This weekend I did the Tour De Cure with the infamous Mike R., say his name anywhere in the city of Grafton and be blessed with gifts and free bike tubes, and Kristin.  It was Mike’s and Kristin’s first 50.  Although they referred to me as “champ” and “yellow jersey”, I’m was not the professional, but I had a job to do. I had to get these two past the 50 mile mark.

To do this ride, everyone raised $150 in donations. If you notice an influx in e-how articles about toilet repair, look to the man with the beard.

General rules when migrating off of the bike path of short distances to longer ones.

1. Eat and drink. Your body needs fuel.

2. Keep a good pace, but remember this is not a race.

3. Keep pedaling.

2 out of 3 people just got laid.

The course was great. It started with a fast pace down the Great River Road, then hit us with a huge climb up a 1000 feet over a 3 mile span. Then the rest of the course was over rolling prairie. We finished with a fast descent back to the Great River road (I hit 36mph on the way down).

These were some of the best rest stops I’ve experienced at any ride. Volunteers cheering you on as you rolled in. Plenty of food and drink. The BEST peanut butter cookies and brownies. Just really a great experience.

Overall, a great experience.

When I first started this project, I thought I had a cassette, but after getting the tool to remove the gears I found out that I had a free wheel. So that meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with spacers and the gear.

The BMX gear screwed right on. And it lined up perfectly with the inner chain ring on the crank.

Already ridden it a couple of miles. Rides great, just need to fix the brakes.

Okay, lessons learned… the wheel on this project bike is a freewheel. The other type of rear hub is a cassette. The difference between the two is that a freewheel the set of cogs is integrated with the coasting mechanism. A cassette system, the cogs slide on the coasting mechanism and the coasting mechanism is attached directly to the hub of the wheel.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

The single speed conversion that I bought is meant for a cassette. So I’m going to have to go a different route.

Left, the cogs for the single speed conversion. Right, what I took off the bike.

I’ve got to take some measurements to find out what kind of cog I need for a single speed freewheel.

You can see the “Ross” name and serial number.

Above view. Still need to take off the rear derailer.

I inherited, or agreed, to take my dad’s old bike. Depends who you talk to. This bike was the bike that my brother and I would sneak out and ride when dad wasn’t home. It was the fast bike. We weren’t suppose to ride it because us kids could never keep anything ‘nice.’

It’s a Ross 10 speed from sometime in the 80’s. They stopped making Ross‘ around 89′ when the company went into bankruptcy. It’s a case of an American company being beat out by cheaper overseas labor costs. The bikes were made in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This bike is a real American hero.

It’s a steel frame, a heavy frame, with aluminum rims, brakes, crank shafts, and handle bars. The frame is still in great shape. Haven’t found any rust yet.

So why revitalize an American hero? I want a commuter bike but I also want to get my hands dirty on the bike. I’ve been too afraid to make adjustments to my good bikes. I need something to learn on and this baby is a classic that still has some miles left in it.

I didn’t realize how wide the rims were on this bike. 27 1 1/4.

This is a random number generator. Kidding. This an odometer before computers. Really, I’m not kidding

Look at that huge pie plate! I’ll be removing it with the rear derailer.

Tonight I bought new tires and ordered a single speed conversion kit with a new chain from Nashbar. I hope to get parts next week.

• New Tires and tubes
• Remove front and rear derailer
• Remove cassette
• Remove gear shifters
• Modify crankset to single speed
• True rims

Well, I don’t know how, but somehow I managed to crank out another 100 miles. And to be honest, the number 100 is more of a mental block than actually riding a 100 miles. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a lot of riding time.

This was my second year riding the full Century. At first, I didn’t think I was going to do the 100 since I only had cycled half as much as this time last year. I guess I was egged on by the other people I was riding with and by my wife who insisted that if I rode the full 100 that I was not allowed to complain about any aches or pains. So far, I’ve gotten away with a few aches, but limited belly-aching.

I had planned to tweet my pace throughout the day like I did last year, but I was riding with a group of people and didn’t want to have to pull over just to type out my mileage.

It was a great day for riding. The fields are ripening for harvest, the sky was clear, the temperature was just right. I can’t complain about the day, except for the North / Northeast wind that sucked the life out of me the last 20 miles of the ride.

Hope to do it again next year.

Doing the Capital City Century tomorrow. Not for sure if I am riding 62,80, or 100 miles. We’ll see what I am feeling like during the ride. I will have the iPhone in tow, so follow my tweets at http://twitter.com/gotshoo/

Did a bike ride in Elkhart tonight. I was surprised to see the amount of damage that they got from the tornadoes a few weeks ago. Corn blown down, houses demolished, barns blown-out.

Look mom, no hands taking a picture with my iPhone!!

This is the point where I realized I should have started earlier. This view was on the way to Chatham and not back. By time I headed back, it was getting really dark and I got a pizza face full of bugs. Even after taking a shower I still had to dig a critter out of my eye. Great night for a ride though.

Got back on the bike again this weekend. 51 mile ride. It was killer, but I think I am ready to ride again.

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Specialized Hard Rock (Mine) left, Marin (right)

Today I went down to St. Louis with friends/coworkers to Chubbs Trail in St. Louis. We originally ventured out to go the trails at SIUe, but they were completely muddy from last night’s rain.

I hadn’t been on my mountain this year at all. I’ve been starring at blacktop and road kill the last few months. It was a welcome change from the norm though. Mountain biking is different in that you can’t not let your mind drift for the next 2 miles. No, you’re thinking about the next foot and a half with the sharped edged Dolomite and how you’re going to clear it without clipping your pedals on a tree stump.

Above a former pro biker and his equally good son.

I wish I had taken a better camera with me and taken more photos, but at the time I was more worried about not falling.

Christa pushing her 29-er up.

There were some truly gnarly sections and we did a lot of the above (walking the bike). The downhill was an incredible rush though. I think I topped out around 15 mph which is considerably fast when you’re wizzing by trees and crossing rock beds. Mom, we were all wearing our helmets. Don’t worry

We all had a great time, no one got hurt, and the truly amazing part: no flats.

There are those that take pride on working on their own bike, and there are those who rather have a professional look at it. I am the later. New brake pads and wheels being trued.

Copenhagen – City of Cyclists from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

Springfield is about the furthest thing from a city that is friendly to cycling. Let’s be honest. Mrs. Shoo and I have already have had a handful amount of run-ins with drivers who blast past stop signs and other ignorant drivers. Dave Heinzel got knocked down by a city truck while biking to work. BikerBen this year was almost turned into roadkill.

Wear a helmet kids and adults.

May 15th is ride your bike to work day. Anyone plan on riding? Last year I had a straight shot to work from the bike path. Now I am working downtown, so I’ve got to do a little more navigating. They have a bike rack outside the building, so I think I am down for it.

Dave Heinzel, you out there? I know you’ve been going to work with four wheels lately?! Will, how about you?

I’ve never been much of a ‘car’ guy. If it works, gets me where I need to be, then I’m all good. I like bikes though. The different gear ratios, the spokes, pedal clips, handle bar tape. From the outside they look like a simple machine with a crank and a steering column, but really there’s a ton of geometry and physics that goes into each bike. It’s why one rides really stiff, or another has a little extra cushion.

For her birthday Sarah has expressed interest in getting a road bike. I think she got a little jealous of how many hours I spent on my bike working up to do a century. And to be honest, it was a little lonely out there riding solo. So tomorrow we’re going bike shopping for a road bike for her.