Day One Dallas VA to West, Texas

78 miles, max headwind of about 12 mph. Just about a perfect day to ride. WAY flatter than last year's route.

When we go to the VA hospital at 7:15 this morning, Channel 5 was already there and Channel 8 was on the phone. I sent out press releases a few day ago, but had not heard if anyone was interested in coming. Penny Kerby from the VA Volunteer Affairs office showed as well.

Team In Training riders Jack Pena and his sons rode out the first 40 miles or so, then headed back, Nice to have them filling out the ranks.

We're bedded down in West. Tomorrow we'll run down to Temple and roll up Nieves Rodrigues, who'll be riding down with us to Corpus.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Corpus-Christi-or-Bust.html

Lead or follow

Bought a couple of magnetic sings so as we follow the group hopefully we'll be more visiable on the foggy mornings.

Trip Scheduling

Schedule:
Sunday 8 AM - Depart VA Hospital Dallas.
Lunch - On-route lunch in Milford, or Mertens.
Sunday Night - Czech Inn (http://www.czechinnofwest.com/)
NOTE: On-Line registration is not working, call 254-826-0900

Monday AM - Depart West
Lunch - In/Near Southern Waco - PR?
Night - Temple/Belton - La Quinta Belton
229 West Loop 121, Belton, TX 76513

Tuesday AM - Depart Temple/Belton
Lunch - in/near Granger
Night - Pflugerville/Austin
-La Quinta Round Rock South $89 for 2 beds

Wednesday AM - Depart for Mellow Johnny's to Link up with WWP party.
Noon - Join/assist at WWP bike-fitting. Present Handcycle(s)to BAMC.
Night – Holiday Inn South
4892 W US Highway 290, Austin, Texas 78735

Thursday AM - Austin LSS Challenge, leave WWP party at most advantageous point to move toward San Antonio.
Lunch in San Marcos or New Braunfels, depending.
Night - 3855 IH-35 North, San Antonio, TX 78219, phone 210-226-4361

Friday AM - Present Handcycle(s) to BAMC reps
Friday AM - Begin ride with WWP party, splitting off toward Corpus at best opportunity- probably the Alamo.
Friday PM -Late lunch around Floresville
Friday PM - Wave at Priscilla.
Night - Best Western Portland
608 E Broadway St Portland, TX 78374

Saturday AM - take vehicles over bridge for LSCC Registered ride.
Saturday PM - Depart Corpus for DFW(?)

Roster
Steve Barlow
Paul Hakes, Sr. Paul Hakes, Jr.
Clifton Montgomery, Daniel Montgomery, Myra Montgomery
Marcelo Nobrega, Samantha Nobrega
Robert Powell
David Hill

Room Reservations for the Ride

Folks, I've done a little searching along the route. Wednesday and Thursday we will be able to stay at the same hotel with the WWP I think. Dave will probably be able to firm that up with Woody once we get our final headcount. Here's what I found for the other nights:

Sun Mar 8 - West
- Czech Inn (http://www.czechinnofwest.com/) $89 for 2 beds
- NOTE: On-Line registration is not working, call 254-826-0900

Mon Mar 9 - Temple/Belton
- La Quinta Belton $79 for 2 beds

Tue Mar 10 - Pflugerville/Austin
- La Quinta Round Rock South $89 for 2 beds

Wed Mar 11 - Austin w/ WWP Group
- HIExpress South

Thu Mar 12 - San Antone w/ WWP Group
- HI San Antonio

Fri Mar 13 - Portland
- Best Western $89 for 2 beds (1-800-780-7234)

Steve

Wrench Night results.

Wrench night went - okay. The cranks and bottom bracket came with a lot of extra spacers and shims for different-sized shells, and no labels or instructions, so it took awhile, but we got those sorted and the cranks eventually installed just fine.



The LBS I ordered the new brake levers from last week apparently decided that when, (after some research), I specifically ordered a pair of "Dia-Compe Tech 77 Straight BMX levers with a 7/8" hinged clamp" that what I REALLY wanted was a set of "Dia Compe Model X Aero Road levers". Doom on me, I didn't check to make sure, hence I didn't have the levers to install last night. I did get to spend a significant amount of time trying to figure out the best way to install them when they DO get here next Thursday, so I'll be ready and get them on when they're in and the job will be done.

To the credit of the local bike shop in question, they did send one of their better wrenches out to help with the work. He knocked a good bit of cussing and head-scratching out of the bottom bracket installation, and they're donating the levers when they come in, to RollAid, so there's no bad feelings there - They're still an awesome shop.

We tried installing a single brake lever on the vertical tube under the bottom bracket shell. I've seen some handbikes set up like that, and it would be an ambidextrous way to mount the brake.

The complication with that is that (1) I decided not to put the shifters on the handpedals and leave them on the downtube so there's not much room for the brake lever and (2) that tube is a 25.4mm tube and I can't find a good lever with a clamp that'll fit. What I'm gonna do is put the brake levers on the sidebars like on this bike. Since the bike in the picture has two brake calipers and mine has one, I'll have to use a cable doubler to run cables from both brake levers to the single caliper.

I decided not to mount the shifters on the handpedals and leave them on the downtube so that the rider can shift either derailleur with either hand, the cables won't get wound around the handpedals, and downtube shifters are vastly more durable and forgiving of error than the STI or trigger shifters I'd planned to put on. Hand-mounted controls would be cooler, but ultimately less useful on a bike with multiple riders. Pics as soon as I get my paws on them.

Handbike upgrade parts are in!

Thanks to Doug Exum, I picked up the goodies needed to make the handbikes easier to shift and brake.

Thursday night, some friends and I will do the install, and get things ready to present down in Austin. Pics will be forthcoming.

Tate, can I lay hands on the push bumper sometime this week, too?

RollAid Roll Call! Who's really 'IN'?

HEADS UP!
If you're riding with us in the Coast to the Coast this year, I need your full, legal name to provide to the WWP ride director. Please email these to me at davidwhill@gmail.com

Even, if you KNOW that I know that you're going, email me anyway to make sure I have your name correct.

The bumpers are in

Thanks to one of the engineers who helped me design them I have 15 bumpers. 10 are going directly to the WWP, including however many Truman needs. 3 are going to Rise adventures, the local group who helped me with the testing. 2 are going to some folks who helped and inspired me to build them. I can get more built, and plan to pass the info on to Rick, I am waiting on a quote.

Truman let me know how ,any and when you need them!

Rollaid logo

Something I've been working on. I think this might be the finalized version. What do you think?

New web forum!

Thanks to Steve, we finally have a web forum to facilitate planning and discussion for next year's ride. Please jump right in, register and help get this beast rolling.

The permanent link is over to the right, there.

Or you lazier buggers can just click right here


With luck, we'll have a nice homepage soon, too. Thanks, Steve-O.

Routes? We got Routes...

This is based on some maps by the Fort Worth Bicycling Association and an array of S.W.A.G.'s by your humble moderator.

Please feel free to pick it apart, or apply your own special knowledge of the area and I'll revise as appropriate.


View Larger Map

Time for the Flier??

It's getting to be the time of year that a lot of people do their last riding of the season. This will be the time that they start milling around their LBS instead of riding. I was wondering if it would be a good time to get this year's flier together so we can get it to the shops for people to see.

I know we haven't hammered out all the details, but we could put something together that had the rough strokes, and point the reader to our webspace that could have the latest and greatest. Maybe even have a link that they could use to subscribe to an email list.

I've got some ideas, but am light on the art skills to put something together. Anyone wanna give me a hand with this? Or was there someone already thinking of doing the same?

Roll Call

I have seen several folks on a couple of forums say they are "planning" on making it. What's your real feeling. I am 99%, the 1% is for unforeseen major issues.

I think dad is about 80%.

Where you at?

Brooke AMC to Portland, TX = 142 miles.

Seems doable. Who's in?

Lunch Friday 17th - Weinberg's in Grapevine.

Say, 12, straight up?

I'm there, Steve & Tate, too. Anyone else? I called CR_Dean, but I don't have Cliff's digits. I emailed Luke.

Sorry for the short notice.

Planning Notes From Steve and Tate's Lunch

Okay, so it was more of a quick phone call than a lunch. I had some things to get to that wouldn't allow for a full lunch. At any rate, here's what we talked about:

Probably stating the obvious, but here goes anyway. This year's route needs to make it easier logistically for any soldiers that want to ride with us. That will include things like hotel availability at each stop between the start and Austin. Also, a good, reliable SAG will be a must this year. I think if we can get those things hammered out, we'll be able to get more interest from both vets and non-vets.

We talked about starting from the VA around Duncanville. If we can swing it, that sounds like a great plan. If we stay mostly East of I-35 like we talked about before, things should be quite a bit flatter. I put down a couple of towns (below) that are along the way to Austin, along with any VFW info I could find. There isn't a VFW in Italy (2nd day stop), but there are a couple that are about 10 miles away. We might be able to talk them into coming out to meet us when we get in. Also, by meeting up with Woody and the guys on Wednesday afternoon, we won't have to leave on Saturday like last year, Sunday should be fine.

David and I had also been talking about mileage. The daily mileage is a bit lower than last year, so we were thinking that if anyone wanted to do an afternoon ride after setting up camp, that might be interesting. Once we get the route finalized, I might be able to put up some options there. There will also be some long day possibilities between Austin and San Antone (80-ish miles), and San Antone to Corpus (140-ish miles !!!) in case anyone wants to stretch their legs a bit.

Below are some notes. Bear in mind, this is just what Tate and I talked about. If anyone has an idea about how to do it better, please speak up. We're certainly not running the show, just trying to pitch in.

Priorities
===========
Hotels available
Good SAG required
Low traffic roads
Camping a plus

Duncanville VFW (or VA hostpital) to Italy - 55 (Sunday)
- Route info: Magical Mystery Permanent
- Route info: Lancaster Community Ride
- Italy Inn Hotel
- Camping (??)

Italy to Mexia VFW - 55 (Monday)
- Route La Bella Rani Brevet
- Camping @ Fort Parker SP

Mexia to Cameron VFW - 75 (Tuesday)
- Route ??
- Camping ?? (VFW?)

Cameron to Austin - 70 (Wednesday)
- Meet up w/ the Guys
- Route ??
- Camping ?? (VFW?)

VFWs
====
Post 7843 Duncanville Memorial Post
702 Hwy. 67 East
Duncanville, TX 75137-3408

Post 4694 Lancaster Post
317 S Martin Luther King Jr Hwy
Mexia, TX 76667

Lunch or Dinner?

It's about time to shift the planning apparatus into climbing gear. Who wants to get together for lunch or dinner to get the ball rolling?

Lunch is easier for me in the Mid-Cities/Grapevine/Irving vicinity, but given enough notice, I can pull off dinner about anywhere.

For that matter, I live in SW Fort Worth, about 8 miles from where we started the last trip. I could burn some meat if y'all bring sides.

Speak up.

Route

OK, I have to go to a Sun wedding in Johnson City the end of Oct. I was hoping to leave Friday night, ride for a few hours, camp, then ride Sat most of the day and have the wife pick me up on her way down. So I thouhgt what a chance to scout a route. I know we talked about leaving from the Dallas area this year. Any Ideas, plans, thoughts, etc?

I used the new google walk mapping from the VA in Dallas. Route doesn't seem too bad may need some tweeking.
http://tiny.cc/AGC1p

Another BIG Heart Donates a Handcycle for the Wounded Warrior Project

Not long ago, on a Recumbent forum (rbentonline.org), someone posted a Freedom Ryder Handcycle for sale for a friend. I asked if they could get me in touch with the owner, with the idea that if the price was reasonable, we could get the money together and bring the bike with us to San Antone next spring.

I got an email back from the owner of the handcycle, Doug Exum. He had discussed my proposal with his wife, and had a change that he wanted to make. He wanted to donate the bike!! As part of the donation, there are a few upgrades that Doug would like to make to the bike, and I agreed that we should cover the costs required. There are a few little things like cables and such that we'll have looked at, and the handcranks themselves will be upgraded. They are currently close together, and we'll be upgrading them to the ones that are shoulder width apart. Doug has done all the groundwork, and Mike Lofgren of Freedom Ryder has agreed to donate the cranks themselves. Bear in mind, this is TWO sets of cranks, one for Doug's bike and one for the one David got for us!! We'll just need to cover the cost of the chainrings. So the total cost for Freedom Ryder will be roughly $300. Pretty darn good for 2 sets of cranks and all chainrings. The smaller stuff will be taken care of by JD at Richardson Bike Mart. He has agreed to donate the required labor, we'll just have to buy the parts.

David and I have met with Doug to discuss the handcycles and generally shoot the breeze. He's an easy going guy, and is planning to ride with us in the spring on his new handcycle. So to Doug, thank you so much for your generosity. Let's all welcome Doug to the group and thank him for what his selflessness will do to help out our wounded vets.

Steve

Building a new bike

Folks, I'm building a new bike. Dave mentioned that I should put up a list of the parts that I still need just in case a deal comes around on ChainLove or somewhere else while I'm asleep during the day. Here's the list:

Saddle - Specialized Toupe Team white/black 143
Seatpost - 31.6 diameter (Easton EC90 / Ritchey WCS Carbon / Thomson Masterpiece)
Bars - Easton EC90 SLX or ITM K-Sword - 46cmI now have bars
Stem - Not sure yet, need to test a few sizes first.I ordered the stem today, should be here soon.

UPDATE: I have the saddle, post and bars now. Just ordered the stem today.

If you see any of these things on clearance, give me a shout @ two-one-four, seven-nine-four, three-zero-one-five.

Steve

P.S. - Here's a pic of the frame...

... ain't it sexy??