ultras & other races – Page 13

If you get the chance ride a Flèche

This past weekend was the Front Range Flèche. A Flèche in randonneuring terms, is a non-competitive, team cycling event. Each team rides a minimum of 360km in 24 hours. Team captains submit a route for their team. All teams ride different routes finishing at the same time and location. The format is based on the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) Flèche Velocio which originally started in Paris and finished in Provence. More fine print about USA Flèche rules at the RUSA website.

While you will certainly never hear me complain about riding solo, riding the Flèche was a blast! You’d think there aren’t that many people who enjoy riding their bikes all day AND night, but right in this photo, are represented 15 such crazy people.

Our team of five started by heading up to Stove Prairie from the south, down Poudre Canyon and out to the plains. We had a nice dinner/sleep break from about midnight to 5AM. And finished, riding into Lyons, with views of Longs Peak, and back through Hygiene to Louisville. We had nice weather. A little overcast much of Saturday, and a sunny, clear morning on Sunday.

Installing full fenders

In one of my last architecture class, “Professional Practice” I think, we were given a rule of thumb for estimating the time needed to complete a task; multiple the time you think it will take by three. If you are installing full fenders on a road bike that was not designed for fenders double that (six times your first guess) and you should be close. For starters, allow at least one day for the job.

Why did I want full fenders? To tell the truth I asked myself that a number of times while trying to get these set up.

The SKS Race Blades I’ve used thus far are pretty good. They take about 15 minutes to install the first time, about 1 minute after that. They pretty much eliminate the stripe down my back. They reduce the amount of water in my shoes and road spray on my water bottles during rain and when riding on wet roads or through puddles. Basically the Race Blades helped enough to make me realize how great real fenders could be. I wanted fenders that would eliminate water from coming off my tire and dumping in my shoes and significantly reduce road spray for people riding behind me. The question is will the improvement in water and mud management outweigh the hassle of installation.

I purchased fenders from Velo Orange. I wanted the longest fenders available in a 35-37mm width, which was the limit of my brake calipers, fork and seat stays. I had the minimum clearance above my tire recommended by Velo Orange; 9-10mm. The problem is that VO’s minimum is an absolute minimum and doesn’t necessarily apply to their standard installation kit.

Let’s start with the front fender. VO ships fenders with a daruma bolt to mount the front. It (theoretically) slides up through the fork crown and over the front brake mounting bolt. After clearing the crud out of the hole in my fork crown the daruma bolt still would not fit. I ended up pulling the stem and dropping the bolt down through the steerer tube.

OK. So when the daruma bolt is properly installed on the brake mounting bolt it hangs about 13mm below the bottom of the fork crown … so much for 10mm clearance.

I cut down the daruma bolt about 5mm. So now I’m back to 8mm intruding into my 10mm clearance. But you’re still supposed to get a metal washer, thick rubber washer, fender, metal/leather washer, and nut onto that bolt. I replaced the thick rubber washer with a thin one, eliminated the other two washers and ground about 4mm off the thickness of the nut. With everything in place the nut sits flush with the end of the bolt. The nut has a greater diameter than the bolt (of course) so it effectively extends farther down. Which leaves about 1mm of clearance between my tire and the daruma bolt/nut.

With a sliding bracket and Sheldon’s fender nuts to mount the rear fender I thought it would be a breeze. The 36mm fenders are supposed to accommodate tires up to 27mm width. My tires are 25mm … should be lots of room. In actuality the sliding bracket significantly reduces the range of vertical adjustment and the available width of the fender. Unless it is perfectly centered my tire rubs on one side or another.

I expected to have a problem because I have no chainstay bridge, but the fender is very solid in that area without any attachment. I just need a piece of thick plastic tape to prevent any problems from occuring where the fender touches the front derailleur mount.

So I finally got these things on with no rubbing. I am not going to spend more time worrying about perfect fender line. I haven’t trimmed the fender stays yet. I’ll wait until I’ve accumulated some miles and am sure the length is ok. And I’m still planning to add a Planet Bike mud flap on the back. I have some worries about the tiny clearances between my tires and the nuts protruding into the under-fender space and what will happen if there if a little sand or mud on my tire. I’ll let you know how it goes.

“Brevet” is French for cold, windy bike ride

I wish I could take credit for the title of this post, but I’m just repeating the words of another of the six Malpais 300k riders last Saturday. I’m infrequently that original, and would in any case, add “wet” to cold and windy, since that has as often as not, been my experience.

It was a perfect day in New Mexico; sunny and dry, with few clouds in the sky and a high of 63 degrees. A perfect day that is, if you watched from your window and never stepped outside. The NOAA three day, hourly history for Saturday between 6am-8pm, reports that winds in the area averaged 20-29mph, with gusts from 26-40mph. Mercifully, if anything can be merciful about fighting the wind for 12 hours, it was blowing from one direction. (In fact, I’m starting to wonder if I live in one of the few places in the world where the wind commonly blasts your right side, only to blast your left the next second.)

As usual, with the exception of the uncontrollable weather, it’s difficult to fault an NM Brevet. It is probably getting boring to read how fabulous the ride coordinators and volunteers are, but they are. Exceptional!! As is the Malpais Route! About 193 miles of the 195 miles were on rural roads. There were many stretches where fewer than one vehicle per mile passed. I would rank it among the most beautiful rides I’ve done. If one is fond of the desert southwest it’s worth a trip to do this ride.

Regardless of the wind, I wasn’t having a superb day on the bike, but I managed to make my way to the finish before dark. I was certainly glad for the short ride to my hotel room (there are several hotels within 1/4 mile of the start/finish), a warm shower and bed.

200k times two

Not 400k, but 200k on a tandem. On Saturday, Jen and I finished our longest tandem ride, and Jen’s longest ride on any bike, the 200k, Manzano Mountain Air, in about 10.5 hours. Our return trip was slowed by stomach issues that kept us off the bike for 1.5-2 hours, but we finished well within the 13.5 hour time limit.

The Manzano 200k is a beautiful route that starts on the Northeast corner of Albuquerque, goes up over the mountains and drops down into Mountainair, NM. It’s mostly out and back, but on the way back, turns east after the highest elevation, and takes the riders through Sedillo, NM, adding about 10 miles to the return from Mountainair.

The weather was OK for Spring in the mountains. Chilly temps; most riders didn’t remove their jackets all day. A fair amount of wind. A few snow flurries during the highest few miles in the afternoon. When I first read the ride description I thought the note of where to buy hand warmers along the route was odd, but after wishing we’d packed a couple for Jen, whose hands were freezing up front, I thought I should pay more attention to such “odd” notes in the future.

As I wrote in my December, Radium Springs report, the NM Brevet ride coordinators and volunteers are awesome. Many thanks to Lizz, John and Fred for another fun ride in New Mexico!