Bike Across Canada - Summer 2011

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[edit: thanks to Shaun from the 2010 Cycle Tour Across Canada for helping me out with making my map prettier!]

And here is the link!

[EDIT]: Please note that this tour has been postponed/canceled. Please see here for details, as well as read some of my later entries from 2010. I've been recieving emails about it from time to time from people just reading this post, and figured I would make things easier for myself by updating it.

I have always kind of made half-assed plans to travel. In high school it was to Europe, in the last few years it's been to YoYo competitions in Florida and New York (I was seriously into yoyoing for a while...but that is another story). Be it through lack of funds or determination I never went. As a result I have been very few places, and living on an island doesn't help. My new found love of biking has given me an idea, one that I probably would have thought much bigger than me before, but not any more. I hope to finish my M.Sc. in December of this year, then in May 2011 I am going to fly to Vancouver with my bike, and ride all the way home to St. Johns, Newfoundland.

I originally thought "that would be really neat to do" and started reading trip logs of others who have done it. The more I read the more I got sucked in. "I can really do this" I thought. So with that in mind over the past two weeks or so I've been reading as many cross Canada cycling blogs as I can
Jeff and Ian - Biking Across Canada
Buddy
Trevor Macphail - Cross Canada 2007

Lone Biker - Biking Across Canada 1999
and have now started following Shaun's upcoming 2010 Cycle Tour Across Canada and his inspirational links!

Another source I followed heavily was the book The Canadian Cycling Associations Complete Guide to Bicycle Touring in Canada by Elliot Katz suggested by the Trans Canada Highway website. Between the book and all these logs I've made the proposed route above, but have not figured out stops yet. I have a cousin in Vancouver, and in Calgary, and friends and family in the Toronto and Ottawa areas, other than that I'll mostly be camping.

At this point it's something I feel I have to do. See this large country from coast to coast and actually experience something different about it and maybe myself.

That's all for now! More to come as plans further, gear grows, and my touring practice begins this summer!

Starting to look like a touring bike... + An Anouncment

It is a good thing I am living with my parents again. My cost of living has gone down significantly. I still buy my own groceries and chip in $X a month to help out with household expenses but it is between 1/3 and 1/4 of what I was paying in my apartment.

It's a good thing because I'm spending a lot of money on my bike.

Today I received my Surly Front Nice Rack and my Pletscher 2-Legged Kickstand, which I purchased from Niagara Cycle Works through Amazon.com. When installing the Nice Rack I ran into some issues though. The lock nuts were very, VERY easy to get stripped out! I ended up snapping off 4 bolts trying to install the rack. It's lucky it comes with lots of bolts and nuts, however I am now 1-nut short of a complete installation. At least it is on there. I will email surly and ask them for some spares.

She is finally starting to look like a touring bike.



Before installing the 2-Legged Pletscher Kickstand I rembered hearing some issues about the installation before so did a quick google search of the LHT and the Pletscher. Turns out the top plate is not very well designed (seen in the pick below). I wraped some old inner tubing around my chainstays and held it there with zip-ties (not easy to do on the chain ring side...) to prevent slipping/scratching, and then mounted the stand, being careful of the derailleur cable running to the rear along the chainstay. The problem is if you do not tighten it enough it will come loose all the time, if you tighten it too much you can pinch/crush your chain stays! So if any of you get this stand BE VERY CAREFUL!


I found two solutions for this issue. One is to make a custom top braket, like this fellow from a google group discussion about warning people of the perils of this kickstand. (Photo below taken from the gentleman's flickr page linked in his message).


The second and easier solution is to order the Pletshcer Deluxe Top Plate conveniently pictured on a Surly LHT below (source).


The deluxe top plate comes with the two rubber grommets pictured as well as the metal plate and bolt. There are two groves in the plate that line up with tabs in the grommets that supposedly stop the plate from slipping about. I have orded this (along with rubber feet for the stand) from Thor USA. I will let you know how it goes.

Here is another pic of the stand installed on my bike.

Another pic of my rear rack installed (and adjusted since last time).



Hopefully soon, we'll have fenders, water bottles and cages, lights, and my new Arkel GT-54 rear panniers! She is starting to look like a touring bike!


Speaking of touring, the anouncement. Well... this entry turned out to be pretty long and I don't want to bore you all so you'll just have to come back tomorrow for the announcement. :)

Update: Preparing to Tour + It's been a while...

So first of all, sorry.

Things got pretty crazy with my TA position at the university, exams, and Christmas. Once all that wound down I couldn't find my groove to get back into blogging. I think I found it again.

I bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker back in October and had to wait for a replacement for a faulty Deore XT rear derailleur which I received christmas eve. As of yet I haven't ridden the bike. It's been sitting in my closet right next to my desk... staring at me.

"I'm sorry girl, but we live in Newfoundland and there is just too much salt on the road to take you out."

I've been playing catch up with money for what feels like forever. Last pay period I thought I was out when I had to buy a crap load of groceries. new sneakers, and owed my parents some "chipping in" money for January. Near broke again, haha. But that is the life of a grad student I suppose.

I also have a $5000 student credit line that is up pretty high that I have to start paying off soon.

I promise this is all leading somewhere!

So the plan right now is too 100% prepare my and my bike and my girlfriend for touring/camping this summer. If I do have to move when I finish my M.Sc. in December one of the few things I will be taking with me is my Surly most likely. So the more prepared we are the better.



Every paycheck coming up for the next 4 or 5 months is pretty much wrote off to touring/camping gear. For christmas Alanna was kind enough to buy my a rear Surly Nice Rack. Next up?
-Front Surly Nice Rack
-Arkel GT-54 Touring Panniers
-MSR Dragonfly Camp Stove
plus a bunch of other stuff that is not necessary to link such as a sleeping bag, compression sack, double leg kickstand, thermarest + light weight seat, small frame pump, not to mention some more light weight quick drying camp/cycling clothes.
ooo, actually should link this 2 Person camp cookware set, as it is pretty neat.



Anyways long story short I have a lot of stuff to buy. A lot of people (including Alanna) are finding it hard to understand how I want to spend almost $400 on rear panniers. Which I guess is understandable.

I'm really considering doing some serious travel eventually though, and if I have to buy some of this stuff anyway, I might as well buy the right stuff once, rather than the wrong stuff twice (or more).

Going the opposite direction I have been slowly chipping away at a lot of the junk that I own throwing it out, giving it away or selling it. This is somewhat counter intuitive to all this buying I am doing but I think it is a little different. After reading Jeromes latest blog on minimalism it's got me wanting to do even more of this.
-The jar of pens and sharpies on my desk that I never use, the boxes of books I have no intention of reading, and clothes I haven't worn in years. I have reduced quite a bit but I believe I can get it down to the bare essentials (plus my comic book collection maybe :)

If I have a computer and a bike and my girl at my side I don't think I need a whole lot else. I'm really looking forward to finishing my M.Sc. and taking some time for travel possibly.

So...what's new?

So I haven't posted much in the past month. It is that time of the semester when the things you have been putting off absolutely have to get done. To top it off my teaching assistant lab slots had two weeks in a row recently so I'm buried in correcting and have a very large project to do for next week. Say, you don't happen to know anything on Multiple Light Scattering in Liquid Crystals do you? Thought not...

In bike news, Arone and Dave at Bikeworks NYC have been very apologetic and very willing to help me with the few missing pieces on my Surly LHT, as well as my bad derailleur. So I shipped out the derailleur 2 weeks ago, and hopefully it will get there today or the next day. Hopefully they look close enough at when it is mounted to see that the alignment is off in some gears while not others.

As for winter (or just cold weather) riding I haven't been doing much lately do to late and early hours, lack of sleep, having to carry lab books around, and icy roads. I have not gotten studded tires for my winter beater yet. I am hesitant to buy big knobby tires and I do not plan to do much recreational winter riding and simply plan to commute. Huge tires would increase my rolling resistance by crazy amounts, and tires that are not as knobby don't seem to usually have enough studs... So I need to find a nice in-between. Any suggestions?

-Hughie

Happy New Bike Day!

Today I was able to pick up my anticipated package from Bikeworks NYC, my 58 cm, olive green, Surly Long Haul Trucker. I immediately headed out to Harold's shop to complete assembly on the winter beater as well as set up the LHT.

The winter beater went together nicely. I reassembled all the old parts as well as added a chromoly fork, a new back wheel, a new set of Deore linear pull brakes in the front, a set of lock on grips, and my new shifters and levers previously mentioned. The derailleur hanger was bent bad, but after fixing that the thing shifted like a charm. I added a bar-end mirror and the tiresparx valve cover lights once I got home. All she needs now is some derailleur adjusting and studded tires and she is ready for the winter!

The LHT on the other hand did not go so smoothly. The package was missing the star-nut and cap that holds the bar down onto the fork, and bar tape.

There were some small nicks (not through the paint though) on the seat tube, above the top tube, and one of the brake pads was badly bent.

All of that is not such a big deal, but a pain none the less. However this last thing is the kicker. We began doing the rear derailleur adjustment, setting the bottom stop and the top stop, then began the cable adjustment to make shifting smooth. After we were okay in the bottom gears we moved up and began adjusting again. But after a few rounds of this we noticed a problem. When the cable was adjusted properly in the higher gears, it was skipping in the lower gears, and when it was adjusted properly in the lower gears it was skipping in the higher ones! Harold then started thinking about possible problems. We checked the distance between the two axle mounts and it was perfect. We then checked the derailleur hanger to see if it was bent with the proper adjustment tools, which was off a little bit, but not enough to be causing the problem and that was corrected. Putting the derailleur back on and trying the adjustment again proved to have the problem repeat. Our only ideas then were the Shimano bar-end shifters, or the Deore XT derailleur were faulty. We grabed a brand new cheap-o Shimano LX derailleur, put it on and after a quick adjustment the bike was shifting perfectly even with high in the front and low in the rear. So, however unlikely, I got a bike with a bad Shimano Deore XT derailleur which is rare for this level of quality. Unfortunately by this time Harold was getting ready to head home for the day, so the plan is to go back with the bike later this week and try the Deore XT derailleur AGAIN just to triple check. Once we are 150% positive it is the derailleur I will get in contact with Bikeworks NYC and see if they will send me out a replacement derailleur and as well what they say about my missing parts and minor damage.

Despite the hurdles, it was an exciting and long day of assembling bikes new and old. I learned a lot about how to deal with taking off and putting on all the parts of the bike. I intend on leaving a good bit of space on the top end of the fork to put a second stem for an accessory bar for my handlebar bag. That way I still have room up top for a light and horn and computer. Due to the crappy weather here in St. Johns (with road salt already out) and as well and a bunk derailleur it will be a while before I get to ride my new steed. For now it will just stare at me from 3 feet away in my closet.
Hopefully, after I have my derailleur situation sorted out and have my fork cut to proper length, we will have a nice dry day before the snow really kicks in and I will get to ride her a couple of times. Until then, she waits for the adventures ahead of her next summer.

Here is a pic of my new additions. I can finally say I have a fleet! (Giant FCR 2 not pictured)

Happy New Bike Day everyone!

-Hughie

The Morning Commute

Two days of back and forth from school, 18km each way by bike. Newfoundland, especially the east coast, is known for being very hilly. Ups and downs, certainly good for a work out but not so great for commuting or utilitarian cyclying with the likes of trailers and xtracycles. However, this route is probably one of the fairest routes for its length I've ridden! While there is still some significant grade, its a slow long incline with a few flat spots and its no trouble to keep your average speed up. This morning I had an average speed of 25 km/hour! That is pretty good for me. The way back is a little more uphill at the beginning and at the end, but the middle is a long slow down slope.
It is truly and enjoyable ride. I am having trouble finding a proper layering solution for these 2-10 degree Celsius temperatures, but other than that the mornings have been great. I am looking forward to our first bit of snow and nice to try out my not-yet-existing winter beater and see if all winter commuting is going to be something I am actually capable of.

Click here to check out the google map of the commute!

Winter Beater Project + The New Long Commute

So I sandblasted, sanded, primed and painted the old Raleigh aluminum mtb frame from Canadian Tire. I picked a nice bright color that would be easily distinguishable from snow.

Before



After

The Paint job turned out a lot better than I expected. 2 coats of tremclad primer plus touch ups, as well as 4 coats of orange gloss tremclad. On Wednesday the temperature is supposed to go back up to 9 degrees again, so that will be warm enough to paint. I have to give it a light rub with some high grade sand paper and then I am applying a clear/reflective coating to the entire frame! With my 3 rear flashers, front flasher, tire valve flashers, reflective stripes on panniers and jacket as well as an entire reflective frame, I'm sure I'll get noticed. HA.

Also have the components for it. Just have to wait for the final coat of paint, and to get paid to buy the new fork and rear wheel.
My mtb clipless shoes are in the mail as well.

I still have to get

-Studded Tires
-Pair of waterproof winter shell pants
-Shoe covers

...and probably other things I am forgetting right now and will bankrupt me.

In other news, this weekend I moved back home with my parents to a town just outside of St. Johns called Paradise. There were several reasons, but some relevant ones were due to the fact that I wanted to get all this bike stuff and had no money, I have to pay off a line of credit, and try to save money to eventually get an apartment with my lovely lady Alanna. Bit of a good news bad news scenario, I now have a ~18 km commute ahead of me to the university every morning, and then back again in the evening, Monday to Friday, that is both the good and bad news! Did it for the first time this morning (4 degrees out) and it was a really great ride. Only took 47 mins ride time. I'm having trouble with sweaty hands making wet gloves, and am thinking of sending my MEC Nanu gloves back after only one use as they are a small fit and are almost impossible to get back on if I take them off once I sweat a little. Not to worry, should the weather be bad (or I just don't feel up to it) my dear sister (who is an undergraduate student at the university too) will drive me in with herself.

Anyways, will update on the Winter Beater as it gets put back together, once I get the rest of my winter commuting stuff, and as well when IT arrives.

Surly LHT left the international USPS depot in NJ on Thursday morning. Feels like I'm going to have an early Christmas!