September riding, goodbye to my '82 Olympic and other musings

 

On Dog Bar Road

September arrived so quickly! Seems like it was spring time just yesterday. Now, 100 degree weather has roasted Northern California for much of the summer. The longer nights of September are beginning to temper the heat, and mornings are consistently mild. Watching the forecasts, I noticed that Tuesday was expected to be relatively mild, with highs reaching "just" the low 90s, so I decided it was time for a challenging ride. 

The route I selected was one I haven't done in a long time, but I figured I could get it done fairly painlessly. I would ride up to Colfax following Placer Hills Road, then from Colfax I'd take Highway 174 to Grass Valley. From Grass Valley I would follow Dog Bar Road back to Placer Hill Road and follow that through to Auburn then finally return on Ophir and Taylor Roads back to Rocklin.

Here's a low-resolution plot of the ride.

It was a fairly strenuous ride with a lot of climbing. I made it tougher when I arrived at Colfax. Instead of dropping down Placer Hills Road and following the frontage road into town, I chose to follow a road that seemed to be a shortcut into town. Unfortunately, it turned out to be both longer and to contain more climbing! After finally reaching Colfax, I got on Highway 174 and headed towards Grass Valley. I stopped at Cedar Creek to get a cold drink and snack before dropping into Grass Valley. 

From Grass Valley, I connected to Dog Bar Road and headed south back to Placer Hills Road. The stretch on Dog Bar was hot and I began to feel a hint of a cramp in my legs so I lowered my gear and took it easy, finally reaching Placer Hills Rd and making my way to Meadow Vista, where I got a chance  to refill my water bottle with the great, cold water fountain at the grocery store, free of charge. What a great service!

On the climb out of Meadow Vista I experienced stronger leg cramps. I was able to gear down and spin until the cramps let up. That was the last of the cramping I experienced on this ride, thankfully. They probably were a result of the heat I experienced on this ride; well, that and the climbing!

Anyway, I finally pulled in at 8 hours and 16 minutes. A pretty long time for a sub-100 mile ride, but the climbing really takes its toll.

No mechanical issues on this ride, I used the KOM with a triple crankset.  Didn't even have a flat!

Post-ride view of the KOM. No mechanical issues.

Goodbye to my original Mercian.

A broken seat tube at the bottom bracket!

One morning I attempted to have a fixed gear ride. As I left the parking area I hear a weird noise coming from my "82 Mercian Olympic. Coming to a stoplight, I dismounted and tried to find the cause, but no luck. I took the bike home and put it on the stand. It was there that I discovered the sad news; The seat tube had snapped at the bottom bracket! It was a bit of a shock, I've owned this bike since it was new in the spring of 1983. 

You can see daylight through the crack!

Well, I did get my money's worth from this frame, but it's still sad to see it go. I've been wondering if running it as a fixed gear for the last few years was too much of a strain on the tube. I've torn it down and will probably dispose of the frame eventually. It's kind of hard to let it go.

Since then I haven't set up another fixed gear and to be honest, I feel like my knees have been better off. I may not go back to fixed gears after this. As an added bonus, all of my bikes now fit on the garage wall! Also notice that I have upgraded my bike hooks to some nice heavy duty ones I found on Amazon. 

The new bike hooks offer a more solid support.

This Year's mileage and other thoughts.

The year's statistics through the end of September, haven't been too bad:

Map My Ride's stat page for the Calendar Year.

Riding 531 miles in September brought my yearly mileage to a little over 3,600 miles; within 400 miles of my goal of 4,000 miles for the year. With three months left, I should be able to approach 4,500 miles, maybe even 5,000 if the weather holds and I get time to ride.

Gear, kit, etc.

Gear wise, I've been collecting spare parts for my 86mm BCD crankset, I even found an SR Apex in pretty nice condition on eBay for a nice price.  The sweet thing about this deal is that the crank was a triple, so I get three chainwheels! I may still get a few more chainwheels from Spa Cycles in the UK as they have a good selection. 

This SR Apex came as a triple but can be easily changed to a double.

I'm also stocking up on Shimano SPD road pedals, the PD-A520. I've found those to be very comfortable and work quite well for my road cycling. I bought one NOS pair and then got a good deal on some lightly used ones so all my road bikes will be equipped with them

Shimano PD-A520, my latest favorite pedal.

I'm looking forward to cooler Fall temperatures, maybe I can get another 1,400 miles in before the end of the year!