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Who breaks a shoe anyway? 2015 Shimano XC61L

Above: my knife post-reshaping the blade. Below: the CKRT marketing image with the 30º blade. You can see the difference in bevel between the two images

I ended up buying a CRKT Squid EDC knife not so long ago while looking for an affordable 2″ replacement for the Spyderco Endura that I used to have but lost, then the second one that I had to get rid of at the airport flying to Vegas. Those were getting expensive so I decided to make a change.

Made from similar quality steel to the Endura, I expect that the same issues that I had with that knife blade will happen with this one, but now I have two sharpening kits it’s not so bad. I like everything about it except for the blade angle that comes from the factory. I know why they do it*, it’s ok if you want to stab something but as far as being “sharp” it just plain old sucks, the blade can’t even cut paper it’s so lacking. I took some time between Junkenstein Revenge games on Overwatch to reshape the blade and give it a much shallower angle that would be sharper but wouldn’t hold its edge as well over time.

The first thing I tried to open was the plastic wrap over a paper towel roll. Slid the knife gently over the exterior and the plastic came right off.

“Good... goo- wait a second...”

The knife blade had also sliced through the first two layers of paper towel as well just from the weight of the blade across the plastic. It’s very little force and previously the factory edge wouldn’t have even penetrated the plastic. I guess I got it pretty sharp...

* They do it so the knife retains the factory edge for a pretty long time after purchase with everyday use. The 30º angle or so that it comes from the factory with does not burr or blunt quickly, and the edge remains the same. So it’s shitty from the factory now and it’s shitty in 3 months. I prefer to have one that’s great now and even if I have to hone it every few uses, that’s ok because honing is super easy.

Bike service day

I have a principle that is fairly straightforward when it comes to servicing the bike: If you’re ever injured or incapacitated for any reason and cannot ride, get the bike in for a service so that it’s ready to go when you are.

I had surgery on Thursday and am now sporting 13 cuts in various places over my legs, torso and left arm, so bike service day was scheduled for today. I checked the brake pads on Monday and realized I was almost down to the backing plate.

Downsized the 180mm brake rotor to a 160mm rotor - new +20mm IS mount swapped out for a 0mm IS mount.

New front brake rotor.

First time installing Avid BB7 Juicy pads. First one went in just fine, but the rear one took a few tries before it would go in. The Avid videos were pretty useful.

Chain swap. Sram PC870 chain. KMC Z72 chain was on there before.

Rohloff oil swap. I did this one early because of the surgery and shifting issues. I still have some issues but it’s much better, so it might be time to swap out the cables and clean the underside of the grip shifter.

It ends up the mechanic didn’t install the front caliper correctly the first time, which explained why I never felt like I could get the rotor aligned properly despite fiddling nonstop with the adjustment knobs. Now it’s fantastic. There is corrosion on the brake pad footplate from the salt on the roads recently; I cleaned it off but suspect I will have to eventually replace the plate. Note to self for next time: wash down the brake calipers to remove any salt that might be on there.

New cranks and old cranks, side by side. Note the lip on the inside of the splined surface on the brand new one that has been worn down into a depression on the old crank.

After I broke the Surly Mr. Whirley cranks repeatedly, I bought the Shimano FC M780 cranks (in black) and installed them in late May 2013. It’s now time to replace them again after some 22k’ish miles.

#retired gear

This is why I can’t have nice things.

Quick Release end cap of a Shimano XT quick release snapped in half after 2 years of use. It was still structurally sound to use it, but they’re cheap’ish so I just replaced it. Not really sure how this happened; this cap is protected by a Burley Trailer mount, which on the Ogre uses a frame mount not a quick release mount. So it was shielded yet it somehow managed to snap in half...

#retired gear

thegrandr

DO AUSTRAILIANS ACTUALLY GET CONSTANTLY ATTACKED BY BIRDS IN 'SWOOPING SEASON' OR IS TUMBLR PULLING MY LEG???

YES. THAT IS 1000% LEGITIMATE. swooping season is a real thing that happens when birds get pissy about being parents and take it out on everyone else. especially magpies. and it effects pretty much the whole of australia because magpies are fucking everywhere. Meet the magpie:

Also known as ‘angry little black and white blurs of pain and suffering’.“oh but they’re just birds how bad could it be australians have snakes and spiders and they’re crying over some stupid birds”Magpie are incredibly aggressive and they have very very sharp claws and beaks they can cause plenty of damage. people are blinded every year by these fucking things. iI myself have been hit several times. one time i was hit in the back of the neck when i was about 6 and i bleed all the way home, completely ruining my shirt. and there bastards are perfectly happy to chase you all the way home from school. seriously. they will follow you. they are very territorial and that’s their whole problem. they attack in order to ‘protect their nests’ but that’s bullshit magpies are just fucking assholes that like to ruin everyone elses fun.but like literally ruin everyone’s fun. because you can’t go for a walk or play footie in certain places at all during swooping season. especially places with lots of tree. or you get fucking annihilated. they fly up to a tree, swoop down at you very fast beak first and try to remove as much of you as they can in one go. then go up to another tree, swoop down, rise, repeat.

the second spring hits. BAM! signs like these go up everywhere especially around schools

people are encouraged to use umbrella and sunglasses and put fake eyes on the back of your hats to confuse them. also carrying a big stick and holding it above your head is very commonputting zip ties on your bike helmets becomes like putting on shoesanything to keep magpies from going for your eyesand they love to go for your eyesand before you start laughing at the idea of wearing hats with eyes or a spiky helmet like a dork fucking read this:http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/magpie-attack-blinds-boy/1112262/ and then think about the fact that this happens eVERY YEAR. he’s not the first or the last kid to have his life ruined by a bird.so fuck you that one random person who told me australians are making shit up and crying over nothingand fuck you you newspaper coloured muthafucking minion of satanfuck you all the way back to hell

plotdesigner

i think i’d take the spiders instead of these motherfuckers

The Black Dog Ride: Outback Edition

This is it. Time to plan this one and see if I can even make it work. The experienced guys have said it’s possible. The rest is up to me.

August 21, 2017 there’s a total solar eclipse. For two brief minutes at 10:21am, the moon will pass between the sun and the earth, and the land will be cast into darkness in the middle of the day. I finally found an accurate map that shows where it will likely pass over.

On the map it’s about 5 miles south of Four Aces Ranch & Outfitters, LLC, Ashwood, OR is where the solar eclipse is supposed to be the longest in duration on the OO route. Realistically there’s nothing out there. It’s the middle of nowhere in high desert. There isn’t even a water source within 40 miles.

And then there’s the Black Dog.

Winston Churchill referred to his darkest days as the Black Dog. In traditional folklore and mythical tales it was a menacing presence, omnipotent but just out of sight, forever near, waiting to take you when you were at your weakest, overwhelming and suffocating. Never a more apt description of depression could you find.

To borrow from The Man Ride, this is not about raising the most money for some charity. This is about starting a conversation and breaking the social norm that it is not something to be talked about.

50% of Aussie men have suffered mental illness. 1 in 8 men suffer depression. 1 in 5 suffer anxiety, with rates higher in Australian males and even higher in rural areas. 8 people commit suicide daily – 5 are men. Men are 4 times more likely to die from suicide than women. Working men aged 24-54 account for the most suicide deaths.

Earlier this year a friend told me of his dark days and how our crossing paths at the right time made an enormous difference to his morale. It was just a moment for me to yell out a quick g’day as we crossed paths, but that tiny action spurred a much deeper discussion. In my entire life only three men have ever been brave enough to talk about their depression to me, and I admire them greatly for breaking that social taboo.

All of this brings us back to the Black Dog Ride. For me, it's 2 minutes of darkness surrounded by a whole lot of sunlight and hard yakka. For others just seeing the light is hard enough.

If there was ever a reason to ride into the darkness for... that is, a solar eclipse on a difficult course that promises long, difficult hours in the saddle, the very real threat to personal health, all heaped in with an abundance of solitude... this is a bloody good one.

#The Black Dog Ride #The Black Dog Ride Oregon Outback Edition #Oregon Outback #Oregon Outback 2017

Replacing pulley wheels on the Rohloff chain tensioner

You will need:

T20 Torx bit

Pliers

A small adjustable wrench

A very small microdriver screwdriver to release the master clip

Anti-seize for the threads, like the Park Tools ASC-1

(optional) Small screwdriver to pry off the upper wheel.

Overall a pretty straightforward replacement procedure.

Remove the lower pulley. The assembly consists of two holders, a silicone backed nut and a bolt. Unclip the spring from the head of the bolt. Remove the nut and bolt using the T20 Torx on the bolt and the wrench on the nut.

Remove the upper pulley. The upper pulley is held to the axle by a retaining clip. Use the very small microdriver to remove the retaining clip by prying it off. Slide the rear backing plate off the axle. If it doesn’t slide off easily use the screwdriver to pry it away from the pulley wheel. Repeat this for the pulley; from experience this one is the harder one to get off and may need the screwdriver more than the backing plate.

Clean everything really well and reinstall in reverse order. When tightening the lower pulley check the bolt isn’t too tight and the arm moves freely when the spring is in place; if it is the swing arm won’t move freely and the pivot will bind, throwing the chain if you hit a bump.

#retired gear #Rohloff #Rohloff pulley replacement

(for next time: Use the f**king heat gun)

If you’ve ever had to replace a Rohloff cog, you’ll know how much of a pain in the arse it is. Herr Rohloff did many things well, but little earns the ire of a Rohloff owner more than trying to remove the cog.

Today was my lucky day to do this. Normally you’d use a bench vice, but in absence of a bench vice you have to use a 24mm wrench instead. Apart from this little bastard falling off nonstop, you get the added fun of needing strength of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson to pull the cog off. So without further introduction, I present to you the, “how to get the fucking cog off the fucking hub without a bench vice” guide.

Step 1: Watch some shop youtube guides on how to replace the cog.

... and then realize how BULLSHIT it is that they get it off so easily. Don’t believe that shit. They loosened it before anyone started recording. You my friend are in for a task fit for the Labours of Hercules.

Step 2: Get all the shit you’ll need together.

You will need: a washer, a 24mm box wrench or adjustable wrench (box wrench is better), the Rohloff cog removal tool, some paper towels, a toothbrush or some equivalent to clean the surface, a good quality chain whip (preferably one with a decently long handle like the Park Tool SR2.2), a freezer tie, and optionally a heat gun. For reassembly you’ll need some general purpose anti-seize compound like Park Tool ASC-1 suitable for steel-on-steel, and possibly 25mL of Rohloff oil (no cleaning oil needed). You don’t need the paracord, I just did that to hold the wrench on.

Step 3: Clean the hub driver splines really, really, REALLY well.

Did I say really well? I meant so clean that you can almost eat off it. If there’s any crap in there (and I mean ANY) the Rohloff cog removal tool won’t mate properly with the hub and will instead damage the hub. I got mine super clean and still had to wiggle that little bastard in there.

Step 4: Lock everything in place.

For the box wrench, the idea is the skewer will clamp onto the washer, which will hold the box wrench against the cog removal tool. Arrange it as I did in the photo and then tighten the skewer or axle nuts. For the chain whip, wrap the length of whip chain around the entire cog and use the freezer tie to hold it in place. This will exert the load over more teeth and be less likely to break the tool. Several shops have reported breaking chain whips on the Rohloff’s. I broke my old Park Tool SR-1 chain whip on it.

Step 5: Loosen it in the CORRECT direction.

Get the direction right. The chain whip is supposed to undo the cog in the direction that freewheels. The box wrench is supposed to resist the freewheeling motion. The box wrench is attached to the hub internals, so if you’re putting any stress onto it you’re doing it wrong. Short version - look at the picture and match the arrows.

What I found works best is to put the handles of the chain whip and box wrench sorta close to each other so when you squeeze them together they will loosen the cog. I let the cog slightly freewheel (so it was floating between engagement points) and then tried to loosen the cog so there’s no chance of damaging the hub internals. Initially it didn’t come loose so it I hit it with the heat gun for 45-60s with all the tools attached, then gave it another shot and it came off straight away.

The cog is part of the oil sealing system so it’s almost guaranteed that you’re going to spill oil if it’s facing downwards.

Step 6: Flip it/replace it and reassemble.

The cog is part of the oil sealing system so clean it really, really well before reinstalling it if just flipping the cog. Put some anti-seize on the threads and wipe off the excess so it doesn’t get inside the hub. There’s no need to install it tightly as the cog tightens as you pedal so just do it moderately tight so no oil gets out. If need be add some oil back into the hub. If you aren’t sure how much oil got out, but you’re being stingy with the oil, the minimum amount of oil the Rohloff company recommends adding for a complete oil change is 17mL and there’s no penalty for adding too much oil - so if in doubt add 17 mL.

#retired gear #rohloff #rohloff cog replacement

January 23, 1992 – October 2, 2015 A light has left this world. No collection of words can describe our admiration for Max.

We met on the 2015 Oregon Outback, where Team Clif would be a constant source of joy for me when the going was rougher than anticipated. As we soon came to learn their names, repeatedly running into Max, other Max, Josh and Noland would be one of the biggest highlights of the ride as you knew it was party time the moment that happened. The biggest moment of disgust... whatever the hell it was Max and the others were eating after the Red Sauce forest :). This, our chance meeting at Shaniko and the final hours of the Oregon Outback in the Deschutes River State Recreation Area will be the times I remember the most vividly.

Tailwinds be with you Max. I'll miss seeing your adventures and reminiscing about times past. 1 year on the void is just as great.

#Oregon Outback 2015

reldred

So the last time I did this the folks at @packconfig seemed to like it; so here’s my Goruck GR1 decked out for a four day work trip out in Country South Australia, lying on the bed of the most elaborate hotel-motel-holiday-inn this side of the country can offer.

The key to getting this bag to work is packing cases. You can’t just turf everything in (although it still handles this better than other packs), you need keep things organized.

Fortunately, a big ole’ boxy cavity makes this rather simple. For multi-day trips I use a SeaToSummit dry bag for all of my clothes, a smaller NorthFace dopp kitt (not overly fond of it, due for replacement), and a gear bag of some unknown brand that I bought for a tenner in Brisbane airport about six months back to store USB serial adapters, RS232 cords, laptop chargers, phone chargers, USB hubs, etc. The blue and orange trimmed case is a Crumpler case holding an iPad mini, Moleskine, coloured markers, pens, pencils, rulers and a few other bits and bobs.

Laptop, not that it’s even really relevant in this particular setup is a Lenovo X240 hiding in the rear section and only weighing about 1.8kg from memory. Nothing about this setup precludes using a Macbook or conventional 14" laptop.

The only real ‘gotcha’ in this setup is that while the bag fits in the carry on bins, using a dry bag compressed so tightly results in smacking head first into carry on weight requirements. Flights out to country area in Australia frequently limit to 6kg carry on, but usually 8-12kg for regular flights. I’ve packed this bag out to 18kg by accident before getting the Lenovo X240.

gonxau

This is why I like Alaska Air. No carry on weight limit, just the size limit. I’ve also stacked in about 15 kg of goodies in my backpack, thankfully they didn’t ask to weigh it when I flew out of Sydney last time.

On my last trip to San Francisco though it highlighted exactly how much sh*t the airlines let people get away with. The flight was very full; about 2/3 of the people got on and they said that the overhead bins were full and that I was going to have to check in GoRuck GR0. I turned to the hostess and said, “I just saw you let 4 people with bags that clearly exceed the size restrictions specified by Alaska go past. Why not get one of those? I have no checked baggage and I bought this bag specifically because it meets the size requirements. This is also the only bag I have and it has important documents and electronics that cannot be checked in.”

They ended up making the child in front of me with a huge backpack that had a soccer ball hanging off the back check her bag in instead of me, and I still put mine under my seat so that someone else could use the overhead bin space.

If everyone packed like reldred there would be enough space and then some. But instead they let people with oversized bags get on the plane and stash them in the overhead bins, to the point that they can barely close.

RIP Michael Hoodes, Feb.1941 NYC - July 2016 Seattle

Apart from being the guy that took the photos, Michael was just an all round good sport. I met Michael as one of the first cyclists I encountered on a Scott Kralik ride, and as he was a regular over the better part of 20 years I knew I would always have friends on that ride. His presence at each ride was always fun, as was his sense of humor and wit, quick with a smile and a camera, and I always looked forward to hearing those words at the start of the ride: "Ladies and gentlemen... and Michael." Rides with Michael and the others made my homesickness substantially more tolerable, because it felt like I was riding with family.

I will think fondly of him every time I ride past the meet point at Gasworks park, that's for sure.

Time to retire these grips. They had about 10k miles on them; 5k on one side, then I rotated them 180º and ran it down on the other side as well. I was starting to get some numbness from the lack of cushioning so I replaced them with some ESI grips, which are supposed to be good. I’m not sold on them and I won’t be replacing them with more.

#retired gear

tastefullyoffensive

Max is labradorable. (via scoobert_doo95)

gonxau

From a few years ago, when Lauren left me at home with nothing to eat. I sent her this photo. Now she either makes me just a little too much or a lot too much.