Author: Ken Steinhoff

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South Florida Bike Expo

I was originally signed up to be an exhibitor at the South Florida Bike Expo, but when an email came from the promoter saying that they were juggling space to handle additional folks, I volunteered to give up my booth.

Wall to wall bicycles

After all, I don’t have anything to sell. I don’t lead tours, so what you read here is what you get. That decision worked out well, because it freed me up to wander around shooting the other booths and get a feel for the event.

South Florida Expo open Sunday, July 18

If you missed Saturday’s show, you’ll have another shot Sunday, July 18, between 9 A.M. and 6 P.M. Admission is free, but you will have to pay for parking at Ft. Lauderdale’s War Memorial Auditorium. You can get directions and all the info at the South Florida Bike Expo website.

Charity Rides

There are lots of exhibitors who will sign you up for charity rides.

Bicycle Advocacy community represented

The South Florida Bike Coalition, League of American Cyclists, the Florida Bicycle Association and others who lobby for our right to be on the road were there.

Gallery of photos from the South Florida Bike Expo

Click on any image to make it larger.

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Bro Mark Sees Three Men in Fiery Furnace

A ride report from my brother Mark in St. Louis:

On Your Mark Cycling Club LogoMatt, on his visit to St. Louis, was nice enough to give me a bike jersey that he and his A/B riders wear on occasion. It’s the “On Your Mark” jersey. The weather that I had been waiting for came this week and I pulled on the jersey and headed out for a ride.

That was Tuesday.

My brother is crazy

Tuesday was the day that we hit our high for the year, 98 degrees. The heat index was 102. I like to ride when it’s hot. I also like to sit in the car with the windows up when it’s hot and let the heat warm up my bones. Sorta like being a ham in an oven effect, nonetheless I like the heat to a no-pun-intended, “degree”.

I went to Forest Park and did my loops of the park and immediately noticed that I must be the only one who likes that kind of weather because there were no other riders at 3pm in the afternoon.

In fact, the park was empty of people except for some of the city kids who were sitting in the areas of the park that have waterfalls in them, and they were sitting in the water in the shade.

I admit that it was hot. With every 6 mile loop of my route I filled up a water bottle.

When traveling on a bike there is always some constant breeze (given you are going fast enough to generate one) and that became very evident each time when I stopped to fill up my water bottle. As soon as I unclipped my feet the rush of stifling heat surrounded me and the sweat would pour off me much like the waterfalls the kids had taken refuge in.

A “cool” hot T-shirt

But I like the heat. Back on my bike I began to feel the heat get the best of me around mile 28. I told myself that I would stop at mile 30 and call it a day OR when the bright sky started filling up with specks of darkness right before I blacked out. I was just rounding out my 30 mile mark when I looked over to see three other riders with me, it was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Apparently the Angel decided to sit out this fiery furnace ride.

[Editor’s note: for those of you who weren’t consigned to a parochial school for eight years, plus kindergarten, you can read about the Three Men in the Fiery Furnace here.]

The heat did not beat me to the point of blacking out and luckily I was close enough at mile 30 that I could coast to my car, load my bike up and sit in the car this time with the air conditioning on FULL blast. I have learned that a 102 heat index is my bar for NOT going out to ride.

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Frank Stark Ride & South FLA Bike Expo

This is going to be a busy weekend. The annual Frank Stark Ride will be held in Boca Sunday, July 18, starting at 7 A.M.

Video of last year’s Frank Stark Ride

The Boca Raton Bicycle Club folks want me to emphasize that the rider who was involved in the crash at the end of the video was NOT part of the Frank Stark Ride.

My feeling is that he wasn’t part of the ride, but he was in the midst of riders who WERE and it was the luck of the draw that an elderly rider turned in front of him instead of someone else. Just because you are part of an organized ride doesn’t mean that bad things can’t happen. Y’all be careful out there.

You KNOW you’re in Boca when they offer iced towels

Here are more pictures from last year’s Frank Stark Ride.

South Florida Bike Expo in Ft. Lauderdale

The South Florida Bike Expo will be held in Ft. Lauderdale’s War Memorial Auditorium Saturday July 17 from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M. and Sunday from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. Admission is free.

The event is billed as the largest expo and sale of bicycles and bike accessories in South Florida’s history. We’re going to be there, so stop by and put a face to the name.

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Sunset Palm Beach Bicycle Ride

Osa called at 5 P.M. and said, “How about a ride around 6:30? Sounded good to me, even if the hit index was in the mid-90s. The great thing about evening rides is that they only get cooler.

11 Forex Trailing Stops Robot – Protect Your Pips oads/2010/07/Cape-Ride-06-30-2010.jpg”>My Surly Long Haul Trucker seemed a little hard to pull out of it’s airconditioned shed. I could almost hear it shrieking, “Not the hills again, not the hills!” It was referring to my piddly little 1.9-mile ride last week in Missouri.

The LHT had the right stuff for the hills, but I didn’t. It usually takes me a few hours to remember the rhythm for going up and down and when to shift.

The Palm Beach sky turned pastel

Osa likes to ride along the beach, even if there’s a headwind. Last night’s wind came across at a slight angle and felt more like a cooling breeze than an impediment to progress.

The setting sun turned the clouds and sky into a range of pastel shades. I stopped for a few minutes to marvel at the variety of shipping moving across the horizon. Everything from a small sailboat to work boats, a tug and a freighter were represented.

Dusk in Palm Beach

Just before dark-thirty, I paused long enough to capture the last gasp of sunlight bouncing off the clouds.

I’ve been watching the Tour de France, which inspired me to attack Osa on some of the nose-bleed 20-foot elevation changes we encountered. As I blew past her, I had to remember that it’s a race only if the other person knows it too.

When we got back to the shed, I had the feeling that my LHT had forgiven me for embarrassing it in the hills of Missouri.

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How to Mount a Cateye Strada Computer on a Surly Long Haul Trucker

One of the members of the Surly Long Haul Trucker Google Group bought a new LHT.

His LBS was having a hard time mounting the sensor for his Cateye V2C computer because it wanted to go where Surly puts the spare spokes.

I sent him to a page showing how my Cateye Strada Cadence computer was mounted.

Unfortunately, when I downloaded the docs for his computer, the sensor wasn’t a simple as mine. It looked like it really DID want to mount on the top of the chain stay.

I have a Cateye Strada Cadence Computer

My LBS discouraged me from buying a wireless computer. They said they have found that folks who use their bikes a lot burn batteries quickly. (I’ve been slacking off lately, so I’m afraid a battery would have lasted me a long time.) They are also prone to freaking out or going blank in an urban environment with lots of high voltage EMF floating around.

They recommended the Cateye Strada Cadence Computer.

How to mount the speed sensor on an LHT

A little bit of rubber material folded up brought the speed sensor close enough that it could pick up the spoke-mounted magnet. The two small nylon ties don’t interfere with the spare spokes.

Cadence pick-up mounts the same way

This sensor faces outward toward the crank arm and pedal. The nylon ties clear the spokes easily.

Rare earth magnets work very well

I’ve had trouble keeping magnets mounted to my crank arm when using factory-supplied parts. My kid brother, Mark, turned me on to the idea of using tiny rare earth magnets sticking onto the crank arm to trigger the sensor.

When I mounted them on my Trek 1220, I bought my first set of magnets from Radio Shack and put a drop of Marine Goop on the crank arm. (Goop is the greatest thing since sliced bread and binder twine.) It stuck for several years and thousands of miles with no issues.

Rare Earth Magnet on Candy C pedal on LHT

When I bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker, I found that the sensor / magnet sweet spot would let me put the magnets directly on the Crank Brothers Candy C Pedal spindle. I used two of them stacked to get them close enough for the sensor to trigger. I didn’t even bother with the Goop this time. The magnetic attraction is enough to keep them anchored to the pedal.

I also found I could buy larger, cheaper magnets from Amazon. I use the Magcraft NSN0573 3/8-Inch by 1/8-Inch Rare Earth Magnets that sell 30 for $10.99. It’s amazing h0w many ways you can use them. (Once my grandson was old enough that I didn’t have to worry about him swallowing them, we Gooped them on a bunch of his toys so he could pick them up with a toy crane.)