I really enjoyed the bus system that they have deployed at the park.  To access most of the trail heads you simple get on a free bus (you still need to pay park entrance fees) that goes up main road.  Cars are not allowed on the road without a special permit.  Not having to deal with traffic congestion greatly enhanced my experience at the park.  I would love to see this done at some of the other busy parks.

While there, I managed to get some hikes in.  The first one was a hike up the famous Angles Landing.  It’s the parks most popular hike, and while it can be crowded, it is still worth while.  This hike takes  you up a narrow ridge to an amazing view-point.  Be forewarned that it does have a lot of exposure and is not for those scared of heights.  Most of the more exposed parts have a thick chain installed to assist with your balance, reducing the risk of a fall.  There have been fatalities in the past on this hike, so do take it seriously.

Lots of switch backs on the way up. This is not the exposed area.

This is the view from the top.

This is a picture of the angles landing hike from the west rim. Yes, you do indeed hike up that narrow ridge.

After completing Angles Landing, we continued up the West Rim trail.  This provided some nice views and a good amount of elevation gain.

Heading up the West Rim trail

Here is one view from the West Rim

After we got a nice view from up on the west rim, we headed back down the west rim trail, past the start of Angles Landing and down to the bus stop.

Headed down from the West Rim and Angles Landing

We ended up going back to Zion a few days later to hike Observation Point.  More on that later.

I’ve been riding the Surly Ogre lately since the roads are still a bit soft in places.  For tires I have some Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires in 28×1.75″.  So far the combination has been perfect for the range roads.  They are fast enough but at the same time they don’t jump all over the place when the gravel gets chunky.  In soft conditions they float much better than my cycle-cross tires of course.

For the rest of spring it’s going to be all about putting in the miles on both the bike and some running to make sure I’m ready for more intense activities in the mountains when they are not snow bound.  I also plan to get at least one overnight bike packing trip in.  Lastly, there are several paved roads in the mountain parks that do not open to car traffic until some time in May, perfect for cycling when everything else is still snow bound, so I’ll be looking to ride a couple of those.

This time I’ve started tracking my progress online.  I’ve found that this is very helpful for keeping motivated.  With my performance data available, I can see how I am able to run faster and farther every week.

A number of online services exist which offer this functionality.  So far I’ve been trying Garmin Connect and Strava.  Both sites track cycling and running activities, as well as others.  TrainingPeaks is another one that I have read about, but have not tried yet.  These services offer many more features that I’ve not mentioned here so check them out if your interested.

Statistics can be gathered via a smartphone application, gps based sports watch, gps enabled cycling computer, or even a handheld hiking gps.  I’ve been using the Garmin Edge 200 for cycling and the Garmin Fenix for running.  The smartphone applications work equally well, unless you are interested in gathering heart rate data, however that can be achieved with some smartphones paired with external sensors.  It’s also worth noting that the Garmin Edge 200 will not pair with an external sensors and only tracks basic distance, speed, and position data.  I’ve found the DC Rainmaker site to be the best source of information on these devices.

That’s all for now, hopefully this helps others take a greater interest in running.

Disregard the trainer tire on the rear wheel

I have a Kona Jake cyclocross bike that I use mainly for riding around in the country on either chip sealed, or dirt roads.  Here in Alberta we have a never ending grid of range and township roads which have very little traffic.

During the winter I have done a few upgrades.

The first upgrade is a new set of Clement tires that seem like they should be ideal for rough back roads and some tame dirt roads.  I ended up with the 60 tpi USH model.  More to come on these after I get some kilometres on them.

Upgrade two is new brakes.  I was disappointed in the stock Kore Sport brakes and decided to try some Avid Shorty 6 cantilevers.  The Kores had very little stopping power, not so great for the steep grades in the Edmonton river valley.  These new brakes seem to have higher quality brake pads and are probably lighter as well.

Lastly, I was in need of upgrading the bars.  The stock bars seem designed for racing and not long days in the saddle on rough roads.  I found riding in the drops very unnatural feeling.  After reading the recommendations on Guitar Ted’s fantastic blog, I had a good list of bars to further research.  I settled on the On-One Midge bar.  The price was right too with the white colour on sale for $20.  So far they seem like they will be way more comfortable in the drops.  I’m not so sure the comfort will extend to riding on the hoods, although I don’t think that is the intent with these bars.  Updates to come, but so far I’m excited to give these a try.

This weekend I’ll put the other USH tire on the Jake and take it out on the multi use trails to confirm the brake lever position.  This will also give me a chance to see if the tires are any good in snow.  I suspect they’ll perform fairly well on the plowed paths given the ‘file’ pattern on the sides of the tread.

That’s it for now.  I’ll offer an update on how these upgrades work out later in the spring.

The item that caught my eye the most was the fire lookout and cabin rentals.  As it turns out, various government agencies in the US rent out unused assets, ranging from very rustic cabins only accessible by foot, to road side properties with running water and electricity.  What a great idea!  Rates are very reasonable ranging from around $30 a night to $50 for the more luxurious facilities.  I assume the US government must use this income to help maintain these buildings.

I will be staying a few nights at the Swan Lake Guard station in Montana this summer.  Look for a post on how this turned out later in the year.

I wish the Canadian government had such a service.  Staying in a commercial cabin here can often cost well over a hundred dollars a night , sometimes even several hundred.  Staying in a fire lookout is out of the question as far as I know.  If I am mistaken and anyone knows of a similar program in Canada please fill me in.

If you live in the US or are planning on traveling to the US, why not check it out?

Now that I have spent some significant time with the bike (2000+ kilometers), I figure a full review is in order.  Around 1400 or those kilometres I was on a self supported tour down the pacific coast.  I’ll be reviewing my New World Tourist (NWT for short) model, however much of it will also apply to the Crusoe model, which my wife has, as they are similar.  I’ll do another post later that will outline the differences.

My NWT was custom with mostly what I would call mid-grade components with a few lower end items mixed in to save on cost.  The frame is 62cm, which is larger than the listed standard sizes.

As expected, the bikes draw a bit more attention than other standard touring bikes.  The majority of folks are curious about the bike, but in a very enthusiastic way.  A lot see their practical use right away and explain that they often find themselves traveling and thinking that a bike would be handy to have on hand.  Others are curious of how they handle, which I will touch on next.

The comfort and fit of the bike is great for both myself and my wife.  We both sent in measurements for suitable fitting bikes we already have and they were translated very well into the Bike Fridays.  I can ride for 8 hours a day on this bike with no significant discomfort.  I’m really happy about this.  The B-17 Brooks saddle certainly helps with this as well.

The ride quality is good with the steel frame absorbing a significant amount of vibrations from the road when compared to my aluminum cylcocross bike.  One item of note is the small diameter wheels become somewhat apparent in a couple of situations we’ve noticed.  The first is on rough terrain.  The small wheels do not roll over rough broken pavement or poorly maintained dirt roads nearly as well as a larger wheel bicycle.  These types of roads feel significantly more ‘harsh’ in these conditions.

The whole point of this bike is to be able to transport it easily and cost effectively.  To facilitate this, you can fold the bicycle in two ways.  The first is a quick fold.  Using this method you remove the stem, fold the seat mast down, and then fold the frame in half.  The second method is used to transport the bike in a suitcase.  In this case you do the quick fold but you also perform several other steps including taking the accessories off, removing the handlebars, removing the seat post from the seat mast, taking the pedals off, and several other similar actions.  

The quick fold would be useful for putting the bikes in the trunk of a rental car, on a train with limited room, or other such situations.  This fold is by no means the type of fold you would see with a commuter style folder.  It’s not elegant in the sense that it’s not that easy to handle folded and it doesn’t fold in a super compact manner.  Having said that, that’s not really the point of this bicycle.  You wouldn’t be folding it all the time so these limitations are a good tradeoff for its other capabilities, such as fully loaded touring.  Since I have not used the quick folding method for many practical applications I cannot really speak to how well it works in real life situations.

I have not had any mechanical issues with this bike so far after around 2000 km’s.  The only item of concern for me so far is that long downhill descents heat the rims up to a point of causing concern.  I stopped part way down large descents a few times to check on this and my rims were too hot to touch.  I’m about 185lbs and had probably 30 or so pounds of gear and food on hand.  My wife who has a much lower total weight, did not experience as much heat coming from her rims.  The other thing to note is that your tires will wear faster than a 26″ or 29″ bicycle.  It’s not a huge issue for me but take note that you will need to replace the tires more often.

Overall I am very pleased with the bikes.  They are high quality, well-built bicycles and I am happy to own one.  I am really looking forward to taking them over to Europe to see how well they work traveling both on roads, and onboard trains. I’ll be heading over to Quebec and New England later this summer for a one week tour so will have some further opportunity to try the bike out fully loaded for touring then.

The ride went well yesterday. I was surprised how well the 700x33c Maxxis Mud Wrestler cyclocross tires worked in the snow on plowed roads. Lots of grip except in the loose slushy areas.

Today was a bit of a different story. It had snowed a little, perhaps 1 or 2 cm. This caused my tires to kick up a lot of ‘snow dust’ in the air, making its way on to my chain. After a while ice built up near the rear cog. When this happened it caused the hub not to free wheel properly. I didn’t think much of it at first and had thought that it would eventually clear it’s self and it did. Another 10km or so went by and it happened gain, however this time instead of clearing it seems to have forced cog out-of-place where it could spin freely without engaging the hub. After some troubleshooting I decided I didn’t have everything I needed to fix it out in the snow. Needless to say it made for a long walk back to the parking lot.

I’m not really sure if there is a good solution to this. I wonder if a lock ring similar to what is used on a cassette would have been a better design choice instead of a snap ring which is used with the Alfine.

For now i’ll have to use my mountain bike with a traditional derailleur system.

To balance out the extra calorie intake (beer drinking) the New Year celebrations often bring, I’ve hit up the Edmonton River Valley and Elk Island National Park for some exercise the last couple of days.

I hope to get out a few more times this week with the warm weather we are having. It is forecasted to be around freezing for the next week or so, which sure beats -20 Celsius.

The only things left to do is cut the steerer tube and install brake rotors after they arrive.

As you can see, I’ve installed the fenders, brake cables, shifter cable, seat, front brake calipers, pedals, and last but not least, built the wheels.  The front fender was a little awkward to attach on the brake calipers side but it works.

The wheel builds went surprisingly well.  I used the Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance book for guidance.  The instructions in the book were very well done with the exception of the 2 cross lacing instructions which contained some errors.  As suggested, I used a 2 cross pattern for the rear wheel due to the size of the hub.  In retrospect I think I should have used a 3 cross pattern.  Time will tell if the 2 cross pattern is strong enough, especially with my 190 pound weight.

Here are the wheel build specs.

I would have used some black spokes if they didn’t cost twice as much and I was more confident in my wheel building skills.

I can’t wait to get it on the road.  I think I may get some studded winter tires and do a bit of riding this winter seeing as it has the internal hub and all.