Wasatch Nomad

[JimK]

Making plans is really a joke! Dante got a job in Utah, so here I am. For how long? Who knows?

Today's ride, day 4 in our new location: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14070945

[Andre Jute]

Must say, it looks pretty agreeable, Jim, lovely landscape and small lanes, good for cycling. Presumably it is warmer than your previous location.

[JimK]

So far so good. This is a big built up urban area so there are some quite nasty intersections. There are some very nice bike paths too. The best biking seems to be the technical stuff up in the mountains. I imagine the Nomad will get me through a lot of that. We shall see!

Right now it is miserably hot in New York and quite pleasant here. It'll be interesting to see how the heat gets here, come August! We're at about 4400 feet of elevation here so the sun is really intense!

[John Saxby]

Great stuff, Jim.  Marcia's parents used to live in SLC--they weren't Mormons, BTW, though Marcia used to say that it was interesting to visit one of the world's few remaining theocracies... My parents-in-law had a house on the East Bench of the city, backing onto state forest land, so that the Wasatch range was right out the back door: Mt Olympus was immediately east of their place, a six-hr up-and-back hike.

Fabulous countryside, with snow in the bowls up around 10,000' (esp those facing E and/or N) until late July.

Not much of a road/street/touring bike culture, to be sure, but great landscapes if you can suss out the secondary roads.

Best to you and Dante,

John

[JimK]

The snow we can see up on the peaks seems to be melting by the hour!

Dante will be commuting by bike to his job. He tested out his route a couple days ago and passed another bike commuter going the other way. So now he doesn't feel utterly alone! But yeah this looks like road racing bikes and mountain bikes, plus a lot of basic cheap bikes, around here. We've seen lots and lots of bikes on the roads and bike paths. It's a busy place!

[mickeg]

You should try to get down to Moab.  I stripped the fenders off my Nomad and put a suspension fork and suspension seatpost on it.  The photos are from a 4 day fully supported bike tour I did at Canyonlands White Rim in April a couple years ago.  A friend of mine organized the trip, there were 10 of us there, we hired an outfitter to haul our food and water and beer and camping gear, cook our food, etc.

The rest of the group all had full suspension mountain bikes, so my Nomad with the drop bars and no rear suspension did not quite fit into the group as well.  There were a few places where the lack of suspension slowed me down compared to the others, but the rest of the group had derailleurs and I liked having the quicker shifting Rohloff. 

The White Rim trail is 4X4 driveable, so it is not as tough as you might otherwise think.  You do not have to be a skilled mountain biker to do it.  But, it gets hot there later into the summer, so don't wait too long.  Early April was perfect biking weather.

[in4]

Those photos should go in the mega brochure particularly the Bloke's Convention one. 

[brummie]

I just wonder how they're all gonna fit in that small tent?

[JimK]

Moab is definitely the prime destination in Utah! I doubt we'll get down there this year. Our focus will be local exploration. There's a good chance we'll be here longer term, in which case we'll certainly be hitting the big parks to the south.

[mickeg]

I just wonder how they're all gonna fit in that small tent?

It was a tight fit.

Actually, we had a bunch of tents, first photo.

And we ate well, second and third photos.  And the cook did not even set the truck on fire.

[JimK]

The number of times I have reworked the breakable connection where the wires from the dynamo cross the S&S coupler on their way to the rear light... ugh! When it works it's nice! On top of all that, somehow I am constantly swapping polarities... now it only works with the polarities again crossed at this connection, to correct for whatever odd number of swaps there might be elsewhere. Well, I have a rear light again!

The most recent failure was from the 2200 mile drive from New York to Utah with the bike hanging off the back of the car. Yeah we were in southwest Nebraska driving through a monster thunderstorm the same afternoon that like a dozen tornadoes hit western Kansas. It was a storm, for sure! Anyway the crimped connections must not have been too snug - they were for fatter gauge wire after all! - so when we got here the bare wires were hanging free. The local hardware store had the proper gauge connectors... I have no idea if all that electrical tape will help or hurt... but it does reflect my frustration!

[David Simpson]

On top of all that, somehow I am constantly swapping polarities

Jim --

Just an idea, but what about marking one of the wires (on both sides of the connector) with a bit of white paint, such as white-out correction fluid. It would only take a little dab, and then you would know to connect white-to-white and black-to-black. The dab could be very small, because you only need (and want) to see it when you are re-connecting the wires.

- DaveS

[mickeg]

That is in part why I decided to use battery taillights.

An FYI - I wrap electrical tape around each end of my S&S couplers to keep dirt out of the threads.  Months later I took the tape of to check tightness, the couplers were still tight.  Since then I have quit checking that they stay tight.

[JimK]

what about marking one of the wires 

yeah the wires are marked already! I have a crimped butt joint to another marked wire.... did I mess that up? Oh yeah that wire inserts into the headlight. I put on the connectors to the headlight. Should marked go to ground, or unmarked?

No doubt I could rip it all apart again and do it right. Hmmm, knowing me, it would probably take three or four cycles to get things to settle down. Fresh shipments from Peter White each time, oh yeah toss in a spare tire or two to bring the total up to the shipment minimum... believe me, I have a stash of tires!

How a person can make so many mistakes on such a simple task, it boggles my mind! I boggle me! That's one good reason to get out and ride, to try to clear my head!

I hope tomorrow to try my first little segment of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail: http://www.bonnevilleshorelinetrail.org/pleasantviewtoi84/pleasantviewtoi84.html

[JimK]

Well, that Bonneville Shoreline Trail seems too technical for my interests and really my abilities too! Very tight hairpins with big rocks etc. Maybe I could develop the skills but really I would be happier hiking on these narrow trails. Everyone else I saw on the trails was on foot!

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14157253

This was a non-scary bit but soon enough it was tight turns, steep cliffs, etc.


I took a very pleasant path on the way to the mountainside, though!


On the way home I danced a bit with the locomotives. "Golden Spike" is a common enough name around here - the junction of the eastern and western railroads happened not too far away, and still this is a monster train shuffling spot: