On 2026-04-30 12:40, Bob W PDML wrote:

Looks lovely. With this cough that has been kicking my ass the past few
weeks it feels like forever since I've been able to go on a ride.
Sometimes it seems that just being a little sick is worse than being
really sick. I'm well enough to go to work, but not well enough to do
much anything fun.

--
Larry Colen  LRC@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc

Very cool, Bob. All my riding this year so far has just been in aid of
my vascular fitness and I never stop to take snaps. Of course I don't
have such lovely and historic scenery to take snaps of, either.

But hey: I'm delighted to see that we are related by bike. :-)  My
circa 1972 Dawes Galaxy is down in the basement. When it was in its OG
form it was my primary ride. During covid days I stripped it down to
the bare frame and rebuilt it as a gravel bike with a Sensah 1x12
carbon groupset and 35mm 650B wheels. My latest mod is flat bars just
to see if I like that style.

But my primary ride now is a 2023 Ribble Gravel Ti with SRAM 1x
electronic gears. I'm a British bike fan though and through as you can
tell.

On Thu, Apr 30, 2026 at 3:40 PM Bob W PDML pdmlbw@icloud.com wrote:

--
-bmw

No better way to get fit and stay fit!

Sometimes I think I’m in a Frank Patterson drawing.

Mine is a 1994 model that I bought a few days after its 30th birthday from the estate of the original owner. He’d only used it on sunny days (so not much!), and the frameset and most of the components are in superb condition. I paid the same as he paid back in 1994 - I have the original sales documentation and catalogue from St John Street Cycles, who are still in business, selling classic touring bikes and related paraphernalia.

I’ve changed a few bits, repaired a few things that fell apart with age and lack of use, but kept the originals as far as possible in case the next custodian wants to restore it. But I’ve put on wider handlebars because the originals were just too narrow to be comfortable, put on some insanely strong handmade wheels that I’ve had on another of my bikes, and 35mm gravel tyres.

I’ve taken off and kept a few bits that I don’t habitually use, but at the end of May I’m doing a 3-day road tour with a pal so i’ll set it up with road tyres, mudguards, rack and panniers. And a Carradice saddle bag, of course.

The groupset is 1990s Shimano STX 3x7, with suitably low gearing but not much at the top end - the bike was designed for fully-loaded touring after all. By coincidence the gearing is the same as I had on a Marin hybrid I bought in 1994.

At slightly over 32 miles that was my longest off-road ride on that bike, and I have to say it was very comfortable, certainly compared to the Concorde cyclocross bike I’ve been using for the last zillion years, where I always felt like I’d gone 15 rounds with prime Mike Tyson.

That’s a good-looking frameset, it looks as if it’s had an interesting and active life. Impressed that you’ve done a double century!

On 2026-05-01 01:43, Bob W PDML wrote:

That it has.

I went to school at UC Davis and that was kind of "the thing to do". In
1980, the bike was still built up with "junk" parts and about a week
before the DC, a friend put me in touch with someone who needed a
partner to ride on his brand new tandem. 14+ hours on a brand new
leather seat is not an experience that I hope to ever duplicate.

In the fall of 1980, I was building up the bike, still hadn't gotten my
triple crankset, or a front derailleur, and with no planning or training
did a metric double (200km / 120 miles) on the bike. The following May,
I did the double solo. I was in much better shape 45 years ago. It's a
bit of an exaggeration to say I wasn't half the man I am today, but
pretty close to 2/3.

As a college student, it was a lot easier to find the time to go on
50-70 mile rides several times a week.

--
Larry Colen  LRC@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc