run what you brung

 I'm pretty sure it was on the July 4 All-Paces club ride that Joe C suggested a ride where we could bring out the bikes that we don't ride on most club rides, for whatever reason. I love the beautiful and unusual bikes, and thought it was a great idea...

... and then promptly forgot about it, until there was some more chatter about it on the Princeton Free Wheeler Facebook page. We got into a discussion about such a ride, and I decided to post something, mostly to see if there was any interest. 

I decided to make it a no-pace special event, because some of the riders who might want to come out, might not be up to riding at a particular pace, of the bikes they want to bring might not be geared to keep up (and there was some of that, as you might see in the pics below). And I called it a "Run What you Brung" ride. In the early days of drag racing, racers would drive the car to the track, race it in the condition in which they'd driven it over, and drive it back. That was kind of the vibe I had in mind for this ride: bring out a bike that was beautiful, or interesting, or unusual, and show it off and ride it, and we'll make a ride to go at the pace the bikes can go.

And to make it even better, friend Eric H decided to lead a "regular" ride, starting at the same time and place, so people who wanted such a ride on a Sunday wouldn't be disappointed.

Eric got over a dozen registrants. I figured I'd get a few... but I got eighteen.

And there were plenty of neat bikes. Joe C's belt-drive single speed:

He likes that double-nose saddle, above.

Phil, a new member (is he a member yet, or is he just joining now?) brought this neat Olmo:

Tom C's Guerciotti.

Note the small gears in the back, above. In those days, they didn't go for easy gears for the hills!

Dr Heddy's gravel bike, with the one-sided lefty fork named Oliver. Is that the name of the fork, or the name of the bike?

Herb C's bike (I didn't get the make... but I love it).

Ron A's custom Hanford, with ALL the appointments. As Ramblin' Wrench, I got to work on this a few weeks ago. What a pleasure!

Ron dressed for the occasion!

 

Glen F's Pinarello, with an even smaller gear cluster than the Guerciotti above! And what a lovely frame.

Martin's Specialized gravel bike:

I'll have some more bike pics at the stop. More pictures of the ride and riders: 

I set a route that was comparatively short (25 miles - not so short that it wasn't worth coming out for) and not too hilly (even the people who had the least experience on hills were able to complete the ride). People had all kinds of abilities; some rode off the front, others barely kept up at the rear (but at least one of the strongest riders went encouraging the slow ones towards the end - thanks, Rafal!).

At the stop:

Grandfather and granddaughter Pinarellos:

John K's Yasujro. A Japanese frame fitted with Campagnolo components, to make up for the gajillions of Italian frames fitted with Shimano!

You probably can't read the legend on that stem cap, above; it says, "I need Japanese steel - I have diabetes to kill." John's a coach and a regular on the Diabetes rides. The quote is adapted from the movie "Kill Bill", and I was (and am) too un-cool to know that.

Rafal's Orbea. No, it's not an e-bike; that's a tool container below the downtube.

People liked the opportunity to bring out the pretty and unusual bikes, but people also liked the no-pace opportunity to ride with no pressure and chat. I expect I'll do these every now and then. A "silly socks" ride, and a "show off your favorite jersey" ride have already been suggested. 

Sometimes, you just want to ride your bike.

and all for the want of a horseshoe nail

 On the Yellow Maserati, my titanium bike, the rear brake wasn't stopping the wheel. The front brake was fine (which is probably why I never noticed it). but the rear brake wasn't doing the job.

Brake pads are cheap (even the specialty Kool-Stop salmon wet-weather ones I like), so I headed over to my usual supplier, Universal Cycles, to order a pair. (Ramblin' Wrench, my maintenance business, isn't big enough to have an account at QBP, and Universal has a huge inventory and reasonable prices.)

Well, the shipping cost is almost as much as the item. I'm going to need to change tires soon, so let's get a couple of Vittoria Rubino tires, too... and one of the bikes I expect to be called to work on soon has a barrel adjuster that's going to want to be replaced. They're cheap, so let's throw that in the cart, as long as I'm getting all this stuff anyway. 

These brake pads are getting expensive.

But I'm close to the free-shipping threshold, so what else can we throw in? Gloves are safe, and I like those Planet Bike ones, because the padding goes all the way across the palm, rather than being split right where I want to lean on the bars. And oh, my stars, there's a pair of socks with a dumpster fire on 'em. That kind of describes how I feel a lot of the time, and they'll get us over to free shipping.

Then, two or three days later, I remembered what Sheldon Brown said about oil and grease deposits on rim brake pads and braking surfaces, and I wondered, even though my brake conditions aren't what he described, whether the brake performance dropoff could have been caused by contaminant on the pads or braking surfaces. So I cleaned 'em up with Simple Green, and rinsed well... and the brakes work like new.

(The should. They've been on for about a year, and have plenty of meat left.)

So I didn't need that order. All that stuff will eventually be put to use, of course, but budgeting is budgeting, right?

Hrmph. I hate being reminded that I'm not as smart as I think I am.

And if the title of the post doesn't resonate with you, click here.