Rear Wheel Overhaul

I've put thousands and thousands of miles on my Cross Check. And during a recent ride when I broke a spoke, I realized that I've done nothing to it. It's had the occasional tune-up of chain maintenance and brake checks. But I've never replaced a part or overhauled a single component.

You can't beat that durability. But it did cause me to look into the bike with a bit more depth. And upon that inspection, I realized the rear wheel would barely spin. One might not notice on the bike. But when I had it in the stand and gave it a spin with my hand, it wouldn't even go a full rotation before it came to a quick stop.

Time to overhaul them bearings.

I had never done anything to a rear wheel (aside from a little cone adjustment). But the internets offered clear instructions. So after about 10 minutes of video tutorials, a trip to the bike shop for some grease & bearings and 20 minutes of sitting at my kitchen table with the wheel... the job was done. It was super simple. And apart from the Phil's bearing grease, I had everything I needed already.

There was really only one bearing that looked bad. But it looked really bad. And there was all kinds of debris and nastiness in the hub. So here's to smoother spinning from here on out.

Get out there.

Cross Check's New Shoes and New Woes

The good news is, I received shipment of some nice Panaracer Paselas for the Cross Check yesterday. This is the first time in a long time that I've bought something for a bike that it didn't really need at all. I had a great set of tires on it. But I've been wanting some tan walls for the Cross Check for a while and I found these for $16 each with free shipping. What?! I know. I couldn't believe it either. I went back to the online shop that I bought them from and they're already $32 each again. I somehow bought them at the perfect time.

Now the bad news...

I did a 32 mile ride today and started hearing a pinging sound about 12 miles from home. I didn't want to look. When I got home I saw this. Boo. So I'll be heading to the shop for a little spoke love tomorrow. Bad luck to get some sweet new tires on the very same day I break a spoke! That's the bad juju I get for buying something I don't need... as soon as I do something I do need breaks on that very bike.

I don't think I torqued the wheel by riding it all the way home. I assumed it was a spoke but I was 20 miles into a ride with a heat index of 90 degrees. So I just wanted to be home. I didn't want to sit on the side of the road and fiddle around with a mechanical.

Get out there.

Horse Parkin'

Myself and some other fellers headed out for a quick overnighter last night. Five of use pedaled our way after work and two joined us via Prius. But all participants had a good time (although the bicycle pedalers obviously had more fun). The Disc Trucker was the only fully loaded bike. The other guys threw their stuff in the energy efficient Toyota. But I figured if I've got the stuff to bike-camp, I'm gonna use it, right?

Brendan was on his Kona Dew with all my Revelate bikepacking frame and seat bags. They fit great and got most everything off his back and on his bike. Brendan is almost Canadian, carries a gun and this was his longest ride ever... and he did that mileage both there and back. Way to go Brendanowitz.

I was very pleased with the Trucker. I used all four panniers but that was with zero packing finesse. I just threw all my stuff in each bag. There was no stuffing, packing, pushing or grunting. Just tossing junk in there is so easy. The basket had a backpack in there that was pretty much empty. So I put that on my back when it was time to haul wood.

Night time brought a chill to the air and a universal appreciation for the fire. In the photo above, you'll see a pensive Presley reflecting on the possibilities of having toes for thumbs and the toils of mouth tobacco.

The Prius Pilot, Meeker, was convinced that Bear Grylls once told him you could boil water in a plastic bottle. I strongly disagreed only to be proven wrong. That was followed by the bottle of plastic-leached boiling water falling over on me, causing me to do a backflip away from the fire. At least that's how I remember it.

Late into the night we went for a stealth ride on the Legacy Trail before we retired to our asylums for the night. Three men in hammocks, four in two tents. Meeker snored or maybe it was the quasi-Canadian or maybe it was me. But temps dropped to 42 degrees and I did get a bit chilly. But I was never miserable.

And in honor of Bear Grylls teaching us the science of boiling toxic water, I used his knife to slice an apple up for my oatmeal. Angie got me this boss knife for my birthday and it's... well... boss. It was the biggest knife there. So none of the other guys messed with me all night which insured their safety. This apple, on the other hand, didn't fare so well.

We made coffee, eggs and oatmeal. I assumed that the pseudo-Canadian would have had some bacon or pancakes and maple syrup. He didn't. I think I saw him eating some Chex Mix. I was shocked and, to be completely honest, disappointed. I felt he betrayed his heritage. But we gave our bodies warmth and nourishment, packed up our schtuph and headed back to work for a Friday funday. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

In attendance were those listed below:
I in my kerchief and Disc Trucker.
Presley was on his old rigid Giant MTB (one of the coolest vintage MTBs, IMHO).
Brendan on his Kona Dew.
Dave rode my naked Troll outfitted with some Kenda K-Rads for smoother road rolling.
Noah pedaled his custom Long Haul Trucker and carried his own gear like a boss.
Meeker in his Toyota hybrid.
Jordan riding shotgun in the Prius but joined us on the night ride on his Trek. It's made of kevlar or carbon or adamantium or something. But it's light and fast and the shoes he wears with it go clickety clack when he walks.

Get out there.

LHT is Back!

Well, I'm happy to say that the Long Haul Trucker is back in action! New build looks quite different but is gonna be lovely.

• swept back On-One Mary bars wrapped up with some cotton bar tap for grippage.
• front basket (of course)
• front low-rider rack (to be installed soon!)
• Brooks Cambium seat (I wanted to keep a Brooks but this is gonna be a rain bike. Solution? Cambium!)
• SRAM i9 internally geared hub (perfect for all weather commuting)
• a set of crappy, brown cruiser tires that were free (because why not?)

I'm going to use this bike as a loaner MTB and foul weather commuter. I'm super excited about it!

Get out there.

Surly Disc Trucker

I realize it's been a while since I've posted anything here. There's no other reason outside of the fact that work has been insanely busy and most of my computer time (at work and home) is going to there instead of here. Having said that, there has been some big fun on two wheels.

Most of the fun centers around the Disc Trucker. On a ride a couple weeks back I blew a tube. But beyond the tube I completely shredded the bead on my Schwable Big Apples. No complaints from me, though. I bought those things used and put a couple thousand miles on them. They've certainly paid their dues. So what to do? Go gumwall, of course. 

I went with the Schwalbe Road Cruisers this time around. I learned that gumwalls are more of 700c and 650b thang. It wasn't easy finding one for the 26" wheeled Disc Trucker. But I'm very pleased. These are 1.75" wide and are pretty gull durn close to the tread pattern and puncture resistance of the Big Apples. Pretty fair trade, I think.

And I love the look. What do you think?

And just last week I swung by the bike shop to pick up my Surly Front Rack. After a TON of shopping and reading, I realized I couldn't run panniers and have a platform for my basket without dropping some serious cashola. And much of the pricey options offered less functionality than Surly's rack. So there it is in the photo above. Every bit of my birthday moneys went to this thing. But I can already tell it's worth it. There's some slight adjustments to make and fender tweaking to be done. But outside of that, this bike is finished.

This was the way I intended it to be from Day One. So it's nice to have it the way I've always wanted it for sure. I'll try to keep the blog a priority. But, let's be honest, in the grand scheme of life, this blog is no priority at all. 

Get out there. 

More of the Same... but Different

More snow riding this week. I still can't believe we've gotten enough to get in a few rides on the white stuff. Riding in snow is so different, too. You just take 'er slow and trudge along... that's just my style!

It's also nice to get some time in on the Troll. I love this bike so much and the wet winters usually leave me desiring time on the fatter tired bike.

It's no fat bike. But the 2.4" rubber does a great job on snow. I've passed several other riders out there and my footprint is always twice as wide as theirs. They may be on a 2" tire. But I've got just enough plush to drop the pressure super low in the snow. That leaves me with a lot more rubber on the white slippery stuff. I have gone to some cheapo platform pedals for a while. My clipless shows just aren't warm enough for super wintry rides. So platforms and hiking boots are the key.

Here's to more accumulation!

Get out there.

New Glubs

Every once in a while, you make the tiniest of mistakes that has rather large consequences. On New Year's Eve Jason and I went for a nice little ride in the cold. Upon my return to Jason's truck, I took off my helmet, gloves and balaclava and placed them on the bumper while I loaded the bike on the rack. I loaded the bike, hopped inside the ruck and didn't even realize my goodies were missing until I had arrived at home. All my goodies were gone and never to be found again. I went back and drove the route... no goodies. I bike the route the next day... no goodies. We had parked in a cafe parking lot. So I'm guessing that someone else scored some new used goodies for themselves. What was once on my good friend's rear bumper was gone forever.

What's that mean? Well, when you add up the cost of new gloves, 'clava and helmet, it's rather discouraging. Helmet came first. I scoured the internets and shops to find a good deal. But, alas, I just bought something that worked and made financial sense. It doesn't even deserve a blog post, though.

The balaclava was a deal on Nashbar. You could buy any Nashbar brand product and receive free shipping. So it was a nice little on-sale $9 investment that will serve it's purpose well.

And, now, I have finally replaced the gloves.

I bought these Outdoor Research Arete Gloves from The Clymb. These gloves were $89 at REI. But I got them for a steal of a deal on The Clymb. They had them drastically discounted and I even had a little bit of credit. So when they sent me another $10 of credit as a gift, I jumped on the opportunity. (I'd recommend signing up for The Clymb's site. They have killer deals on outdoor stuff and send a ton of random credits. The catch? They send you a daily email that tempts you with stellar deals everyday. I've fallen victim to purchasing a couple unnecessary pieces of gear because the deal from The Clymb was so good.)

Back to these gloves...

I've always used two pairs of gloves. One is a pair of cheapish mittens that work fantastically for anything under 25 degrees. The other pair (the lost pair) were a pair of Gore Bike Wear gloves. They did the job well at about 25-45 degrees. So I've been hurting for the last few weeks with only mittens. It's just too dang hot for anything north of 30 degrees.

These OR gloves, I believe, will be perfect. They've got liners, too. So essentially, you have three pairs of gloves with you on every ride (gloves+liners, liners solo and gloves solo). Good stuff. Insulation seems great. And they've been carefully considered, not just to keep you warm, but to be useful. They've got wide open ends to slide your hands in when they're nearly numb. They've got carabiner hooks if you need to lash them to your coat or rack. Long wrist cords which I will use when I'm on the go and take them off and hang them on the bars.

I'm thinking I'll be a big fan of these glubs.

Get out there.

Another Opportunity!

Believe it or not, us Kentuckians had another dump of snow yesterday! So I took the opportunity to hit up some trails on the Troll yesterday.

What is that that I spy? Krampus tracks! I chased a set of Knard tracks with a second set of MTB tracks along side them. I never caught up. But at the end of the ride, I finally saw a male/female duo loading their respective bikes on their car rack. If I had to guess, Husband probably talked Wife into riding in this stuff to test out his new fatties. Meanwhile, Wife was suffering through the punishment that the skinny tires were throwing at her.

That's about where I was. It was a whole lot of fun. But it was exhausting. I did one lap in about 30 minutes. Usually, I think it's about 14. But it was so fun to be out.

Snow makes for fun opportunities to track the wildlife, too. Lots of deer and (what I would guess to be) raccoon tracks were out there.

There's also a freshness to the beauty that snow brings. The water was visually enticing, too. It beckoned me to reach down and fill up my water bottle... which I did not do... but I wanted to... but that's gross.

It looks like all this may be gone by tomorrow. So I'm glad I took advantage!

Get out there.

Disc Truckin'

There was a bit more work done on the Disc Trucker this weekend. That fact paired with the temps in the 60's meant that a ride was inevitable. The work on the bike? Just slick tires, fenders and new gray cloth bar tape. This stuff was the eventual intention of the bike to begin with. But with last week's snow adventure, the end result of the bike was delayed.

I thought I would hit up some of my hillier routes to test my new disc brakes. The verdict? UH-mazing. Admittedly, the old brake set up on the LHT was a funky mix of components that should work together. But this new disc thang is awesome. The braking is crazy consistent and powerful. The photo above was taken after I had plummeted down about two miles worth of descent.  And the brakes were responsive the entire way.

That was basically the ride all day. WAAAAAY up a climb.... then ZOOOOOOOMING down the other side. Brakes killing it the entire way.

How do you test the wet-weather abilities of disc brakes on a dry 63 degree day? Ride 'em through the creek! Honestly, that wasn't the purpose at all. This creek is on one of my favorite rides around the house and I just happened to hit it. But it was fun, nonetheless.

I'm loving the Disc Trucker thus far. I've still got to shellac the tape and figure out the front rack situation. I've got no way to mount my basket right now and I'm not really into leaving the front rack on for no reason. It mounts quickly enough that I'll probably only utilize it when I am going camping and actually need it. So the front end cargo situation has to be sorted out. There's still some finagling to be done but I'll enjoy the ride until I figure that out.

Get out there.

Snow Biking Camping Trip

You know how it goes... You can only take a few camping trips a year so you plan it out far in advance. As the date gets closer, you have buddies drop out and plans change. You feel the temptation to cancel but want to hang on and push through. Then the week of your trip, a Polar Vortex swoops in a dumps six inches of snow on your destination. We've all experienced that, right?

Saturday night, Jason, Pat and I loaded bikes up on the truck and headed to Red River Gorge, completely disregarding the fact that snow tried to snuff out our adventure.

Our plans did get tweaked. But we held onto the fact that we were going. So we arrived during nightfall and pedaled our way across the crunchy, snow-covered gravel roads.

Pat, armed with his Pugsley, was the most confident in the snow. He was ecstatic to push his bike through the very schtuff it was built for.

I stuck with the new Disc Trucker. Would the Troll have been better? Of course. But I threw on a pair of 2.3" knobbies and made it work. Fully loaded with front and rear panniers, the Disc Trucker was awesome. I'm not sure that this ride would've been possible with rim brakes. But I had enough plushness of rubber under me that this was still rideable.

Jason rode upon his Troll perchance to find a good time. And he surely found it.

Camp was stellar. What's cozier than a warm fire and three men in a two-man tent? Nothing. Nothing is cozier. We stayed warm by chopping firewood, brewing coffee and retelling the lore of Jennifer Lopez's cinematic highlights.

When morning came, we moved slowly, but assuredly to warmth. No one was comfortable at night. But we were mostly warm. Temps dropped to nine degrees but we were well equipped.

When we finally got moving, we warmed up pretty well. I spent most of Sunday's ride with no gloves or head covering. The riding was really awesome. We would wiggle and teeter into a slow fall over and over, laughing hard the entire time. I'm not sure how much mileage we actually covered. But we pedaled for several hours. Our original plan was the ride the loop around the Gorge. But that was a plowed, salted loop and we didn't want to pass up on the awesome snow on the gravel road network. So we stuck around the gravel for the day.

I took way too few photos on the trip. I wish I had thought of it more. The Disc Trucker shined brightly for this function and I barely have the photographic evidence to prove it. I'll do better next time.

But the trip was great. Perhaps, even, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kentucky rarely gets snow like this. And it would be rare that it would align with my schedule enough to allow a full overnighter within it's midst.

Get out there.

The Disc Trucker is Alive

TruckerTL from Derrick Purvis on Vimeo.

Jason shot a timelapse of the Disc Trucker build from the other night. I'm pleased to say that it looks and feels great. I'm also excited that there's a camping trip on the calendar that should give me the opportunity to break it in properly.

Get out there.

Change is Coming

Riding on this iteration of the LHT is about to come to an end. In the trunk of my car is a brand spanking new Disc Truck frame. And the full run of components and parts on the LHT will be moving over to that frame. So what's to come of this LHT? I've got an internally geared hub, some cruiser bars and fatty tires to make this big guy my foul weather bike. Being that this has been my go-to ride for the last couple years, it's strange to change it. Why mess with a good thing, right?

We'll see.

Get out there.

A New Record

A new record is on the table for me as of yesterday. The temps were at -3 with a windchill of -20 when I pedaled my way into work. Before that, my coldest commute was 7 degrees. So I'm pleased that I made it work on such a cold day. I'm guessing I might not have that opportunity again any time soon!

I think I dressed perfectly for the ride. If anything, I could've added a down vest under my jacket. There were a couple times that the wind bit me on the back a bit. But it never became a deep cold that even caused a shiver. Everything else was great. I was able to ditch small outer layers like ear covering and an extra buff on my face. But, by doing so, never overheated either. I was pleased with my choices (albeit a bit worried going into it since I had never ridden anything that cold before). One highlight worth sharing; hand and toe warmers. No shame in sticking these in each glove and boot. I think that's what made it work for me. I don't have gear that will take me to sub-zero temps on their own. But those little bad boys kept me cozy in what I did have.

We'll see if I get any rides as cold this week. But let's hope this is all over.

Get out there.

Stable Shift

Recently, I've been contemplating a change in the bicycle line-up. For one, I've realized that I really prefer the feel of a 26" wheel on a bicycle. I'm a short guy and it just feels better underneath me. Another factor is the fact that, as my kids have grown and are riding their own bikes, I use the Xtracycle much less than I used to.

So I think that I've made the decision to get rid of the single speed Cross check and the Xtracycle frame. If I were to do that, I would use the cash to buy a Disc Trucker frame. Also, the Xtracycle would relent to me an internally geared hub on a 26" wheel. Thus allowing me to put an internally geared system on the old Long Haul Trucker while moving the current LHT component line-up to the Disc Trucker.

Here's what the whole garage would look like:
Disc Trucker: 3x9 setup for commuting, camping and touring. Probably my go-to bike for recreational rides and catting around town.

Long Haul Trucker: 9 speed internally geared hub with chubbier tires and cruiser bars. Used for rainy and snowy weather riding and secondary loaner mountain bike.

Troll: Same ol' trusty mountain bike. Nothing new.

Cross Check: 2x9 road bike used for when I want to go fast... er... faster. I never go fast.

The single speed Cross Check, Xtracycle and the Klunker 1x6 Trek would all disappear. I'd lose three bikes but actually gain capacity in the riding that I do most often. The big miss will be the Xtracycle. But I'm a firm believer in getting rid of something that you don't use. I haven't touched it in probably a year... which means I don't really need it.

And so the Craigslist posting begins...

Get out there.

Revelate Testing

With the purchase of a new seat bag, the bikepacking set-up is rounding out a bit so I thought I'd load everything up and take it for a spin around the park. Fully loaded, I was somewhat surprised at how it handled.

I think I had convinced myself that these rackless bags would make the weight completely disappear. I'm not sure why. I, perhaps, assumed that I would feel heavy but that my handling would be fine. That was not the case. Did it handle better than a mountain bike with racks and panniers? Abso-stinking-lutely. I've done two bikepacking trips with panniers and I don't think I'd ever want to do that again. Things are just tough to negotiate. These bags, however, keep the weight evenly distributed and more centered to the bike. But I could still get squirrelly at times.

I'm not complaining in any way. They were so much better than a conventional set-up. I'm just stating that my optimism overshot reality. If you're in the market I would totally recommend them. They make Surly frame bags without any customization. But any bike would work with a few measurements and email exchanges.

All in all, I'm excited to try something new and explore an unconventional way to carry gear!

Get out there.

The Klunker is Done

Last night I finished up the Klunker build. At this point, it's ready for just about anything I can throw at it.

New Kenda K-Rad 2.3" tires will make for good street riding and dirt. Plenty of cushion when the pressure is low but at 80 psi they float across pavement really well. I loved them on the ride in this morning.

And the basket took some finagling to get right. With some grinding and filing, the struts are not completely bolted on. No zip ties anymore.

I'm super pleased with this build. In fact, I'm concerned that I may love this bike too much. The commute in today was a blast. It's fun to have a bike that is generalized enough to do just about anything well... and it's value is almost nothing.

Get out there.

Bikepack Commuting

Today was another day on the Troll for the bike commute. I know you're confused by my photography voodoo in the photo above. But I wanted to show that I was running the Relevate frame bag and carrying my new backpack. I'm working on a poor man's bikepacking rig that would work for some overnighters in the woods. I don't have the cash flow for a full bikepacking kit. But these two bags should give me the capacity for two nights on the trail.

I'm thinking of commuting for a few days to see how it all feels. As of now, I'm really liking it. My backpack was pretty full, with heavy laptop and everything. And the frame bag had all my commuting clothes in it. Somehow, my time on my commute is no different than when I ride the LHT. I think perhaps the Troll climbs better. It's just easier to mash those pedals on the MTB and get up a hill, which seems to be gaining the time I lose with the knobby 2.5" tires.

I'll keep playing and tweaking and we'll see what comes of it all. But I'd like to do a trip or two this fall in the woods.

Get out there.