Turkey Feast at Rich and Donna's

Rich and Donna invited Nathan, Ava and I to their place for dinner. Dinner doesn't really cover it though because she really made a full Thanksgiving feast. She had so much there, I could even fully remember all she cooked for us so I took this from her blog:

Hors d'oeuvres included fresh carrots, celery and tomatoes with ranch dipping, and crackers -and cheese.


Pre - dinner cocktails: Your choice of straberry dacquari, pina colada, marguarita, wine or beer

Dinner include a 13 lb turkey, beautifully browned and perfectly moist with sausage stuffing, ( that's the dish with the foil still on it!) mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, fresh rolls and cranberry bread, and cranberry sauce.



Unfortunately I had to take the pictures from her blog also, because they were not on Nathan's phone when I went to get them. Not sure what I did wrong there, but I sure am glad that she had some.





This was a wonderful treat for me, because I did not get Thanksgiving dinner this past year due to having strep throat on that day. Donna more than made up for it because everything was fabulous!



After dinner we headed to the pickleball courts which is always an interesting experience for Donna and I. We hobbled along, while the guys barely broke a sweat. We had great fun though! I love nights like this and we sure have been spoiled by them since we have been at The Villages!



On a completely unrelated note, our poor girl came back from her nightly walk with green feet! I'm not sure what was on the grass to make her feet look this way but she was not a happy camper and I imagine it is probably not a healthy thing for her to be walking on grass that produces this result:

Kendall Knob ..

Dan and I headed out to the Kendall Knob/clear cut area for some quick backcountry turns this morning. It turns out we didn't stay long.

What I have been learning is you need speed to easily execute turns in deep powder. I managed to do that last week at Hyak. However, trees were added to the equation today, and this made it more difficult to want to go fast. It is all a learning curve. On a positive note, I did not hit any trees. I did crash hard when catching a ski on buried alder.

Dan and I found the snow to be deep. Skinning was tiring. It snowed and the wind blew the whole time we were out. Dan had difficulty extricating himself a few times. I had difficulty with the one crash. A little more snow coverage would have made things somewhat easier.

We dug a snow pit at our high point to investigate the snow pack. Mostly soft snow for the top 30". We did a tap test and were able to have a 4" top slide with wrist taps on a fairly low angle slope. (~25° heavily treed) Often we heard the Alpental ski patrol bombing the slopes. (It was sort of scary.)

We made one run through the trees, and called it quits. By the time we left, I90 Eastbound was closed.

Dan breaking trail through trees

The view before conditions deteriorated.

Not Your Typical 3-Speed!

I had never seen a Dutch Union before, so photographing S.T.'s bicycle was a real treat - not a run of the mill vintage 3-speed for sure!

This is S.T.'s 1973 Union "Savoy". It is a 22" straight step-through frame with 26" wheels, caliper brakes, 3-speed Sturmey Archer hub, dynamo lighting that runs off of a bottle generator, a vinyl chaincase, transparent dressguards, and lots of proprietary insignia.

In geometry and feel, this Union is very similar to the Raleigh Lady's Sports, but considerably fancier - with prettier lugs and all sorts of interesting details throughout. It is these details that make this bicycle really special, and so that is what I focused on in the photos.

The rich bordeaux frame is covered with neat decals and pinstriping designs in gold and cream.

It's all been preserved in great condition.

I know that decals are not a big deal, but they do contribute to the overall look. The bordeaux, cream, and gold combination looks very regal.

Chrome fork crown, caliper brakes, and bottle generator. I like the retro look of the bottle generators, but I am puzzled as to why bicycle manufacturers continued to use them when the Sturmey Archer dyno-hub has existed since the 1930s. Even today the Dutch seem to favour these over hubs - I wonder why?

The matching vinyl chaincase is stitched together around the edges.

Here you can see the stitching, as well as the Sturmey Archer 3-speed AW hub.

The gear shifter is remarkably well preserved, and the cream grips match the bicycle's colour scheme nicely.

Proprietary emblem on the kicktand.

Rear rack and fender, with tail light and Spanniga rear light/reflector.

Here is a close-up of the gorgeous vintage Spanniga reflector. This alone makes me want the bicycle!

S.T. uses this bicycle as her "commuter," and she has fitted it with this wooden crate that her father made for her while she was at college. She has also owned lady's Raleigh DL-1s, but overall prefers the Union. It is certainly a dramatic and unique bicycle, even in our 3-speed-saturated neighborhood!

If you have questions about this Union Savoy, please contact the knowledgeable and friendly somervillain.

Pickleball and Covered Bridge Number 3

Rene and Mira took us to a nearby town named Copeland, where the locals play pickleball. They have public courts in a park and were a great group to play with. Their skill level was very impressive. Afterwards, we stopped at a local place to eat dinner. They had a hamburger special and we all tried different burgers.

Unsupported Handlebar-Mounted Bags

I get a lot of reader questions about front bags, and particularly about whether I've found a good way to carry a bag on the handlebars without using additional support. Short answer: In my experience, it depends on the bike, on how much weight is being carried, and on how the bag is attached to the bars. These factors interact with varied results.






On roadbikes, I have tried carrying unsupported loads on the handlebars using several methods. Bags attached with straps are appealing, because they do not require permanent hardware installation. However, on longer and/or faster rides I find it difficult to keep them from sliding along the handlebars, no matter how tight the straps and how light the load. If the bag slides when I lean on a turn at high speed, it feels distracting and disconcerting, even if it is too light to affect steering.




A few manufacturers have come up with hardware to address this, including the Nitto Bar Sack Rack, the Brooks Cornwall system, andthe Rixen & Kaul KlickFix adapter. The latter I've had a chance to investigate on Pamela Blalock's bikes - who uses it on most of her roadbikes.





TheKlickFix adapter is mounted on the handlebars and remains there when the bag is detached. It is compatible with many bags from different manufacturers, the most popular being the waterproof Ortlieb bags, available in a variety of sizes. This is a very stable system for carrying unsupported weight on the handlebars, and it worked for me with light loads: I felt zero movement. However, when I added my DSLR camera (between 2 and 3lb with lens), I found that I had poor control of the steering. I reported this to the bag's owner, who confirmed that she does not carry that much weight in a handlebar bag on this or on any of her other roadbikes; she uses this system to store lightweight items only.




Of course, it is not clear whether having the weight lower and supported by a rear rack would make any difference on the specific bike I rode. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it very well could. On the other hand, I have seen touring bikes with large, heavily laden bags attached to the bars using this same method, ridden successfully. So the bike does play a role, as, no doubt, does rider sensitivity to high/ unsupported loads.






With upright city bikes - especially heavily built ones - there is generally more tolerance. I have ridden such bikes with all manner of baskets and bags attached to the handlebars without lower support, and for short distances it's been fine if the weight is only a few pounds. I've even managed to attach my Po Campo pannierto the handebars of a Raleigh DL-1, and ride with this setup with 5lb+ of weight in the bag. The bag does slide side to side and affects steering a bit, but since I am not riding fast or cornering aggressively, it doesn't bother me. The heavier the load, the more likely it is to become problematic. And then again, there are those who simply hang heavy shopping bags off their handlebarsand blithely pedal away.




The general consensus is that carrying weight high on the handlebars and without additional lower support is not ideal. A stable system such as the R&K KlickFix adaptor is probably your best bet, but still there are limits to how much weight will feel comfortable.If you have a success story, do share.Personally, in the absence of a front rack, I prefer to carry weight at the rear of the bike.

Skull Rock

Many, many years ago, I'm guessing about 15 years ago, while roaming around in the Jemez Mountains we found a rock that with a lot of imagination can look sort of like a skull. Then for many years we had sort of lost where that rock was at. We knew the general area - the mountains - but never got to where the rock was. Last fall we decided to find and came close but it got to late before we found it and we had to come home to feed the critters. Plus I wanted to see it in daylight so I could photograph it. Last week we went to the mountains and actually found Skull Rock again. Maybe to you it doesn't look like a skull. But to me it does, but then I have a heck of an imagination for things like that. These are photos of Skull Rock from a little distance and then closer and closer. Of course the real close up has a lot of shadows on it cause it sort of shades its on face all day. In the following posts are some of the other rocks that were near by.

Back and Forth: Lessons in Positioning

Last week I rode my RivendellSam Hillborne for the first time in three weeks after riding exclusively the loaner Seven on a close to daily basis. It's hard to believe that the body can adapt to one position so quickly as to find other positions unnatural. I confidently got on my bike, expecting that old familiar feeling of riding it to welcome me back. But I was in for a surprise. The ride was as comfortable as I remembered, but everything felt off. It took me a while to understand what was wrong. Initially it was just a vague sense of not feeling as connected to the road and as much in control of the bike, which was disconcerting. As I kept cycling, I became aware that it was really two specific things: I felt that I was seated too far back, and that I wasn't out far enough over the front wheel. I kept wanting to shove my weight forward, and it was frustrating to feel almost as if I were sitting "behind" the bike.

Looking at the way the two bicycles are set up, the difference makes sense. On the Seven, the saddle sits further forward and the handlebars are further out. I was aware of this difference before, but assumed that I would find the Seven's set-up aggressive and uncomfortable, while the Rivendell's set-up a welcome relief. Instead the Seven's set-up now feels "right" and anything deviating from it feels "wrong" - as if I don't have sufficient control of the bike. That feeling is hard to shake. I think my Rivendellneeds a little make-over.

While moving the saddle forward is easy enough, changing the handlebar set-up will be messy, because I will have to replace the fairly short (6cm) stem with a longer one. When I fist began trying to ride with drop bars, I found it extremely difficult and a short stem was recommended to make the transition easier. I cannot say that it was a poor recommendation, because it worked. I rode with this set-up for a year, gradually becoming more comfortable with the whole idea of a roadbike, and feeling increasingly natural in a forward-leaning position. Some would look at my bikes and point out that my stems are too short, and I was perfectly aware that by most standards they are. But these things are highly personal, and last year I was concerned not so much with speed and agility, as with just being able to ride the bike. The way a bike balanced with a shorter stem felt better to me at the time. For what it's worth, I see many roadbikes from the 1970s-80s that were ridden by women set up with short stems. My previously owned vintage Trek had an even shorter stem than this bike, and that was the original owner's doing.

Going back and forth between the Sevenand the Rivendellhas been educational; each has what the other lacks. It is fairly clear to me that I "need" a lightweight, purely-roadish roadbike like the Sevenand that I also "need" a wide-tired, befendered, dynamo-hub, luggage-bearing long distance bike like the Rivendell. I would not want to turn one into the other, or to combine them into something in-between. If I could make changes to the Seven, it would be to magically decrease its size. If I could makechanges to the Rivendell, it would be to alter its positioning and to make it lighter. The former we will be doing shortly. The latter is not really possible without getting rid of the very things that make this bike practical. But I am very curious now whether it is the positioning, more than anything else that accounts for the difference in speed between the two bicycles. I am also wondering what the "ideal" stem length for this bike would be. The top tube is unusually long, so it would have to be 8-9cm tops. It's frustrating that experimenting with stems is not easy, but I will report the results of my trial-and-error fumblings.