It’s the little things

I bought a Surly Long Haul Trucker a couple of months ago, my first real, “serious” bike. I bought the complete bike, and I have been really happy with it. Well, with everything except the brake pads.

You take brake pads for granted. They make you stop. It isn’t really that glamorous, at least not as glamorous as gears and cranks and things that make you go fast. On my old bike (which I still have and have plans for, by the way), I had some Kool-stop Supra 2s that worked pretty damn well. They held up in the Seattle rains, stopped well on hills, and, wish some care, didn’t tend to get that glaze on them that brake pads get when the rims heat up.

Well, after riding a few times on the LHT, I noticed that the stock Oryx pads got that glaze on them. Like, pretty much every time I rode. Resurfacing those pads after every ride was getting pretty annoying, and made me not want to ride. Obviously that was unacceptable, so I make a stop by my LBS over lunch one day and picked up some Kool-Stop V-type brake holders for the front brake to give them a whirl. They were $20, and include a holder and a set of replaceable pads. The holder takes a lot of the set-up out of changing brake pads. Basically you set them up once and you’re done (unless you change rims or something). And you can buy different replacement pads for various road conditions.

So, in theory they seemed great once I set them up. This past week I had my first real commute on them, and I’m very glad I bought these. I did my long commute (instead of my multi-modal commute on the bus) which involves long downhill sections with a lot of potholes and occasional (enevitable) emergency braking. I made it to work and no glaze. A couple of commutes later and… still no glaze! Awesome! You don’t realize how brake pads can affect your ride until you change them. Changing these out really made my commute more fun, because I wasn’t annoyed by hearing that glaze grate on my rims, or worried about being able to brake in time to avoid a car that swerved in front of me. Now I stop effortlessly and I don’t have nearly as much maintenance to worry about.

So, uh, I guess the lesson is, if you’re buying a new LHT, Cross-Check, or other Oryx cantilever-equipped complete bike, you might want to consider replacing the pads immediately with some Kool-Stops.

Next (and probably last for awhile) on the list of parts to upgrade on the LHT: tires. I’ve been getting way too many flats. Granted, I ride across some pretty epic and brutal potholes, and some of the most glass/metal/debris-strewn roads in Seattle. But still, I like to make it to meetings on time and preferably with time to spare for caffeinating and eating. I’m thinking some variety of Schwalbe marathons, or possibly Panaracer Pasela TGs. Stay tuned…

Sunday ride

I had a pretty awesome ride today. I rode a little over six miles, on a completely new route, to my supervisor’s house for his “going-away” barbecue (although he’s not going to leave for a few weeks yet).

It was a nice ride, except that I actually rode a little over seven miles because I got lost, sort of, on the way there. Ha! So, a little over 12 miles today… and I barely even felt it. I could have done another 12 no problem, I think. Provided I did have a break halfway through… but I’m feeling more comfortable and confident in my riding ability. I think the fact that I climb a long, semi-steep hill every day on my commute has really helped me in my “training.” Which is also weird because I never think about “training” as a cyclist or anything like that.

To me, cycling is something that I do not because of some goal- be it getting in shape or riding a certain speed, or doing some big event. It’s something I do to save myself from getting inside a car. It’s just what I like to do.

That said, I don’t ride 20 miles a day or anything. I pretty much stay within a neighborhood or two of where I live, and everything is pretty compact and convenient. Which is great, because it doesn’t take me very long to get anywhere. But it’s also bad, because it means I’m not in the saddle as long as I could be. Because I do want to be a strong cyclist. What if I want to visit the Red Hook Brewery? Or somewhere like that. I wouldn’t want to drive my car to get there, with all the crazies out there on the highway. Also, riding is fun and I’d just like to do more of it.

On the plus side, it looks like we’re probably going to be buying a home sometime in the next 6 months plus, which will probably be much farther away from work. That will naturally get me used to riding for longer periods of time.