Wilmot Ride: Abundant Sunshine

"Abundant sunshine."  I do not recall seeing such descriptive text on a weather.com forecast, but abundant sunshine sounded pretty good so Ryan and I made plans to ride today.  For no particular reason we decided to ride southeast.  Before heading out from Ryan's place we looked at a map and decided to do a loop out to Wilmot and back from Apple Creek.  We made a general plan of what roads to take and headed out.

The sunshine was indeed abundant and combined with temperatures in the upper 40's, it was a comfortable day for riding in a long sleeve wool jersey.  We rode east into Stark County on Harrison Rd. before turning south to Wilmot.  A short section of gravel road brought us across a low area and we soon found Wilmot. 

We hooked up with TR606 in Holmes County to come back west.  It was a nice township road with many well kept Amish farms lining the way.  We saw many, many more livestock than cars or people along the way.

Ryan trying to explain our route options

while I'm messing with the camera.

We intended to turn onto the Holmes County equivalent of Criswell Road to ride back north, but we ended up in Fredericksburg and road northeast to get back home.  These few extra miles gave us about 40 for the day.  I find it suprising that we still find new, unridden roads within short distance of our homes.  TR606 felt like it was "way out there" but we road its entire length on a little 40 mile ride.

I wonder how many more rides we will have this year in abundant sunshine with temperatures in the 40's... of course I've been wondering this same thing for the past month and the mild weather continues.

Pedal to Church

Daniel's runny nose kept him from going to church, and Katie decided it was her turn to stay home with him on a Sunday morning.  While eating breakfast the thought occurred to me that I could ride to church.  Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no... I couldn't decide.  A second cup of coffee at 8:45 convinced me to ride.

Partly cloudy skies and a heavy morning dew joined me on the roads.  I rode up Overton and turned east on Smithville-Western to climb to church.  Just before starting up the hill I zipped the arms off my convertible jacket and removed my winter gloves, I didn't want to accumulate too much heat.

Smithville-Western heading east out of the Overton Valley.

At church I walked my bike into the classroom for our ABF (adult bible fellowship) class and had a seat at ten before ten, about five minutes late.  Maybe I should have climbed faster, but at least I wasn't a sweaty mess.  I sat down next to Ryan figuring he would be least mindful of a lycra clad person beside him.

On the ride home, I rode back into the valley on Smithville-Western and climbed McAfee up to SR539.  I passed several hunters, including a young boy in the front yard  of their house with his dad and a deer.  I knew it was the opening weekend for youth hunters.  I wondered if it was the boy's first deer.  He seemed to be looking at it in an odd fashion, like "are you really dead?"

 By noon I had already ridden, been to church and ate lunch.  A good way to start the day!

Let the light shine through.

A Night Ride on Friday

Between my persistent cold of previous weeks and the wet weather this past Wednesday, I had not made it to an OCC night ride in several weeks.  I proposed a Friday night ride to Ryan and he thought it was a good idea, so I posted it to the club forum and was glad to read replies from Bob and Brian reporting they would join us.

It was a perfect night for a ride.  Temps fell from the upper to lower 40's, minimal wind, and no rain.  Bob and Brian had ridden in the rain Wednesday night and, as Brian put it, he was hoping to replace the wet memories with dry ones.

We departed in the dark and as we rode south on Kansas Rd. a bike light approached in the opposite direction.  As we passed the rider behind the light let out a devious growl, kind like Tony the Tiger in a Frosted Flakes commercial.  I didn't get a good look a the rider but Ryan and Bob said it was Lorson.  He must have been on his way home from work, as Ryan had seen him riding to work in the morning.  It's tough to know who is coming towards you in the dark, so a comical growl is as good as any greeting.

The comments throughout the ride and after were unanimous; it was a great night for a ride.  Even better than a Wednesday night ride, there was no work the next day!  My legs were toast by the final section up Rohrer.  A couple weeks off seems to have taken its toll, but it's okay this time of year.  It was fun to be out on the bike with a good group of guys!

New Cycling Cap

Two and three years ago Ryan and I made a spring cycling trip to watch a couple stages of the Tour de Georgia and then ride near Asheville, NC (links: 2007 and 2008). We rented a cargo van and built a bunk in the back to hold a mattress and our bikes. They were great trips and we missed out on such a trip this year, but we recently began thinking about a 2010 spring cycling trip.

The cargo van was a fun and utilitarian option for hauling our bikes and for camping, but I began to think the $250 rental fee could be avoided. It occurred to me a truck cap for my truck may allow a similar setup to what we had with the cargo van. Knowing a new truck cap would cost $800 or more I navigated to www.searchtempest.com, a site that searches regional craigslist pages.

Searching for "dakota cap" resulted in many Dodge Dakota truck caps for sale. Problem was finding the correct size for a truck of my year with a quad cab and finding a tolerable color. The prices ranged from $75 to $600 or more. Caps at the low end of the price range were the aluminum type for older model year trucks. There were some fiberglass caps in the $200 range that looked pretty decent but none were hunter green. Katie began to worry I'd be one of those guys that drives a truck with a mismatched cap. Really, how bad would a light purple truck cap look on a dark green truck?

After giving up for a couple weeks I returned to searchtempest and was excited to find a listing for a good condition dark green fiberglass cap that came off a 1998 Dakota quad cab. It was listed for $150, near Coshocton. A little research on the web told me model years 1998 through 2004 quad cab Dakotas would use the same cap. Sweet!

I emailed the seller asking for pictures and he sent back some cell phone images that gave me further confidence his cap would work for me. He lowered the price to $125 saying the pictures didn't do the cap justice. We talked on the phone and he said the cap had some scratches from a fallen tree branch but it was intact and otherwise in pretty good shape. For $125 I figured I couldn't go too wrong.

First glimpse of the truck wearing a cap, cell phone

picture on the way home from Coshocton.

Last night I drove an hour south to pickup the cap. The seller and his son were very friendly and helped me set the cap on the truck and clamp it in place. We all agreed it was a perfect match in size and color. The cap has some scracthes and dings but being made of fiberglass, it's not going to rust. A little touchup paint will hide the white fiberglass showing through the paint.

Now I need to come up with a design for a platform in the back. I've got some ideas that would allow the bikes to ride in the back while driving and for sleeping the bikes would be stuffed into the cab. I also have some ideas about how to best utilize the space in the extended cab of the truck.

Alright... another project to day dream about!

End of Season Litespeed Re-tread

Prior to heading out on my ride the other day I made a tire swap.  For the past two seasons plus I have been riding on the tires that came with my Litespeed, a pair of Vittoria Rubino Pro Slick.  They have been good tires, no complaints whatsoever, and seem to have lasted a long time.  I'm guessing they have 6 to 7,000 miles on them and the rear tire has started to show threads.

I have a new pair of Hutchinson Fusion tires at the ready, but I was hesitant to put these on this time of year.  My fear is to be out on a night ride and cut or otherwise damage a brand new pair of lightweight tires.  Instead, I used some credit I had with Performance Bike to buy a pair of cheap, heavy and hopefully durable tires.

The Forte GT2 Kevlar tires are a house brand tire from Performance.  They are definitely heavy at 295 grams for a 700c by 25mm tire.  The tires were on sale for $12.99 each when I ordered and free shipping was offered.  The reviews indicated they are durable, hopefully the Kevlar lining helps with durability.

The tires went on relatively easily.  I wasn't sure if the wire bead would make things more difficult, it didn't seem to matter.

Out on the road I immediately noticed a rougher ride.  I had inflated the both tires to 100 psi, just as I had always done with the Vittoria tires.  Perhaps these Forte tires need to be run a lower pressure, or perhaps they are just a stiffer, less forgiving tire.  Next time out I will try 90 to 95 psi and see if there is a difference.

There's not much I would say about handling.  These tires are for making it through the end of year before switching to my cross bike for the winter, so handling is not something to be scrutinized with these tires.  They are round and roll so that is good enough for me!

Warm, Sunny & WINDY in November

One week into November and we are treated to a 66 degree, sunny day.  I have not been out on a ride since last Saturday due to a nagging cold.  There was plenty of coughing and nose blowing in the last week, but no bike riding for me.  With today's warm weather I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a ride in short sleeves.

The wind was really stiff, 20 to 25 mph according to the Weather Channel.  Everywhere I looked flags were standing at attention and leaves were on the run.  It was actually distracting as I rode past corn fields, several times I mistook the rustling of the dry corn leaves as an approaching vehicle.  Yeah, I'm not sure how wind blown corn plants can sound like a vehicle but they did.

Steady winds blowed from the SSW.

I made a conservative loop out through Moreland and passed by the Kister water mill on the way back.  My route was appropriate for the wind, as I was given a boost on the final leg while riding NE on Millbrook.

Kister water mill.

Surprisingly to me, I only had to stop once during the ride to evacuate my nose.  Hopefully being out for a little exercise will help me shake off this cold!