| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
16.40 miles
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Route:
Long Prairie & Stone Bridge Trail
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Time: 01:26:13
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Avg Speed:
11.41 mph
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Max Speed:
16.50 mph
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
193
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Off: Flat
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Bike: LeMond Poprad Disc CX Road
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| Club: Secular Cycleism |
| Weather Conditions: Cloudy. Very Windy. S wind 19-26 mph. 68°. |
Ride Description: W/Sue...
Really windy so we went to the LPT.
Just went to Poplar Grove and back.
1st ride with new Thomson stem (100mm 17°) Salsa Woodchipper handlebars and Schwinn "Apple Krate" saddle. |
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It finally quit raining, so I got out to work on my backyard singletrack.
And, I put a new handlebar, stem and saddle on my Lemond Poprad.
I'm adding a short section of singletrack at the south end of my trails. This new section will make a loop and head you back into the main singletrack. Next year, I may add a loop to the north end.
The new section adds a kool benchcut section that was not quite as difficult to build as I thought it would be. I generally try not to make my new singletrack projects too much work, since I'm the only one working on it. That usually means a compromise from what I'd like to do, and what I end up doing.
The new section of benchcut trail has a couple dips I had to contend with. The first small dip was fixed with dirt fill. The second dip was bigger.
I had three options... One, leave it alone, adding a technical element. Two, Build a bridge. I asked for advice from my friend Jim, and he liked the bridge idea. I have plenty of wood I found in the quarry, so it would be cheap. Three, make an armored rock bridge. I'd have to wheel some big rocks uphill from the quarry.
Well, my carpenter skills are minimal at best, so I chose to build the rock bridge.
I've been hauling rocks from the quarry for a few days before all the rain started a few weeks ago, so I was ready to go. Armoring is kinda like building a puzzle, you start with the biggest rock in the middle, then find rocks that fit the best at both ends.
I never thought I could finish the bridge in a few hours, but I did. Surprisingly, I had just the right amount of rocks and didn't have to haul anymore up to the building site.
I still need to add some dirt filler, make some minor adjustments and ride the section to see if it needs to be altered, but it looks pretty good.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
I made some alterations to my Lemond Poprad cyclocross bike. I really love the ride and comfort of this bike, and was hoping to improve on it a little.
The main change is the Salsa Woodchipper handlebars. Woodchippers are an off road drop bar designed to give you more hand options and comfort than a standard drop road bar, and have a drop of only 110mm. Since I rarely used the drops, this handlebar choice was a no brainer. Generally, Woodchippers are set up higher than road bars, so when using the drops, you're not crouched down so much. To do this, I needed to buy a new stem. The stem on my bike is a 100mm length with a 10 degree rise. I like the feel of the stock setup, so I kept the length the same. To raise the bars, I found a 100mm Thomson X2 stem with a 17 degree rise, hoping this would work.
Because the 31.8 size Woodchippers are lighter than the 25.4 (go figure) I went with the fatter bar setup. The stock bars and stem were 25.4.
Here's a nice article about Woodchipper bar setup.
salsacycles.com/culture/my_woodchipper_set_up/
Finally I added my Schwinn "Apple Krate" style, red glitter saddle. After all, I AM KrateKraig, and it's a well known Pansy scientific fact that red saddles are faster.
I've had this a long time, and figured it was finally time to use it. And to my surprise, it was actually 10 grams lighter than the stock Bontrager Race saddle. The red is a darker shade, and doesn't match the brilliant red sparkle paint of the frame, but I don't care, it looks good. And, it comfy too.
Photo 1... The approach to the new rock bridge.
Photo 2... Armoring the trail.
Photo 3... Side view.
Photo 4... The new cockpit.
Photo 5... Oh yeah, I was going to change the bar tape color to a Salsa Natural Tan or a Fizik Red, (I bought both) but Sue said the stock white tape looked better, and since it was still in great shape, I put the stock Bontrager White tape back on.
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