Somewhere, Over the Prairie....

(A little late report of a bike ride from last week, but then I just started working on a post about my 2.5 days on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail from a couple weeks ago.)

My wife made a hair appt for the morning of July 4th, and decided to ride her bike there. Her hair stylist is up on the 5 Mile Prairie, which is on a bluff about 400 feet above the surrounding North Spokane area where we live.  After thinking about it, I said I'd ride along and do some exploring while she was getting her hair colored, cut, styled and whatnot.

Shortly after we left home we were traveling up Dell Drive to connect to 5 Mile Rd and Debbie was reconsidering her decision to ride there. Dell Drive is fairly steep, maybe steeper than 5 Mile Rd. But we kept going, and arrived in time for the appointment and I went exploring.

Two phone pics overlooking North Spokane:

The area is a mixture of newer housing developments:

just a wall around a vacant lot, blocking the view 

and areas that retain an older, rural character:

I forgot to eat anything before we left so I was getting a little hungry, and also thirsty for a cuppa joe, but there are no stores, restaurants or coffee shops up there.  Not even a drive-thru espresso stand!  I don't know what the deal is, but it might be due to the zoning for the area.  Maybe the residents don't want any businesses up there, wanting to preserve what's left of the rural character of the area. Just guesses on my part, perhaps someone will fill me in.  I understand the appeal of living out in the country, but...not even a coffee shop or small restaurant nearby? I don't think I could survive!

After a while, I went north on Strong Rd to the other side of the prairie. The pavement ended at the edge of the bluff and I spied a shopping center down below.  It took me a while to get my bearings, but I finally figured out it must be the Indian Trail Shopping Center:

There's coffee down there!

Strong Rd continues as a twisty gravel road down the hill. I couldn't resist, and even knowing I'd have to ride back up somehow, I headed down. The road down turned out to be steep and extremely washboardy in spots.  I picked up speed, and at times I didn't know if I could hold onto the handlebars.  Of course, it didn't help that I was riding my 'cross/commuter bike - the one with some low-level cantilever brakes that don't stop very well even on dry flat pavement.

Strong Road connects to Indian Trail Road, at the entrance to the Pacific Park area and about a half mile or more from the shopping center.  Alas, I didn't go get some coffee, as it was near time to meet back up with Debbie and our plan was to get breakfast afterwards. I turned around and headed back up the hill - gotta build those leg muscles for cyclocross season!

Mismatched Tires/The Lure of Wider Tires

(apologies to Jan Heine who wrote a post titled "the Lure of Racing Bikes" over at the Bicycle Quarterly blog Off the Beaten Path).

I started out commuting on a Huffy mountain bike, moved up to a Marin Muirwoods with Continental Town Ride 29 X 1.6 tires and now ride it or my Redline Conquest Sport beginner cyclocross bike with 32mm tires to work. I don't think I gave too much thought to tire width when I got the Marin, but I knew the wide tires were a benefit on the city streets compared to a road bike's narrow tires.

I've been riding the Redline to work for at least 1 1/2 years, and by the looks of the front tire, I thought they were lasting pretty good. I'd peer over the handlebars at the front tire and not see any wear.  Then one day I looked under the fender at the back tire and saw with a shock that the top of the tire had almost turned into a slick. First thought was "Guess I should pay closer attention!" (Also thought I should rotate my tires, but Sheldon Brown put an end to that thought in his article Tire Rotation.)

The 32 mm Kenda Eurotreks that came with the Redline worked fine, but had a slightly thick tread pattern that picked up a lot of road vibration on rougher streets. Finally, I could justify getting one of the tires I'd been considering switching to, like the Vittoria Randonneur Cross, Panaracer Pasela Tourguard, Bontrager H2, or Schwalbe Marathon. I also wanted to try a little wider tire for the rougher sections of the city streets I ride on.

In the meantime, I took my bike in for a tune-up, and when I went to pick it up, the rear tire had gone flat and the shop discovered a hole in the sidewall.

That's how I ended up with mismatched tires:

The shop had a 32 mm Bontrager Race tire with a smoother tread than the Kenda's that I decided to give a try, instead of the other tires I'd been thinking about.  It's more of a road bike style tire, and it's smooth and quick. But I don't feel comfortable on corners or gravel patches.  It felt like the tire was slipping around the corners, especially some faster turns I take where there's still some sand left on the streets from winter. And I wasn't sure how well they'd do in the rain.

After a couple weeks I started getting used to them, but still wanted something with a little more tread pattern. And the mismatched look was bothering me (ok I'm a little neurotic), so I broke down and ordered some Pasela Tourguards.  It helped that they're less expensive than the other tires.  I went for a little wider width, 35mm, despite concerns I'd have trouble fitting fenders over them on this bike.

 I cleaned the smudges on the sidewalls after this picture was taken,  even though they'll just get dirty again

They mounted easily, except in the process some black from the tread rubbed off on to my hands and transferred onto the sidewalls. I'm not sure about the sidewalls - they seem a little thin but I was aware of that before I bought them. Reviews are mixed, and some people report they cut easily, but I don't plan on riding off road much on them. Should be ok. I hope.

The writing on the sidewalls state to inflate to 90 psi, but that seems excessive so I inflated them to 80 and took them for a spin last night.  I like them.  Cornered well and the ride was smoother than the Kendas. Not as fast as the Race tires, but I can live with that. They don't list a minimum pressure, but I'm going to try about 65-75 psi and see how that works.

One problem - the tire did rub against the back fender and I'm pretty sure it'll rub against the front also. With some fiddling and trimming I might get the fenders to work, but perhaps this bike is meant for 32's at the widest with fenders.


Bicycle Times Issue 12 has a good review of 12 commuter style tires, including the Bontrager H2, Schwalbe Marathon and Kenda Kwik Trax.

Shadows on the Trail (JWPT)

A few miles past Tekoa:  Me, Eric, Pat 

Biking Downtown

I was waiting downtown at the library last month sometime for my wife to pick me up after work, watching the traffic, walkers and bikers. This intersection is always interesting to watch. Usually, I'm fearing for the safety of people crossing the street here at the crosswalk that's hidden by the two white vehicles in the picture above.  There's a steady stream of cars coming north towards the library and turning left. With a slight downhill, many of them pick up speed just before the intersection. And with two lanes turning left, I'm worried someone in the outside lane won't be paying attention and not notice there's people crossing in the crosswalk.

It's hard to tell, but the cyclist in the above picture is in a bike lane.  I had pulled out my camera after watching two cyclists before this one come to a stop at the light here, then weave over to their right in the intersection, then weave back over to their left and back into the bike lane after the intersection. I try to be tolerant of other bikers practices, but I hate to see people weaving back and forth as they ride. I know they think they're safer if they move over in the intersection, but I'm not so sure about that.

So I thought I'd try and get pic of the next biker that came through, to get a picture of them weaving over, I don't know why. But the traffic and the this next biker that came through (above, hmmm...he looks a little familiar) didn't cooperate. The biker had stopped behind the wide white line at the red light, but when the light turned green there were vehicles stuck in the intersection, unable to move forward.  He deftly navigated his way through the vehicles blocking his path.  I'm pretty sure if the hulks of steel and plastic hadn't been blocking his way, he would've rode straight through without weaving.

John Wayne Pioneer Trail

I'm going on a 2-3 day trip this summer on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail thanks to Pat over at 26inch Slicks who has graciously allowed me to tag along part of the way on his cross state tour.

I was planning on taking my mountain bike, until I looked at the frame and fork and said to myself "hey there's no attachment points for racks and panniers"! Duhh! Slight panic ensued. Ok, do I want to haul most everything in a backpack and bungie cord the rest to me and/or bike? Or do I switch the tires on my  Marin Muirwoods? Or take the good cyclocross bike?

No, I want to spend more money on a BoB cargo trailer, which I'd been looking at for awhile for hauling stuff in town.  Long story short:

Yes, no permit to go on the trail (forgot about that little detail), so I park right out in the open. 

Of course, I bought the less expensive version without the shock absorber in back so more slight panic ensued. How do I explain to my wife I bought a trailer for the trip, but I can't use it on the trail? (Luckily she is on board with using it around town.)
So I made a quick trip to Rosalia on Sunday to try it out. To simulate some bike camping supply weight on it I packed it with this:

I only went a few miles, but it worked out ok, and was fairly easy to pull, if a bit noisy.  I have a liner on order for it and also a kickstand which should make stopping along the trail easier.

More Pics.
This is the old Milwaukee rail bridge at the south (?) end of town:

The view from the bridge:

Another pic of the bridge:

Out on the trail, going around an old trestle:

I had first stopped at the other end of Rosalia at the first turn from 195 into town, near the Rosalia Cemetery. This part didn't look very promising, but it's passable:

That's all for now.

Sunday ride report - Summer Parkways and Artfest

Ok this is a little late, I'm a slow writer. It's also a little rambling.  And no pictures - I couldn't be bothered with that. Well, I left my phone home. Left my Garmin home. Rode my Marin hybrid without a bike computer on it, so I was riding without the assistance of any electronic gadgetry.  Felt funny at first, but refreshing.

Here goes, hold on fast and be sure to tighten your valve stem caps:

My wife Debbie and I rode from our abode in the Shadle area to the Summer Parkways event in the Logan area at Mission Park and Chief Garry Park. It's funny - Mission Park seems far away from our home, but it was an easy 6 mile ride there. We just get too used to going places by car, when it can be so easy to bike to places.

Once we got to Mission Park I was a little confused where to go. Being hopeless with directions, I'd meant to check the map of the Parkways before we left but forgot. We found a nice volunteer at the SW edge of the park who wasn't too sure either, and handed us a map. Luckily, my born and raised in Spokane wife quickly figured which way to go, and we followed the route to Chief Garry Park. We might make a good Amazing Race team.

Discovered there are some nice wide streets to ride on down in the Logan neighborhood. (I know I should fill in some more details about the Parkways, but you'll have to use your imagination or check out the Summer Parkways Facebook page. I gotta get this post finished.)

After the Parkways, I was getting hungry, so we took the Centennial trail down to Riverwalk. Where do we want to eat? There's the Brewery there and a Thai place. Oh, let's take the new MLK Jr Way to downtown, and maybe eat at Madeleine's. Or maybe Rock City. Or head to Indaba, I have my Indaba card with me.  Or maybe eat in Browne's Addition.  I'm hungry and not good at making decisions!  Then I felt like a sandwich from the Brooklyn Deli. Made our way there and didn't see a good spot to lock the bikes up. Felt uneasy about it.  Ok, let's just go to Browne's addition, either eat at the Elk or Pacific Pizza.

Headed west on Second. Debbie's a real trooper. She's just been getting back into riding after tearing her ACL last winter, but was handling the city riding like a pro. We noticed a lot of traffic heading into Browne's.  Suddenly, Debbie yells out "Artfest"!  Oh of course - we'd talked about heading to Artfest after the Parkways. And forgot about it.  That solved the problem of where to eat. We both got shrimp tacos from the Baja Babes truck.

After Artfest we headed down Riverside and crossed the river on the Sandifur bridge by People's/High Bridge Park.  We were both wondering why we decided to go downhill, as we both knew we were going to have a big ride back uphill to get home. We both made it up the twisting hill climb across the river up to Summit drive without stopping. Proud to report I didn't use the ol' granny gear.

From there it was just a few miles back home. According to Debbie's Garmin, it was about 18 miles. A pretty good day, and it followed some good rides on Memorial Day weekend to the Farmers Markets and out to 9 mile.  Which I was going to post about but didn't get around to it.

Anyways, looking forward to the next Parkways on the South Hill. Will we bike uphill all the way there after work from downtown? Can I not get lost?  We shall see.

Raleigh Record 10-speed

The 3rd Annual Spokane Vintage Bicycle Swap & Show is coming up next week June 9 at the Swamp, which reminded me I should try to get my old 70's 10-speed into semi-rideable condition.

Made in England. I think everything on it is original. I kinda like how the yellow sidewalls match the frame color. I did a quick online search a year or so ago and was a little disappointed to find it was the bottom of the line Raleigh and worth maybe $125 now. But it's been a good bike.