Categories
Errandonnee Events

Spring Approaches!

Or at least must be on the way:  MG has announced the dates for this year’s Errandonnee.  Mark your calendar:  March 5, 2015 to March 16, 2015.

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For the uninitiated, the Errandonnee is an eccentric event designed to get people out and about on bicycles, doing ordinary things that perhaps might otherwise be done using a planet-destroying motor vehicle.

There are rules, which are sometimes peculiar, and always entertaining.  There are records, which participants must file.  There is reporting, at the end, with maps, and a spreadsheet.  And, for finishers, there has traditionally been a small premium in the form of a commemorative patch, which some of us covet.  (That’s 2014’s, above.)

Details have been promised, once this year’s rules have been finalized, and will appear on MG’s blog, Chasing Mailboxes.  Gentlemen, gentlewomen and gentlepersons of all sorts, prepare to shift your pedals!

Categories
Gear

Accessory Mount for a Brompton

When I added my custom water bottle holder to my Brompton bicycle, the straps took up the space I’d used for my GPS, which formerly rested on the lower part of Basil’s M handlebar.

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A lot of diligent searching turned up the accessory bar that my Garmin is attached to in the photo above.  I found it buried on a rack in a small plastic bag at a brick-and-mortar bike shop, without much in the way of distinctive labelling.

This little device is as simple as it can be:  just a tube that connects with a loop to the handlebars; the “clock face” you see above is the connector for the Garmin.  It’s a Profile Design New Universal Computer Mount (model ACUCMXL1, according to the package).

pd-1

This compact bar installs without tools and stays in place flawlessly.  For my small Garmin, it was a perfect fix.

Do beware that there are two sizes:  I think it likely that mine is the XL (60mm); a Brompton’s bars are relatively thick.  In a burst of unusual efficiency, I tossed the wrapper before double-checking. (The “XL” in the model code above may be a clue.)

pd-hb

This is what I see when riding — a pretty sleek cockpit!  If anything, my GPS is even a little more accessible than it was.  At around $10 (USD), I am very pleased with this device.

It may be hard to find:  The link above is to Amazon because I couldn’t locate it on the Profile Design website, which lacks a useful search function.  Poking around at every random LBS you are near could pay off, though — it always does for me!

Categories
5 Boro Tour Events

5 Boro Tour: Registered!

We may not be getting much cycling done around here, but we’re looking to the future.  Basil and Argyll (and Dr. Diarist and I) are registered for the 5 Boro Tour, set for May 3, 2015.5borotRegistration was an arduous process; it took nearly two hours to complete, with constant failures along the way.  (In other words, it took more than half the time it takes to ride the Tour itself!)

This will be Basil’s third 5 Boro, and Argyll’s second:  It’s an absolutely fabulous ride through all five of New York City’s boroughs (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island) and across a variety of bridges.  Best of all, roads are closed to cars (though you do have to do battle with 32,000 other riders of radically varying skill levels).

Judging from the apologetic notes sent out by the registration group, we weren’t the only ones pained by the process on Day 1 of registration.  Since, though, all slots are sold out except for VIP spots, so the bugs must have been addressed before too many people gave up.

The remaining (and pricey) VIP level includes a $76  donation to Bike New York, so there’s that, if you itemize. But the experience, as they say, is priceless:  When else are you ever going to be able to fly down a NYC expressway, unimpeded by motor vehicles, and under your own (and your Brompton’s) power?