Re: [CR]A Beautiful Day in San Diego

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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 09:32:18 GMT
To: rocketman531@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [CR]A Beautiful Day in San Diego
From: <brianbaylis@juno.com>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Pat,

I determine which gear I will use on my fixie depending mainly on the terrain and wheather I will be riding with people on geared bikes. The 73" I used was for road use with geared bikes. I will suffer on the climbs in order to stay with the group on the flats. My regular fixed gear is in the 68" to 70" range.

My legs were/are really sore and tired today. I figure if I don't die from this I will be stronger once I recover. I spent the whole day walking like I was 90 years old and squating like I would never get up again. Painful, but in a good way. That's why I love the fixed gear. You gan get TOTALLY whipped in just 25 miles.

Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA


-- rocketman531 wrote:


Brian,

Thanks for mentioning the gears your group was running on your fixies this last weekend. After reading so many posts from Chuck Schmidt about riding fixed gears, I built three, and I really like them. Since I don't know anybody who rides fixed gear, I just made it up as I went along. The first was a world Voyager at 56.7 inches. That was fine for the neighborhood. Next, an early 70's PX-10 at 70.9. Then I went to Bisbee last weekend and scored a '51 Holdsworth. It's too pretty to hang shifters, cables and what-not on it, so I'm making it into a fixie. Currently it's at 75.6 inches, but it seems a little long. I think the PX-10 at 70.9 seems the best for me (mostly flats).

I would be interested in hearing what other list members ride....especially the big guns. . . .Chuck?

Pat Moffat

Tempe, AZ, where it's well into the 90's for days on end (97 yesterday).

-----Original Message----- From: brianbaylis@juno.com Sent: Mar 22, 2004 1:15 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]A Beautiful Day in San Diego

Listmembers,

We had one of our monthly San Diego Vintage rides yesterday. The weather was perfect for a ride and we gathered at the Bicycle Shop Cafe for the start. We sucked down coffee provided by Dave Taitano as we readied ourselves for the ride. There is a regular gang that rides from the shop every Sunday morning who were there planning to join us. In addition to Paeng and Chuck Schmidt, listmembers Sterling Peters, Ken Robb, Charles Anderws, and Rick Guytan were in attendence as well. I think there were a total of around 15 riders when we left.

Paeng and I were riding fixed gears, he in the Confente fixie and myself on my blue fixie(one of my favorite bikes of all time). Paeng was running around 68 inches, which was probably about right for the climbs, but not enough for the flats with the other geared bikes. I was riding 73.2 inches which was rather tough on a few climbs but about right for the flats. Chuck rode a nice DeRosa as did Sterling, if I recall correctly. Charles rode his classic Pogliaghi and Rick brought out an interesting (must have been an older) Zues bike that had Nervex Pro lugs, including crown and BB shell. None of us had ever seen that before. Ken was riding his "Stelvio" (I forget what the frame actually is) with the JB paint job, which he says rides really well. My friend "Tall Paul" showed up to ride with us also, aboard his 1985 Baylis (66cm c-t).

We took off and warmed up as we headed out to El Cajon through La Mesa. There was a stiff climb near the base of Mt. Helix early in the ride, which is where I first realized I might be overgeared for the hills. It was warm enough to remove my tights as we stopped to regroup there. A long section of down hill followed and then we hit the flats that goes for several miles. I like this stretch of flat wide road through El Cajon; traffic isn't bad and you can really get moving there. Chuck and a few speedsters motored and I had to suffer greatly to stay with a wheel and bridge gaps as riders fell off the blistering pace at times. It's actually excellent interval training and I really got a workout there. Once out in the east part of El Cajon the flat pitches up a ways as we approach a serious steep and winding downhill. I wasn't sure what to expect on the fixie but I went down alright. I had the rear brake on slightly most of the way. At the bottom I thought I smelled the smell of burning brakes that one might recognize from driving behind a semi truck on a steep grade. I looked around for the truck. There was none. Then I realized it was MY brake pads. I never knew Campy pads smelled like that if you warm them up. Learn something new every day. We regrouped there, anticipating that maybe we might intersect the "JB" ride comming down from Alpine and maybe even hook up with JB himself. The terrain is mostly flat for the next 5 miles with only a few small rises in the road. I felt pretty good under the circumstances. We were moving along at a good clip and were just about where the JB ride finishes up when their group came up behind us. They were flying and readying for their sprint finish. Richard Bryne (owner and inventor of Speedplay Pedals) was there and hit me up for a leadout. I wasn't able to cut loose on account of a boxed in position and my gear limit, but I did what I could. We stopped for a bit where the JB ride finishes and talked with JB for a few minutes. He was riding his '73 Colnago Super, which he was telling us felt fantastic after riding his Ti bike for a few months. He must have the mate to my early Colnago, because he described a "magic" feel and ride just like mine. He lives very near there so he took us on a "shortcut" around some of the heavier trafficed roads. He peeled off to his house and left us to climb a gnarley hill just after he turned off. I was struggleing really hard to get over the hill but I was too beat and the gear was too tall. I got off for a few yards near the summit, it was too much for me. From there the climbing was not too bad and we made the last 6 miles back to the shop without incident.

For me it was an epic ride. The pace was fast at times and there were quite a few climbs and a good number of downhills. I bridged a lot of gaps, which is one of my specialties on the bike, and the benifit of that work will pay off if I continue to ride. I still remember the suffering last year at Le Cirque. I may avoid that this year if I keep this up. My legs have not been this tired in a LONG time; and that's saying a lot, since I've been out with Pergolizzi a few times lately. I think I mentioned what it's like riding behind the "motor". The ride and the workout are great, but it's greater to have a group of friends to ride with and trade war stories and discuss old bikes from every angle (no pun intended).

Thanks to everyone who showed up. I really had fun........as soon as we stopped! ;-)

Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA _______________________________________________ Classicrendezvous mailing list Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvou _______________________________________________ Classicrendezvous mailing list Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous