We took a ride this weekend a short ways up the C&O Canal to Fletcher’s Boathouse. I may write it up later, but there’s a good chance I won’t have time until it’s no longer fresh in my head, so here’s a full-size slideshow. Care for a small teaser? Okidoke, here y’are:

It was a splendid day, we had a great ride through Columbia Heights, Rock Creek Park, the C&O Canal Trail, back through Georgetown, down to the National Mall via the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, and back up to Brookland via 4th St NE for a little over 21 miles of toddler-laden longtail touring.

This would make a spectacular cargobike convoy day tour.

Let’s say that a New York State Senator, driving through NYC in his black Mercedes, nearly crushed a cyclist. How do you imagine he might respond? Would you imagine he’d roll his window down and say, “get your hands off my car, you fucking asshole”? How would you feel about that?

Well, Colin Beavin, blogger and Transportation Alternatives board member, is a much nicer and more level-headed person than I am, and a role model for those of us trying to be good. He took the opportunity to pen an open letter to New York State Senator Jeff Klein, and to invite him to discuss transportation policy and traffic congestion with TA’s Executive Director.

Should I find myself in such a situation, I hope I have the presence of mind to realize what a great opportunity it is to discuss these issues with someone in a position to do something about it, instead of, um, some other way. Keeping perspective like that when you’ve just come uncomfortably close to not getting to see your daughter grow up is impressive. Good show, Colin!

If you’d like to contact Senator Klein to encourage him to take advantage of this opportunity, you can email him at jdklein@senate.state.ny.us, or give his office a call at 718-822-2049. As tempting as it is to tell Senator Klein to “get your car off our bikes, you fucking asshole,” it probably won’t get anything done worth doing, so if you’re gonna call or email, support Colin’s idea that they meet to discuss. That’s my official recommendation anyway.

The last few days since Hanna came and went have been cool, overcast, and beautiful. I’ve been dropping Ruby off at school in the mornings and then shooting downtown via my regular southwest slash through the hospitals, Howard University, down to R and through Dupont Circle. It’s a nice ride really, with some lovely neighborhoods, but I get to work feeling like a great part of my day has come to an end sooner than it had to.

Wednesday after work I drove Nigel down to Georgetown after work to hook up with a buddy, and to ride longtails north into Rock Creek Park, then east to hook up with the wife for Hefeweizens in Columbia Heights. The trail going through the park was narrow, frequently creased by roots coming up through the asphalt, and strewn with joggers. It was outstanding, I loved it. So this morning after I dropped Ruby off at school, rather than shooting southeast across the city, I rode the long way.

With the creamy Fat Franks rollin’ steady and chewin’ up pavement, I rumbled west across town on Columbia, turned onto Adams Mill and got pulled into the funnel of streets that empty into Rock Creek Park at the National Zoo. The trail runs through the woods all the way around the zoo, follows Beach Drive until it merges with Rock Creek Parkway, meanders along the parkway past the entrance to the C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown, and finally follows the Potomac all the way down to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. From there, I turned back towards the Washington Monument, then headed north to Downtown. It was still over much too quickly.

Rebbie and I were talking about New York the other day, and it occurred to me that, given a choice, I wouldn’t be so hasty to jump at Brooklyn today as I would’ve been a year ago. I mean sure, culturally speaking, New York still has the edge over… well anywhere in the U.S. for us. But I have to admit, the more of D.C. I get to know, the more I like it.

What a beautiful morning! What a great ride! My sweet dick, it’s magic! Click on through if you’d like to see just a couple pics I snapped along the way…

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On Sunday afternoon, I finished building the wheels, and mounted them. On Sunday night, after the kids were in bed, I started sorting through parts, and then figured I’d go ahead and throw on some of the easy ones and go to bed. At 3am, I’d installed the brakes and rotors, shifters and brake levers, derailleurs, and most of the cables. Monday afternoon I finished what was left, the only thing remaining was the back brake cable and housing. I figured I could take it for a little test spin without rear brakes.

Wow. It’s gorgeous, and it rides like a freaking dream.

Nigel out in the world for a test flight

Long brake cable and housing for the rear, a couple bottle cages, bags and deck, lights and a bell and we’ll be in business.

[Update]: Tandem brake cable was procured from the fine folks at City Bikes on the way home from work, bags and the deck are installed, lighting is in effect, bottle cages have been deployed. Now that you’ve seen Nigel “naked”, let’s have a look at ‘im dressed and on the way to work.

The Legendary Profile

Wow. That’s what I think when I look at him anyway. That rear deck will likely be replaced by the next iteration of the kid’s seat, the Double Deux. Until then, I like the way this looks just fine.

There was a point before this project started that I had a line on a ‘94 Trek 970, an orange-red lugged steel frame exactly like the one I owned back in the early 90’s, from a local bike shop. After a couple emails back and forth with the owner, he let me know that this particular bike was a collector’s item, and that I should be looking for a late-model utility grade bike to convert.

He was right, that bike is mint, and deserves to be either hung on a wall or ridden with the components it was born with. But still, a late-model utility grade bike? Yeah, no. I don’t think so.

The Vaunted Three Quarter

[Update Again]: Guess who just twittered Nigel!

The Internet sent me a big box yesterday. Once the kids were down, I unpacked this beautiful creature, did some inspection and a little grime-fighting, and put it back together. The serial number and components suggest it’s a 1996 Trek 970SHX, featuring a Shimano LX/XT drivetrain, RockShox Quadra 21R fork, and Trek System components (mostly made by Bontrager I believe). I did a quick photo shoot on the way into work this morning, take a look.

Gimme the left profile… thaaat’s it… perfect.

12 years old and It’s in almost-showroom condition. I think there’s some scratches on the decals, but other than that it’s pristine. I can’t wait to take it apart, clean off the little bit of road grime on it, and give it some fresh grease. It’s gonna shine.

Alright now show me the drive side… oh you know you got it goin’ on.

The 970’s an outstanding steel hardtail frame. This particular year isn’t as collectible as some of the others (like f’rinstance 1992, The last year of the lugged frame, with a 1-1/8″ threadless headset), but it’s still a great bike. Folks who bought it new typically paid between $1000-$1200 for it, and most of them give it 5 stars (or, in this case, chilis) after thousands of miles of riding. I feel like I walked up to the eBay craps table and hit a yo on the come out roll. One hundred sixteen dollars and fifty freaking cents, and eighty bucks to ship it. Win.

True Temper’s triple-butted OX III Comp tubing, lovingly welded in the U.S. of A.

The triple-butted True Temper OX III Comp tubing (comparable to Reynolds 853) is strong, light, durable, and has great ride characteristics. The steel was made in America, and the bike frame was made in the U.S. too. Waterloo, Wisconsin I believe. What’s more American than that?

XT Derailleur, little bit of road grime, otherwise perfect condition.

The drivetrain’s in near-perfect condition. The teeth are perfectly shaped, the chain’s in great shape, the cassette barely looks broken in. The XT rear derailleur looks like it’s been out of the box for less than a hundred miles, other than some dirt the finish is still newish. There’s not a single chip anywhere on the chrome of the front derailleur.

Not a scratch!

You can see a little bit of road grime on the chainstay from the degreasing I did this morning. Otherwise, not a scratch on it, no chainsuck scars, nothin’. Unbelievable. I’ve seen showroom demo bikes with more scars on the chainstay. The pads on the LX cantilever brakes look like LX metal refillable shoes, and I’m pretty sure the pads are original, and barely worn. The seat is a Bontrager Plus 10, it’s not bad, and I chuckle when I see “plus10″ on it, reminds me of “Dan Rather, plus three”.

Grip Shift X-Ray shifters, Trek rubber grips, Trek System bar ends by Bontrager

Even the grips don’t show any signs of wear or nicks or anything. The bar-ends are comfy and perfect, they have a few scratches on them from leaning on things, but no serious nicks from falls or hits. The rims need truing, but not much, and the hubs are in great shape. Oh, did I mention that it came with a cyclometer?

I was up until about 1:30 am last night putting it back together. This morning, I made a couple adjustments here and there, threw some Wellgo studded platform pedals on it and let it run the commute. The ride was outstanding, so much fun. I left the big-ass Psycho II offroad tires on it, so it’s kind of a tractor on the road, makes that whirring sound of pavement being eaten up by knobbies when it gets up to speed. But every time I left the road to climb a hill or cut across dirt or grass, the ride became Cadillac-esque, I mean just superb. And the steering is quick.

[Update]: Updates and modifications were made this weekend to civilize this beast a bit and dial it in:

• Trued both wheels and replaced the tractor-like Psycho II’s with WTB All Terrainasaurus tires, which have a smooth centerline but plenty of knobs to handle unpaved surfaces.
• Replaced the rock hard, taint wrecking Bontrager saddle with an oh-Lord-this-is-good WTB Laser V.
• Replaced the flat stem and bars with a higher rising Salsa stem and some CroMo riser bars to gain about 3 inches of height and give the bars some comfy rear sweep.
• Replaced the GripShift shifters with an old set of Deore XT 8-speed Rapidfire shifters.
• Replaced the stock DiaCompe brake levers with Deore XT two-finger brake levers.
• Replaced the old bar ends and rubber grips with new bar-ends and bar-tape.
• Replaced all the brake and shift cables, replaced housing where needed and re-greased all of it.

Getting to wrench on it for several hours was good for the bike and good for my soul in and of itself, but the improvements have been dramatic. I rode in this morning with a huge smile on my face. Not only is this thing happy to be eating up trails and meadows, and better behaved on pavement, but the cockpit improvements, riding position, saddle and tire upgrades all contributed to significantly increased yields of Woohoo!.

[Update Again]: Photo of Clovis with new cockpit, saddle, and tires. Steel springs to replace elastomers in the fork are on their way straight from the Internet. Neat.

Clovis, sporting upgrades

[Update Again Again]:

Out with the old…

Old rotten elastomer springs

…in with the new.

New awesome steel springs

(Joining me as I give the play-by-play of this very enjoyable weekend is the legendary Marv Albert, give him a hand won’t you folks?)

Friday night I traded my 5.5 mile commute home for a 12.5 mile ride north from Downtown to Takoma Park, then northeast to Silver Springs, then southeast down the Sligo Creek Trail to the Northwest Branch Trail, and finally to the PG Pool where I joined the family for dinner and had a quick swim.

Marv: The weekend’s off to a hot start thanks to that dandy homeward ride! Yes!

Saturday morning Rebbie and I enjoyed coffee together on the front porch before the kids got up, and then she whisked Huck away to the farmers’ market. Ruby and I got a rare opportunity to hang out together, so we had some breakfast at the ever-delightful Cafe Suriea before heading down to Turkey Thicket for a playgroup with kids from her new school. After that, we rode Sylvie to the market to join up with the other half of the family and then all rode home together.

Marv:A splendid morning with the daughter and an early afternoon unparalleled in its pleasantness combine for a stunning one-two punch! Saturday is on fire out of the gate!

While we were out and about, my automated Internet minions did battle with competing bidders on eBay’s field of honor, and prevailed. The auction details say that it’s a ‘93 Trek 970, but the fact that it’s a ‘ZX’ leads me to believe it’s a ‘95 or ‘96. Here, take a look.

That there’s a made-in-America, TIG-welded steel frame, constructed from True Temper OX III tubing, sporting a melange of Shimano Deore LX and XT components. See any signs of cable rub on that headtube? See anything that even looks like a scratch on that chainstay? Yeah, me neither. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong when it arrives, but near as I can tell the thing’s been garaged since it was purchased. I’ll be surprised if there’s significant wear on the brake pads. Did I mention that I won it for less than $120? That’s sans shipping, but even with shipping it came to less than $200.

Marv: With some impressive hustle and a critical score, Saturday is leading this weekend to a blow out! Yes!

Rebbie hauled the kids off to the pool and left me alone for a few hours to build wheels for Nigel, the in-progress Xtracycle. The wheels are black XT 6-bolt disc hubs, laced to Velocity Cliffhangers with black DT Swiss 2.0mm Champion spokes. They’re beautiful, take a gander.

Laced and lovely, yes indeed.

I built them up to the point where they’re lightly, evenly tensioned and declared that a good place to stop so I could rejoin the family, get a quick swim and have some dinner.

Marv: Saturday with the hot hand! Grabs an item off the to-do list, converts the task into an enjoyable celebration of wheelbuilding! Then the swim! The dinner! The Trifectaaaaaaa! YES!

Sunday morning I took off to Seneca Creek State Park to throw some plastic into the woods. I got into disc golf around 2005 when we moved to Southern California, hung out with these miscreants and ne’er-do-wells up at Lake Casitas, and played some amazing Mid-Atlantic courses after we moved here. I haven’t had any time for it this year, so getting away for a few hours on a perfect, sunny afternoon to play 36 holes on a championship course was a real treat. Afterwards, back to the pool for more grillin’ and a swim.

Marv: Sunday comes out swinging and delivers a monster performance! This weekend is bringing the whole repertoire! It can’t be stopped! It can only be contained! YES!

Yes. Contained by Monday morning, but what a helluva weekend, ya know? Although if I had to put mine up against this guy’s…

So, how was your weekend? Whudja do whereja go whooja see?

Everything I know about mountain bike racing would fit in the unused neurons of a common garden slug, but there are some folks I enjoy reading that know lots about it.

FatCyclist is posting his race report (a bit at a time) of the epic Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race in Colorado, which he did on a freakin’ single-speed. Much like the Great Divide Race article I posted on earlier, it’s inspiring and it’s making me hungry for trails.

Linked from there was this short video documentary of 7-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong and 5-time Leadville 100 winner Dave Wiens pushing each other way out in front of everyone else. Great photography, commentary, and soundtrack, plus Lance Armstrong admitting at the end that he told Dave Wiens to go on without him when he ran out of gas. Ever think you’d hear Mr. Armstrong saying, “I can’t do it.” and mean it? Crazy-ass superhumans, they are, both of ‘em.

My friend Carl and I used to ride from up to Ojai from the beach in Ventura, and then up into Matilija Canyon along the creek. He still rides that GT Avalanche, I haven’t seen my beautiful old Trek 970 in probably 14 years. But I can remember vividly, like it was last week, climbing those trails, flying down the fire roads, rear end drifting precisely around the turns, hopping from one tractor rut to the other at high speed, coming around a turn into a meadow and resting on a boulder next to the burblin’ brook.

Good times, maybe something I’ll get to enjoy again, but clearly nothin’ like the mayhem they were stirring up in Leadville. Check out Fatty’s race report and then watch a couple freakish superhumans go at it in the Colorado Mountains.

This is pretty cool.

I love the pedal-powered farm equipment. Story in the WaPo here, website here.

(h/t TheWashCycle)