately there wasn't any westbound traffic, or I'd have been squashed.

The driver did stop and came over.  After expressing relief that I was not dead, the next words: "I didn't see you.  The sun was in my eyes."  I couldn't get up because my left foot was still clipped in, and my left knee was really hurting.  He picked up the bike, I got up, and hobbled over to the side and sat on a stone wall.

He went to put his car in a parking space and came back.  I had called Fitz, hoping he'd be at work, which was only a couple minutes away.  He came back and we exchanged phone numbers and insurance info, and Fitz showed up.

It is possible to put a bike in the back of a Mini.  I thought I'd go into work, which I did, and even caught the last half of my morning meeting.  As everyone was wondering why I was not at the doctor (hey, it was just a hard hit.  I was pretty sure nothing was broken), I finally called Fitz, and off we went.

My doctor was out, so I went to our practice's Urgent Care.  Many x-rays and an EKG later...  Nothing broken.  But the doctor didn't like the EKG.  Off to the ER for further tests.

At which point I entered the Seventh Circle of Hell.  Suffice to say that I arrived about 2pm, and didn't leave until 7:30pm.  I sent Fitz off.  My parents showed up. We sent my dad away (he does not do hospitals well), and we knitted.  It is slightly more difficult to knit with a pulse oximeter on one's finger, but it is possible.

The upshot was that I was fine.  I had snapped a pic of my EKG and sent it off to my brother (cardio-thoracic anesthesiologist).  He emailed back that it was just fine - what he'd expect an athlete's EKG to look like.  If I had known he wasn't working that day, I'd have had him come by and spring me. :-)

So, chest wall contusions and a banged up knee.  But at least I'd get better.

Poor Bleriot - the front fork is done.  The top and down tubes are stressed/deformed near the head tube.  The front wheel rim is compromised.  Don't know if I should trust the handlebars.  LBS declared it totaled.





I've pulled all the parts off, but for the headset and bottom bracket.  I've priced out what needs replacing, and will ship that off to insurance.  Sigh.

New helmet will be here tomorrow.

In the meantime, once I feel like riding again (probably Wednesday), I have gotten the Gitane back from dear daughter, and converted it to a commute bike.  A rando friend loaned me a 700c generator wheel (there is no way ever I will go back to a battery headlight), and after a couple evenings tweaking it for lighting, a computer, proper pedals...  It is ready.

What's up...

Hmm. Leading Portland Velo rides on Saturdays - last weekend included exceptionally scenic Holly Hill, which I conquered with no problems whatsoever. We'll see how I do climbing up Moreland to Skyline tomorrow :-)

As part of my Lynne Improvement Plan, in addition to riding (currently 1 long ride and 2 spinning classes a week), I'm also trying to remember how to run (this week 12 x (R 2:30 W 2:30)), which is finally feeling like there might be an endorphin or two lurking, and lifting weights.

Now, back in the day (say 3-4 years ago) I was pretty consistent on the weight lifting front, and, sometimes, would draw stares of amazement as I kept loading the weight on the incline leg sled. Little women repeatedly shoving 400 lbs does, for some reason, draw attention. It did make for me being a darn strong stoker :-)

But I'm not there now - I am up to all of 160 lbs, but I'm moving up at least 20 lbs every week. I'm up to 40 situps, lots of core work (heavy ball, side and back stuff), free weights, and rows and lat pulls. Plus other stuff, but you'd be bored reading it. I might post my workout sometime, but not right now.

And, according this scale this morning, 9 lbs has left the building. More to go, for sure, but I'm pleased.

Ran some errands on the bike today. A completely wonderful day; wore my shortfinger gloves and sandals for the first time this season.

I was all set to hop on Bleriot and hit up the library and the bank, but, darn it, a flat. Where did that come from? So, Gitane was pressed into service. Autopiloted to the library, forgetting a lock. Oops. There was a guy unlocking his bike at the rack and talking on his phone, so I asked him if he would watch my bike for the 5 minutes it would take for me to zip and and get my book. Nice man!

Then, of course, I noticed a troop of Girl Scouts selling cookies. For the first time in over 20 years, there has been no Girl Scout in my house or down the street selling me cookies. I had a small daypack, and managed to fit in 3 boxes of cookies with my book :-)

Mmm. Thin Mints. Mmmmm. Only 40 calories per cookie, too :-)

Again, autopiloting to the library, I missed the turn to the bank. Luckily, there is another branch of the bank right across from the library.

The Year in Review - Cycling

Perhaps a less achievement oriented year this year, but, looking at the odometers - hey, it isn't as dismal as it seems!

Lemond 11719 miles total, 701 miles this year
Bleriot 7546 miles total, 1304 miles this year
Gitane has no bike computer, but it has been ridden. The MTB was kidnapped by Dear Daughter; haven't seen it in awhile.

In total, 2003 miles for the year. Not bad at all.

Rides longer than 100 miles - 3 (all before April)
RUSA kilometers - 1000 (cool! didn't think I'd get even that many!)

Organized rides - Monster Cookie (62mi) and Harvest Century (45mi)

I did get out on one Bridge of the Gods ride and one ride up on Skyline.

The Year in Review - Cycling

Recorded miles (didn't record commutes) ridden: 3880
Rides of 100 miles or longer (mostly longer): 15
Longest ride in a day EVER: 230 miles
Bicycles restored: 1971 Gitane TdF Professional
Oregon Randonneurs/Randonneurs USA stuff: R-12 award, 2000 km annual distance award
Most Epic Ride: Fleche Ouragan (also longest ride in a day ever)
One DNF, hypothermia won this round

Bleriot added another country to its list (UK)

Cumulative odometers:
Bleriot 6244 miles
Lemond 11018 miles

Many brevets and permanents this year, not so many big organized rides - in many cases I had to choose between keeping the R-12 streak going and the big organized rides. For that matter, I didn't participate in as many Portland Velo rides, for the very same reason - off racking up longer mileage rides instead.

A few organized rides:

Worst Day of the Year (from my house, which means climbing the West Hills two extra times)
Reach the Beach (with a subsequent Unreach the next day)
RSVP
Chico Wildflower Century (road trip!)
The Livestrong Ride (riding course marshal)

Hottest ride:

The Team Bag Balm ride in June, the day before the Livestrong Ride

Coldest ride:

Scio Covered Bridges Perm - temp never got above 37 F all day

Wettest ride:

a tossup between the SIR 200km brevet in March, the Bingen Bikenfest in October and the Prairies and Wetlands perm in November.

The Gitane, again

fork needs love
Originally uploaded by periwinklekog

The front fork finally had a good look-over. As it turned out, nothing wrong with the headset - the fork crown had never been faced. Friend and bike mechanic B. went at it this evening, and it is much better.

Next step - get the broken stem bolt (rust, fortunately it did not die when I was RIDING it) rewelded...

More pics on the front fork - just follow the link attached to the original picture.

Gitane does Heavy Lifting

I'm off for a business trip, so Gitane had to haul a lot of stuff home today. Plus stopping at Best Buy (needed a new teeny laptop mouse), the bank, and Freddies en route. This meant riding on the gravel stretch home, with relatively fresh gravel. Slow and easy. But, dang, that pannier was heavy!

On the plus side, I'm shifting gears more often in the rear. I have yet to touch the front shifter. I'll remember how to use downtube shifters eventually.

I am apparently ready to ride my bike, do computer stuff, take a swim, and knit, but I have yet to pack any actual clothing...

Gitane Goes to Work Again

I'm off on a business trip next week, far away, and Bleriot is going with. It being Bike Commute Challenge month; I have to keep commuting. So I packed it up last night, and am commuting on Gitane this week.

Fellow cyclist co-worker wanted a complete run-down of the bike after work. He thought it looked pretty cool (I share this thought).

Of course, he was first distracted by my OyVelo jersey, which reaches new heights of...something.

Gitane goes to Work

Given that Bleriot is in a partially dissassembled state (if you thought that front rack was hard to INSTALL, try removing it...), Gitane was pressed into service as Commute Bike today.

Clearly I got there and back safely, including a stop by Favorite Bike Store to show it off ("look! it's finished!"). Favorite Bike Store was slammed. Many people digging old bikes out of their garage and using them.

Other than the slightly disturbing tendency to want to steer itself (no, I won't be riding this one no-hands), all was good. The gearing gets me home, so I think I've got a usable bike here.

This is an inviting bike, a co-worker took it for a spin around the parking lot ("I've never ridden a bike with drop bars before"), and Rebecca and Jessica give it a try every time they come by. No one but me has tried to shift the gears yet.

It was a bit weird riding unattached to the pedals; one attacked me and drew blood. I'm collecting an interesting bunch of cycling-related scars on the left leg. Installation of the Power Grips is indicated.

They Sounded Disappointed...

This evening I was tuning up my mom's bike, and Rebecca and Jessica came over to pick up their share of the vegetables. "Mom! Why aren't you in Seattle?".

They also took turns riding the Gitane around :-) Neither of them has owned a road bike, so that was entertaining. They have non-functional mountain bikes, which need to come visit for awhile.

A few hours later, I rode mom's bike around a bit (after installing some lights!), testing out the shifting (it does that now) and checking out the ride up the hill (I can make it do that, too). Stopped by my parents' home. My mom: "Why aren't you in Seattle?"

Hmm. Guess I'm missing the big ride, with 9,999 of my closest friends.

Gitane Does Something Useful

No big rides this weekend. Sunday afternoon I realized no rides at all this weekend, and elected to ride to Freddie's (grocery) rather than drive. It is quite close, and the amount of shopping was well within the capacity of my grocery pannier.

And then I thought... I should ride the Gitane! See how it does riding a bit further than two blocks. See how I do riding a bit further than two blocks with downtube shifters. See if the gearing will allow climbing the hills back to the house, too.

I did this in normal everyday clothing, too. Well, except for the helmet and gloves.

Aside from the fenders still not quite properly adjusted, we both did well. I didn't drop the chain anywhere, and managed to get the friction shifters to land on cogs with no problem. So, yeah, I could start using it for a commute bike, perhaps.

Except the headset and steering feel a little weird. I'll have to look into that.

Its Done!

Installed the fenders. This required a phone call to husband "do we have a rattail file? where is it?", as the 28mm Armadillos wanted the fenders pulled up further than the L-bracket opening would allow. Finally got them on.

Then pulled out the eBay *Jim* Blackburn rack, unbent it (why the deck was bent up, I have no idea), then pulled out another mounting bracket, went over to use my dad's vise, and installed the rack, tweaking the fenders yet again.

The handlebar tape was the easiest part of this whole thing. New Velox bar end plugs, too!

Found a water bottle cage in the garage, and it is ready to go. Need to go to the hardware store for some teeny nuts and bolts for the cable guides on the top tube for total completeness, but it is now rideable for any conditions here.

Yay.

Pics from start to finish here

Gitane Leaves the Driveway

I took Gitane into work today, to show Einar. He rode it around the parking lot and tweaked the derailleur adjustment a bit. He thought Mechanic Mark should look at the headset and the rear derailleur as well.

Took it by Mechanic Mark after work. The headset is now better, but not perfect. It will possibly not be perfect until the frame and fork are more straight :-) The fork is a little off, as are the rear dropouts (hence the rear der recommendation). Mark also got to use his special Weinmann Brake Tool. Bought some Planet Bike Cascadia fenders for it.

That said, it is now eminently rideable. I rode over to my parents' to show it off, successfully using the downtube shifters. Then I rode home, and hunted around for the old Sekai seatpost, for the seat mount piece on top - the existing one on Gitane did not want to tighten down, so the seat kept tipping. As long as I was doing that, I installed the new seat, and changed the seat and stem height (up!)

It has now moved out to the garage. I'm running out of places to put bicycles...

Gitane Rides Again!

Another go at the derailleurs. After some tweaking, they appeared adjusted on the stand. Put the old seatpost/seat back on. Found some serviceable pedals in the garage. Tightened down the stem. Tried to adjust and tighten down the seat :-)







And then I rode up and down the driveway several times. I have not used downtube shifters since (mumble. Sekai's drivetrain was updated in 1991?) Practice clearly required. Plus I think the derailleurs need a bit more adjusting. But I think it is mostly there.

Gitane update

Added the chain, and attempted to adjust the derailleurs. These are retrofriction, downtube shifters. How bad could I be?

Mmmm. Adult supervision needed. Or maybe a narrower chain. Perhaps a careful study of internet advice.

In theory, I could put on a seat and pedals and attempt to ride it, but it is really dark and cold out, and I'm not sure it would shift properly...

Gitane Update (Happy NOW Uncle Arthur?)

Lately, I've just been collecting parts, tweaking the rear wheel, and plotting what to do next.

Last night was a giant cable and housing installation event.





Shopping list for the next wave of activity:

• 4 brake pads (I can buy NOS Weinmann brake pads on eBay. Brake pads older than my children? I think NOT!)
• 2 feet of brake cable housing
• steel core tire levers (to wrestle the free, slightly-worn Armadillos from Lance onto the rims)
• 1 tube
• 1 saddle
• Velox handlebar plugs
• fenders (I'm thinking Velo Orange fluted metal ones)
• cable housing clamps (no stops on this frame)
  

Bottom Bracket Solved, Other Challenges Waiting

The spindle from Joel worked out. While it was really 113mm long, it is symmetric and everything appears to have lined up nicely. The crank was bolted on, and then Mark applied the front derailleur "just to check". Looks like it will work out fine.



Yay.

If only that were the end of it. This isn't like putting together a new bike, or even a relatively recent bike. Can't just buy Shimano or Shimano-compatible parts (or Campy, or SRAM), and expect to just bolt them on. French-threaded parts are no longer made; one must track down used or NOS (new old stock) ones.

I did spring for the reproduction decal set, but will build up the bike first, and see if it grows on me before committing to a repaint.

For one thing, the rear spacing is tight. The rear wheel did not want to come out. So when I repacked the hubs, I noticed it had two washers on each side, and removed the extras. Checked it out today when the wheel and frame were reunited. Still a bit tight, plus the frame catches on the freewheel retaining ring. That would explain the extra washers. But the proper thing to do would be to get the rear respaced. Now, other than labor, all the money I have spent on this bike has been for parts that can be repurposed to other bikes. Once we start respacing the rear dropouts... The immediate solution will be to put the two washers on the drive side, rather than one on each side. More cone wrench activity.

Next, the headset did not want to adjust nicely. Mark says he needs all the pieces on to make a final adjustment, so we'll wait that one out.

But should I go for the respace and need a new headset, the bottom bracket would have to come out (and all the supporting parts), and the frame would be, um, not to put too fine a point on it, bent, and new paint might be in the cards at that point.

Fun? Absolutely. But not for the person that wants immediate gratification :-)

A New Gitane Restoration Wrinkle

As you saw from earlier photos, the paint job has taken somewhat of a beating. Normal wear and tear, but it adds up. However, replacement decals weren't available. Until now...



Decals

The bike could look...new. Gleaming. Lustrous.

Ack. Indecision.

Bottom Bracket, ongoing...

"Get a new spindle"...



Friend Einar (he rivals Sheldon Brown in encyclopedic bicycle knowledge, plus he loans me tools, and we talk about bicycles Every Single Day as we are stretching from our lunch time runs) thought I should ask the OBRA maillist - "those guys have SO MANY spare parts laying around". So he posted for me, and today, Joel M said he had all the pieces.

Joel and I had a conversation, and he came over this evening with a cup and cone bottom bracket with a 110mm spindle AND an older Shimano cartridge bottom bracket. We talked about bike builds. He's a serious paint matcher.

Stay tuned for when the spindle meets the French cups and the crankset...