Patrick, Nice to hear your mileage report. Although I am far behind you and many others here, I am pleased with my number. After being off my 15-year-old Hilsen for over two years following a heart attack I got back on in mid-May to prepare for a cardiologist requested step stress test. Follow-up for the stress test was I can do just about any exercise I want! And no worries! By year's end I'd covered just over 1,000 miles. And, again, I recognize many on this board do much, much more.
And I, too, like the close ratios of my 9-speed cassette. I'm running a 12-36 rear with a 44-41-24 1/2-step + granny Sugino crankset. As you mention those small steps are great for minor adjustments encountering slight changes of grade or headwinds. And the larger steps in the 24 are also great because, when climbing, the grades often change much more and the bigger gear changes are welcome. I generally treat this gearing as a 41-24 ultra-compact that can be fine-tuned in the bigger gears as needed. I'm currently reworking my 50-ish year-old Raleigh Competition from a 26-46-49 x 13-26 6-speed to a 26-45-50 x 14-32, keeping the old Cyclotourist crankarms to get a lower high and low gears. Downside is the wider steps in the two large chainrings, so more double shifting in my future. And this frame is a wonderful ride. I think a unique feature of this bike will be my continuing to use the original Huret Jubilee front mech. This delicate item has been with me on this bike for most of it's 50 years. (Though I may put an old SunTour Cyclotourist II or Superbe on it.) It also has an original Phil bottom bracket and original Phil hubs, which are being rebuilt right now. And Happy Rides for everyone in the New Year! G.A.Jett On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM Patrick Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > I took a very short (10.5 mile out ’n’ back) and easy cruise today, riding > gingerly for fear of causing another flu relapse — so far so good; we’ll > see what tomorrow bring — because it was a nice day — tho’ chilly — and I > didn’t want to wait another day off the bike. > > Since I’ll very likely not ride tomorrow, that brings the total miles for > 2025 to 2,383.2 including “riding” the dog. This would easily have been > over 2,500 had I not been sick twice this month. The other 2 low mileage > months early in the year, then the gradual improvement in fitness, meant > that I didn’t really start putting in decent (for me) miles until May or > June. Extrapolating from the second half of the year, even with only 155 > miles so far this month, if I had ridden all year at the second six-month > rate, that would have been close to 3,200. Not a great deal compared to > many riders, but 3K is my comfortable personal goal. > > Anyway, we’ll see how next year goes. > > Because I wanted to take it easy, I rode the Roadeo — it feels like > cheating, having multiple gears and a freewheel. It’s funny: I find that > many-cog cassettes make riding easier, not only because you have hill gears > and downhill freewheel, but because you can fine tune the cruising gears > for just the right ratio for small changes in wind and incline, as I can > now do with the 14-32 that replaced the 11-32. I’m surprised how much > *apparent* energy I save — or, let’s say, how perceived effort drops — when > you can shift from a 76” gear to a 72” gear, after which comes the 68” > gear, instead of having to drop from the 76” to the 68” as with the 11-32 > cassette or, on the fixies, from 75” to 68” or 72” to 65”. At any rate, it > did seem delightfully easy to pedal. > > Lastly, for the Roadeo: I swapped the very nice Carradice Zip Roll for a > new Barley. The Zip Roll t 3 liters is just too small for the very frequent > end-of-ride grocery stops, and the 9 liter Barley is just right for ad hoc > shop stops, with side pockets just big enough to hold the rather bulky > (incl 2 tubes and 4 fl oz of OS) tool kit, leaving the main compartment > free to just barely accommodate a gallon of milk. > > Carradice quality has varied greatly over the years. I remember the first > Nelson Longflap I bought from Rivendell circa 1995: the real old-school > quality, with thick, stiff, tightly woven, highly waxed duck, cloth lining, > thick, supple leather, including a thick leather scuff pad; those earlier > bags would literally hold water — I tried it. > > Quality went downhill, with much lighter but still coarse duck, no lining, > duck scuff pad, and cheaper leather. This new Barley has lighterweight > canvas — but no lighter than my Sackville’s — and a duck scuff pad, but > it’s nicely lined, and the leather is back to the original quality. I do > prefer the old heavy cotton tiie tapes and cotton duck side security flap > arrangement over the nylon drawstring necks, which IMO are less convenient > for containing overflow than the old method. Of course, Carradice has never > matched Riv’s bags’ quality — I’ve owned about 8 Riv bags — but then they > charge less. > > Here’s to a good 2026 to all RBWlisters. > > Patrick Moore, who is about to pop some (very efficacious) Chinese > medicine pills and potions to prevent another relapse, in ABQ, NM. > > -- > > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing > services > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* > > *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* > > *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgv%2BYsVK%2BcoD_EE1Ugckv8UbQBW4QUtxa4TBAu%2B_5z6Wpw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfgv%2BYsVK%2BcoD_EE1Ugckv8UbQBW4QUtxa4TBAu%2B_5z6Wpw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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