a fine november day in may

 

I haven't been writing much, partly because I haven't been riding well. I let myself gain weight and get out of shape over the past year-plus... and then I sought treatment for a tremor in my right arm that was making it hard to get the screwdriver in the slot (first, that's not a euphemism, and second, I already had to give up drawing for inability to control the pencil). It turns out that beta-blockers, a type of blood-pressure medication, are effective against tremor, so Dr Young-Enough-To-Be-My-Son prescribed one (in addition to my current meds)... and then my blood pressure spiked, so he doubled the beta-blocker.

It turns out that beta-blockers work by reducing heart rate, and have adverse effects on endurance exercise. That explains why I have been simply wiped out after rides of 20 miles. Even with allowing myself to get out of shape, I was slow, and tiring, but not as exhausted as I've been on rides over the past couple of months. I've been working on building my endurance, and it's been somewhat effective. (I'm also starting to work on getting my weight down again, at which I have been only sightly successful.)

I'm well into my seventies (I'm reminded, as a birthday is coming), and I don't have the resilience I once did (one of many things, apparently, I no longer have), 

So for today, I posted a no-pace ride for the club of about 21 miles. I knew I could do the distance*, and I wouldn't have to make excuses for being slow or falling off the back of the group. One rider (well into his eighties, as he noted on more than one occasion today) signed up early, as did The Excellent Wife (TEW), and if the ride were to be just the three of us, that would have been fine.

But I wound up with ten more.

 

The sun was out at the start, and I decided I didn't need my riding coat. That was a mistake; it was colder and windier than I thought it would be, I don't think it got above 60°F for the duration of the ride, and while the tailwind for the last few miles was welcome, it was not always a tailwind, and it was always pretty cold. Are we SURE today was early May?

As happens on this ride, there were riders with a range of abilities. The faster riders went ahead, and waited patiently and without complaint at stops and turns; we slower riders caught up to them at those points.  The group was chatty, and I don't think anybody had to push at an uncomfortable pace.

We stopped at the McCaffrey's on Southfield.

 

 It's in the same shopping center as the Grover's Mill Coffee, and some of my riders choose to go there... but TEW is convinced that they are slow, and she also likes the Polish babci who runs the coffee station at the McCaffrey's.

You gotta see the Colnago that Tony was riding:

He's also brought a never-previously-built-up frame on which he'd hung a glorious Campagnolo set, complete with the delta brakes, and how did I not get any pictures of that?

We had the promised tailwind most of the way back. And I got back in better shape that I'd thought, although the cold wind had gotten to me. I'm ready to try a longer ride again, and we'll see how I finish that one. 

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*That "do the distance" might be a bit misleading. I'd led a 30-plus-mile-ride a couple weeks earlier and "did the distance"... but I was exhausted after the break, and slow. I was worried that other riders might have a problem with my slow pace... but they went on ahead and did fine. I got to the end when I could do so. I "did the distance" then, but without much energy at the end.

new words to live by

 As I was bidding farewell in the weight room in my over-55 community this morning, one of the other gym geezers called out, "Take care. Eat your protein. Do a good deed," and these are now my new post-exercise words to live by.

backwards derailleur

 

'Nother one of those bike-y weirdness things that only matters to me.

 Rear derailleurs typically "relax" to the smallest cog - that little one on the outside you use when you're pedalling as fast as possible. It's your hardest gear, which means many riders don't use it much. If your rear derailleur cable breaks, you're suddenly in the hardest gear to pedal, and you're stuck there.

 Decades ago, Shimano made a "Rapid Rise" derailleur that "relaxed" to the biggest cog. The theory was that, on a mountain bike (which is what they were made for), you'd want to get into your easier gears quickly as the terrain changed, and this reversing of the derailleur direction would facilitate that.

Well, like Biopace chainrings, it was one of those "good" ideas that just didn't catch on, and that was that. You just couldn't get them.

Then, the retrogrouches at Rivendell Bikes decided to try to have them made. It took years to find a supplier who would make the small quantity they thought they would sell, and in the meantime there's been a pandemic, tariffs, and who knows what-all else. But they finally brought 'em to market.

I'm always up for some bicycle weirdness. I've been following the progress of the project, and, when Rivendell started an email list to keep prospective customers posted, I put three or four of my email addresses on it. They offered presale in the fall; I credit-carded my way in. They finally sent 'em out a few weeks ago.

 I teach the Basic Bicycle Maintenance class at Princeton Adult School, and I use my bikes as teaching aids, so I didn't want to put it on until I'd finished using my bike as a prop. But that day has come (the last class is all students bringing their bikes in for review), so I popped it on today.

It will theoretically index nine speeds (that is, if your shifter snaps from one gear to the next, this derailleur is compatible with a nine-speed system, at a time when eleven speeds are common, twelve speeds are not rare, and thirteen-speed systems are available). But it's really meant for friction shifting, where you slide from one gear to the next. My titanium bike has this system. 

Here's running the chain through, after doing the tiny bit of adjustment that it needed,

 I took it out for a few miles this morning. I really like it. Rivendell touts that now you pull the cable the same way, both front and rear, to get to the harder gears, and relax it to get to the easier ones. The way I remember it is that I have to pull against resistance to get t a harder gear, both front and back, and ease the lever back in to get to an easier gear, which feels more intuitive to me (although it took some riding to change my default shifting behaviour, after years of having the levers on the bar ends).

It will manage up to a 34-tooth cog in the back (which is large, making for a nice, easy gear for climbing). It takes fewer degrees of level turn to shift than I'm used to, which will take some adjustment. But I like it. 

As I write this, they're sold out. Weird bike-y retrogrouches are apparently coming out for 'em.

 

new route

I haven't been ride-blogging much, because I haven't been happy with my performance and condition. Since fall, when I've been on the bike, I've been slower than I hoped, and I'm tired out in shorter distances than in the past. I know that, starting about a year ago, I didn't ride as much as I had prior to that... but I've also realized recently that, even three and four years ago, when I was leading rides out of Franklin, I was often falling off the back of the group by the end of the ride.

 The Excellent Wife (TEW) has been steadfast in her belief that all I need to do is get back to riding regularly and frequently to get up to my former level of fitness. I don't think that's all it will take (I've put on about 15lbs in the past two or three years), but I do agree that I want to ride more. I've set myself a goal of 25 ride leads for the club for 2026, and, while it's not a goal, two or three rides of at least 20 miles per week through October of 2026 sounds like a good idea.

As part of the "lead 25" proposition, I listed a club ride for yesterday. I've moved from near that Franklin start I used to use, to Monroe, and this start was at the Thompson park, just down the hill from my house. I was pleasantly surprised to get thirteen signups. At the start:

You can see the route on the ride page (you can also see that the route is only about 1000' of climb, and that I definitely rode within the C+ pace). The riders generally appeared satisfied with it.

I had a couple of bits of drama: the road surface was rough in places, and on Davidson's Mill Road (I think), I hit a pothole so hard that I flatted the front tire. I changed out the tube as quickly as I could (which is quick; I'm a good mechanic)... when a fellow rider pointed out that the rear was ALSO flat. I'd popped both tires on that hit! I've been riding for decades, and I don't think I've ever seen an incident where both tires got pinch flats at the same time. I used both of the tubes I carry, and both of my CO2 cartridges. (And I made sure to replace them in my kit when I got back. How frustrating would it be to have a flat, and find that the only tire supplies I had, were the ones I'd destroyed on a previous ride?!)

We proceeded without incident to a stop at the Bagel Bazaar in Dayton.

 After the stop, though, I was tired, and I began slowing and falling off the back of the group. Several had the route loaded in their various devices, so they continued. I wound up falling off the back entirely. 

At a few points, individuals waited to see if I was OK (for which I'm grateful). I got back without much energy, but also without a problem. Just before the end of the route is a drop of about 70' in about a half-mile. I decided NOT to do that, because I would have had to climb back up to go home.

I'm sure the other riders will forgive me. 

I'll plan to lead this route again, along with my no-pace rides. Maybe some of you club members will come out!

 

philly bike expo 2026

Tom H and Laura OLPH, or one or the other (I forget) planned a ride this week of 42 miles, which is longer than I like to go in my dotage (I'd done one with Laura last week with that mileage and neatly 2800' of climb, and far from the end, I was thinking, "This could really be enough, thank you). I didn't register in time anyway, so, while I probably could have imposed on friendship and tagged along, I decided to take the day to go to this year's Philly Bike Expo.

 I've been going for years, and I look forward to seeing all the lovely (and crazy) bikes, the new tech, and the useful and silly accessories. I try to keep the entire weekend free so that I can choose to go on whichever day is a presentation I'd like to catch, but none of the presentations nailed me this year. 

There was, however, an exhibition of restored, historic (mostly from racing) bikes.

There were the custom builders showing off what they do.

 

I do not give a damn about carbon fiber, internal routing, or anything of the sort. I love these bikes with the elegant paint, the exposed workings, the rim brakes. 

And if I ever want to replace my beloved titanium frame, I might go to this guy to do it:

 The term "retrogrouch" was coined for Grant Peterson, who founded Rivendell Bikes (he was there, but I didn't get a good picture). Velo Orange, one of the sources for my retrogrouchy parts, had only sold frames for disk brakes... but I saw two in their booth with their lovely Grand Cru caliper brakes on:

 

 I feel like hope is not yet lost.

There were the usual bags and accessories.

 And the usual silly things. One guy has 3d-printed a tool for ensuring your right and left drop-bar brake-shifters are at exactly the same height. Another has a purpose-built tripod for your laptop for when you're on your trainer, which consists of a rubber-coated tabletop and three legs that screw into the bottom, in your choice of stained finishes. Another 3d printer aficionado made valve caps:

 And there were more than the usual number of tours, destinations, and charity rides.

I didn't see any great new technologies.  Shimano wasn't there, nor was SRAM, White Industries, Paul Components, or other vendors I'm used to seeing. It may be that the international situation has made travel inadvisable. 

I like the bikes, but I was disappointed in the show this year. I hope my experience improves with the next one.