Clocks Turned Back
This weekend Europeans turned the clocks back an hour and perhaps for the last time. This would totally suck because I happen to like daylight saving time. If we're not going to change our clocks twice a year, I'd prefer the time to stay on DST all year round. Winston Churchill argued that daylight saving time enlarges "the opportunities for the pursuit of health and happiness among the millions of people” and I full-heartedly agree. DST is far better for my physical and psychological well-being. My "seven to five" work hours only allow me to be outdoors in the evening and it's a lot nicer and far safer to ride when it's still light outside. It's much harder to find the motivation to head out into the darkness with lights mounted to the bike. I love fat-bike night rides in the snow and occasionally do road rides at night, but having to do it for more than half the year would not be too much fun. Most likely, I'd be exercising far less. Wikipedia mentions several studies that conclude that retailers, sporting goods makers, and other businesses benefit from extra afternoon sunlight. I spend a great deal on cycling equipment, clothing, and nutrition. On a wintertime schedule, those spending habits would undoubtedly be considerably smaller. Besides, that extra morning hour in the winter makes no difference. I leave home in the dark, whether the clock would happen to be on summer or wintertime.
Featured image: 102.41 km road ride with 2,176 m of climbing that took 4:18:00 hours.
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Back On 700C Wheels
In May of this year, I swapped my 700C Nox Composites wheels for 47° Nord hand-built 650B wheels. While I prefer the smaller wheels in combination with wider tires, I put the 700C wheels back on the bike for the fall and winter months. I did so for no practical reason other than that the 650B wheels needed new tires and the fact that I have the 700C wheels hanging in the basement with a few pairs of 700C tires sitting in my bike parts storage cabinet. In particular, I had a set of WTB Nano Race tires, which according to WTB aren’t tubeless compatible. For that reason, I tried to sell them, but I never found any taker. One evening, I got the tires out and tried them tubeless. Despite the manufacturer’s note, they were easy to mount tubeless. Easier, in fact, than some tubeless tires I’ve dealt with. For the next couple of months, I’ll therefore be on those Nanos. I have a pair of 42mm wide Teravail Washburn tires that may be mounted next.
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Did Winter Come Back One Last Time?
After the two previous weekends, I thought that my fat-bike season had come to an early end. Years past, it wasn't uncommon to fat-bike into May. Last week, however, winter returned in full force, dropping over a foot of snow on the Swiss Alps and 8-10 inches in the Jura. Brown pastures and trees were suddenly white again. I had already washed and packed away my Bike Jacket, so I got it back out again because my studded fat-bike can't be placed inside our car without.
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A Look Back At Some Home-Brew Hubs
Once in a while, you run across something that throws you back to your good old mountain biking days. Such was the case when Kris Henry posted a picture of bike hubs he built while being a student at PSU. In the last year of my apprenticeship, I designed my own set of what later generally came to be called V-brakes. Years before Shimano and Avid brought low-profile V-brakes to the everyday mountain biker, Grafton, MRC and a few others made this style of brake. For a very long period of time, I ran my own set of MTB brakes.
While in college for mechanical engineering I no longer had ready access to lathes and mills, but new ideas were always on my mind. Ideas that were often put on mechanical drawings, were ready to be made whenever the opportunity arose to let chips fly. Memory is already a little fuzzy about the exact timeline, but around 1994-1996 I designed and machined a set of hubs for my Merlin mountain bike. I first machined a front hub and about a year later completed the project by making a matching rear hub.
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