Some thoughts on the 2015 Kona lineup

Obviously, I am basing this off of the information on the Kona website, but with my years of experience with Kona bikes, I am reasonably sure that what I am about to say makes at least some sense.

So here goes!

Prices have all gone up. Boo Hiss. But this is not a big surprise really since there is this thing called inflation and bicycles are not free of that either.

On the mountain bike front, the biggest thing worthy of note is that the 26in wheel seems to have suffered a total death. No more basic bikes with 26in wheels. They have all gone to 27 1/2. This is, I think, a very good thing and increases the value for the money in the basic line up.

Beyond that, I have nothing to say about their mountain bikes since I am not much of a mountain biker any more.

On the road bike front, there are some delicious things happening.

First, my beloved Sutra has been given a bit of an overhaul. First of all, and most significant in my view, the saddle on the bike is now a Brooks B17 saddle. I find this amusing as I did this exact thing to mine. I find it even more amusing that I gave up on the Brooks saddle since I could not get it comfortable no matter what I did. Otherwise, the bicycle is basically the same as last year's model. The front rack is gone though. So is mine...

Second, the endurance line up of bicycles is changed completely. Good. What is there now is more affordable, and better. Scandium frames, better parts, and general all around goodness abound. The top bike is so good and priced so well that I would not consider a new Jake the Snake unless I really needed a cyclocross bike. For how I ride and what I ride on/over, the top bike in this lineup is a better choice.

Third, the top end road race bicycle finally looks to be closer to a top end road race bicycle than was previously offered. The components are better, as is the frame. What took Kona so long?

Fourth, the Minute is back. I thought that ditching that bike was a dumb move. Good to see it back. It is back on my must get list. Mid sized cargo bikes make a lot of sense. The Ute is no more though.

Fifth, the Dew line-up has been revamped. Not sure if this is a good thing, but the basic bikes are still what they were and that is a good thing.

Sixth, the classic road bike line-up has a new king, the Kapu. It is a well specced classic steel framed bicycle.

And Seventh, the free range line-up has been puffed up with some new variations on the Rove including a less expensive aluminum one, and one which looks like a Dew on steroids.

Overall, the line-up looks good. We shall see what they look like when they arrive in the shop.

Sony Xperia Z2

Move over Apple, there is a new boss in town...

Basically, the story goes like this.

My wonderful wife bought me a wonderful MacBook Pro Retina (snort, I hate marketing hype *roll eyes*) which I have come to truly like. It is a great laptop for photos, text, and all that I would use a laptop for. And yes, the monitor is delicious even if Apple sounds moronic for calling it a "retina" monitor.

Yay me. I got very lucky. Very lucky indeed.

So, figuring that I have been kicked over the fence into Apple land, I decided to explore getting an iPhone. I had been very happily using a BlackBerry Z10, but found that the camera was, to be as gentle as possible, lacking. To be accurate, it sucked horribly. It was and is crap when compared to other smartphones in its class. Also, I have started using Strava, and there is no real app for that with BlackBerry.

The iPhone would solve that for me, and play nicely with my computer.

So I thought, why not?

Well, turns out (obviously I don't know much about iPhones, as this next paragraph will demonstrate) to get any kind of decent memory in an iPhone, you need to pay some serious iMoney. Lots of it. I was willing to do that, sort of, to get the phone, until I noticed that the battery life is not that great if you pound on the gps a lot, which I would be doing since I plan on using Strava a lot. A friend reported that his iPhone 5 would tank after about four or five hours of Strava use, and many of my rides go much longer than that. So a battery case was being looked at as an additional cost. To save money, I was debating an Mophie case with some cheaper storage in it. I could spend less on the case to bump up the battery life and memory than I would spend on more iMemory and a simpler battery case.

But then...

Reviews on the case were not so hot, I did not want the huge bulk, and it seemed like a kluge to have to stick extra memory and battery into a case when if the phone was set up right in the first place (hint, better battery and a micro-sd slot) none of it would be needed.

But then some more...

So I did some digging into other phones (which ran Android) and noticed the Sony. It has killer battery life (I have yet to drop below 50% in a day of heavy use) and a micro-sd slot. It is freaking huge, which is a pain, and is all glass, which I don't like much, but it has several things going for it which made that stuff stuff I was willing to live with.

It is waterproof.

In the real world, we use our phones. In the real world, it rains. There is NO EXCUSE for ANY phone to be made in this day and age which is not waterproof. It is a total no-brainer.

Win for Sony, the only company which sells a phone through Bell Mobility which gets this basic fact.

Any why does this matter to me? I ride my bike in the real world and get rained on. ZipLock bags are so last week...

Remember cameras? Remember how the iPhone would solve the camera issue?

Remember who makes the Xperia?

Sony.

The makers of the some of the best if not THE best consumer grade camera sensors on the planet. Their sensors are good. Very Very good.

Wait. This is a Sony phone. That means a Sony camera.

This must be a good thing.

It is.

Works for me.

the roar of crowds of old : a brief photo essay

somewhere over the rainbow

why nothing but nothing will replace a summer sky

I think I will let the pictures do the talking tonight. Here is a sampling of tonight's light show.

Do please enjoy.

to Strava or not...

How Strava is changing the way we ride


Interesting read - I am a Strava newbie, but find that I do like it, and find that for me, at least, it has not changed the way I ride. 
It might, however, focus me a bit.
Mostly, I think it somewhat dorky, a quintessential expression of pure Fredliness, but since I dropped my Garmin GPS and broke it (sigh...) it has become a useful way to track what I am up to. I like the data collection aspect of it as I have been collecting and plotting my mileage for years, either on a spreadsheet or on Garmin Connect. For me, the collection of data does not take away from the ride itself. I have been using bicycle computers since the first CatEye devices which used double A batteries, and still love to ride. 
I don't care so much about the leader boards, and since my BlackBerry has no Strava app, I truly have no idea where the timed segments are while I am out. An upcoming switch to the iPhone, with all its app goodness, won't change that because I am too busy riding when I am out to really care what my phone is up to. 
While I find it interesting to note what other people have done over certain distances, it is largely meaningless.
Think about it. Locally at least, the segments with leader boards are so short that overall effort on a ride is rendered meaningless, supposing all you care about is leaderboards. If you can hammer it like a mad fool for a kilometre or so, you can scoot up the leaderboard. Then, you can die, and take forever to recover, and try again.
Sorry, but I am more impressed with dropping the hammer over a longer segment. Like at least 100km. At a minimum.
For you see, I don't race and don't care to.
So I miss out on the rah rah that comes with participating in local events (although, truth be told, that rah rah seems missing from cycling races and appears confined to triathlons and running events from what I have seen). I see Strava as a good way to get the rah rah without having to actually race and subject myself to the crazy that is the sport I love so much.







One thing I like about Strava though, and can see myself participating in, are the challenges. I have few people to ride with, and having these artificial challenges is a real motivator. Again, I don't care to be at the top of the leader boards, but having a goal just hanging out there and hitting that goal and being able to say, "See? I did it!" matters to me.

oh you pretty pretty girl

you pretty pretty girl

down, down on the farm

an evening at MonigraM

Even Mel liked the coffee!

That, folks, is high praise indeed.

MonigraM Coffee Roasters

So what does one do if one desires a good cup of coffee?

Open a coffee shop of course.

And roast all of your own coffee.

And so, with that thought, MonigraM Coffee Roasters was born.

And a good thing that is.

Tonight, my lovely wife and I were out for a walk around Downtown Galt and happened, quite by chance, on this coffee shop.

Bit of a coffee snob that I am (bit? a lot try) I was immediately intrigued with the idea of a coffee shop that roasted its own beans. Clearly, I mused to myself and all who would listen, this may mean something good is in the air. Clearly as well, my detour into a back alley and my wife's exclamation of, "Hey look! A coffee shop!" was fortuitous as well.

The first thing to note when entering the shop is that this is not a canned environment. No canned coffee. No canned food. No canned music. Decor. Flooring. Chairs. Counters. None of it canned. It was also packed with people. We were quite honestly lucky to get a table.

A good sign that.

Upon securing a place to sit and ordering, we were struck by the incredible hospitality of the owner, Graham. The name of the company is actually a combination of his name and that of his wife. Very clever.

Graham is a genuinely nice guy. He refused payment until we had sampled our food. He brought us what we wanted promptly, and positively gushed over the food and coffee he was serving. If it sounds like I am gushing over the shop and the owner, it is with good reason. Let's just say it is several cuts above what I have come to expect even from high end one off coffee shops.

Speaking of the coffee.

The above cappuccino was so good that George Takei likely would have exclaimed as only he could exclaim, " Oh Myyyyyy".

It was perfect. The flavour appeared like a vapour and the foam was just so. Bitter, but not overpowering, the small cup was just the right size. I would not want more than this.

Mel, on the other hand, not being a coffee drinker had her own special yummies.

The soda pop was superb, and the jam? To die for. Chocolate raspberry. And Graham did not even blink when she asked for a spoon to eat it. It made perfect sense to him that this jam would be eaten in such a manner.

Sadly, there was no dark chocolate to go with my coffee, but I was able to snag a delicious pastry and nibble on it for a bit.

Yummy, just don't inhale the icing sugar...

So will we go back? Yes.
Has this place become my de facto South Galt coffee shop for post ride coffee? Yes.

Long live the independents!

race of truth

I have ridden the race of truth and it has shown me to be a liar.

Riding a time trial, be it a real one in competition or one on your own will reveal more about your abilities and power on a bicycle than almost anything else. Riding in a peleton, you can hide, wheel suck, and not put out as much effort as those around you. The same is true in a break away. Bursts of power are shorter and more intense, with time to recover. Work is shared.

Not so with the time trial. It is called the race of truth for a reason.

I don't race. I do like to ride all the time and do like to go fast. But I don't race.

Most of my riding is solo, or with friends, some of who are stronger than me, some not so much. I find that solo efforts are harder mentally and, since I like to push myself, at least on the surface resemble time trials. It is harder when riding solo to push right up to the red zone and hold it there for a long period of time. Give me someone to chase though, and I go faster. I will bury myself trying to catch another cyclist on the horizon. Catching them does not matter, but the effort of burying myself does to me. Blowing up on a chase is just an excuse to recover and go again.

What I need to develop is that mental ability which allows almost red zone effort without the lure. I need to break free from the racing greyhound charging after a mechanical lure mentality.

It is time to stop being a liar in the race of truth.

yield

might as well - the inevitable will come regardless

imagine

Imagine an evening filled with light so perfect that it almost defies description. Light muted and soft. Nothing harsh to distract or glare. Bright enough to really see, but dim enough to create shadows with imagined things.

Imagine a green so rich that it is almost unreal. A green that could only be alive. A green only seen in spring (or, perhaps, Ireland).

Imagine water. Deep. Still. Water. Reflections of a landscape trapped within. Home to insect, fish, and bird life.

Tonight, I did not have to imagine.

spring is in the air

More messing around with the PanaLeica 25mm f1.4.

a couple of lovely kids

More fun with the 25.

back order this!

I am shooting part of a wedding in a couple of weekends. In order to do that, I wanted to augment my lens collection with the 25mm f1.8 from Olympus.

However, Olympus is unable to supply such a lens; I am 73 on the back order list for the lens, and time is running out.

Enter the Panasonic 25mm f1.4.

Here are a couple of samples taken with the lens wide open. Nothing special here, just a couple of snaps. More will follow once I get playing with the lens.

Top picture is a friend. The bottom is her dining room, taken in mid rennovation.

I do like the field of view of this lens.

late night snack

speculative tossing and turning

My wife and I are, now that I have my touring bike, planning to do some camping this summer off of our bicycles.

We are, however, missing some kit.

Like all of the kit. Except the bikes, clothing, a small back packing stove, and an interest in camping off of our bicycles.

We cannot wait!

This year, all we are planning on purchasing are things like dishes, back pack sleeping bags, something to sleep on, and some panniers. We shall be relying on our friendly neighbourhood outfitters (and anyone willing to chime in here with some actual experience) on what a good sleeping bag would be for bicycle touring. A tent we will rent from the afore mentioned outfitters for the times we need it. This will allow us a chance to try a few out before plunking down what is likely to be a fair chunk of change on a tent. Tent advice from the experienced is also accepted. Chime in if you wish!

The part that I am actively thinking about now though are the panniers.

My wife is riding an Optima Orca recumbent which looks like this:

The amount of carrying space on this bicycle is fairly large, and that rack on the back is huge. At one point, there was custom luggage made by Optima (or at least sold through them) which fit this bicycle perfectly for touring, but that ship has sailed. This means sourcing some standard panniers for the bicycle.

I have a trunk bag made by Arkel already which fits perfectly on the top of the rack. I think it is this one, the trailrider. It is pretty big for a trunk bag, and is broken into two compartments with two side pockets which are perfect for a toolkit. The bag comes with a rain cover.

Interestingly, Optima built the rack on this bicycle with extra bags in mind. Besides the normal, 60L touring type bags made for a diamond frame bicycle mounted high on the back of the rack, there are tabs to attach low-rider front racks to the underside of the rack below where the rider sits. Perfect. An extra 20 or 30 L of storage should we need it. Don't know if we will, but it is nice to see that this is an option should we decide it is necessary. Mostly what it means is that this bicycle can carry as many bags as a conventional diamond frame touring bicycle can when bags are mounted front and back.

So, we have the option to put on standard bags, or, we could put a pair of these Arkel bags. They are made for recumbents and would likely fit and balance better. Also, they come with external tubes for thermarests. Nice. Worth investing in perhaps although in truth, I know nothing about balancing things on a recumbent since I don't ride the bike. It is my wife's bike, and I don't ride it. A bonus for us is that Arkel is a Canadian company and at $400, they are reasonably affordable. I am not sure if extra bags could be mounted on the front part of the rack with this bag design. It may not matter if they cannot since these things are pretty big.

It looks like the trunk bag we have will fit on the bicycle with these recumbent specific bags and if it doesn't, a tent can be carried on top of the rack between the panniers.

For my bike, I was thinking of either the modular Axiom stuff I have referred to before or perhaps some of the Arkel bags. We have some in stock at the shop and I can attest to how well made they are. The mounting mechanism is fantastic and looks very very solid. The ones which appeal to me are the GT-54's. They are plenty big, and have a significant number of external attachments, including pouches and a thermarest tube. These would go on the back of the bicycle. Cost compared to the Axiom stuff is a wash since the tubes and extra stuff that the Arkel bags come with are an extra cost item with the Axiom equipment. Since I want the extra anyways it comes down to which would suit better. I think the Arkel would.

For the front, I was thinking something like the GT-18 pannier from Arkel. These come as single units and run somewhere around $145 each. I need a pair of new commuter bags since my old ones have gotten a bit chewed up over the last decade or so I have been using them and have been relegated to winter use only. Getting these first and using them for hauling stuff back and forth to work is likely a good way to go.

And lastly, a high quality waterproof handlebar bag is on my list. Being a photographer, and one who shoots with a micro mirrorless system, a solid handlebar bag is all I would need to tote about good quality camera gear on a bicycle adventure. The small Arkel handlebar bag looks like it would work fine. Domke makes camera inserts that I could use to pad the lenses and camera body, or I could just pack them with wash clothes... The bag appears big enough for extra batteries and chargers for them and cell phones. Good deal.

Anyway, this is the ruminating thus far. What to do and how far to get into this will depend on how much we commit to taking trips on the bicycles. Right now, from the warmth and security of home, it seems a great idea. We will have to ride together lots, and perhaps do some "credit card" tripping, before plunking down the cash for a full on touring set up.

In the mean time, it is fun to ride together and just hang out on two wheels. Something we both miss, and have not been able to do for way too long.

a girl and some horses