beautiful bike at revolutionary ramble

 At the Revolutionary Ramble yesterday, friend Laura OLPH knewI'd be taken with this lovely Roadini from Rivendell Bikes, so she got me a few pictures. 

 I really love them, and I wish I could justify getting my own. There will be a post soon about the Yellow Maserati, my titanium bike, and why I think it's the best for me at this point in my aging life.

supporting the revolutionary ramble

 The Morris Area Freewheelers have offered the Revolutionary Ramble, a charity ride supporting their EMS services, for decades. But clubs and volunteering are falling on hard times: their membership is down, and there are not volunteers to run the ride the was it has been in the past. They reached out to my club, the Princeton Free Wheelers*, for assistance with the event, and the club agreed, and even sent a director of the event, Emad S. 

*Yes, the Morris Area group thinks that Freewheelers is a single word, and the PFW thinks it's two words. Don't argue with me. 

The Princeton club had an Event for years that we put down a few years ago. I was one of the loudest voices calling for the PFW Event's demise, so I felt something of a responsibility to help out. I agreed to head up one of the rest stops (after all, as tough as it is, it's only a single-day commitment). Most of my crew were other PFW members.

 In an effort to get back to regular posting, I got some pics at the stop.

 

I'm way tired, but it went well. I'll plan to do it again.

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.

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.