Wandering by Bicycle

1985 Schwinn Cimarron Touring Bike Build Part 1

Posted on June 18, 2013June 26, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

Oh the beauty of vintage bicycles. Jeff has a couple of Schwinn Cimarron mountain bikes, one of which he’s had since new, that he is looking to fix up. The Cimarron that is the subject of this build is is a Craigslist $100 find that’s being converted from a classic mountain bike to a still classic drop bar touring bike.

It is 100% original, with the exception of the tires and the frame is lugged 4130 chromoly steel with a fillet brazed head tube.

Jeff is converting this to 8 speed indexed shifting and swapping some parts for fit and reliability, but keeping the classic Shimano Deer Head derailleurs.

Some of the parts that are being swapped off this bike are going to be used on the other Cimarron build still to come and the parts that are being reused are getting overhauled and cleaned.

The stem that is going on is a Nitto Dirt Drop, the handlebar is a Velo Orange Grand Cru Chris’s Rando Handlebar, brake levers are Cane Creek SCR-5 and the cables are VO Metallic Braid.

Lots of work still to come.

Loop through Plymouth Vermont

Posted on June 16, 2013June 24, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

This past Saturday I awoke to a sunny sky, light wind and a meeting time of 6:00am. My friend and fellow Ripton bike commuter Jeff was riding down to Springfield, VT. to meet his traveling brother and asked if anyone was interested in riding along for some of the way. It was easy for me to say yes and and as a bonus, our friend Noah was going to ride as well. Noah, Jeff and I have been planning a good ride together for years, but have never been able to make it happen.

After rendezvousing in my driveway, we started off with a climb up and over Rt. 125 and a quick trip down Rt. 100 for breakfast at the Rochester Cafe and Country Store.

I highly recommend The Rochester breakfast, it’s a lot of fuel for a big ride.

With stomachs full and a light tail wind we make great time down Rt. 100 and took River Road, the short dirt cutoff, to Rt. 4.

The plan was for Noah and I to ride south to Rt. 100A and make a loop back to Ripton, while Jeff continued on to Springfield. Noah had a return time of around 1:30pm and the riding was flat, so this didn’t seem like a problem.

We hit the country store that has been closed since Hurricane Irene, just before the 100A intersection, around 10:15am and bid Jeff a bon voyage. This is where the riding changed. Turning onto Rt. 100A the first big climb appears. I’ll admit, I tend to look at directions on a map and ignore the contour lines. It adds a bit of spice to my rides. I also missed the point on the map referring to Plymouth Notch about 1 mile up Rt. 100A, so this climb was a surprise. The grade was pretty consistent, the views were great and there was no traffic, a perfect road. We rode past “Silent” Calvin Coolidge State Park and many well kept country homes. The decent was gradual down to Rt. 4 where we turned east and picked up North Bridgewater Rd. to take us to Rt. 12.

North Bridgewater Rd. is another perfect Vermont cycling road. No traffic, great views, smooth dirt and another steep climb with many false summits. Some people pay money to ride roads like this.

At this point we realized time was getting away from us (shocking) and we decided to take more direct route home. After a fast and smooth dirt decent we intersected Rt. 12 and took that north to Rt. 107.

From there we rode Rt. 107 to Rt. 100 and traced our steps over East Middlebury Gap (past a large bull moose near the top of the gap) back to my house.

Until I can find a better online mapping site (suggestions welcome), Google Maps will need to suffice. Great company, 107 miles and a bit of climbing makes for a great ride.

Where to next?

Posted on June 14, 2013June 18, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

Bikepacking in Newfoundland for most of July on the T’Railway, an 883km Provincial Park linking linking urban, rural and wilderness areas across the island. The plan is to get a ride to the Canadian border (thanks Dad), ride to Montreal, take the overnight train to Truro Nova Scotia, ride to the ferry dock in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, then….. I’m not sure yet. Either take the shorter ferry to Port aux Basques, in southwestern Newfoundland or the longer ferry to Argentia in the southeast. Of course Gros Morne National Park can’t be missed and I plan on hitting the Cape Breton Highlands on my way back through Nova Scotia. Stay tuned.

Jay Petervary unpacking his bike from the 2012 Tour Divide race

Posted on June 11, 2013June 26, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

40 years old and he stomped the Tour Divide record – 15 days, 16 hours and 14 minutes!

Lots of great information information in this video and I especially like the large plastic bag for takeout food and the ankle strap around the rain pants ideas. Jay, if you ever stumble across this posting, thanks for sharing the knowledge.

New England Randonneurs Lake Champlain 200K / 300K Brevet

Posted on June 9, 2013August 4, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

Yesterday was the New England Randonneurs Lake Champlain 200K / 300K brevet. Dave Cain and Mike Beganyi handled registration and saw the riders off and I volunteered to handle finish. Mike is the founder of this brevet and had been organizing it for the past 3 years by himself. This year he gets to spend time with his family. 23 riders started off at 6:00am , 11 for the 200K route and 12 for the 300K. The start was damp, but the forecast, at least for Burlington, was for a mostly cloudy sky, mild temperature and little wind.

I arrived at Old Spokes Home, which was the final control on the brevet, around 11:30 and once I got the control all set, took off on a short ride to wind down and stretch the legs. The weather was cloudy, but dry and I planned on the first riders returning around 2:00pm and had pizza, snacks and cold drinks waiting. As it turns out, the weather on the New York side of the lake was not like in Vermont. The first 200K riders arrived around 3:30 and told of persistent drizzle and a very cold ferry ride across the lake.

It was great to hear the stories from the returning riders. For some, this was the longest ride they had ever done and for others, the spark for longer rides yet to come. One rider told of retaking up cycling two years ago and the life changes it has brought to him and the other members of his family who have taken up cycling as well. Riders also told of rough roads, flat tires and mechanical problems. One rider had her wheelset replaced at a bike shop in New York and another rider used a FiberFix emergency spoke to make it back.

Anthony Mennona, the first 300K rider, arrived around 6:30pm after riding the second part of the brevet solo. Anthony organizes the Vermont 600K brevet, a ride I highly recommend. As the evening went on, Jim Sandberg came by to help at the control and to wait for his buddy Aron, who rode the 300K, to arrive. Riders continued to trickle in, with the final riders arriving just after 10:00pm.

Thank you to all who participated and the next brevet in the Vermont series is the Vermont 400k on June 29th 2013. Hope you can make it.

What was in the handlebar bag?

Posted on June 6, 2013August 4, 2013 by Wandering by Bicycle

Inspired by a post Dave Cain made last month on his blog Yurtville, I thought I would give a rundown of what was in my handlebar bag for the Lake Champlain 300K brevet pre-ride. This serves as a future packing list for me and possibly information for others. The bag is a rather large Velo Orange Grand Cru and inside I found…..

Main Bag:

My tool and repair kit – to be outlined in a future post
2 spare inner tubes – 650b tubes are not stocked at most shops
Reflective sash
Princeton Tech EOS Bike light
First aid kit – Band Aids, some ibuprofen, duct tape, large bandages and gauze
Ziplock bag with sunscreen, “emergency rations” (snacks), T.P. and spare batteries
Large Ziplock bag for “to go food” – chicken nuggets, pizza or other greasy food
Rain pants wrapped with a reflective leg strap
Rain jacket
Ibex Shak full zip long sleeve jersey
Cue sheet and a map of the route – stored in the top flap map pouch

Front Pocket:

Waterproof saddle cover – I try to take really good care of my Brooks saddle
2 plastic grocery bags – many uses from vapor barriers to rain covers

Side Pockets:

Ziplock bag with drivers license, debit card, cash, pen (and brevet card if needed)
2 pairs of Nitrile gloves – for mechanical or medical repairs
Snow Peak titanium spork – for digging into rock hard ice cream
Leatherman Skeletool

Back Pockets:

iPhone 4
Chain lube – a quiet bike is a happy bike
Halt dog repellant

The total weight for all of this is…….. I don’t want to know.