Antique Fetish

image from collectvelo

For those who like vintage bicycles, just how far back do you go? For me, bicycles from the 1900s to the 1930s (like the 1900s Elvish above) are absolute eye candy, and while I would not use them as commuters, I can spend hours sighing over their beauty. So I wanted to share some of my favourite photos of antique bicycle components. With their gorgeous forms and elaborate engravings, these seem especially appropriate during the holiday season.

image from radlmax

Antique bicycle lights. These are candle lights! I understand that oil lamps were also used. Say what you will about modern LEDs and dynamo lighting, but these antique lamps were works of art.

image from Corey K.

Wooden (?) grip with etched silver detailing and matching bell from a 1897 bicycle. I have always wondered about wooden grips, and these are the nicest I have seen by far.

image from the Bicycle Bell Museum
A Dutch bicycle bell from the early 1900s, manufacturer unknown. I am not certin, but this looks like sterling silver? So gorgeous I want to cry!

from the collection of radlmax
Probably the most beautiful fork crown and brake combo I have seen. This is from a 1925 Styriarad, made in Graz, Austria.

from the collection of rebalrid

Could this 1900 Gough & Co. saddle be one of the earliest predecessors to my Brooks B18 "Lady"?

image from Copenhagen Cycle Chic
These early Soviet crochet dressguards must have been breath-taking in their original state. This would be my ideal dressguard, if only I had the time and skill to replicate it.

from the collection of adl2k

Gorgeous chain case on a Hawthorne Flyer bicycle.

image from huubvanhughten
And of course, the beautiful vintage Gazelle chainwheel, featuring actual leaping gazelles. This has got to be the cutest chainwheel ever made - just look at the little tail and antlers! With its resemblance to a reindeer, this could even double as a holiday ornament. Anybody using bicycle components to decorate their home for the holidays?

Rain, rain, and more rain

By Saturday the ice went from great to unsafe. Joel Torretti, Josh Hurst and I made the best of poor conditions. Josh came all this way to climb so we did. We even put him to work. We decided to equip a new line at Upper Meadow Amphitheater. A short ice start leads to steep roof climbing, from there leave the rock, punch the curtain and finish on the last 15' of the ice pillar to the top OR continue left passing 1 more bolt to the left hanging curtain. Despite a single attempt by Josh and numerous attempts by Joel and I the line still remains unclimbed. (Josh was feeling under the weather with a head cold and busted ribs from a fall on Caveman extension the previous day). If he weren't in bad shape I'm sure he'd fired the line with little trouble. The line is strenuous and powerful. When completed it could be the hardest mixed route in SWPA. With all the rain in the forecast I doubt the finishing ice pillar will still be upright, thus rendering a true ascent impossible until ice reforms at the lip. Dont let that deter you. The route stays day and can be worked on rain days. Keep the season alive, go give it a go. Today we went back to work the line some more and possibly equip another. Instead we were lucky enough to witness a very cool natural event. As the morning temperatures rose an ice dam broke further upstream. The small, tame Meadow Run became quite intimidating in less than 2 min. We quickly gathered our gear and headed for higher ground up in the ampitheater. we sat and watched in amazment. Large ice debris and class five rapids lasted for 20-30min. then slowly the water receded. Quite a cool thing to see happen. Even though it was warm and rained we still had a great weekend, climbed hard and laughed most of the time. (Hope your ribs are feeling better Josh)!

Pristine, Pink, Breathless

That's what it was like on the mountain this weekend. I made it to Camp Muir Saturday, my first opportunity in over two months. Finally, time to survey the camp and search for possible storm damage (and test the snow conditions on the Muir Snowfield).

Things looked normal for early December. There was access to the public shelter, but the toilets were drifted in with deep snow. As for obvious signs of rain and wind damage, it seems that only the NPS suffered. We lost two storage boxes. The weather telemetry equipment for the NWAC appears to be working. It's my hope that once the power resumes at Paradise, the weather data will come back up online.

I was a bit surprised that there wasn't more snow cover between 7-11k. Everything looked wind scoured, i.e, lots of exposed rocks along the eastern edge of the Muir Snowfield, Cowlitz Cleaver, Muir Rock, etc. As for the upper mountain, the Nisqually Glacier looked very, very good. And while we're talking, so did the Nisqually Cleaver and Gib Ledges. Plenty of snow and ice in those rocky steep sections

After surveying the camp, it was time to confirm the conditions on the Muir Snowfield. And it was just as I thought it would be: 4,500 feet of untracked packed powder, with a few rocky areas around McClure. As you can see, the mountain turned pink for our descent. Top photo by Ethan McKinley

JUST IN: The Camp Muir and Paradise weather telemetry data are back up. I hope they last! I know that they ran the generator at Paradise today.

'Off Label' Use

In pharmacological jargon, there is a term, "off label use," that refers to a treatment being used successfully for something other than it was originally formulated for. That's kind of how I am starting to feel about my Royal H.mixte. When I asked Bryan to build me this bike in the Fall of , I envisioned it as predominantly for light touring. But in practice I mostly use it as a long-distance transportation bike. I think I've only done recreational rides on it a total of maybe three times, whereas I ride it for transportation whenever I need to travel over 7 miles or so one way - which is several times a week.



Using a bike for purposes other than intended can happen for any number of reasons. For instance, our cycling preferences can change, as mine did. For recreational riding, I now prefer to ride a diamond frame bike with drop bars. Also, life circumstances can change. Just a couple of months after I got the mixte, we ended up without a car, and I actually needed a light, easy long-distance transportation bike. When I was ordering the bike, I did not foresee either of these changes.





The good thing about using the mixte "off label," is that most of the things that made it good for light touring also make it work as a long distance transportation bike. The frame allows me to wear a skirt. It can handle hills and distances without me breaking a sweat. Its compact size and maneuverable handling make it good in the sort of suburban stripmall-roadish traffic that I usually encounter out of town. The springy ride quality means that long trips don't tire me out. The 35mm tires are sufficiently wide for bad roads and even off-road. The dynamo lighting system is fantastic and I never have to worry about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark. The front and rear racks enable me to carry several small loads at a time. Everything that I need for my trips is there. The few times I've tried to use a roadbike for long distance transportation, I arrive to my destination out of breath and with sweaty hair. On the upright mixte I am a bit slower, but am always presentable and fresh.



There are however a few things that are less than ideal about the mixte given how I use it. The short chainstays made it difficult to find panniers that did not give me heelstrike, though I did find several after having made a mission of it (see Philosophy, Cristobal, and the Po-Campo pictured here). But the more irksome issue is that I get a wee bit of toe overlap on this bike, which freaks me out when cycling in traffic. It is a small amount of toe overlap that might even disappear if I wore PowerGrips or removed the fenders - but neither of those is practical on an upright transportation bicycle. Converting the bike to 650B would solve the problem, but would be expensive, considering that I'd have to get new wheels built, and buy a new set of brakes, as well as new tires and fenders. So I am kind of stuck between thinking that the toe overlap is not a big deal and the bike is fine as is, and being irritated with it, since it is the one thing that undermines my enjoyment of an otherwise fantastically versatile bicycle.



Lots of bikes are used off-label round these parts, and the prevalence of this practice made me smile last night when a carbon fiber racing bike flew by with a sizable steel front basket attached to the fork, sort of like this. My re-purposing of the mixte is not nearly as dramatic, but the question of a possible 650B conversion keeps swirling around my mind every time I ride the bike. Would you do it, or leave it be? Any interesting off-label use stories of your own to share?

Lauren's Significant Other, Dustin

For years, I've heard Lauren talk about one of the biggest loves of her life. I kept telling her that I hoped we could meet someday. Yesterday, I was finally able to meet Dustin.



I can think of a few people off the top of my head who understand Lauren's love. Jaci, my Mom and Merrin are who come to mind right away. I think horses are incredible and I enjoy time with them. But I do not have the all encompassing love for horses that Lauren has. Lauren eats, sleeps and breathes horses. She has been this way for as long as I can remember. So to see her in her happiest place in the world was a treat to say the very least.



To watch her ride, and see her great form was a special thing for us.







Most of all, I loved seeing her smile. She is a pretty serious person, so to her her look downright radiant made me smile from ear to ear.





Thank you, Lauren for letting us meet Dustin and getting to see you ride. We loved every minute of it!




I'm gonna smile every time I see this picture! Just beautiful! Both of them!

More Tractor Work

Sand Trails Meet Road Tires

I know that some people are afraid to venture off road on road tires, but you might be surprised how versatile a good road tire can be.

We were cycling along the coast in Wellfleet, Mass., when we came upon this spectacular fire road.

The sand road, which is no more than a narrow trail in some stretches, runs trough several miles of dunes and saltwater marshes. You can see the depth of the sand here by the tire tracks on the left and the foot prints on the right.

There were no other cyclists on the trail and at first we did not think that our bicycles could handle it, but apparently they could. We rode at a slow and even pace without incident, enjoying the gorgeous views that were inaccessible from the road.

We both have 32mm tires on our Motobecanes: mine are Panaracer Pasela Tourguards and his are Continental Ultra GatorSkins. Both of these have good kevlar protection and are pretty fast on the road. Great to know that they perform off road as well. The above photo gives a pretty good sense of the depth of the sand we were able to cycle through. If you have never encountered sand on a bicycle before, the thing to keep in mind is that you should avoid making sudden or sharp turns. If you need to turn, make it a very wide turn and do it smoothly and gradually.

Here is a deeper pile of sand where we had to stop and walk the bikes (or in my case, push the bike forward with my feet). There were a couple of these patches, but not many.

As the trail wound closer to the water's edge, the sand became increasingly wet and covered in shards of sea shells.

Here is a close-up. We rode through that too.

I was worried that the sea shell shards might puncture our tires, and here I am yelling something to that effect. But in the end we decided to go through with it, and que sera sera.

The tires emerged filthy, but intact.

Cycling through the sand felt wonderful, especially since it gave us access to places that would otherwise have gone unexplored. One does not necessarily need a mountain bike just to go on some fire trails, even if they involve dunes and marshes. Invest in good tires with kevlar protection and don't underestimate your roadbike!