Open Deer Season (Bow) @ Collis P Huntington SP!

This was just brought to my attention by a fellow mountain biker and I am shocked to learn about this now.  There are not many places to ride within Fairfield County that have a complex network of trails and miles and miles of singletrack.  Troutbrook or Pequonnock River Valley (aka Trumbull) are two areas that are similar in complexity but both permit hunting.  Huntington SP, on the other hand, is so busy with equestriennes, mountain bikers, joggers, dog walkers, walkers and hikers, that I can't see why the DEP would open up hunting here.  It's insane! 

This means that there are practically no safe places to ride without the fear of either getting shot at or skewed by an arrow.  Granted, I don't recall of any hunting accidents ocurring in the last five years but knowing that there is the potential for something like that is unnerving, to say the least.  The only places that you can ride in Fairfield County where hunting is not permitted are the following locations:

1. Mianus
2. Wilton Woods
3. Shelton Lakes

There is also Cranberry Park but I hear there is too much dog poo.  There could be more but these are the ones with probably the best networks of singletrack.  Sub-rural-urbia just got a lot smaller.

The Friday Fix: Fixed and 29er!

Came across a brace of Fixie 29ers on Flickr and thought they would make a wonderful addition to the Friday Fix.

Jamis, Monster Cross Fixie 29er!  Drive Train on the left side, too.  

Doesn't get much better than this!  Kita-san.  Fixed and 29, with a drum brake.

Another fixie 29er, called Soiled with a drum front brake.

And here are my renditions:

Raleigh XXIX Fixed

Qball Fixed

29er and a Porche?

Sub-rural-urbia has it's fair share of luxury vehicles, though the quantity is diminishly less than what you'll find between Fairfield and Greenwich. However, while waiting for the bus with my daughter the other morning, I recognized a Porche driving down Hanover Road and what was peculiar about it and what really struck me as odd was that it had a roof rack and a mountain bike on it! When it passed by, it looked like the bike was a black Independent Fabrications 29er single speed!

I know a guy over in Danbury that drives a Bimmer and he has a rack atop his car for his bike but this is the first time I have ever seen a luxury sports car with a bike rack. Not to mention a single speed, 29er! Kind of overkill if you ask me but still cool to see the koolaid influence slowly creeping into Sub-rural-urbia.

Peugeot UO-8

Look what the cat dragged in! Actually, a friend of mine rescued this classic if not vintage Peugeot from the breakers last week. At first I thought it might be a PX-10, which is the bike that Eddie Mercy rode to win the Tour de France in the late 1960s but after comparing the bike to various online resources I came to the conclusion that this bike is not a PX, nor a PA-10. I found a lot of information at the following site: http://retropeugeot.com/

It resembles the PA-10 with the fact that bicycle pump mounts on the down tube, however, the Neverex lugs on the PA-10 are painted black. The lugs on this bike are trimmed in black.

The other tell tale feature that points this bike to the UO-8 model is the black bar tape and the covers on the brake levers in comparison to the picture at the top.

It actually comes with a Brooks Saddle! Not the best of saddles but it's still a Brooks and a type that is no longer made anymore. It's a padded racing saddle. Probably not worth much because of a tear in the side.

These Mafac Racer brakes are pretty unique, though, and look really cool. I think once I get everything cleaned up it will look really nice.

The front derailleur is an interesting design. It works like a piston and probably has a spring pushing against it but when you pull down on the lever it pulls the derailleur over.

Can't tell whether this is an upgraded derailluer or did it come stock. Two other bikes that I am working on from this same era have similar Suntour derailleurs but according to everything I read, the UA-8 came with a Simplex derailleur that was made of plastic and prone to breaking.




Cranks are pretty unique, rather than five bolts there are three. This will look ever better, I think when I go to a single crank and take off everything else.

To get this bike running again, all it needed was air in the front tire and a new tube in the rear. I think I am going to try 700c wheelset with 38c cross tires and I am going to either replace the bars with a pair of mustache bars and use aero levers or keep the bars and put on some Campy shifter/brake combos that the LBS might give me a good deal on. Definitely going to keep it geared for now. It will be interesting to see what it's like to commute to work geared.

Late afternoon quickie

Had the opportunity to finish up the workday at home after getting my daughter off the bus and then taking her over to her Brownie Troop outing. Temperature today was a balmy 70 degrees and the whole afternoon it looked like it was going to rain. Once I was done with work I hopped on the 'Horse wearing a dayglo green riding jersey and hammered out a quite 5 mile ride in Upper Paugussett State Forest in the waning late afternoon sunlight.

I went for the Echo Valley Loopy ride because it covers the most distance in the shortest amount of time. The other track (red) in the map above is really there to provide a little reference so that I can show where the trail reroute is from the work that was done on the Gussy Trail last weekend.

Unfortunately, the map doesn't do a good job of showing where the Short Log Ride is either. I took some pictures of it last weekend but they don't do it justice, either, however I did have plenty of before pictures so if you really want to get a sense of this area, I suggest you follow the above link and see what I mean. I hit the short log ride and cleaned it on the first try. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time so no video this time around. I will try to shoot something this weekend.

The picture below is of no where in particular but it exemplifies the serenity of the forest during autumn. Another of layer of leaves have fallen atop the layer from the last year and the layer from the year before and the layer before that one. All these layers weigh down on the base layers decomposing the leaves and creating humus.