A Couple From Today

That Kind of Question That Will Keep You Up at Night

Bought a few of these from the folks at Soulcraft. Well worth $1 to me.

How Many Lumens is That?

I've been asked a couple times in the last few days about light mounting with a diy PAUL Gino style light mount and/or mounting lights on the Surly Nice Rack, so I thought I'd share my set up.

Admittedly it isn't great in windy conditions, but for camping or when the power goes out in my home shop it's a great option. Inexpensive and no dead batteries to toss into the in the landfill.

This is what I'm Dealing With These Days

We are within a few inches of record snowfall for a single season around here.
I love snow, and I love lots of it even more.
And now that the roof has been shoveled I'm not stressed out by the large quantity of it above my head.

All that snow has made for an interesting winter of riding. I very quickly got my money's worth out of my 1x1 set up. It's no fatbike (I like to think of it as Big Boned) but it has been great for this year's commuting.
While I am generally a proponent of vehicular cycling practices, I readily change my tune when it gets good and snowy. Unless there is a moose blocking the bike path, then I'll take my chances in the street.

This years snowbanks have made bike path travel even more hazardous than usual

Do you see that berm? Do you think a driver coming from the left could see me even if they were looking?

And you thought bikes were invisible in the summer.

During the dark rides of midwinter cars' headlights were often a good indicator of the need to slow down and not get creamed when approaching an intersection like this, but now that the days are getting longer I've got to really have my ears on and be ready for suprises.

A few weeks ago I saw a city employ with a shovel digging this stop sign out of the snowbank. That's how big the piles have gotten, the traffic signs are getting buried.
You see that big F150 zooming by? Yep, but not for long. He's about to disappear behind a giant pile of snow. No way a driver could see a 6'3" guy on a 22" frame about to enter the intersection.

Having my light mounted on my helmet, rather than my bars, has helped me get a driver or two's attention before our paths crossed, but I'm just going to keep operating as if I'm even more invisible than usual.


Oh, and all that snow has left these guys more stressed out and ornery than usual.
This one seemed mostly curious as she kept approaching me, but I was more than ready to roll under that truck if her mood suddenly changed.


Snowy trails have made for some fun riding/towing in the woods. Little man cracks up when we're bombing the downhills.

Doin' a Dingle

Finished something today that's been on my tinkering to do list for a long time.

I finally put together a "double singlespeed" (aka: Dinglespeed) setup.

Two chainrings, two cogs, each two teeth apart. No derailleurs, no shifters, no cables.

The two tooth difference in the front and rear allows me to use the same length chain for both gears, I just have to shift it manually. Nice to have a go fast option for when the roads are clear or an easy peddling option for when things are snowy or the trails are steep.

For those who care it's a 32x21 and 34x19 combo.
Go ask Sheldon if you care about the gain ratios/gear inches. I'm not going to bore everyone else with that here.

I have been running the 21t the last few months, now I added the 19t

Surlycentric drivetrain

One speed at a time, but two options
Mo' betta than a flip flop

You get the idea.