Still no Sun

June gloom is hanging over my head. 

Had a little bit of mist hitting my face as I began my ride but not enough to stop me from getting the last ride of the week in on my 700. I enjoyed a fast paced ride and now I'm ready to be with my kids on this Fathers Day

That's all I have to say. Bye.

June Gloom

It's not always sunny in Southern California. I've been wussing out the last few days and giving in to Southern California June gloom but I needed an endorphin fix. Instead of taking a long ride on my 700 I opted for a shorter ride with Betzi on my Expedition. Still a wuss I wanted to be closer to home just in case it got wet. I loaded Betzi in her trailer and we took a cool but much needed ride.

New Crankset for Expedition

I needed to do something to smooth out the shifting on the crankset and still be able to easily tow Betzi on her many rides. Replacing the 24t low gear with the a 26t (26t chainring installed) smoothed out the shifting a little bit but it was far from ideal. SO...I put on a mountain bike crankset.

I stopped guessing the weight of my Expedition and actually put a scale to it. With all the luxuries it tipped the scale at 60 plus pounds. Now add 30 pounds of trailer and 40 plus pounds of pooch I'm grinding 130 plus pounds. So I took a whole new approach to setting up the crankset...I put on a mountain bike crankset. I now have a 44/32/22 triple crankset which gives me a sweet low gear at 18 gear inches and high gear clocking in at a whopping 102 gear inches.  Now I spin out at about 27 mph. The old high gear was 115 gear inches and I would spin out at about 35mph. No loss...I'll use the 700 when I have a need for speed. I shouldn't be going that fast with Betzi hanging on in her trailer anyway. The gear inches are more in line with what you get when you buy a stock trike with a 20" wheel.

New crankset specs:
FSA V Drive MegaExo
781 grams
44/32/22
170mm cranks which all of my 6'1' is comfortable with and I feel gives me more power.
Q factor is 170mm which is typical for a MTB setup. My old crankset had a Q factor of 157mm. For those of us stuck in the old world it means that there is 1/2 inch more width between cranks.

I took a 17 mile ride today with the new setup and it was nice!! Smooth shifting and the low gear is a luxury up hills. The larger Q factor was barely noticed. Although a few more rides will tell if the larger width (all of 1/2 inch) between cranks has any impact on my aging infrastructure.

Lighthouse Century

I signed up for the Lighthouse Century  (Lighthouse Century) for September 24th, 2011.

It's a ride along the central coast from San Luis Obispo to Cambria, Ca. I love this part of the California Coast. Obviously other folks also like this part of the coast because the ride sells out within a few hours. The only way to be part of the ride and it's support is to wait until someone wants to sell there spot on the Lighthouse Century transfer sight. 

Now the only decision that I have to make is whether to ride the "flat" 100 mile century or the "hilly" metric century. The "hilly" metric century is the front runner. The climb may be a little tough but the downhill on hwy 46 would be too much fun to pass up. Or...I should do the "hilly" 100 mile century? Time will tell. (Lighthouse Century routes)

Estero Bay with the Family 

Just North of Cayucos and South of Cambria

This is typical of the coastline along the route of the Lighthouse Century
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Update August 2011 - I sold my reservation to the Lighthouse Century because of my a scheduled hip surgery. Next year.. 

Road ID Bracelet

When County Rescue is scrapping you off the ground after Ms. Soccer Mom in her giant gas sucking SUV with tinted windows and chrome wheels turns you into road kill it would be nice for someone to know who you are. Just kidding...the windows aren't tinted.

Cool ID I found out about from Backpacker magazine.

Click here Road ID

Carrie Sending Me Off

My honey sending me off on one of my adventures.

Carrie