Baby’s first TNUA
During the TNUA tonight, I turned over 200 miles on the Portland. Everyone from Full Moon Vista asked how I like it. My standard reply? “I LOVE this bike.”
It was really great to be back on the TNUA tonight. I’ve missed this ride tremendously during the past six months. There are people I see only on this ride and it was good to catch up. I’m not the only one who has gotten new bikes this summer. A couple of the guys I talk with showed up on their new rides.
This was basically a ride to Charlotte and back, with the usual TNUA diversions and a stop to play in the Maplewood Park Rose Garden. This is where Scott took us off-road a while. The Portland took it in stride except for dropping the chain once shifting from the middle to small ring, and the bottle cages.
The damned Bontrager freebie bottle cages are worth exactly what I paid for them. They were what limited my speed on the off-road descents. I was afraid of losing my bottles. And they rattle constantly. I’m going to have to find better ones, and soon.
On road and off, the Portland maintained its stately composure throughout.
Did I mention I LOVE this bike?
By the numbers
45 (or 49) riders (I couldn’t really hear)
2 flats
1 “mechanical”
0 crashes
1 clipless fall (but we all pretended not to see)
65°F, 18°C
5-10 MPH, 8-16 km/h winds from the SE
2:19:47 ride time
29.47 miles, 47.43 km
12.65 avg MPH, 20.36 avg km/h
33.7 max MPH, 54.23 max km/h (probably on the way to or from the ride)
61 RPM avg cadence (lots of coasting)
112 RPM max cadence
October 3rd, 2007 at 5:39 pm EDT
[...] Wilbur, a local cyclist, is a huge fan of TNUA and has a post up at his Scenic Route blog about last night’s ride. And be sure to visit Full Moon Vista Bike & Sport, official [...]
October 5th, 2007 at 9:29 am EDT
Nice bike. I saw in one of your pics that you were using Nalgene bottles. You might want to try traditional water bottles in those cages in order to keep the bottles in better for the rough stuff that TNUA’s sometimes take. Traditional bottles “lock” into a cage to some extent, and if they feel loose, you can bend the cage in a bit to make them tighter. It’s standard practice for MTB’s.
October 6th, 2007 at 8:15 pm EDT
The problem is that I don’t like the traditional squeeze bike bottle. I like to be able to pour in a big gulp, rather squeeze in a dribble. It disrupts my breathing less. Plus the flip cap keeps, erm… foreign material off the spout.
The other problem is that the freebie cages bend too easily. The weight of the water alone combined with a pothole jolt, is enough to loosen the cage’s grip on the bottle. I have to rebend them before every ride.
On Yellow Bike I have a nice pair of Elite cages with rubber grippers. They’re rattle free and have never even given me cause for concern let alone pitching pitching my bottles to the pavement.