2019 year end review and this Winter's projects.

At Olmstead Point, Yosemite NP.

The year in review:

Another year has come and gone! 2019 was a pretty successful year for me, (by my modest standards)! The highlight of this year's riding was my High Sierra tour, which included climbs of Tioga and Sonora Passes. Other interesting rides included a couple of gravel road adventures  Camp Far West and beyond , Loon Lake bikehike, and the my two century rides, Three rivers century. , Foothill century. This year, I added Foresthill and Yankee Jims Road to my foothill route which made it pretty challenging.

Another significant, (to me), accomplishment was my total yearly mileage which topped 5,000 miles this year!

So it was a pretty good riding year.

Winter Projects:

K.O.M. conversion to mustache bars is finalized.

Mercian with Mustache Bars 

Winter is the time for maintenance. With the KOM Mercian, I decided to commit completely to the mustache handlebar installation. I trimmed down the brake cables to a better fit, (they had been left unchanged from the drop bar configuration). I also installed my old but relatively lightly used SunTour Barcons, handlebar-end shifters. These are basically friction shifters, but have a light ratcheting action which is useful when trimming the derailleurs. Handlebar mounted shifters are generally preferred for mustache bars for ease of access. A new tape job, in black this year, finished off the package.

The barcons did require the cable housing to hang in front of the handlebars so I removed my handlebar bag and rack, replacing them with my Carradice Pendle saddlebag. This combo rides quite nicely but I rather miss the convenience of a handlebar bag. I may have to revisit this at a later date.

With these installed, I've pretty much committed myself to the mustache bar configuration.

Finally, I replaced the SKS Longboard fenders with SKS Bluemel "Commuter" fenders which come in a 53mm width. I've liked the wider fenders on my 650b conversion so these seemed like a good idea. Like all SKS fenders these went on without drama, although I did shave off a bit on the front fender to clear the fork blades.

Just a bit shaved off to clear the fork to allow the fender to spread with no bending.

Front bag for the fixed gear:

The old Blackburn front rack on the Nishiki.

 With the front bag which was formerly mounted on the KOM now languishing, I decided to mount it on my Nishiki International fixie. To do this I used my very old Jim Blackburn front rack which needed a little twisting to get set on the bike. Now I've got a little more capacity for my fixed gear rides.

650b Mercian updates:

Just a few minor changes were made to my 650b Mercian conversion. I replaced the Campagnolo brake levers with nearly identical SunTour Superbe levers. Mostly I wanted to protect the old Campy levers from possible damage as the Superbes are little less valuable. I also felt funny about mixing Italian levers with Asian brakes. Silly, I know.

Actually, the quality of the SunTour levers seem just as high as the Campagnolo.

The Superbe Levers on the Mercian.

One final equipment note; this year I've tried some new pedals, "two-way" Shimano PD-EH500 pedals. These offer a platform surface on one side, and a SPD interface on the other. I wanted to experiment with platform to give my feet the chance to move around. I've found that I can get some foot pain when I keep feet in a fixed spot for an extended period of time.

Shimano PD-EH500 two way pedals.

I actually used these on my KOM during my Sierra tour. They worked well. The only negative I have found is that ground clearance is a little restricted when using the SPD side; the platform hangs a little lower and I did experience a pedal strike once when cornering while using the SPD side.

A new home for my bikes!

My youngest son recently returned to the West Coast and is currently staying with us. He is currently between jobs ans so was looking for something to do. We had mentioned that we wanted to have a shed set up to provide a storage site for my bikes. He jumped at this chance. He designed the shed using a CAD program he owned. We supplied the materials and bought some of the tools he needed. We agreed to pay him the same amount that we were going to pay for a store-bought shed, less the costs of the materials and tools.

It took a few weeks and we had to help here and there but generally, the shed was his product and it came out pretty nicely. I now have all of my bikes hanging, along with Shelly's. Also a couple of the grandkid's bikes are thrown in, along with our Christmas decoration storage boxes.

The new bike shed!

With the new year upon me, I have to plan my riding, I managed to avoid Iowa Hill in 2019, something I'll have to remedy in 2020. I want to do more overnight tours, I'm not sure where to at this time. As for equipment, I'd still like to get some sort of disc braked gravel bike frame, but I don't have any room left in the shed!