Today's Sunrise

MapMyRide iPhone Application

Thought I'd give MapMyRide a go and track my ride home today. The best thing about this app is its price - FREE! Not only does it track your exact route, it also provides you with a slew of information including elevation which explains why my ride home always seems harder. Take a look at my route below.

NOTE: This ride usually takes approx 25min during the summer. In the winter this has increased to 38min, due mainly to the knobby tires and hard packed snow I have to traverse.

Winter Gloves - UPDATE!

Toronto
Wednesday January 20
-5C (Feels like -12C with the windchill)

Today's ride wasn't quite as cold as its been last week (-7C), but pretty close, so I decided to give my new Axiom Gailforce Lobster gloves a try and sure enough they did the trick - with 2 minor complaints. As expected, the terry cloth thumb section designed to wipe sweat/snot proved to under perform compared to the rest of the glove and by the end of my ride my thumb was definitely colder then the rest of my fingers. The other complaint is that the portion of the glove that your index and middle finger slide into is a little long  making the transition from '2 fingers on the brake' to '4 fingers on the bar' a bit of a maneuver. This is due to the extra material hanging up on the brake lever as you move your fingers back to the bar (I purchased a LG size but could probably make due with a M - however, I don't think the size would matter in this case). I guess its the price you pay for warm fingers!

UPDATE
On the ride home (with the same outside temperatures) the gloves definitely have a thumb issue. In fact I'd have to say that hitting -20C with these seems unlikely and you'd most likely want to wear a thin under layer if possible. This was one of my reasons for buying a size up.

Mystery Amped Connections

I managed to spend a few minutes today sorting out which connectors are which on the motor controller supplied with my Amped motor kit. Without any of the peripherals on hand a ran into a few missing or should I say miss-named wires. Fortunately I had a few minutes this evening to run out to the garage to sort things out. Here's what remains unanswered:

I believe this connector is for 'Future Connections" such as cycle analyst etc.

These two connectors actually connect together in order to limit the speed of the motor for European applications (I believe).

This is the only mystery wire I have left. As you can see there is a small jumper connected to the end. Hopefully my thread on the Amped forums will give me an answer.

If you want to follow this thread from the Amped forums please visit "New Conversion - 2009 Giant Seek 1". I've posted these same images in order to confirm/verify my findings.

Danny's New Battery

Just heard back from Danny. It looks as though the new battery will be available starting mid-March. If that's the case I may hold off on the battery kit for now, or settle for a set of (albeit heavy) SLA's until then. Can't wait!

Amped conversion update

I've spent the last week debating which battery to use for my conversion and have narrowed it down to 2; either a 37V 8.2Ah Lithium Polymer from ItsElectric.ca or Danny's new 36V 10Ah Lithium Cobalt blend bottle mount beauty. There's also a 10.2Ah version of the ItsElectric lithium polymer but the 8.2Ah version will handle my commute no problem according to my calculations.

Versus

I'd love to get my kit going sooner rather then later since the daily ride is starting to wear on me, but there is currently no ETA on Danny's new battery. And since its winter I don't assume he's in any rush to get it into production, which is why I've been looking into alternatives. However, Danny's new battery does have some very interesting features - bottle mount, built in controller, bluetooth throttle and iPhone/iPod Touch support (curious what this is all about!).

Alternatively I'd have to determine a rear rack and trunk combo to accommodate any other battery option which would easily add another $100 (minimum) to the cost. For example I've been looking into Topeak's rack and trunk system which would be a great solution for housing everything including any additional items I may need to pack.

Winter Gloves

I managed to track down a pair of Axiom Gailforce Lobster winter gloves yesterday at my local bike shop. At $49 they are very well priced compared to the competition, and the only gloves that seem to rate winter conditons on a sliding scale - temperature, water resistance, wind resistance and more.

Rated down to -20C and waterproof they should hopefully do the trick (my only concern is the terry cloth thumb area used for wiping sweat or let's afce it, snot). I've read reviews for similar glove styles that complain about cold thumbs, but short of buying ski gloves it appears to be a standard feature on cycling gloves. I'll post my review once I can make good use of them - Murphy's law, we've had +3C temperatures so far this week.

Seek 1 Performance

For some reason I forgot to mention how well my Giant Seek 1 performed during my inaugural ride last week. As I've mentioned before I had a few concerns about the rear hubs shifting and the hydraulic brakes performance in extreme cold. At somewhere around -7C (-11C with the windchill) neither of these components presented any problems - shifting was smooth right out of the gate and the brakes seemed as responsive as ever.

I thought the brake levers may be slow to spring back but I didn't find this to be an issue at all. According to WikiAnswers "-30C(-22F) is listed as the freezing point for mineral oil. Due to viscosity (how thick the fluid is, basically), however, it's lowest useful temperature is considered to be 10C (50F)." I knew that once the brake lines had seen some use and warmed up there wouldn't be any issues at all, but I was more then happy to discover that even at these temperatures the brakes perform as they should.

The same is true for the Alfine rear hub - I expected the shifting to be a bit sluggish to start but ease up during the ride. I was surprised to find it shifting easily from the start.

Clearly neither of my initial concerns were warranted, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on things as temperatures change (up or down) and report back with any observations.

Winter Commuting - Some Lessons Learned

Toronto
Tuesday January 12
-7C

Here are some observations from my first winter commute

Time - Count on adding a lot to your ride if you have to drive through any snow. I can normally cover the 13km commute in about 35 minutes. Today it took me just over an hour!

Schwalbe Winter Marathons
These tires are amazing! If you need some confidence when you ride this winter you should definitely pick up a pair of these. They may be overkill if you only ride on plowed roads but if you're like me and your commute covers a range of conditions then you can't beat a pair of these. My commute today covered everything from plowed roads to hard packed park trails to snow covered paths - not only that, I even had the chance to ride over some serious ice (there were several patches of run off that had covered the park paths creating a mini glacier effect).

• Plowed Roads - imagine riding over bubble wrap (sound wise) - its a 'crunchy' experience. The tires roll well but tend to feel squishy in the corners which is expected. Like I said, if plowed roads are all you ride then the Nokian A10's may be the better option.
• Hard Packed Snow - No problems here at all. My only problem was related to tire pressure. In order to properly set the studs Schwalbe recommends riding 25 miles at full pressure - since I've missed my opportunity to ride on dry roads to do this I decided to only inflate them to 4 bar (5 bar max, 2.5 bar min). This is way to high for hard packed snow - my wrists and ass definitely paid the price for this!
• Ice - Slow was my modo over the mini glaciers I came across. The studs definitely do their thing here but its still pretty scary. At one point my bike did the old sideways slide trick but I was able to recover without even having to put a foot down. On anything but studs I would have definitely eatin' dirt.
• Snow Covered Paths - No problem at all! I rode with complete confidence. The only thing to watch out for are the slushy patches, especially on turns. 

Clothing
It is possible to dress too warm! Seeing that the temperature was -7C I thought I should really wrap up.

• Top - My base layer is a long sleeved wool jersey, followed by a typical waffle top (also long sleeve), followed by a heavy zippered Thinsulate top followed by a thin waterproof shell. I probably could forgo the heavy Thinsulate top next time, but I wasn't sure how much heat I would generate during my ride. Needless to say I had no problems staying warm up top.
• Bottom - My bottom layers consist of a thin base (long John), followed by a cool weather tight followed by a lined athletic pant (to act as a wind barrier). My legs were perfectly warm - not too hot not too cool.
• Hands - Lets just say that my hands suffered. I wore a cool weather glove underneath a wool fingerless glove thinking I would stay warm while still maintaining good finger mobility. I had to stop 3 times to warm up my finger tips! New gloves are definitely on my wish list... 
• Head -  For my head I have 3 options (all include a helmet); no cap, cap or balaclava. On my first ride I figured my cap option would be fine - it has ear flaps to help keep out the cold. It didn't. The wind on my face was too much to handle so after 1 block I switched to my balaclava. As I mentioned above, my hands suffered. Not my head! The only downside to the balaclava is the effect it has on your glasses (fog). However, even at -7C the hot air created by your breath keeps your cheeks and eyes toasty.
  

Other Observations

• I need to adjust my seat. The entire commute I felt like I was sliding forward - a slight adjustment should fix it. The stock saddle isn't the most comfortable anyway so a new Selle An-Atomica is going to be added to my wish list for sure!
• Handle bar and hand position. Now I remember why I bought my road bike last year - a flat bar is just not comfortable. I have an extra bar similar to a Nitto Albatross CrMo bar that I think I'm going to install once I can get my hands on a Jtek Bar End Shifter - I need the real estate for the Amped thumb throttle. My wrists were sore after riding through the hard packed snow, and my hands were numb/tingly after the ride.
• Brake Levers - At -7C metal can be cold. I think wrapping or finding some foam/rubber lever covers will help in the cold hand department.
  

I'll add to this topic as I learn more from my comnutes.

Giant Seek 1 Tire Clearance & Schwalbe Marathon Winters Part II

The clearance issue continues...

Installing Fenders
I purchased a set of Cascadia Planet Bike Hybrid fenders over the weekend that I thought would work well with my bike. They are longer then most with a nice rubberized flap which offer improved coverage and prevent over spray from puddles and slush. I knew I would have some clearance issues with this bike, especially in the rear due to a strange protrusion at the top of the rear triangle. Since I had fitted my bike with larger studded tires (see 'Giant Seek 1 Tire Clearance & Schwalbe Marathon Winters') I wanted to maximize fender clearance in order to keep snow build up - not a problem at all on the front.

The Back is a different story altogether....

Due to the strange protrusion in the rear, the rear fender is forced into the tire making wheel rotation near impossible (remember this is a smaller tire then the front - 35mm rear, 42mm front). Not only that, the clearance where the tire meets the chain stay is literally ZERO! In order to get around this I had to cut the fender so that it would end at the top of the seat stay fork.

The plastic clip that would normally act as a guide for the fender is now acting as a clamp - however, after my first commute I quickly realized that this was insufficient. Before my next ride I plan on drilling a couple of holes through the fender and clamp in order to secure everything together with a zip tie. Regardless of this issue the tire clearance for the rest of the fender is equivalent to the front.

Another downside to this reduced fender is the spray that accumulates around the bottom bracket and the lower seat tube. To prevent this I may try to attach a spare front fender designed to attach to the down tube or figure out some use for the leftover rear fender trimmings. I'll post my solution once I find one...

Giant Seek 1 Tire Clearance & Schwalbe Marathon Winters Part I

I managed to take some shots of the rear tire of my Seek 1 fitted with the new 700c 35 Schwalbe Marathon Winters. As you can see 35mm is pushing it in terms of safe clearance.

Remember - those measurements you're seeing are in centimeters! These images are from the rear wheel with a 35mm Winter Marathon.

At approximately 5mm, this is the area with the least amount of clearance

9-10mm here is looking better.

Easily 14-15mm clearance. We'll have to see if my new fenders will squeeze into these tight limits. More to come...

The cost of commuting (or is it the savings?)

Here is a link to a list of all my expenses related to my daily commute. Wherever possible I will include all the details in order to give the most accurate costs involved. All prices are quoted in $CAD and total savings are based on the Transit Costs for the year.

Click inside the table and use your mouse to scroll up and down. Click here if the spreadsheet below does not display correctly


A Few Notes

1. Bikes - I like nice bikes, but that doesn't mean you have to. If you need to keep your costs low try looking at something around the $500 price point. Generally its a nice balance between quality and value. For example take a look at the Louise Garneau Sub-0.
2. Clothing -  I will try to price out specific items that I feel are a 'must have', but in some cases I either can't remember what I paid or already had the item. For example I already own some base layers (long johns and wool tops), but did buy winter riding gloves. Where ever possible I'll make notes regarding this.
   
3. Annual Savings - Realistically I don't expect to be riding the same bike, with the same parts for the next 10 years. Things will inevitably brake down or wear out, but regardless it gives you a good idea of the cost savings you can expect in the long run. Not to mention the health benefits which are hard to quantify.
   

Good Things Do Come in 3's!

Not only did my new iPhone arrive today but so did my new Schwalbe Mararhon Winters and my Amped front wheel kit! I was hoping to ride in today for the first the this year but ran out of time last night installing the new tires.

Schwalbe Marathon Winters

As you can see the tires arrived not folded but twisted (for lack of a better word). Peter White Cycles is pretty clear about this fact on their site, and its mostly due to the bead on these tires - folding them would crimp the bead. The only downside of this is the added shipping costs involved in the larger package requirements. Also, letting these tires sit for a day or two once installed is probably a good idea since they tend to be twisted out of shape a bit - not sure I would like to hop on these right away!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride in today because it took me longer to install them then I thought - these are substantial tires to work with and not nearly as flexible as the slicks I removed. However, they definitely look like they'll do the job. Below is a picture of the tire installed on my front rim.

Tire Clearance
I have found a few posts on other forums regarding tire clearance issues with the Seek series of Giant bikes. For this reason I ordered a 700c 42 for the front, and a 700c 35 for the rear. After mounting the front tire I tried to dry fit it to the rear and there is definitely no room for a 42mm version of this tire in the back (no photo but trust me!).

Amped Motor
For those interested here is a picture of the Amped motor I ordered. As you can see everything is very well packaged for shipping and all the components appear to be in perfect condition. I was surprised at a couple of the components - for example the controller unit is quite a bit smaller then I had imagined, and more along the lines of a cigarette pack then an external hard drive.

Once I get my battery pack (whichever one I decide to buy) I'll get this puppy installed and up and running. Stay tuned...

Saving Money

I've compiled another chart to track the money I save each month by not taking public transport. Here in Toronto it costs $5.50 CAD round trip each day to take the bus or train - buying a metro pass doesn't save me anything since I would have to use it every work day plus the occasional weekend to make it worthwhile. I'll start another post (soon) to list all of the costs involved in bike ownership to give everyone a real world idea of the total savings.

Key

Blue bar represents the potential savings if I avoid using public transport 100% of the available commuting days

Red bar represents the actual savings based on my success rate for the given month (see My Commuting Record 2010)

Jan 6 and still no miles on my new rig!

However, it looks as though all of that is about to change. Looks like my studded tires are waiting at the post office to be picked up. If I have the time tomorrow after work I'll swing on by and pick them up, install them and prep for a Friday cruise into work. Wish me luck!

As a bonus my new (and first) iPhone is waiting for me at my office! Tomorrow's looking up!!!

My Commuting Record 2010

In order to track my success rate as I try to commit to a year round cycle of commuting to work by bike, I've put together this graph. Each month starts at 100% - the idea being that maintaining a high percentage of success is better then trying to reach some unattainable goal. Hopefully this will be a motivating exercise!



Key
Blue bar represents the number of available commuting days I didn't ride for each month
Red bar is the number of days in the month
Yellow bar indicates the number of non-commuting days (weekends, holidays etc)
Green bar indicates my success rate as a percentage of the available commuting days divided by the number of days actually ridden

Stuck in Customs!

Not really, but as an aside for all those photo lovers check out StuckInCustoms.com for some great HDR photography. As for my Amped Bikes order it appears to have just entered Canadian air space! Stay tuned...

Also - no word yet on my winter tires. I'm going to call Peter White Cycles tomorrow to confirm that they've actually been shipped.