August 12 Ride in York County

A mid week day off with no plans in the morning had me itching to ride. As I got ready to go I realized I was lacking motivation to go to any particular place. I was amped to go but without destination. I started down 103 to Haley Road, piecing my route together as I went. The result: 40 miles by way of Chases Pond, Ogunquit Rd, South Berwick, Oldfields to 101 and back. A great ride, averaging over 19 mph despite a constant southwestern breeze and a decent amount of elevation gain. Here's the ROUTE via G Maps Pedometer.

June 27 2011 Was A Perfect Day to Ride

Here in New England, we don't get many days like today, partly cloudy and 80 deg. I knew I had to make the most of it. So I woke with Eli and got a lift down to Newfields to explore some more of the area around Epping and Lee. After about 6 miles I was in new territory. After crossing NH125 in Epping there seemed to be no amount of level ground anymore. I spent hours climbing and descending the hills. Beautiful narrow roads through farmland with little in the way of traffic made for a great ride. See the route HERE:::. I got back to where Eli was working 2 1/2 hours later. We went up to the Newfields market for sandwiches. Then I got back on the bike and headed home. That was it.

For Sale

Behold, a new page where I will be adding bicycles components and related whatnot over the next few weeks, months and years. Prices DO NOT include shipping. If you're curious about shipping charges, please contact me. Generally Shipping will be somewhat like this:
Set of chainring bolts, crank bolts, toe clip straps, pedals, a chainring, $3
Crankset, hubset, handlebars $8
Wheel, wheelset, fender set, $20 - 30
Frame $40
Whole bike $60

Shiny Spokes

I'm trying out some new names as the old one is, well, not standing the test of time. For now, the URL has been changed to shinyspokes.blogspot.com. For any (is there anybody out there?) one, who still has an interest in keeping up with my occasional posts.

July 4th REvisited

Two days ago Eli and i rode to Newfields so

1) we could get a bike ride in together

2) ELi could water her client's gardens

3) So I could ride around the area.

The Daccordi hadn't quite finished molting in the cocoon, so on that day I rode the Langster fixed gear. That was fine, but I was wishing for most of the ride that I was on the Daccordi. Yesterday the Daccordi emerged as a bright new butterfly, and so today I took her out to dry off her wings. It's incredible what new cables, new chain, and thorough cleaning can do. I was pretty satisfied with how my 13 year old Campagnolo rig shifted before. But now it's almost effortless. I swear now I don't have to push the shift paddle in as far to enact a snappy, quick shift to the next gear. A couple of times during the ride I couldn't tell whether or not the shift had happened. Of course it did. But the action of moving the chain from one sprocket to the next was so effortless as to not even make a sound or change my cadence. That and the new old stock Cinelli cork tape propels the bike down the road like a rocket.

Despite the blazing sun beating down at 85 degrees, it was a great ride. Those roads between Newfields and Epping above Hwy 101 are great riding, with decent pavement (compared to York County, Maine), some pretty good climbs, narrow quiet farm roads, a lot of shade, and the Newfields Market for a rest stop before returning home. The Newfields Market has sandwiches made on bread baked there. A local artist whose work has shown occasionally at BUOY Gallery in Kittery, Sam Paolini, bakes all the sweet treats and sells posters of her colorful art in the market. Pretty perfect offerings and location, especially today because by the time I made it back there, I was pretty wrecked. I had sort of exploded. My legs didn't want to work anymore. My mind wanted to wander. My whole body was ready to recline on the couch. My feet were also starting to complain with hotspots above my Crank Bros. cleats. I stopped and sat in the shade outside while I ate half of the half sandwich they made me, with mozzarella, pesto, spinach between two thick slices of bread. It was huge. That, a yogurt, and a V8 down, I got back on the bike. My feet were really starting to kill. It was a bit of a slog home as I lost more and more steam and my feet were growing more painful by the mile. Click HERE to see the map.

FINALLY I got back to the house where Eli and I are house sitting, threw off my Specialized Mountain Pro shoes and socks, grabbed a seltzer water from the fridge, and flopped on the couch to rewatch the 5th stage of the Tour de France. Cavendish made one hell of a sprint in the last 50 meters to win the stage, definitely worth watching twice.

Romancing The Daccordi

July 4th must mean summer is here in full effect. Today brought the third stage of the Tour de France with yellow jersey bearing Thor Hushovd leading out U.S. rider Tyler Farrar for his first tour stage victory ever. It was a sweet thing to behold, Farrar who lost his team mate Wouter this spring in a fatal crash during the Giro de Italia, a symbolic victory.
This year I've taken a seasonal job at a small bicycle shop in Exeter, NH making my commute to work from Kittery Point, Maine 20 +/- miles each way. Not a bad ride, combining 4 lane 55 mph route with quieter farm roads through Greenfields and Stratham. But still weak from being tossed off my routine by last year's crash on the Memorial Bridge (see Faceplant! entry), I've left the fixed gear hanging in the garage and instead reverted back to my beloved Daccordi bicycle, a mid-90's Columbus SLX steel beauty with the frame builder's initials stamped into the bottom bracket shell. The mish mash of Campagnolo 9 speed components I put on there in 1998 are still functioning nearly flawlessly. But the frame itself is getting pretty noodily in it's older age which leads to bicycle envy. In an effort to stave off the unhealthy fixation of consumerism that cycling often leads to, I opted to pour some long deserved love into the Daccordi. New Campagnolo cable set, bar tape, circa 2002 N.O.S. Chorus brake calipers, plus a complete break down and thorough scrubbing has her shining like it was 1995 all over again.

Shifting Riding Styles

I rode 48 miles today from Portsmouth down to Exeter, over to Epping and Newcastle and back up again on the Specialized Langster I assembled last year. That bike climbs incredibly well with the combination of a stiff frame and low weight. But it akes me miss light geared bikes. The fixed gear had me feeling held back, reserved. I wanted to accelerate and keep speeds higher than I was willing to continuously pedal. And climbing later in the ride, like around mile 35 or so, became manageable but more restrictive on the fixed gear. Here's the LINK to the GMaps Pedometer map w/ elevation chart..
So I suppose my riding style might be shifting back to the more traditional geared cycling, trying to bring back some speed that I've let go of the past 4 years or so.

A year older and still pedaling.

Trying to recover some of the horsepower that I've lost over the 9 months I barely rode a bike following my faceplant on the Memorial Bridge, I peeled nearly 48 miles off today. NOT, I should ad, on the fixed gear bike. Today I took out the Daccordi. It felt pretty good to revisit some familiar roads around Mt. Agamenticus. But the roads are trashed over in that part of the county. I do not exaggerate that the roads would be smoother were there no asphalt at all. At a decent clip it's a bit treacherous when plowing through a pile of destroyed road under the shade of trees. There are some deep pits to avoid. Makes it sort of hard to advocate cycling when the best riding is over destroyed roads the county can't afford to repair. Beautiful perfect day for a ride. Click HERE for a link to the route.