Here's the probable route for the ride--travels counterclockwise:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...ce-at-the-park

Summary of the route: Essex->Eastern Blvd->Route 43->Route 40->Loop thru Joppatown->Route 40->Havre de Grace (Tydings Park)

There's plenty of places to refuel along the way.

Josh, nice meeting you today. It was nice having you along for the ride to Havre de Grace.

See ya on the road!

Nice meeting you too, I talked to the wife, maybe next weekend if your not doing anything I can do the entire ride. It would have been nice to do all 70 miles or so, I ended up getting in about 50 miles averaging 17.5mph, I kept on telling the wife to let me out along the way so I could finish the whole ride, she torchered me and drove past every single place I could have got a drink.

Next time I guess I'll take the phone off vibrate. huh

Anne Arundel county here

GB's April century (actually, a double metric) report
My ride up to Gettysburg was quite successful. and quite wet. I wore a goretex jacket and just let my legs get wet. soggy feet at the end of the day though. The route I took, (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/131495), was basically wmnpkr31's route from bikely except I started from Hampden. Beautiful trip. It was this first long ride I've taken without a bike computer- actually quite nice not looking down at speed averages or mileages. I mostly anticipated upcoming turns by my watch. (figuring about 4min/mile). Gettysburg was much better than I expected. Very creepy natural terrain and then all the memorials tucked here and there. I really slowed down through the park. Made a quick stop for water in/water out, munched a couple of poptarts and headed home. The Kogswell is not a fast bike. It's heavy, the tires are 38's and the dynamo hub gives a bit of drag with or without lighting. However, it more than makes up for it in comfort. I was off the bike for less than 10 minutes during the whole 120 miles and felt great. I couldn't make it back to Hampden as darkness was closing in, so I stopped in Owings Mills and met up with some friends for dinner. A great day :)

Nice ride. Man! You were almost literally in my back yard. Next time let me know and I would ride at least partway with you.

You also just barely missed two of the best hills in my area (or worst depending on your outlook).

-D

Help me pick out my next "truck" bike.

As I have been evolving as a rider so has my bike but it looks like we now have to split ways my newest setup is really picky and not always as quiet as I would like. According to Joe the problem is that I have reached the max that you can do with a top pull front derailleur and I need to go with a bottom pull. Which means a real hokey cable setup or a new bike.

The main problem is most bike shops point me to low geared stump pullers and I want to go fast as well as pull a load up a hill but I don't need anything smaller then 30 gear inches. So I am hoping those that know me can help me out as I want to defy the typical cargo bike stereo-types.

Joe pointed out a nice Trek X01, I like the idea of a cyclo-cross bike in general and this bike in particular but they have such low gears. My fantasy bike right now has a 54 tooth big ring and (180-)190mm cranks and is sturdy enough to add my Xtracycle to. Anyway I am not comfortable making such a radical change to a bike straight off the bat which is why I am asking here.

Also extra points for multi position handle bars and/or brakes on the aerobars.

If you get a bike with a Shimano drivetrain that uses an external bottom bracket, the crank can be changed on a whim in about 15 minutes; chainrings can be changed in about an hour.

Depending on the rear derailluer cage (short vs. long) you can put cogs of 12x27 on the rear wheel, or in the case of a long cage, get into the 30 tooth range.

Precisely, what gearing are you looking for? 30 gear inches can be attained in different ways, but the solution should fit you physiologically.

What are you looking for on the high end?

Are you a one bike guy or a multi-bike guy?
If the former, then I'd slow down and start researching the perfect do-it-all-for-Barry bike. It IS out there. Currently, there are more American indy bike makers than ever before, making well built designs for all kinds of needs. Consider this a 6-9 month endeavor.
If you are a multi-bike guy (I sure am!) then buy a go-fast bike for fun and also modify your Trek's gearing. The operating limits set by Shimano, et.al. for their derailleurs is always very conservative. My Kogswell goes from a high of 104 gear inches to a low of 21gi with only 2 chainrings (middle and inner). You could conceivably put a larger ring on there and go to 120gi. HOWEVER, you'd have to realize that dumb cross shifting (big ring to big cog) will royally screw up your drive chain, but no thoughtful biker would shift that way. Consider a 53-42-28 in front and a 9-speed 11-34 cassette. Then forgo all thoughts of index shifting for the front derailleur (personally, I think they suck anyway). Indexing will work fine on the RD, but you'll need to be able to make small adjustments in the FD.
I can help you work it out if you need any help. -GB

I am a one bike kind of guy (though I do have a vintage bike project in my basement) as almost everything I do ends up being a form of randonneuring or touring. My target range for gear inches is 30-130. NoRacer the external bottom bracket comment was helpful.

While what NoRacer sez about external BBs is true, it really only takes 15 minutes to change cranks. Also, externals mean Barry's got to buy a new crank as well, which really doesn't seem nec. just to adjust gearing.

I'm curious why it is difficult to put a bottom pull front derailleur on your Trek? Does the XtraCycle bump into it?

A new bike is great, but I bet all you need is a new FD. -GB

That's what I said--15 minutes for cranks, but an hour if you want to use an an existing external bottom bracket crank and change out it's rings.

Just looked at Sheldon Brown's Gear Inch Calculator. Wow! 30-130 is a tall order.

Here's what I got, using 54 x 42 chain rings:

So, you'd need 11x36 in the rear and 54x42 in the front to get that range of gear inches.

First off I want new cranks. [I used to race in the 70's with long cranks (180 if I remember right) and loved them.] And you are correct that all I really need is just a new FD but there are no cable hangers on the bike for a bottom pull FD so I would have to rig up my own, which I would guess in the worse case would be just zip tying one long cable housing to the down tube.

yeah. 30-130 is definitely wide gearing. and you're not going to find a cassette larger than 34T

how about the Rohloff 14 speed internal hub?
They've got over 500% gear range, totally weather proof and maintenance free.
You could use a single 54T in front with no derailleur at all and a 15T cog and you'd get:

142.6/125.6/110.3/97.2/85.6/75.2/66.3/58.3/51.3/45.1/39.8/35.0/30.7/27.1

Hot damn! That's gearing. You'd be using all of your gov't "economic stimulus" check on it though.

Hey Derath,

Sandymount and Lee's Mill seemed like a pretty sharp down and up. Which hills are your faves?
and wherever they are, I would've considered them "worst" hills after 110 miles on my legs.

also... my apologies for not getting back to about your kind offer of a tandem loan for my niece. I brought up the idea with my sister and while she seemed interested in the idea of her daughter on a tandem, it began to get a little bit tangled up with worries (irrational IMHO) about safety. However, I may take you up on the offer later this spring/summer. Thanks.

Yea those roads are all good.

To give you an idea, this is my favorite quick loop. When I am working from home and just have an hour or so to ride http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Quick-Lunch-Ride

THe roads in question are Brown road and Tank road. Somewhat short, but steep enough I have had my front wheel bob up off the road while pedaling.

No biggie on the tandem. Offer is open anytime.

-D

You can usually tell where the ride gets steep--right where the "S"es are.

Subject change:

I have an iAero, now. For the upgrade, Velocomp needed my iBike Pro sent back to them as part of the discount deal, so unfortunately I can't make an offer to you.

I have some roads that I commute on that usually show up in the iBike analysis software as causing accelerometer overload. When I get home, I'm going to check to see that this has been remedied in the iAero, since that is suppose to be one of the major redesign issues addressed.

Josh, I'm going to tentatively accept at this time, since I have no race this weekend. It also depends on if there's going to be a randonnuer ride (usually a century) or a BBC club ride that I'm looking forward to doing. Keep in touch.

That's cool. I will be interested to know how it works. I have been watching the forums. I have actually been trying to find a cheap ibike (working or broken) on ebay etc. I was told by velocomp the ibike doesn't have to be functional to get the upgrade deal.

Worst case I am considering just forking overthe $$$ to pick one up while they have it on "sale"

-D

I thought about you that day. I got soaked just commuting. I figured your century a month was in jeopardy. That's one tough way to get a century

Barry: I agree w/ GB on 2 bikes. One bike can't do it all. Speed and hauling usually don't go together. I think you will have lots of chain slop with that type of gearing so you better get a RD that can pick it all up.
Also:Long cranks can cause some knee problems. If memory serves me you just had some knee issues. I am not saying this will be you case but you will get more stress/flex to the knee joint with a longer crank.

I hate to ask when I'm sure the answer may be in these 68 pages somewhere...
But does anyone have recommendations for a bike shop around Rockville? Give or take 30 miles or so.
Looking to find/fit a road bike after many years of mountain biking.

Gaithersburg Bikes, AABikes in Damascus (best) if you're coming North....

+1 for AABikes.

I had an RD cable break while on a ride that past through Damascus. AABikes took care of me right away.

Josh,

This weekend, I'm probably going to do a BBC ride that starts at Westminster Elementary School (70 miles).