As long as the weather is decent (sprinkling is ok, rain is a cancel) I try to do my Great Falls ride every other day during weekday mornings as soon as there’s light by 6:30am. Not only is it a good training ride, I never seem to get bored by it. Part of it is the visually stunning rapids and falls at my breakfast midpoint:

The other great part – the surprises. I truly regret not being fast enough with my iPhone to capture the image of the bald eagle that glided along my left shoulder over the canal on my way back. I’m not much of a bird person, but bald eagles are so impressive in flight up close. I hadn’t seen a live bald eagle until I lived out west, and now I’m truly happy that there’s at least one that lives within 15 miles of where I live in DC. Considering bald eagles were a threatened species until relatively recently, that’s very cool.

My favorite weather nerds (a term I use endearingly) have a post up about biking in the DC heat, as we’re getting an early taste of it the last couple of days. I happen to hate the high heat… I call them “heat index rides” – not endearingly. The comment section is interesting… people giving their answers to the question, “do you prefer cool or hot weather for rides?” Worth reading the different takes and tips!

This morning was my first morning ride to Great Falls of the year. It’s my go-to ride because it’s about 31 miles round trip and can easily fit from sunrise until I need to get productive in other things. Here’s the view from this morning (turn on the sound to hear the awesome rush of the Potomac River).

I love this ride in particular because there are few, if any, people at the lookout when I’m there. It’s awash with humanity the rest of the time, so it’s nice to have the falls to myself.

Loved this… from Amelia Greenhall with a hat tip to Elly Blue. I would normally retweet this, but it was too cool not to give the sketches extended props. I also really liked the efficiency and lack of “extras” that I so often drag around with me on tour.

 

Since my next tour is a working tour, I’d need to add a few more electronics to this list… hopefully just the iPad though! I’ve long advocated being ok with a heavier or bulkier item if it brings that much more functionality (i.e. my ridiculously big foot pump or my enormous stove) but I might reconsider for this trip…

Longtime readers* of the blog know I own a “west coast” bike called the Goblin, purchased ostensibly so I could avoid paying outrageous flying fees to various airlines, and take up space in my brother’s NE Portland garage.

The Goblin is a bit of a project… to call it vintage may not be totally accurate, but it’s pretty old. It got a good makeover from the shop I bought it from (used) and I also bought a new rear wheel in Brookings, Oregon since said bike shop missed the fact every spoke was chewed up. These wheels are 26 inches, which is pretty standard for a mountain bike, an old touring bike like the Goblin, but not modern road or touring bikes.

Dilemma: I would like to get a dynohub wheel on the Goblin to keep my electronic gear in the juice for this summer’s ride.

Dilemma 2: I am very, very cheap.

Wait… maybe that’s an overstatement. I’m frugal when it comes to the Goblin. While I’d love to  drop $300 on a new wheel with a dynohub, that’s more than it would cost to fly my good bike back and forth. The whole point of the Goblin was to save money, but have a good bike out west I can tour on.

Solution: I have a wheel with a dynohub… but it’s a 700c wheel… on my bike out here. 700c wheels are slightly bigger than 26″ wheels:

The problem with just slapping a 700c on a 26″ frame is the brakes don’t match up. Like at all. And I like front brakes. I really do. They’re super handy descending some of the crazy ass hills between Portland and San Francisco, so for my cheaper side to win, I need to fix the brake problem.

Et voila: the brake converter:

A similar looking little bracket is the ticket. It bolts to the frame and allows one to attach the standard brakes higher, hitting the rim on a 700c wheel. At $41 with shipping, this isn’t cheap, but way cheaper than a new wheel. PS, these were apparently easy to find a few years ago. Mavic made them and so did Xtracycle. Now, the only place in the known universe that seems to carry them is (maybe) a shop in Arizona I found. I’m sure they’re around, but given the ease I can generally procure things online, I was a bit surprised at how oddly… gone… these were.

I’ll bring my 700c dynohub wheel and the front fender with me. Since it’s just a wheel, the airline won’t get me for the bike fee as long as I can get it into a bag properly. I’ll also bring the front fender since a 26″ fender won’t fit a 700c wheel. Swap the wheels, refit the brakes… boom.

Weird part: the bike will ride off kilter – a 26″ wheel on the back and a 700c on the front. I’ll try this out a bit before I leave to make sure it’s not ridiculous, but I don’t expect it to be a problem. I’m sure it’s “geometrically problematic” or something else that would bother an ounce-phobic roadie, but I’m hauling 40 lbs of gear… methinks that’s more strain than this can cause. Also, better to be higher in the front for all sorts of obvious reasons.

Plus… brakes!

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*I’ll have you know this blog goes all the way back to 2012.