Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sunday walk in Mollebos and tea at Het Wapen van Rijsenburg

Officially it’s spring in the Netherlands now but we are still very much in winter conditions. Along the coast, waters have frozen into beautiful forms, the temperatures still hover under 0C by day and the omnipresent wind is making sure it feels like -10C.



But this did not stop the Dutchman and I in going out for a walk in the forest. It has been a long time since we did something like this. In fact I have been curling up at home in my chair for the past weekend’s mainly because every weekend was themed with horrible weather—grey, cold, rainy or snowy. You do not want to get out when the weather is like this, except that, I’ve had it. I’ve really had it.



It is supposed to be spring, and I don’t care if the weather is not cooperating, I’ve had enough of staying in! I am going out =)



Mollebos forest walk in Utrechtse Heuvelrug







We decided to go to Driebergen-Rijsenburg in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug because its nearby. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug is a massive national park forest in Utrecht (in central Netherlands). It is in fact a conglomeration of forests, from small forests to bigger ones. We followed the sign to Het Grote Bos but ended up going into a much smaller forest—Mollebos.



Dutchman and I walked here for an hour. Because it was a relatively small forest, we ended up going around in circles. We’ll check out the other forest—Het Grote Bos next time.























Tea and apple tart at Het Wapen van Rijsenburg



Then it’s tea time!



The ‘Het Wapen van Rijsenburg’ restaurant is probably the best place to have lunch, tea and dinner in Driebergen-Rijsenburg. It’s location is quite strategic, right on the main street of the village with the view to the old church and the village boutique shops.



We indulged in some hot tea and apple tart from the house with whipped cream. Dutchman liked the apple tart while I thought it was a bit dry.

















A slow yet a very fulfilling and relaxing Sunday it was.



Visit Period: March

Destination: Driebergen-Rijsenburg (Utrechtse Heuvelrug – Utrecht), The Netherlands


Friday, February 27, 2009

Shell Creek Oak


Shell Creek Oak, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

The oaks are just starting to leaf out at Shell Creek Road. The wildflowers, however, are at peak bloom. Wildflowers in this view include tidy tips and goldfields.

Free 'Superba' to a Woman in Need

Talk about the kindness of strangers... Even as I announce this I find it hard to believe, but here goes:A reader ofLovely Bicyclewishes to donate a Bella Ciao "Superba" to a woman who cannot afford a nice bike. The bicycle has already been pre-ordered and paid for, and it will be available as soon as the Superba bicycles arrive in May.The idea was the donor's, not mine, and I was as surprised as you probably are by the offer! Please read on for the details:



Criteria

The recipient will be a woman, who is actively interested in owning this particular bike, and is in a situation of financial hardship. The recipient must be located in the USA or Canada. To learn more about the bicycle, please see here and here. This bicycle will fit persons 5'5"- 5'10" and note that it has a coasterbrake.



Entry Instructions

If you would like to be considered, please email me privately to "filigreevelo-at-yahoo" with the subject line "Free Superba" and tell me why you are the appropriate recipient. Please also include your height. The emails I receive must be from the women who want this bicycle for themselves and not from their spouses, relatives or friends. Deadline for submitting an entry is May 1, .



Additional Information

I want to make it clear that this give-away is not sponsored by the manufacturer. The donor is an individual with no bike industry connection who is simply a reader of Lovely Bicycle. The donor wishes to remain anonymous and does not wish to take part in the selection process; that has been delegated to me. Entry emails will be read only by me and your information will be kept strictly confidential. The recipient's full name and mailing address will be disclosed to Harris Cyclery (in order to ship the bike), but not to the donor. One thing I ask, is that the recipient emails me a picture of themselves with the bike after receiving it, along with some feedback.



I will be collecting entries from now until May 1st. It will then probably take me a week or so to choose the recipient, and the bicycles will hopefully arrive shortly thereafter. If you have any questions about this give-away, please feel free to ask in the comments. And thank you to the person whose kind gesture makes this possible. It's hard to know what to say and I will do my best to select the recipient fairly.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

A critical look at crampon fit and design


















There are many different crampon manufactures. I am not so much interested in manufacturer or style of crampon as I am in the actual boot to crampon interface, in other words the "fit" of the crampon.

If you have ever lost a crampon on technical ground you know the surprise and general helplessness that goes right along with it. That is if you live through the experience.

I've only done it once. For the sake of documentation I was attempting to show a novice climber what not to do and some how literally kicked my right crampon off. As I watched it tumble down the waterfall I too started to topple over and slide.

The only thing that caught me was the dumb luck of catching my tool's pick on his buried pick as I went buy. Thankfully his placement held and I didn't knock him off as well. Other wise? It would have been a 500'+ foot tumble and most likely death, certainly serious injury.

Humbling and just as sobering. I had soloed some difficult terrain in those same boots and crampons. To this day I am not sure if my set up was bad or just my adjustments on the straps.
I was damn lucky and it cooled my jets for soloing (or just climbing) ice for awhile.

Either way it is not something I ever want to repeat.

Not everyone will recognize the crampons in the picture. But in 1980 they were one of the models that were putting up the first of the WI6 routes. They were a rigid model by SMC. Chouinard's rigid design while revolutionary always had a durability/reliability issue. The earliest clip on Salewa/Chouinards were the crampon of choice for many of us who disdained the weight of Lowe's Footfang. Foot Fangs were a quick glimpse into the future of crampon and not all of it was good news imo.

Back then we used Beck neoprene coated nylon straps (also sold by Chouinard) to hold the crampons on. Clip on crampon bindings were still new to climbing. While that turned out to be a great idea 10 years years later. (mid 1980s) I had seen two different brands of a single crampon with the early clip on binding still attached before we hit the first ice field on the Eiger in '78. Crampons sitting in the rumble mid way up a big north face gives one a moment to pause and consider the consequences of that gear choice.

Part of the fit process on the older crampons (not Foot Fangs however) was to adjust the crampon to the sole pattern of the boot. And most importantly it seemed to me was to make the fit tight enough that you were unlikely to loose a crampon is you broke a strap or a crampon post.

The more rigid the crampon and boot interface the better the combination will climb. Actually let me go farther in that comment, the more rigid the boot sole and the more rigid the crampon the better the combination will climb on pure ice given a solid interface between the boot and crampon.

Looking at currently available equipment with 7 pairs of La Sportive boots (Spantik, Baruntse, Batura, Nepal Evo, Trango Extreme Evo, Trango Ice Evo and the Nepal Evo GTX all size 45) and 4 different brands of crampons ( Camp, Black Diamond, Petzl and Grivel and 7 models) ) it is interesting the observations you can make on crampon fit and how the difference in boot construction even between models in the same brand affect that fit.




























With the popularity of mixed climbing I am actually shocked at the sloppy interface between boot and crampons across the board. I don't claim to be a "M" climber but I understand how to hook a tool on rock and what it takes to climb at Hafner or on hard alpine mixed.

If you weigh in at 125 and have a size 7 foot not a lot is going to ruffle your gear if it is fit right. Hit 200# and have a size 12 foot and you can easily do things to a crampon that a 125# M12 climber has yet to dream of. An example is a front bail that turns into a shock absorber and can literally bounce off the lip of a boot. That might get anyone a little cranky. Add to a bad design, as a way to fix, the other bad design...with bail "laces" and you go from bad to worse.

I replace the Grivel "round" bails with something else and simply cut the additional retaining straps off the front bail of the BDs.

On the mixed terrain pictured below I noticed more than once I was climbing on the "ring" of a Grivel front bail. Not a comforting feeling. Just as bad I think is the large diameter wire and over size bails that BD uses. Bails hitting rock before your crampons do is a bad thing. Yes most every boot will fit BD crampons but precise they aren't. Of the three big manufactures only Petzl seems to have the front bails fit squared away. But then Petzl has the only front bails I know of that break. So may be "squared away" is a not really the right word. Crampons need to stay on the boot. Black Diamond has never had a breakage problem. I'll take reliability first, thank you! Everything is a trade off. And that is just a quick look at the front bails!

DT photo credit to DanielH and DaveB.

To be fair the crampon manufactures are hamstrung when it comes to boot fit. What is really needed is a DIN norm for rigid soled climbing boots. Then every crampon manufacturer would know exactly what they have to design to/with. After all the hard-goods guys are only half the real product on ice/mixed. You have to clamp a crampon to a boot sole to make a usable tool. I have 7 pairs of boots, all the same size and from the same manufacture. None of them fit the crampons I own exactly the same. Imagine the nightmare the crampons manufacturers go through every season as the boot technology and sole profiles change. Is it no wonder they build on the conservative side?

I'll repeat myself. We need a rigid sole mountain boot DIN norm.



I'll let you decide what is a good front bail/crampon fit for your style of climbing and what is not. My answer was to add Petzl bails to my BD crampons for a better fit and trust in the Petzl spiel that their bails are now reliable. It is a trim set up that fits all my boots well and drops a few oz. in the process.




There is nothing easy. cheap or guaranteed in all of this. I understand that. But I also get to point out the bad designs and ask that it be done better. More of us should! Speak up!







These are just shots of the front bails. While some front bails might not be the best set up, we should also be looking at the bottom of the crampons. To be specific just what the crampon covers on the bottom of the boot.




Most of us don't want to be climbing in "fruit boots" with no heel piece and only front pointing. It is a good direction for design to get lighter gear as long as we don't forget its real use. As important as the attachment system is and how much clearance the bails have from the boot, the real reason we use crampons is to "stick" us to ice and snow. How many points you have going down is even more important as those going forward if you want to climb with the least amount of effort on difficult terrain.




To my way of thinking the more down points the better. I'd rather have the weight and additional of traction that is the end result of skipping down points in a design. To lose weight, crampons have also lost "sole". By that I mean the crampons have lost surface area on the front half of the crampon generally. Less and less of your boot is being covered by the crampon. A quick look at the old Chouinard/Salewa rigid shows a crampon that almost perfectly covers the entire sole outline of the boot. Makes climbing on the crampon precisely, a lot easier.

More importantly we use a alpine/ice climbing crampon to "cut" steps when you want to rest from a front pointing position or help clear out a chopped ledge by kicking. How the down points are positioned and how many of them are on the crampon define how you can use your crampons to accomplish "cutting". Down points facing backward tend to skate your foot off when driving the foot forward with power to "cut" and don't allow you to kick efficiently to clear a step or a ledge.

The next selection of pictures is a grab bag of old and new crampons. Double click the photos and take a look at the difference in boot sole surface area coverage, the number and location of the down spikes and their obvious resulting traction or lack of traction.
























































The difference between lever lock heel bails is small but not without need for comment. Black Diamond and Grivel use a fairly large plastic lever. Both are comfortable on the back of a soft boot like the Trango Series from Sportiva. The Petzl lever? No so much. Painful in fact. Bad enough that I don't use the Petzl lever on anything but the heaviest boots. Nepal Evos and my dbl boots don't have an issue with the Petzl levers but I can't wear them on any of my Trango Series boots. It is just too painful.



Grivel and Black Diamond also use their retaining straps to give an extra safety feature by locking the levers in place with the added leverage and a tight strap. Not Petzl however. Hard to image a worse design for a crampon lever lock than what Petzl uses. Not only is the lever hard to get off when required but the retaining strap will only "retain" the crampon if you are extremely lucky and you pop a lever while climbing. The strap will not retain the lever against you boot. Take a look at the last picture in the next series. The lever down is with a TIGHT safety/retaining strap in place. Both Grivel's and Black Diamond's will retain the lever in the correct up position. It is a simple leverage issue. Petzl missed that. Black Diamond and Grivel did not. Weak......on Petzl's part. However you can fix the Petzl rear bail to be more reliable. You'll have to cut the adjustment ball on the top of the lever and then thread the safety strap through the top of the flip lever. Solves the problem but why are we required to fix it?

Easier and thankfully both Black Diamond and Grivel heel levers and locks will fit easily on the Petzl crampons. You can order up a pair from BD's customer service for a small fee and they snap right on.














With miles of ice climbing it is easy to look both backwards and forwards. The majority of pure ice lines were climbed with basic boots, ice tools and crampons. Some times I laugh at what we are using now and not in a good way. Most pure ice lines could be climbed with a club with a nail through it and hob nails.

What we have now for ice tools, boots and crampons makes ice climbing trivial in comparison to 30 years ago technology. The newest ice climbing gear is stellar in comparison so while I may sound like I am simply bitching, I am not. Ice tools are amazing these days. I am the perfect example of just how good they are. No question I am climbing harder ice now than I ever have because of the current hand tools. But boots and crampons have fallen behind the advances in ice tools. And in many ways boots and crampons have fallen behind some of the 30 year old technology! My 30 year old plastic boots and chromoly crampons will climb pure ice as good or better than anything available currently and they weight LESS!

Lucky for the manufactures that almost any crampon will work, as will almost any boot.

Call it a wake up call to the industry. And a invitation for you to join me in asking for better products. If nothing else take a critical look at your own gear and sort it out as required.

I'd like to see lighter weight boots and lighter weight crampons. Both with better over all traction all the while keeping the ability to front point with less effort. I'm not asking for much :)

To do that it is going to take a rethinking of basic designs and may be a critical look back to look forward.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Driving As a Cyclist

Pickup Truck Reflections

Until last week I had not been behind the wheel of a car since 2007. ButI knew this day would come - the day I would want to drive again.




Over my years as a driver, the cars I've owned have always had automatic transmission - I never learned how to drive manual. When I mention this to an Irish friend, he shakes his head and roars with laughter. "Automatic!"He says it as if the word itself, used in relation to cars, is amusing in its absurdity."Automatic?! Okay, so you never learned to drive properly in the first place. Well come on - I'll learn ya!"




And just like that, I am in the driver's seat. I feel ready for this, looking forward not only to being behind the wheel after such a long time, but specifically to trying the manual gear-shifting. And the funny thing is - this enthusiasm comesfrombeing a cyclist, not in spite of it.





The 8 mile stretch of Benone Beach is like an unpaved extension of the road. Cautiously I maneuver the rickety Saab along the sand, my left hand on the gear shift knob, my senses heightened, trying to listen to the engine's sounds and feel the give in the clutch.



Things do not go as badly as I thought they might. I am not stalling out. I press the correct pedals. My hand is getting used to the positions of the gears, so that I can shift without looking. Operating the gear box makes sense, having gotten used to the concept and feel of gears on the bike. When the gear is too high, the car makes a straining noise - not unlike a cyclist grinding along at a painfully low cadence. When the gear is too low, the car feels as if it is spinning out, unable to pick up speed efficiently. It is not a perfect analogy by any means, but it is just enough to make sense. And I can feel that with some practice this will become intuitive.



I think of driving now differently than I did 5 years ago. Cycling is a very physical activity, and it has made me more viscerally aware of the mechanics involved in operating a vehicle. I think of driving as a serious skill, rather than a perfunctory action. When in the passenger's seatI now find myself more aware of the driver's technique and degree of control under different road surface conditions and speeds.Having worked so hard to learn how to handle my bike on winding mountain roads, I appreciate the handling skills involved in operating all vehicles - be they motorcycles, tractors or cars.Some of the people I know here are extremely skilled drivers, and I must admit that riding with them is exciting. I am impressed with the smoothness and precision with which they operate their complicated, heavy 4-wheel motorised vehicles. And if I do drive myself, I aspire to aim for the same degree of proficiency.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Abandoned Gear

In the 05/06 winter, three separate climbing teams reported being caught in significant storms. Two were below Camp Muir, and one was higher on the Ingraham Glacier.

While getting lost or pinned down in a storm on Mount Rainier isn't that unusual given the time of year, it was interesting to note that all three teams retreated to snowcaves. Pure and simple, shovels are mandatory. And that means one for each person. One team said that they broke three of their shovels while digging. Thankfully, there were four of them!

These teams were helped by their size; two were 4-person, one was 5. It’s a lot easier to pull through a storm with extra people around. And as the storms relented, each team made their way back to Paradise without assistance, but not without some cost.

Two of the teams abandoned a significant amount of equipment; gear such as tents, bags, stoves and pads. Each stated that they could not retrieve all of the equipment because of the intensity of the storm and snow accumulation. Tents, for example, were nearly impossible to dig out. To them, it seemed safer to retreat; this is a tough decision to make.

It can’t be overstated, winter AND spring storms can be particularly fierce on Mount Rainier. If you’re pinned down and must abandon camp (high winds, snowfall, avalanche/icefall exposure), do all you can to retrieve at least your stove, pad, clothing and bag. One tip is to pack your pack before exiting the tent.

Though a rapid exodus to Paradise or Camp Muir may seem appealing given the current circumstances, it has also led to many notable accidents and fatalities. Caught on the mountain with only a shovel and few odds and ends is a downright brutal experience to live through.


Photo by Mike Gauthier

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Raleigh Lady's Tourist: Two Generations

1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists

As some might recall, I own two vintage Raleigh Lady's Tourists. Being in the midst of a major bike upheaval right now, I've retrieved these from storage and took the opportunity to photograph them together. The bicycle on the left is a 1973 DL-1. It has been refurbished and modified over the years (aftermarket chaincase, tires, rack, dress guards, pump, saddle, grips and rear wheel), a very ridable bike but definitely not a collector's item. The bicycle on the right is a 1936 Tourist. This one is inoriginal and unaltered condition, including an intact chaincase, rotting grips and tires, cracked frame pump and dilapidated saddle. In the future I would like to have the older Tourist restored professionally, and until I can afford that I will continue to carefully store it. The newer Tourist I've decided to use as a transportation bicycle again, having now sold off most of my other bikes (a topic for another post). In the meantime, I'd like to share some observations while I briefly have these beauties side by side.




1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists

I am not very good at lining up bikes and comparing them properly, but I'll try. Despite the older Tourist appearing smaller to the naked eye than the newer model, their wheelbases are near-identical - as are their bottom bracket heights (300mm), the lengths of their chainstays (500mm), their front-center measurements (680mm), and the lengths of their seat tubes (540mm center to center, or 560mm center to top - a.k.a. the 22" frame size). The seat tube angles look identical. The headtube angle on the newer bike looks like it could be slightly steeper, but I am unable to measure precisely. The forks line up identically. The virtual top tube on the older bike is a little shorter (570mm compared to 580mm on the newer one, measured center to center). But the most glaring difference is in the height of the head tubes.




1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists

The headtube on the 1973 Tourist measures 185mm from the very bottom of the lower lug to the very top of the upper lug. On the 1936 Tourist, the headtube measures 265mm. That's a considerable difference, placing the older bicycle's handlebars quite a bit higher. Combined with the slightly shorter virtual top tube, the rider is overall more upright.






1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists

The quadrant shifter on the older model is on the top tube.




1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists
Notice also that the handlebars used in the '70s are different than those used in the '30s. The older ones were narrower, and angled straight back with no forward sweep to them.




1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists
On the older bike, the pump is behind the seat tube and there isa lugged connection between the down tube and the looped top tube. On the newer model the pump sits between those tubes and there is no lugged connector.




1970s and 1930s Raleigh Tourists
Overall I would say that the two bicycles are more similar than not, and it's interesting to me that so few changes were made between those 4 decades. I would love to see how a 1950s model compares to these two.