Some Updates to the Old Schwinn

Because of the mild winter and the more level route to work I had put on quite a few more miles on my good ol' Schwinn Super Le Tour. Sure, it is showing its age but until I have the necessary cash flow to afford something better (like the All-City Space Horse), the Schwinn will have to do.

My buddies from West had been appalled when I joined one of their tours a couple of years ago and was able to keep up with their $1k-2k gear in spite of a very wobbly rear wheel. That was the first thing  I changed and that's when I started noticing some other faults on my ride.

1. Bottom bracket had probably 4 mm play in the bearing. I fully expected that I would have to order a special part and hesitated to tear the old bracket out but to my great surprise the guy in the NOW Bikes shop pulled one right off the shelf. Installation went very smoothly though I screwed up my front derailleur adjustments a bit. When I tested, the chain fell off and I did not slip out the clip baskets in time, got various bumps and srapes and wrecked my mirror. Other than that it provided a big difference, it shaved off about 5 minutes from my 26 km ride to work in Minnetonka.

2. Next were some actual bike shoes (Shimano SH-MT33L) and some Shimano PD-M324 combo Clipless/Clip Pedals. I chose the former because I wanted a shoe that I can walk in when needed and the latter because I do occasionally want to ride in regular shoes. All in all another major perceived improvement, over my worries I got used to the clips rather quickly. Unfortunately, I could not test them in regular commuting conditions since my place of employment reorganized and got rid of my department in late April. Since then, I have had multiple occasions to use the shoes on shorter and longer rides and I especially appreciate the more efficient up-stroke.

3. A few years ago I had replaced my gear cassette with a new one and thinking I'd gain something I had opted for a 6-speed cassette. My rear derailleur did not have any adjustment options so I was basically riding without the top and bottom gears. It worked just fine but not using these gears seemed like a waste. So I upgraded (if that is the right word since I paid less than $12 at Amazon) to the Shimano Tourney TX35 Rear Derailleur.  I installed it today, took about 30 minutes, including the adjustments and it works great, including gear one and gear six! And because I opted for the combo pedals I was able to test the Schwinn without switching from my Crocs to my bike shoes.

The question now is: do I really need a new bike?

Bike Ride Eagan-Farmington-Hastings-Eagan

Nice bike outing with some colleagues from Thomson Reuters and the MN Boat Club. They were poopooing my rickety old bike but they could not drop me ... I did get that wobbly wheel fixed, though ...

Christian, Christine, Martin Carlos & Jack

Harriet Island-Mendota Bridge Bike Ride

Beautiful afernoon bike ride with Lynn, Peggy and Joel. It seems we were always a nose length ahead of some sprinkles and immediately after out return it began raining in ernest. We celebrated our accomplishment with ice cream at Creamy Cone at Maryland and Dale.

Minnesota Orienteering Club 2010 Adventure Race Tune-Up

or The Lost Boys found.

We did it and we did it at an extremely short notice: Bryan and I entered MNOC's annual AR tune-up, starting at Riverbend Nature Center in Faribault, MN.

Neither of us knew quite what to expect, neither the sequence of legs nor had we ever done anything like it. All we knew was that we would be running/orienteering, kayaking and bicycling.

When we needed a team name, Jen at work came up with a good one without delay: "The Lost Boys." I was just hoping that this would not prove to be a premonition ...

I picked up Bryan at 6:15 and we were on the road. Warnings about traffic delays due to the Ironman Bike Ride proved to be unwarranted. We moved at a good clip and were soon in Faribault. We had a quick pit stop at Hardee's and then dropped off our bikes at the appointed location in Two Rivers Park near downtown Faribault. Like at the bike drop, the parking lot of Riverbend Nature Center, participants were busy readying their gear.

The sky was leaden, the temps anything but mild, with a brisk northerly wind. Thus, after signing the waiver, the next order of business was deciding what to wear. I wore shorts, my orienteering gaiters and a rain jacket. I warned Bryan not to overdress, but the cold got the better of him.

At the pre-race meeting we were told that for the first leg we needed to carry all of our gear. That meant that those of us who insisted on using their own paddles would carry them through the woods. The sequence of events was orienteering, kayaking, cycling with a short orienteering (i.e. UTM location followed by compass bearing) interlude, a score-o and another bike leg.

On the Straight River, in my mind the most difficult leg

It didn't take long before we got going, a little after 9:00 AM. The Orienteering was rather simple and my experience helped us quite a bit.



We arrived at the start of the kayak portion within the first quarter of racers. Here, the decision was whether to install a seat. I decided against it, which may have been a mistake. I should have either invested that time or knelt in the inflatable craft. Quite a few parties passed us, our rhythm was off and I had a hard time sitting up straight. Furthermore, my rear end received a good soaking from a puddle of water that formed in the hollow I created in the back of the rubber boat. We made it without serious hangups but fell back by probably 10 places or so.



At the take-out I let Bryan clean the canoe while I plotted the UTM coordinate of the orienteering interlude of the first bicycle leg. A volunteer checked the plot for accuracy and off we went. One more control point within Faribault followed by a steep climb, then the country roads were ours.

The climb revealed what would turn out to be a major draw-back: Bryan’s studded tires were slow on smooth surfaces and his soft fork made climbing difficult. We plodded along and eventually made it to Caron Park, to the UTM coordinate at the picnic shelter. From there, we took an 11° bearing to a large boulder. We found it without problem. Back onto the bike, to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, familiar to me from previous orienteering meets.



I do like Nerstrand Big Woods, it's one of my favorite parks. Here, we had to run a score-O, i.e. to tick off as many controls as possible in the allotted time. The control placements were generally simple and we hit all but the last one right on.

Ticking off the control points at Nerstrand Big Woods SP

They were placed more as during a regular O-event, it was easily possible to create a route not requiring any detours. As I said, I made a mistake at the last control. Since we only had about five minutes left, I had already resigned to dropping this one. However, it was so close to the check-out point that I decided to go for it. Fortes fortuna adiuvat, we got that last control and made it back with a minute to spare!



Back on the bikes and a tactical decision that would help us quite a bit: we switched bikes. I am a little fitter than Bryan and my smoother rolling Gary Fisher helped him a lot. Three controls on the road and three in Riverbend Nature Center, all by bike. The first one was not a problem. South, with a brisk back wind, that made even steep hills seem easier.

Easy ridin' downhill and with a back wind

The second control was where the road intersects with a drainage ditch. A strong, fast-riding team overshot this control and was out of sight by the time we had punched our card. I wonder how long it took for them to notice. The way back to Riverbend was a little more difficult because the NNW wind and a rather soft gravel road surface. The occasional farm dog would jump out at us but never persist. Just doing their job, keeping the riff-raff and varmint (like us) away.



The short bike-O in Riverbend was a fun piece of single track, nothing technical. Again, my orienteering helped except that I turned the wrong direction (left instead of right on the road back to the finish. This probably cost us a minute.

All in all, what a great experience for participating in an adventure race. It also boosts the ego to finish 8th out of 38 teams, for the results, see AR Tune-Up Finishers. For Mike Carlson, the meet director's thoughts, a description of all the work that went into preparing this and how the final scoring worked, see AR Tune-up review.Garmin Connect (click next to move to the next leg, they are in sequence, 1 to 5)

First Ride to Work In 2010

Last week held the promise of warm weather.  I thought I would ride my bike to work one day, taking advantage of the early season heatwave forecast by the weather augurs and of my kids' spring break. When the weather turned out as balmy as predicted, I checked my bike, dug out my saddle bag, packed it on Monday night and hopped out of bed at 5:00 on Tuesday morning. The usual cup-o-joe, sudoku, leftovers from the fridge for lunch, one last equipment check and off I went, at 6:00 sharp.

I had hoped that the gusty winds would start only after day brake, but I was not as lucky. I was buffeted by strong southerly gusts all along my ride form St. Paul to Eagan, which happens to be oriented completely north-south. Especially the open areas were a little troublesome, but hey, biking on March 30 in Minnesota at 12 C, not even a month after my last cross-country ski outing, I'll take it. I have to say that I do mind a head wind on the way home more than on the way to work. As always, I love crossing the Mississippi via the I-35E bridge. The river was still well outside its banks and the slower pace of the bike allowed me to take in the view. Again, as always, Valley Park in Mendota Heights is a welcome relief from the frantic traffic on the interstate. By now, day night definitely started to give way to the gentle light of dawn and the noise of the nearby free-way is muffled by trees and shrubbery. Nature is still dormant, the meadows and woods seem still barren and grey. Because of the wind there is no hint of the morning mists that I love along this stretch. 

After labouring up to Hwy 110 I am back on the road, Dodd Rd, just for a short piece, until I cut through a residential neighborhood to get to Mendota Heights Rd. and then Argenta Trail, which takes me almost to the West campus. While I love Argenta Trail for its almost rural character, it has the nastiest stretch of the entire commute: the short piece of way between Hwy 52 and where Argenta Trail turns south from Yankee Doodle Rd. Always heavy traffic on four lanes and not a good way to make it across. But this morning it worked out because of a slow semi that kindly held up traffic, thus creating a gap. 

I made it in about 11 minutes more from my usual time, due to the strong head wind and my lack of practice with the bike. 

In the screen shot above, note the time difference between ride to work and ride home. Most of the times, for this ride I am a little faster in the morning than in the afternoon, mostly because there is significantly more traffic on Hamline Ave, especially near University Ave. This time was no exception and I was further delayed because I lost my pack when I jumped a curb at the Midway Target. There is just not enough room on the road to ride a bike safely in rush-hour conditions.

All in all, an excellent first bike outing. Later that evening I also rode my bike to the Midway Y to attend my second to last front crawl swim class.

Bike Ride to Work at TR West in Eagan

Rode to work for the first time since August 8 of last year! And what a wonderful morning. Left our house at 6:00 AM sharp. The river, other bodies of water and the park along Interstate 35E between Lillydale and Hwy 110 were covered in a light mist which, in the first hour of daylight, gave the landscape a dreamy quality. I am so glad I had my rear wheel trued and the missing spokes replaced. What a difference that made, though I was with just under an hour more than six minutes slower than last time I did this stretch. Must get my bike legs again I guess ...


View Ride to Work at TR West in a larger map

By the way, the ride home was much better, in spite of headwind, higher temps and more traffic, almost 5 minutes. Why? (a) I discovered that the rear wheel was misaligned and scraped along the fork. Like riding with the breaks engaged. (b) Hit some lights (Hwy 110, Sheppard Road and W 7th) in a very opportune way. Does not happen very often and these can be real stinkers. (c) Tried to keep up to, pass and shake off some hard-core recreational bikers. Not bad for my 30+ year old steel Schwinn Super LeTour II! (d) Bicycle legs coming in early? I would hope so but we'll talk about that next time I take the trip.