Congrats Sally!

We just want to send a "Big Ups" to Sally Jewell for her recent confirmation to the office of Secretary of the Interior! Sally is a longtime friend of the Rainier climbing rangers, even letting her son work with us for a few years. We wish her all the best in her new job.

Photo courtesy of Biden office

Abstract

Go-Anywhere Gearing: SRampagnolo Drivetrain with 'Frying Pan' Cassette

For the past few weeks I've been riding with an experimental drivetrain on my main roadbike "Desdemona" (a Seven Axiom S).The goal of this drivetrain was to achieve very low (sub 1:1) gearing, for hilly long distance cycling, including brevets. There are several ways to get that kind of gearing, some of which I've tried in the past with mixed results. The tricky part is not the gearing in itself, but achieving it with a modern (i.e. integrated shifters), lightweight road drivetrain, while keeping everything working smoothly. At the moment no road group from Campagnolo, Shimano or SRAM is designed to handle gears quite this low, so modifications are needed.



A hybrid drivetrain means that the parts making it up (cassette, derailleurs, crankset and brake/shift levers) are not all from the same manufacturer or group.Since modern road groups are designed for all the parts to work together, modifying or mixing them is generally not advised. That said, there aretwo general methods of doing so in order to get low gears. One is to keep most of the group intact, except for the crankset - replacing it with either a triple, or a double with much smaller chainrings (either way, inevitably foreign to the group). The other is to keep most of the group intact, except for the cassette - replacing it with a wider touring cassette (and long cage derailleur to accommodate). Speaking purely for myself, I have not been 100% happy with what happens when a modern road group's native crankset is replaced with a foreign one. So this time around, I opted for the other method.After 600 miles, what impresses me is that, in addition to being useful, this is also the least finicky hybrid drivetrain I've tried to date.





The setup here is a "SRampagnolo" hybrid. We've kept the front end of my bike's native Campagnolo Chorus drivetrain (50/34t crankset, front derailleur and 11-speed ergo levers), but used a SRAM 10-speed 11-36t cassetteand a SRAM X9 long cage rear derailleur.





A Jtek Shiftmate (model #4 I believe) makes the SRAM 10-speed cassette compatible with the 11-speed Campagnolo levers. You can read all about this neat little converter here. Obviously, if you are starting with a SRAM or Shimano drivetrain, your setup will be different. Going with all-SRAM should be the easiest, because, as far as I know, their road and mountain groups are compatible. Shimano I am less sure about.







The decision to go with the SRAM X9 long cage derailleur was made, despite some reports that the new SRAM WiFli road derailleur (designed to handle up to a 32t cog) can in fact handle a 36t. Seven's Rob Vandermark tested the WiFli with the 11-36t cassette, and was not happy with the outcome. That was good enough reason for me to go with the X9.




As far as functionality of the drivetrain, there is not much to say other than "It works." The entire range of cogs, from 11t to 36t, is usable in both rings. Cross-chaining has not been a problem in either combination (the derailleur does not explode in big-big and the chain does not go slack in small-small). Chain drop has not been a problem.The fact that the shifters are 11-speed while the cassette is a 10-speed is not noticeable. The Jtek converter works flawlessly and does not call attention to itself. After 600 miles of using the entire range of gears and switching between big and small rings constantly (including under load, and including when cross-chaining) I have not yet dropped the chain, gotten the chain stuck between rings, or even mis-shifted. In all ways, the drivetrain functions as smoothly as it did when the original groupset was intact. To be honest, even in the best case scenario I did not expect it to work quite this well.





As far as usefulness of the gear range, this too has exceeded my expectations. The cassette is spaced asymmetrically, so that the smaller cogs are closer together and the bigger cogs wider apart. The exact combination is:11-13-15-17-19-22-25-28-32-36. With the 50/34t compact double, this combination almost feels like having two separate cassettes at my disposal: One for fast rides and the other with bailout gears for climbing either very long or very steep hills (or both!). Normally, I find myself riding in the big ring, in the middle of the cassette. One unexpected outcome of this, is that the setup encourages me to use bigger gears - something that has proven helpful over the past weeks of learning different climbing techniques and trying some interval training on flats. I was so focused on getting the low gears I wanted, it did not occur to me how much I would appreciate having the really high gears as well.The small cogs are not quite as tightly spaced as they would be on a racing cassette, but they are tight enough for me.



And of course at the low end of the range, the sub 1:1 ratio offered by the 34/36t combination is a dreamy bailout gear - especially considering how lightweight my bike is and how nicely it climbs in general. This end of the spectrum does come in handy on long rides over steep hills. For paved riding, this is now truly a go-anywhere bike.



While I expected the wide spacing to feel like a compromise, in practice it doesn't. On my dirt road bike, the spacing is tighter with a 12-29t Campagnolo road cassette. While my low gear on that bike is very similar to what is described here (28/29t with 650B wheels), on the high end it maxes out at 42/12t. I notice this more than I notice the difference in cog spacing.To be able to fly in 50/11t with my legs on fire and the next day spin up a vertical hill while humming happily in 34/36t,on the same bike,is, like, wow.



On the downside, the wide cassette does mean a bit of extra weight in the rear coming from the bigger cogs, long cage derailleur, extra chain length and Jtek pulley. Around 200-300g is the difference between this and my original drivetrain. Holding the bike up in my hands, it does tip to the rear a tad now, whereas before it was a masterpiece of perfect balance. In motion, I do not feel the extra weight. And whether it's bike related or not, my average speeds over the past few weeks here in Northern Ireland have been faster than previously. I really feel that I have the best of both worlds now with this bike.Since this is a temporary setup (an experiment for Seven Cycles, as much as for me - they may offer this option on custom builds in future), a different rear wheel was built for the purpose of testing it. I still have my bike's original Campagnolo wheel, derailleur and cassette, and can get my old setup back fairly quickly. But I think I will end up keeping this one, at least for the time being.



Visually, I admit the huge cassette does not exactly look elegant. The local roadies here have quickly dubbed it "the frying pan" and I've adapted the term affectionately. I may not be able to fry eggs on it, but I can can go far and I can go fast. Now we're cooking!

A Tip of the Hat

There is no date on this photograph, but it has been identified as Carrie Alexander. It was taken at the Siegel Cooper photo studio in Chicago. The Siegel, Cooper & Co. discount department store was established in 1887. [1]



Caroline Jane Alexander, known as Carrie, was born November 18, 1868 in Washington Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. Carrie was a sister of my Great-Grandmother Amanda Minerva Alexander Wiseman. Carrie married John Franklin Roath on July 8, 1884 and they had three daughters: Jessie, Leah, and Ruby. My grandparents, Charles and Elsie Shuder Wiseman, would name two of their daughters Jessie and Leah. Prior to 1900 they moved to Anderson, Indiana and later to Dayton, Ohio. Carrie and John would divorce and Carrie would later marry Perry Martin Comfort. One of my dad's brothers was named Perry Martin Comfort Wiseman! Carrie Alexander Roath Comfort died in 1930 in Dayton, Ohio.

[1] Chicago History Website http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2847.html

footnoteMaven has a list of other bloggers who have posted on the topic that was started by Laura Crawley with her post From The Ministry Of Silly Hats.

Beauty Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder

Tuesday, April 12th - - Wildflowers or Weeds? My mama once told me that a weed was anything growing where you didn't want it to be! By her definition then, a flower could be a weed... and a weed could be a flower. We've got thistles in Indiana but I don't think I've ever seen any quite like this! Alongside US highway 70 in Southeastern Oklahoma.





And, for TK, a sight to soothe the soul... In her comment on that post, TK says “I just want to crawl into that picture and inhale it?” Well, that's just how I felt on Sunday! And I must say, Green is gorgeous! Have you ever noticed just how many shades of green there are?

Soap gathering

This is how I spent the day yesterday: putting together the goody bags for the annual Alabama Soapmakers meeting.



To start, I make stacks of all the printed materials. Magazines and heavy catalogs go first, business cards and coupons on top.



Persnickety, me? All liquid and possibly-melty things must be segregated in ziplocks! (It's rare that something leaks, but you never know.)



This takes me all day.



My feet are really tired when it's done.



But it's worth it!

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Our 10th annual meeting is this weekend. Anne-Marie from Brambleberry is coming! I'm hoping some of her energy will rub off on me.

I wrote about our soap meeting once before here.

I'm so thankful to all our sponsors, who donated door prizes, samples, catalogs, coupons, and all manner of cool stuff. As Vendor Donations Coordinator, I've begged, pleaded, beseeched and harrassed them for the past three years. This year, the economy has sagged. I heard "no" (or silence) more than usual. I can relate -- everybody is pinching pennies. But I'm especially thankful to those vendors who came through for us this time.

Autumnal Longings

Every year I am caught off guard by the suddenness of Autumn. Winter's many false starts herald its arrival well in advance. Spring approaches with the tentativeness of a fawn. Then Summer rolls in with a lazy insistence. But Autumn just is. One day I wake up knowing that yesterday it was summer but today it is Fall, and there is no undoing it. The smell in the air is different. The light is different. The mood is different. It is done.




I cannot explain what causes the overwhelming bouts of sentimentality and nostalgia (for nothing in particular) that grip me during this season. And I am hardly alone in succumbing to this clichéd state. A film director need only show a scene of a park strewn with golden foliage, throwing in a Chopin prelude for background music, for the audience to be filled with a delicious sense of longing - for what they do not know.




But I know what I long for when I smell that crisp scent of dry leaves and behold the slanted light. Cycling. Yes, cycling cycling cycling. And after that, cycling. Monsieurs Chopin, Satie and Tschaikovsky, ready your soundtracks: I'll be playing them in my head as imaginary background music, while cycling.




Many feel that summer is the optimal cycling season, but for me it's a sluggish time when I am just not in my best form. Not that I haven't been riding. If anything, this summer I've learned to deal with heat much better than I thought myself capable. But honestly I just wasn't enjoying cycling as much as I did over the winter and spring. In 95° heat with high humidity, my legs felt as if they were perpetually pushing through molasses. The pressure and stickiness in the air were oppressive.




Then one morning I awoke to find the oppressiveness gone. It was still August, but no matter: Autumn was here. Sensing the ever-so-subtle change, it was as if my body snapped to attention and pulled me toward my roadbike while I struggled to focus on making coffee. On that day a friend took me up a little mountain and I hardly noticed I was climbing it until we were halfway up, so filled I was with this new energy. On that day my cycling season began.