Sac PD Bicycle

Parked out front of the coffee shop this afternoon I noticed not one but three Sacramento Police Department bicycles.  All were different makes and models, but all were mountain bikes.  The three officers had stopped for a cup of coffee.  Apparently (but not surprisingly) officers on bicycles are much healthier than their car-bound brethren.  There was not a doughnut in a single one of their hands – even a stereotypical one.

All of them were similiarly equipped – with lights and a siren on the handlebars.
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Spin Burger mixes burgers, beer and bikes in Midtown Sacramento

There is no question about that fact that Sacramento has changed in the last couple of years.  Bike culture is in full effect.  And every culture needs its patrons.

Fred Haines is doing his part to help with that patronage role.  Fred is President – and Executive Chef – of SRO Inc. SRO is responsible for dining establishments throughout the greater Sacramento area, including Bistro 33, Riverside Clubhouse, Suzie Burger and Side Bar.  There have been hints of Fred Haines’s interest in cycling before.  Riverside Clubhouse used to offer a special on Friday nights to folks that rode in on their bikes.  Many in the area have even ridden with him before.  However, his latest endeavor Spin Burger takes his cycling interests a step further.

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A view of my commute to work

It has been a while since my job switch, and things are starting to settle into a routine (which also means I’m getting back up to speed with regular posts here!)  Of course, being JustAnotherCyclist would require me to post the obligatory commute to work video.  Well, here it is folks.  This was taken with my GoPro camera mounted on the handlebars of my Cannondale R300 commuter.  I set the camera to take one shot every 3 seconds, and stitched them together into this short video.

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Cycling Sacramento ain’t what it used to be

I’ll admit – it has been sometime since I’ve really spent any time in downtown Sacramento.  Odd, considering that I live in the greater Sacto area – not so odd if you recall that up until recently I was working in the Palo Alto area.  In a few years the feel of downtown has really changed.  And something else has changed.  I counted no less than 15 folks out riding their bikes on my roughly 8 mile ride to work.

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Heading into the winter with 90 degrees

Well – I thought winter was on its way. But the last couple of days have put me into a tail spin.  In the 90s this weekend.  I’d also taken a couple of days off from the bike (yes – that does indeed mean my #15mpd slipped.)  The result – I actually felt better and stronger than I can recall feeling recently.  What gives?  The season winds down and I seem to be peaking?  Well, at least I can say I reaching peak performance just in time for Worlds.

Except, of course, I don’t actually race.  *Sigh*

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Hint: Fulcrum Racing clip for pawls is the same on all of the wheels

This one killed me at first.  I broke the retaining clip that holds the pawls of my Fulcrum Racing 7 freehub.  It would sometimes take me a full revolution of more to get the pawls to extend enough via centrifugal force to engage and move me forward.

I bounced from local bike shop to bike shop trying to find a replacement part that wouldn’t take one to two weeks to arrive.  After identifying the two shops of a dozen or so in my area that actually sold Fulcrum, only one had a clip that was “only for Fulcrum Racing 1, 2 or 3″ according to the guy in the shop.  Things didn’t look promising for me.

But then I decided to go poke around the Fulcrum website.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find that they had complete parts lists there, along with the catalogs and user manuals (user manuals for wheelsets??)

Well, much to my surprise – and quite despite what the one guy that had a clip in stock told me – all of the wheelsets had the same part number.  There it was – good ol’ 5-R1-015.  Didn’t matter what wheel.  Didn’t matter if the hub was Campy or SRAM/Shimano.  It was the same part number.  Happy days!

Unfortunately when I found this out it was too late to drive back to the shop that had the clip.  Besides, it was about 30 miles or so away and I didn’t really want to make the trip.

On the advice of others, I tried a shop in Sacramento that I’d never been to before – Ikon Cycles (also on Facebook).  The guy was quite helpful.  He also didn’t have on in stick (D’oh!) but… he said he would call his supplier and call me back.  Sure enough, 30 minutes later he called me back.  His news – he’d have one for me the very next day.  Sure as hell beats the 7-14 days the other shops were talking about.

I understand that shops can have difficulties getting specific parts from suppliers.  But the guy at Ikon was super helpful and seemed to know what he was talking about.  And he didn’t even blink about taking the time to order a part that retailed for less than 5 dollars.  Awesome customer service.  I definitely know where I’ll be calling first for parts from now on.

For any others interested, I’ve included a copy of the  Fulcrum Wheels 2009 Spare Parts Catalog – just in case.

Doing three grand tours of my own this year

There are numerous races both large and small that make up the pro cycling season.  However, none get quite the attention of the three grand tours:  the Tour de France, the Giro de Italia (Tour of Italy) and the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain).  However, this year I’ll also be doing three of my own grand tours:

* My wife Melissa will be with me on these two rides

Wait.  The Tour de Ross’s Commute?  What the heck is that??

For over three years now, I’ve been commuting an average of 3 days a week between my home in Sacramento, CA and my work in Palo Alto.  It is about 125 miles or so by car.  Of course, I don’t do it by car.  However, after a couple of the “Oh – did you ride here from Sacramento” jokes from coworkers as I rolled my bike into the office, I decided to make it so that I could actually answer “Yes!”

That’s right, I’ll be throwing my faith (and bike, and life) into the hands of Google maps and their new bike route mapping to plot my safe path the 139 miles I’ll be riding.

There are some interesting challenges and points of interest in my route:

I don’t fully know what to expect of this ride yet.  That is part of why I am so excited about it!