The Gift

Twinki was more than willing to unwrap the gift but it was Cassi that preferred to play with the toy mouse.

Parka Time?

On one of the most frigid nights before , we went on a late-evening errand to the art store. Not wanting to have yet another "I am too cold to enjoy cycling" experience, I resorted to my floor-length down parka.

It may seem improbable that one can cycle in a coat like this, but it is doable. What you need is the kind of parka that unzips both from the top and from the bottom. I simply unzip it from the bottom to create whatever size opening I need for pedaling.

Bike and parka in motion. The shot is blurry but it shows off my headlight beams. The dynamo-powered headlight points forward (the beam furthest ahead of the bike), while the LED headlight points down at the road. This is essential when there are trecherous patches of black ice on the road, like now.

The art store is about a 20 minute walk from my house, or 5-7 minutes by bike. This is fairly representative of what my winter rides are like. Most of my current daily destinations are only 1-2 miles from my house, which makes for very short bike rides. For longer destinations, I used to rely on the Charles River Trail, which is not accessible once there is ice or snow on the ground - so in the winter I have not been going to those further-away places nearly as much.

Goods from the art store. The small bag looks deceptively modest, but the content - paintbrushes - can be painfully expensive. The store was having a sale and this was the last day of it, so I am glad I remembered on time.

Happy with my new paintbrushes.
After the art store, we decided to experiment with what it would be like to take a longer ride in freezing temperatures, and rode for a bit on a major road that leads out of town, stopping at a coffee shop and then heading home. It was okay, but did not feel entirely safe. The right lane was like an obstacle course: clusters of hardened snow suddenly popping up, potholes, icy patches. In addition to the parked cars on the right and moving cars on the left, it was a bit overwhelming to constantly watch out for all this, especially after dark. The good news is that with the parka I was at least able to finally cycle in these temperatures without feeling uncomfortable. A parka may look silly on a bike, but so what!

Nene Way 6 - Irthlingborough - Thrapston

With Marta. Just under 10 miles. Wet all day, muddy underfoot in places.

Action . . .

Wet - a day for testing your outdoor gear.

Ready for the pole? The trekking pole . . .

Not many photos, and I'm not entirely sure we appreciated what views we saw. Lunch at Woodford in the Dukes Arms, where they even had a wood fire in the bar. Oh August in England . . .I ♥ underwater walking.





We set off from the football ground, and found our way to the lock nearby and followed the towpath. Slightly off the official route maybe, but near enough as we soon saw the signs. We followed the river bank past the Frontier Camp, until we reached a Nene Way sign near a footbridge, pointing away from the river and uphill across fields - recently harvested and sticky with mud. We walked round the edge of these fields - it was slightly less sticky. Eventually we emerged, several inches taller and with worked-out leg muscles (I wish) into Little Addington. We walked through the village, and almost decided to wait for half an hour in a bus shelter, along with copious quantities of swallow or martin droppings, either for the rain to stop or the pub to open. No, we carried on, womanfully.





We left the village loop road, and shortly after we joined the Irthlingborough - Woodford Road we turned off to the right and followed a path back down to the river. Over a couple of bridges and through a gate which gives access to anglers' cars, and past the marina and disused railway track, and the path becomes a road leading to the old Ringstead Station. At the T junction we turned left towards Willy Watt Mill and Woodford. The pavement is raised about the road level here useful if the road floods, and has recently been improved with non-slip planking.





At the mill, which unfortunately doesn't run to a cafe for wet walkers, we found the Nene Way path leaving a track to the right, before you reach the bridge over the dismantled railway. It crosses the disused railway line and turns right again shortly before Glebe Farm.





We crossed this field diagonally, passing some wet and uninterested cows grazing there, and continued following the signs until we reached Woodford. Hunger had to be heeded, so we went to the Duke's Arms. Good food and even a fire helped us begin to dry our clothes slightly.





From Woodford the signs took us between groups of houses and through a stile into a field. The path takes you diagonally downhill to the bottom of Woodford Shrubbery, then through the woods. When we came out of the shrubbery we should have turned right and right again to get back to the Nene. We did make a slight deviation, but were soon back on track.





Then we followed the river for a short distance, crossed the dismantled railway again, and headed towards Denford. The church is slightly to the right of the lock we were aiming for.





At the lock we turned left and the path led us across fields towards the A14.

Crossing the A14 under this viaduct.

The path goes east under the viaduct, doubling back west to make its way across fields to where the road bridge into Thrapston crosses the river near the Woolpack Inn. Was the rain starting to ease off?

I swear it's not quite so black over Bill's mother's! Ever the optimist.

My verdict on the wet weather gear - coat not really effective, waterproof trousers ok, but encourage condensation, boots dry inside, though some water got in via my socks I think. A long time since I've been wet all day like this.

More spiny caterpillars

I had a difficult time identifying this caterpillar. It looked a lot like an American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), but not exactly the same. I couldn't find anything else that it resembled any more, though.



It's been a big year, as far as spiny/bristly caterpillars go. On the driveway today I spotted a Yellow Bear. Also a tiny, tiny shrew or vole. And me without my camera.

EZ Tools? Finding What Works

I knew that I was pushing my luck, riding a bike that had just been assembled the previous day. And sure enough: 5 miles into the Vermont Fall Classic my dynamo headlight rattled loose. I was just about to rummage around for my folding multitool, when a riding companion, Vorpal Chortle, whipped out a little wrench-looking thingie with multiple heads that I'd never seen or used before. "Here, maybe one of these is the right size?" It was. Without getting off the bike, I tightened my headlight and amoment laterwe were on our way again.



No one thought that anything out of the ordinary had transpired, but I was stunned. This was not what tightening bolts on a bike was normally like for me. This was done without effort, and more importantly, without the usual flood of shame and anger at my helplessness.



I've explained before the situation with working (or rather not working) on my own bikes. It's not that I don't know how or don't want to learn. I can give others tutorials on bike repair. But I have problems with my hands that limit my hand strength, dexterity and fine motor skills. Even just holding some tools is difficult: They fall out out of my hands, because my fingers can't grip them tightly enough or wrap around them in the right way. In the very best case scenario, I might be able to do an easy repair (like tightening a headlight bracket) but it will take ages. I have tried individual wrenches, Y-wrenches and folding multi tools, and it's always the same story. How or why the flimsy looking Park Tool MT-1 was any different was beyond me.



Shortly after the Vermont Classic I bought an MT-1 of my own (available locally at Harris Cyclery), and can now easily handle anything on a bike that requires a 3/4/5/6/8mm allen wrench, an 8/9/10mm socket wrench, or a straight blade screwdriver. That does not cover everything, but it's a start. There is something about the size and shape of this thing that both stays put in my fingers and provides enough leverage to compensate for my lack of hand strength. The joy this has brought me is almost embarrassing (thanks Vorpal Chortle!).



Granted, this particular tool may not work for everyone. But my point is,if you are finding bike repairs physically difficultthere might be something out there that does work. I am going to experiment more aggressively from now on, and maybe I will find tools for all the other tasks I still have trouble with. For instance, I might be imagining this, but I recall watching a woman use a collapsible type of lever that connects to the hub axle(?) to remove a tire in one fell swoop. Maybe I ought to look into that and try to get my flat fixing time to under 30 minutes. In the end, I would love to put together a list of "EZ Tools" suggestions, but I'm not sure how universally applicable these things are. Ultimately, we must keep experimenting to find what works for us, and for some this will be tougher than for others.

Duomatic on the Danube: the Sturmey Archer 2-Speed Kick Shift Hub

Over the weekend I rode a bicycle with a Sturmey Archer Duomatic hub - complemented with a front SAhub, which I thought looked rather nice.

You may recognise the bicycle as a Bella Ciao - It is a Neorealista model in "Sabbia Frizzante," which is a sort of sparkly champagne colour that just stops short of being gold.



Matthias Maier, one of the persons behind Bella Ciao, came down from Berlin and brought the bike to their Vienna dealer, Citybiker, where I was able to try it. Here is a nice picture of Matthias at one of my favourite cafes; it was nice to finally meet.



The unusual 2-speed hub is becoming popular for city cycling, and I was curious to try it. Vienna and Boston are both mostly flat until you get to the outskirts, but sometimes a single speed does not feel quite enough - making the Duomatic an appealing option.



The hub works via coaster-brake action: You push back with your feet lightly to shift gears (both to upshift and to downshift), and you push back harder to brake.



The thing that confused me initially, is that there appears to be no way to engage the coaster brake without first shifting to a different gear. That means that if you're in the lower gear already and want to brake, you will be switching into a higher gear right beforehand - and then starting in a high gear from a stop. However, I soon realised that I can simply switch back to the lower gear while stopped by tapping the pedal backwards gently with my foot. The bike does not have to be rolling in order to shift, and it takes very little pressure to do it.



While cycling, shifting gears with my feet did take some getting used to. It's very easy to do - just a little backward tap - which is actually the problem. Those who've been riding coaster brake bikes for some time are accustomed to "feathering" the brake with their feet, and this has become an automatic motion for me. However, with the Duomatic hub that feathering motion is what shifts gears, so initially I found myself constantly switching gears without meaning to. I'd try to slow down, only to find myself in a different gear, and would then have to quickly back-tap again to regain my previous rhythm.



Having said that, I would describe learning how to operate the Duomatic hub as fun, rather than annoying. The fact that I was able to actually ride the bike through the very busy city center and intersections while navigating around tourists and cars made that clear. It was like nothing I'd experienced before, and of course it was disconcerting to find myself switching gears by accident - but also rather exciting to be able to both brake and shift with my feet.



I did make liberal use of the front brake at first, which, thankfully works very well on this bike.



It took me about an hour to get comfortable with the drivetrain. I decided to ride on the Danube Canal bikepath for a while, which would allow plenty of room to accelerate. I cycled all the way to the edge of Vienna and back, and by the time I returned to the center I felt like a Duomatic "expert." Of course when I got on my own bike later, I kept trying to shift gears with my feet - but never mind!



While I found the Duomatic fun, the real question is whether it's plausible as an actual everyday system. Overall, I'd give it a conditional yes, the conditions being that (1) you like bikes with coaster brakes. If you dislike them, then you will hate this hub, since it requires using your feet constantly. And (2) you are willing to accept a learning curve. No matter what system you're currently using, it will take your brain a little while to adjust to this one.In addition, I suggest that you consider the gearing carefully. Since the hub offers only two speeds, you can set it up as standard and low, or standard and high. The bicycle I rode had the latter setup, which I thought would be optimal for me - but wasn't. In practice, I would have found it more convenient to have a standard gear and a lower gear - but perhaps with the gearing slightly higher overall. That should be as simple as replacing a cog.



I know that some are considering the Sturmey ArcherDuomatic for fixed gear frames that do not have a rear brake bridge. Personally I would only do this if you are planning to set up the bike with upright handlebars, as a roadbike position is very awkward with a coaster brake. It's up to you of course, but at least try it first. For myself, I see the Duomatic as very feasible for an upright city bike, and the lack of shifters on the handlebars is appealing. My feet are stronger than my hands, so this work nicely for me. But there is no doubt that this is an eccentric drivetrain, and not the sort of thing I'd enthusiastically recommend to everyone. Find a way to try it, if at all possible: You might love it - but if not, you'll at least experience something new. Many thanks to Bella Ciao and Citybiker in Vienna for making it possible for me to try the Duomatic.

Outerbanks of North Carolina

Last night we arrived at our destination. It was late so we didn't really have a chance to see anything. Ava woke us up at 6 am so we could see everything very well this morning. Since we were up and anxious to see the beach, we hurried out there. Good Morning Beach!