Filling in more blanks.

I got hooked up with a local bike advocacy named Bike Cobb. http://www.bikecobb.org/

Cobb county GA had no formal group that did any political advocacy and a gentleman by the name of Joe Seconder set up this group. Cobb is part of "Complete Streets" program and has has a SPLOST tax going for the past 5 years to fund this. It promotes alternate transportation like Bicycling and pedestrian. Any new or upgrade road work is supposed to include completing sidewalks (Ga is really bad about not having side walks or only having them on one side of the road if they do exist) and analyzed if there is need for bicycle lanes on the road.

One of the things the group took part in was the GA Ride to the capital event. http://www.georgiaridestothecapitol.org/ This event gets about 1000 bicyclist to show up on the GA capital steps to show support for Bicycle related issues such as the 3ft passing law that is about to be passed, complete streets and MUP (Multi User paths) for non motorized transportation alternatives. Bike Cobb decided to meet at the lower Roswell county Annex and ride 6 miles to meet up with Roswell Mayor Jere Wood leading the Bike Roswell group. http://www.mayorwood.com/

Mayor Wood is a big time bike rider and really a fun person. He has made Roswell the "Most bike Friendly city in GA" Considering GA as a state is considered one of the worst bike friendly states that is a pretty good accomplishment.

Now the Downer was it was a nice balmy 17f when we took off for the ride! MAN was it cold!

I am on the left in the blue helmet and Khaki's in the picture. We had a police escort to Fulton County. We ended up riding 52 miles that day. Fun ride despite the cold. Ended up catching up with Paul from the GBR and riding the last couple of miles in with him.

This blog thing is easy!

If you only do one a year! So here ins another big one to fill in the highlights of the year.

Still riding! 206lb this morning. About 20 bikes under my belt in the last year.

I like to tinker and started bike flipping. Pick up a neglected bike put a few hours into cleaning and fixing and sell if I don't fall in love with it. I'm not getting rich but I do make enough to cover the keepers.

I regret selling that Peugeot. Had some sentimental value for some reason. The Mountain commuter didn't really pan out all that well. The handle bars being the biggest issue. Lack of hand positions and the long top tube just didn't make for a real comfortable riding postion for long distance. I did put 1200 miles on it last year but shortly after my last post a 1995 Cannondale T700 touring bike showed up. Second I saw it I knew I had to have it. Little haggling it was mine for $220. Back wheel had a hop in it (bent) but not bad.

I have put about 1800 miles on this bike so far and still enjoying it. Picked up a closeout back wheel at REI for $35. It was for a 9 speed but with a spacer I could run my 7 Speed. Not long after I bought the wheel (and before I even installed it) I ran across a ad on Craig's for a STI set up that included a set of Tiagra 9 speed brifters, 105 rear derailleur and used 9speed 11-28 cassette, 26/36/48 Octalink cranks and for a few bucks more a Tiagra front derailleur. Never thought I would like STI shifters so much but I do. Fenders racks and this is what the bike looked like by the end of the year.

Janice and Mom bought me a Brooks Champion Flyer for X-Mas. The red bottle is the air tank for the Air horn.

I also picked up a 1989 Cannondale R600 road bike that I really liked. Full 105 groupo. 700x23 tires. FAST bike but the gearing was really tough on the hills around here. I bought it with the intent of being a Sunday rider or for riding in events and Centuries.

She turned out to be a cruel mistress. Looks so hot but made me hurt so bad! New seat helped a lot but the problem was the size. 58CM made for low bar to seat combination. GREAT for going fast but not so great for my achy back on long rides. I did put a taller stem on the bike and that helped but it was making the bike something it wasn't.

I had been looking at rides to take part in and noticed the Tour de Cure benefit ride for American Diabetes Association. This one hit close to home since one of the reasons I got back into riding was my blood sugar level getting up into the "Pre Diabetic" levels. My riding cured me of that but I am still at risk. http://tour.diabetes.org/ I decided to do the "Metric Century" or 100K (62 miles) ride. Farthest rides I was doing up to this point was 40 miles.

AT&T has a national team and since I work for them I decided to join that team. Problem was while they had a huge showing for last years rider there was no Team for 2009 showing. I dropped a e-mail to Dan Bariarti (sp) the National captain and before I knew it I was the Atlanta Team captain. What i didn't know at the time was why there was no team. The past team captain had taken retirement in the company merger Re-org that had been happening. The CWA was also in contract talks for renewal. It seems that the person that was going to take up the Captain duties was CWA and was waiting for the Contract to be signed. If it wasn't signed and they went on Strike was the reason.

Leading up to the ride I did a lot of training to get up to where I could do this 60mile ride. Much of that riding was on the Silver Comet Rails to Trails MUP on the R600. I had a chance to drive part of the course. They call it "The Silk Sheets", rolling in scenic. Sounded nice and flat. It was anything but that. Rolling or "Rollers" are a series of hills and in this area they are pretty steep. I soon realize that the tall race gearing on the R600 was going to be murder on me. I decided that the T700 was the bike to ride. It would be heavier by 10lb but it had lower gears to make the hills easier.

So the day arrives (May 17) I load my $220 Craigslist touring bike made commuter onto my $10 garage sale bike rack on the back of my $1400 1986 4Runner and drive down to the event. Rain in the forecast. I find a parking spot between a 5 Series BMW and a Chevy Tahoe with $2k worth of custom rims. Both with $2-3k+ Carbonfiber race bikes hanging on the back. The types of bikes that weigh 17-18lb. Owners in full team kit wearing $200 bike shoes. I put on my $35 REI scratch and dent shoes unload my bike that is pushing 32lb compete with MTX trunk bag with rain fly and go sign in.

Start is loose. Their is an official start time but it is optional. Once you have you wrist band you can take off. So I am sitting there with 100+ other riders who are mostly in full kit on $2k+ bikes. I don't like the start situation. this is not a race but these folks are lined up like it is the Tour de France. One person fall and it would be a mess of others crashing. I didn't want any part of it and took off about 10-5 minutes before the official start.

I set a goal of a 15mph moving pace. Decent speed for the hills but a pro rider would be well over 20mph. The course had SAG stops about every 10 miles. Just before the first SAG the "Teams" in matching Kit start catching me as to the stronger single riders. Now competition is human nature and you get a group of people and they are going to push each other to see who is faster. So these folks are keeping about a 20mph pace to my 15mph pace. We come to the the First SAG and the team is still dismounting. I am feeling good and decide to pass the first SAG and ride onto the second. Again I get about a 10 minute lead and about 17miles from the start the "Teams" catch me. This time the mob mentality is in full effect and I start getting Heckled about my "Touring" set up and in particular my trunk bag in its silver rain fly. Comments like "What is in the cooler?", "Where is the picnic", "Whens Lunch?" Good natured but still the Mob mentality that alone nothing would have been said. I took it in stride and returned a few comments like "coors" ect.

20 mile SAG and I catch back up. Refill my water bottles, Eat a couple bananas and a BP&J. Good fuel foods. Between the 20 and 30miles SAGs is a 3+mile long uphill grade. There is no flat spots to catch a rest, you peddle to you get to the top. Of course this is the point where it starts to rain. Now I have fenders and a bike with no fenders just soaks the rider. Back wheel slings water and what ever is on the road on your back. Front tire slings water at the frame where it sprays onto your feet. Some of the slings off the front tire and blows into your face. Riding a a group the guy in the front of you is slinging it on you. It is miserable. I have fenders and a lot of those problems do not happen. I get rained on but I don't get the road grime and my feet stay fairly dry.

So half way up that hill I start catching the weaker riders that dropped from their "team". I get to return the Heckles. "Ready for that beer yet?", Almost time for lunch, are you hungry" etc. Again in good nature and we all laughed. It was on this hill that I caught up with the oldest rider. I have not found out what her name was but she was easily in her late 70's if not mid 80's. She was on a Hybrid and keeping a good pace on that hill. She was an inspiration to see. I beat her to the 30 mile SAG and she had her own fan club waiting for her cheering her on. I had to join in. She was great to see out there toughing it out.

The rain did not stop. I pressed on and caught or was caught by a few other riders with better rain gear and fenders. We rode together for a while till we got back in the rollers. For some reason I attack hills and get to the top as fast as I can to keep momentum. I dropped the folks I had been riding with. That felt good to have that much energy left after 40+ miles. I ended up having 5 hours of saddle time and average 15.1 mph moving time.

Well I will fill in the rest on a separate post. This one has gotten pretty long.

Almost another year under the belt and a change in lifestyle.

Time for and update and a lot has happened so this will be long.

I go through phases and I guess I am a bit of an obsessive compulsive. When I get interested in something I am all in and often to a fault.

February I got on the scale and it showed 240lb. Heaviest I have EVER been. Looking in the mirror and I was pretty disapointed in what I saw. Fact is despite the weight I was the healthiest I had been in many years. Not being in a desk job anymore was a big part of that. That said I worked with a bunch of guys that like a GOOOOOOD Lunch. I had become one and we were packing in 2000 calorie lunches a couple times a week.

As I stared at the big old gut I had created the warnings of my Cardiologist, Dr. Crisco (what a name for a Card!), last check up echoed in my ears: "If you don't take off some weight and start getting regular exercise you are going to get diabetes and die a slow death or have another heart attack." It finally clicked.

Dieted the stupid way to start but it did get 10lb off quick. Basically starve and have diet shakes twice a day. After getting sick of Ramon noodle lunches I shifted to portion control. I literally cut the meal in half if a light meal is not available. The second part goes in a dogie bag and is lunch another day or dinner.

I plateaued out after 1.5 months and quit loosing weight with any speed. It was time to get the exercise going.

I'm a cheap guy by nature and I am tight financially becasue of being the only income for our family so that my wife can be home with the kids as both of us had as kids. Paying to go to a gym and then having to make time to go just didn't set well with me. I had to make permanent changes in my life that would incorporate exercise. We were coming up on bike to work week and I ran across some bicycle posts on Expedition portal of others that were participating. Decided that may be my solution.

I had a Walmart Schwinn mountain bike I had bought to ride with the kids not long after I had the MI. I also had my old Peugeot P8 from the late 80's that I use to ride the snot out of.

The Schwinn was not really a bad bike. It had ok parts for the price. It was reliable. My work was 4.3 miles away and sidewalks the whole way and even a bike lane for 1.5 miles of the route. I decided "I can do this" and I did.

The more you ride, The more you can ride.

Not sure who said that but it is 100% true.

First couple rides were hard! I have several good steep hills between me and work. Wobbly knees out of breath, thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest a few times was really common the first couple weeks. 25 minutes to make the ride. After a couple weeks of 2-3 days riding it started getting easier but I realized I had a problem, My knees hurt. I started researching why and came across Sheldon Brown's (RIP) extensive bike writings and quickly realized after reading Sheldons site that the Schwinn was WAY to small for me at 18 inches. I'm 6ft and have a 34inch inseam. Box store Schwinn for for somebody around 5ft 6.

I dug out the P8 that was 22 inch frame. You can see the difference in the top tube height between the pictures.

Peugeot was big in the US in the 70's and 80's before some bad buisness dealings drove them out of the US. Really they were pretty good bikes for the money. The P8 being a mid level model had OK parts. Shimano derailleurs Weinman brakes. Its down side is Mallard Helicomatic hub in the 80's.

Poor thing spent the better part of 20 years being neglected including living on the back porch for a while. Tried to sell it a couple times but tires were shot so the couple people that had interest were put off by it's current condition. I decided to clean it up and throw some tires on it and see how I did with it. It was fast..very fast... on the flat. It has tall gears and with the steep hills and my still weak legs it really wore me out to ride it. The lowest gear was still way higher then the gear I was riding on the Schwinn. I also found that in the 20 years of not riding it and getting fat that the Drops and somewhat tight riding position was painful for my old body. The skinny 90psi tires really transmitted a LOT of painful jolts on the concrete from my still very bad habit of riding on the sidewalk till I got to the bike lanes (I have since pulled my head out of my sphincter and ride the road now).

The more I looked at the P8 the more I realized that it had some problem$. The Helicomatic had a bent shaft, a common problem for them, that coasting you could feel the wobble. Brakes and cables were shot. The positions of the bars really aggravating my wrists, the gearing for my weak legs, my dislike of the position for my achy body. It all started adding up and though I loved the P8 it was going to take some money to get it up to snuff.

Early on I had promised myself if I can commute 3 days a week or more for 3 solid months to show real commitment to a lifestyle change that I would buy myself a new bike that was going to be my dedicated daily driver. That went out the window before the first month was up because of my fit problems with both of my bikes.

I started watching Craigslist like a hawk to find a inexpensive bike since anything NEW was out of the question and I still was not sure I could maintain riding daily. A 1998Cannondale M400 kept being posted in a 22 inch frame size. First post was $180. I researched the bike. It was the mid-line rigid mountain bike Cannondale had out. Aluminum CAD2 frame, Shimano STX derailleur TekTro V brakes. The owner kept posting the wrong for number for WEEKS. He did not answer e-mail requests for info or better contact info. Others were posting in CL for the guy to please contact them. Week after week this guy posted this bike and the price kept coming down from the lack of calls from the bad number he kept posting.

One Saturday 5-6 weeks after the first posting of this bike I was working in the yard. I came in for lunch and scanned Craig's as I ate. Saw a fresh post for the M400 was put up about 20 minutes earlier. Clicked on it and immediately I noticed a different phone number. I called...he answered! I got directions, put the carrier on the truck and I took off after it. He called me as I was in route asking "if I was coming? Got three other calls people want to come get it today". "I'm half way there" I assured him and he said he would wait for me.

Love at first sight. $120 and it was mine. Here is the picture from the ad.

Threw the wheels from the Schwinn on it (better tires for the street) and I was off! I Loved it! It is a very fun bike to ride. I couldn't wait to ride this bike to work in the morning every day. I Ride it in everyday that it doesn't rain. After getting street friendly tires for the M400 rims I sold the Schwinn to one of the guys at work that I had inspired to start riding some. The bike was a better fit for him then me.

Here is what I look like after loosing 25-30lb on 8/20/08.

Now anybody who knows me knows I just can't leave anything alone. So 5 months into my venture of Bicycle commuting here is what the M400 looks like now with commuter gear and swag.

What I have put on:

Specialized Flak Jacket tires, Hemisphere front and Crossroad rear.

Freddy Fenders to keep me dry. Topeak MTX Rack and trunk bag.

Plannet Bike Blazer headlight and Superflast tailight

Topeak Road morph pump Pitbull Ulock to keep it safe. Cateye cyclocomputer with cadence. Nashbar Trekking bars. AirZound Air horn to wake up cagers.

I have stacked stems to give me a place to mount lights and my GPS. I have drove this to work this year more than I drove my trucks. My commute takes 15-16 minutes now (full 10 minutes less then when I started). That is only about 5 minutes longer then it takes to drive in. I go on regular 15-20 mile rides on the hilly streets around my home. They are no problem these days. On the Silver Comet trail I can knock off 30+ miles pretty easy. Honestly I don't know what my upper limit is now. relaxed pace I can proably put 100 miles on in one shot. Not bad considering I almost landed in a box 5 years ago. Dashboard shot.

If you look close the Odometer reeds 999.4. Thats how many miles I have rode this bike in the last 3.5 months. I took this picture today for this post 11/5/08.

As of this morning I am 203lb. Thats the lowest I have weighed in about 12 years.

Where did the year go?

Time for an update. It has been a busy year with tight cash flow. That limited the traveling this year. Hoefully next year things will improve. Nasty rainy day today so stuck inside.

I have been doing a little tinkering here and there. Finally got my GPS Navigation set up complete with a used laptop, some software. I am running my Garmin GPSV as a receiver with a mag mount antenna on the hood. That keeps my Accuracy around 10ft. Problem is it only has 19megs of memory so I either have to reload often on trips or selectively load where I am going. Was sort of a bummer when you didn't have the nice stuff like Restaurant finder. From that I am feeding an old Compaq 7800 Armada I picked up from work when they sold off my old shop. Can't beat a $10 laptop. Only 8 Gig drive but it really does serve my needs. This laptop is only going to be used for navigation, some Internet access with a Aircard of data link from my phone and on rare occasions I might make a dump from the camera but with extra memory cards that will be pretty limited.

The biggest downs side is it is a heavy old laptop. That might me an advantage since it is obviously old it might make it less attractive to a thief. It had NT on it and that was causing me issues. I finally ran across a OS for the right price...FREE. Somebody I knew had a couple new copies of Win2000 Pro with the registration that were going to get tossed since they are out of date on the systems they were original bought for 6-7 years ago. I actually like it and it seems very stable. The GPSV came with Mapsource 4.01. It was Ok but is didn't have a few features like Keeping the direction traveling at the top of the screen. I got pointed at a free down load to Garmin nRoute. It fixes ALL the complaints I had with the Mapsource software. It also has the voice directions that the wife and I are having great fun with.

I used an old Gamber Johnson mount that came out of a decomed truck and was headed for the trash. http://www.gamberjohnson.com/index.php I had to abandoned the actual mount for the laptop becasue of the size and the location of the gimble mount on it. Because of my old laptop I needed to shift the forward about 2 inches and it simply didn't have the mount in the right position to do that without adding a second bracket extension that would also add another inch to the height. I went with a piece of 3/4 ply wood and some industrial Velcro. That allowed the laptop to sit almost 3/4 of an inch lower then the GJ mount. I plan to replace that with a piece of aluminum plate at some point and that will gain another 5/8's.

I had to pull the forward part of the center console to get to a place I could mount the assembly on. The 4Runner has a heating duct that blows under the seat for the rear seat passengers so that meant I couldn't mount off the side of the tunnel easily. The shift boots on that part were leather and in really bad shape after 21 years. I have future plans that made its days numbered anyway. Little clean up on the boot plate and paint and it won't look to bad with just the rubber boots the leather boots on the removed console covered. The GJ mount is nice in the fact that with no tools I can remove the head when not in use. I have a second one of these mounts I plan to put in our Suburban tow rig where it will be a lot less of a space problem.

Excuse the mess, We are in a major drought and outdoor water ban. My truck is a pigsty inside and out as a result.

The Inverter is my travel one for use in my work truck. I will be replacing it with one permanently mounted in the back so I don't have the cooling fan noise bugging me all the time. Temporary I ran a second cig plug to the battery to power this one. The factory cig plug is wired with 16 or 18 gage and simply not up to the draw of a inverter so I had to get power from the battery. I have some clean up on the mount as well now that I have the mounting points picked. The brackets will be painted black. The Gray bracket will be cut down and welded to the vertical tube. The place it is mounted on the side of the dash is actually where the factory screw is that holds the lower dash to a metal mounting bracket. It is a very sturdy point on the dash that required no holes drilled.

It's the little things

Got the front diff in. Did a couple modifications as well.

The front diff is a factory 4.88 from a 93 that had Auto tranny and the 31 inch tire option. It has ADD and while I could have easily swapped it to a solid driver side I decided to keep it. The reason is I am going to hook it up because it will allow me to kill the drive to the front wheels without getting out. So it will give me 2 low. If I need to cross some pavement then back into soft conditions a quick flip of the switch and the front axle is disconnected.

It will also allow me to do "digs". A "dig" is basically power breaking. Front wheels locked rear wheels spinning. What you can do is walk the back wheels sideways by steering with the front wheels locked if you need to reposition the truck for a better line. You can do it by unlocking a hub but now I can do it by flipping a switch. If I am ever stupid enough to lock the IFS front that will also help with steering in 4wd.

Next trick:

When I picked up the diff I notices two of the bolts for the half shaft were out. Asked the guy about it and he got a big grin on his face and told me why. In stock configuration if you bust a CV you have jack the truck up remove the wheel and unbolt the lower ball joint. That will allow you to swing the hub out enough to get the half shaft out.

With two bolts removable you can get the half shaft out by fully extending the suspension and turning the wheel to the lock. That will let you have just enough room to worm it out without even taking the wheel off. Just put the opposite side up on a rock to get the broken side fully extended.

The front wheels were on ramps so I couldn't crank the wheel but using the jack to extend the suspension I can almost get the CV past the flange so it looks like it will work.

I pressed two of the bolts out and filed off the knurls that retain them so they can be pushed out by hand. Just have to use a wrench on both the nut and bolt but no big deal.

The last modification may have been caught by the observant already. Here is a better picture.

One of the IFS weaknesses is the lower control arm mounts. Most people will never have a problem unless you really start to run big tires and wheel hard. 33x12.5 is bigger then the designers ever planned for and thats what I already have on the truck.

What will happen is the brackets will start to flex and fatigue and crack at the frame. Part of the problem is in stock form the rear lower control arms do not have a cross brace. Its a bad enough problem that the aftermarket makes a brace. http://www.downeyoff-road.com/SuspensionComponents/index.htm (little over half way down.).

If you still haven't figured it out I made a brace using a factory brace and salvaged brackets from a spare front suspension I got from a Buddy that did a SAS. All the parts are stock just welded on the rear lower mounts. ;) Had to notch the brace to clear the diff but still plenty strong. Eventually I will cut a skid plate that will also help triangulate the control arm mounts and make them even stronger.

Locker

I had to burn up some roll over vacation days. Bonus came in just in time so I managed to buy the parts I needed to re-gear and install the electric locker. I went with the 4.88 gears. It should put me right back at stock RPM's with the 33's and make my speedometer accurate again. Weather went bad on me at the end of the week and it took me a lot more running around to get the needed parts then I thought it would.

Didn't get as far as I had hoped last week but I did finish up with the control circuit and the gear install tonight. It worked perfect first try! :victory: Here is the two articles I referenced for this mod: http://carterswebsite.com/4runner/mods/locker/

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/electric_locker/

The control circuit is actually a little bit of a mix of the two main set ups from each article. I felt the control set up of the top link was the better design but I wanted the extra status lights of the second link. I really feel this is important because if you didn't get it fully unlocked you could damage the locker and without a disengage light you would never know.

The Green Status light comes on when fully locked. The red light lets you know that locker is in progress of locking and once fully locked the Red light goes off and the Green light comes on. The Yellow light lets you know that the locker is disengaging and once it fully disengages the light goes off.

I used a momentary switch but the circuit design uses limit switches and once it hits the limit of travel it cuts the power off by interrupting path to ground for the relay trigger. The dash switch triggers the positive. It should be fine with a standard single pole double throw switch. The Momentary (on) off (on) does add a little safety in that if you release the switch it also kills the positive to the coil. Still mulling it over. It would be nice to just flip the switch instead of having to hold till it completes its cycle but it only takes a few seconds to cycle. Tomorrow when I get home from work I will start yanking the axle out from under the truck and clean it up. If The weather holds and I don't have to work late I think I will have it all installed by the end of the week. Might even have time to swap in the front diff as well.

Update just to keep it current.

Not much traveling. Gaining more confidence in it after the rebuild. Truck is still in building stage right now and will be for a while. Have been making arrangements to buy the gears for the rear end to correct for the larger tires. That will get it ready for extended trips. Maybe a run down to FL in March. Still mulling over the light weight expedition trailer I plan to build. A big redesign has been made to make better use of the materials I have available. Its back to a sleep in design. Came up with my idea and somebody posted this on EXPO. http://www.pbase.com/rophoto/trailer Some great ideas but it will be a little smaller then that. Main body will be about 7ft long overall and about 50 inches tall. Some storage on the tongue. Shooting for a dry weight of 500-750lb. Just big enough to get my Lawn tractor in the back if I need to haul it to moms. Tomorrow is Zan's 6th birthday. We are going over to moms for a little birthday celebration this afternoon. Should be fun. Letting her pick where to have dinner. She said she wanted a quesadilla so looks like Los Reyes for dinner. Just fine with me. Good food. No pictures today.