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| Rest stop during my Three Rivers Century Ride. |
2022 was another year where I managed to ride a little over 5,000 miles! The total mileage was 5.090 and it was the fourth year in a row that I broke the 5,000 mile mark. This was despite completing only one century, see 2022 Edition of my Three Rivers Ride.
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| Approaching the bridge on McCourtney Road east of Camp Far West. |
I also did my 100 KM gravel ride, see Riding around Camp Far West. Most of my rides were from 20 to 40 miles this year. I was careful not to stress my knees, using a 44 tooth chainring on two of my Mercian KOM tourer and my Ritchey gravel bike as well as on my SS fixed gear. I really don't miss the higher gears on the top end.
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| My fixed gear Mercian Olympic. |
I discovered that fixed gear riding with the slightly lower gear was actually a little more fun especially on downhill runs I found that I could control the speed a little more easily. That's something I wouldn't have guessed would result from a lower gear on a fixie! Also, the new chainring I installed was a "Narrow/Wide" style designed for 1X drivetrains. It seems to work great on a fixed gear drivetrain and seems very quiet compared to the old chainring, but that may have been due to wear on the old one.
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| Pelago rack on the Ritchey. |
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| My newest bag, a Tourbon! |
I finally found a nice font rack to fit on the Ritchey, a Pelago (Finnish) brand aluminum rack. It took a little finessing to make the top metal strap fit but after that, it worked well. I mounted that huge Ostrich F-106 handlebar bag on it but I have since replaced it with a newer bag, a Tourbon from eBay. Time will tell if it is a good one, but it seems to have a lot of nice features so I'm hopeful!
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| My Winter project: a 1978 Raleigh Pro! |
The biggest project of the year was the late year acquisition of a very nice 1978 Raleigh Professional frameset off of eBay. I'd been wanting something to hang all of my old Campy Nouvo Record components on for some time and this one came up. I had been watching it for a while when suddenly the seller dropped the price to a very attractive point so I snapped it up. All in all it is in very good shape for being some 45 years old! Really not a spec of rust. One odd problem was a small bulge in the steering tube. The only way I figure this could have happened would be by clamping down on a Cinelli stem binder bolt very, very hard! Since I planned to use a Nitto Technomic with it's wedge shape binder, I figure this wouldn't be a problem and it looks like I'm right, as the Nitto stem fits just fine.
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| Project completed! |
So I was able to complete the build fairly cheaply, although I did splurge for some Campy brake cable guides and a seat binder bolt. The wheels are sort of place holders for the moment until I can lace up my Campy hubs, By the way, I installed 26mm Panaracer Gravel king slicks on the bike because I wasn't sure if 28's would fit and I found the 26's at a good price. They fit fine and I think 28's will too so that's what I'll most likely go with in the future, but we'll see, the 26's feel fast!
The Raleigh will most definitely be a fair weather bike. The old Campagnolo drivetrain means you have to be imaginative to get low gearing. In this case, I have a 14-28 rear freewheel cluster. in order to make the Nouvo Record rear derailleur handle that, I've reduce the difference in the front chainrings considerably. I am running 42/46 chainrings up there and all is well. Still, this won't be my first choice in climbing any Sierra passes!
I've only taken the bike out for a couple of short rides, but I have enjoyed them! It reminded me of the old days of riding fast bikes! It handles very well, cornering nicely yet it's pretty stable, no-hand riding is a breeze on this bike! I'm looking forward to taking out on longer rides when the weather dries out.
Looking forward to next year, I don't think I'll manage another 5,000 mile year. We are planning a camping trip up to Alaska with our travel trailer so that will take a big chunk of time out of my prime riding season. I do hope to get some sort of bike camping trip in so we will see.
Equipment wise, it should be a quiet year indeed, I only anticipate building a set of wheels for the Raleigh. Other than that, it will be just regular maintenance and repair.
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| From March, 2022 |
