Dublin Veterans Park and Indian Run Falls Park

Saturday, we had some books to return to the library, which gave me an excuse to officially hit a few park that were nearby. Our first stop was the #19 Dublin Veterans Park:

After a quick stop there--little kids aren't big on reflecting on honor or sacrifice--we walked up to the nearby #27 Indian Run Falls Park. I tried to get a picture of all three kids at the trailhead, and this was as good as it got:

Rawland Nordavinden to Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park

It's been slow on the blogging front lately--too much work has been interfering with my life! But, we have to keep the lights on and the 529 plans growing, so such is life.

Earlier, I broke from my blog theme and drove the kids to a playground. Today, I broke from my theme in a different way: I biked to a park without the kids. In this case, it was #48 Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park, which is a relatively new park for Dublin. It's--boring!--playgroundless, so I knew the kids wouldn't be that excited by it. And, it gave me an excuse to ride my Rawland, which I can't do when pulling a trailer.

I got up to Shawnee Hills before the rain hit:

Singular Gryphon meets 2x4

With my new (to me) Singular Gryphon having a bent triangle, I summoned up my courage, had a beer, and decided to get all Sheldon Brown on it. I had just sold my Soma Double Cross frame this evening, so I was feeling pretty good about things. Or maybe that was the beer. Anyway, I got down to business:

Myrtle Beach

We spent the past week taking a vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We broke the 11 hour/700 mile drive into two days, stopping in Virginia (motto: "rain and traffic") on the way down and West Virginia (motto: "curves and tolls") on the way back. We stayed at a little mom and pop hotel (if your pop is named "Hampton"), which had a pretty nice view from the balcony:

Mom and pop had nine different swimming pools:

The kids by far preferred the lazy rivers the best. Henry would have stayed in here all day if we'd let him:

All three kids have really expanded their swimming abilities since taking just two weeks of lessons this summer at the Dublin rec. Henry went from being afraid to get his head wet to jumping right in, Kate's learning to dog paddle, and Sam had a breakthrough and was finally willing to let go of me (or Jodi) and paddle around on his own with his noodle:

Kate loved the lazy river and the kiddie splash area:

Of course, we also spent each morning and late afternoon at the beach:

 

The first morning, we walked to a distant pier (about 1.5 miles down the beach, farther than we had thought). You can see our little hotel way in the background:

It's the one that looks godawful far away. We had to bribe the kids with ice cream to get them moving for the return trip:

We had to cut out to Ocean Blvd to route around a canal, so we stopped for a picture:

This is probably the longest any of us have walked, barefoot.

Kate and Henry showed off their victory dance upon returning to the hotel:

We had lunch one day at "Broadway at the Beach", which is kind of like a collection of theme restaurants (eg, "Hard Rock Cafe") around a fake lake. We had a mediocre lunch on the deck at Key West Grille, where we were serenaded by power boat rides and helicopter tours:

We did find a playground here, so there's my blog touch point:

Jodi managed to look cool in the little shade she could find:

Some of the playground scenery was a little different than our usual playgrounds:

But I managed to take this all in stride.

For our last night at MB, we attended a Pirate dinner show. I'm saving $36 by showing this picture we took outside, since we didn't buy the green screen picture they took of us inside:

And that was it. We headed home Thursday, stopping every so often so the kids could stretch their legs:

It's nice to travel, but sure is nice to be home where we don't have to share a bed with kicking kids!

Frantz Park (Field of Corn), Llewellyn Farms, Llewellyn Farms South, Smiley Park

We had a lot of parks planned for today. Henry was at my parents' place, but I invited my buddy Brian to come along with his two boys. Brian and I used to spend our weekends taking all day motorcycle or mountain bike rides down to Hocking Hills, now we pull our kids around town to playgrounds. Funny how things change. Brian was riding his vintage Cannondale from those halycon days:

 

Our first stop was #40 Sam and Eulalia Frantz Park, better known as Field of Corn or Cornhenge. Pre-kids, I used to mock this public artwork, but now it's really a place our kids enjoy running around in.

Gideon seemed to like it as well:

The corn is bordered by a hedgerow of Osage orange trees that provide some shade:

Sam found an Osage orange:

They're supposed to act as natural bug repellants, so Brian cut one apart to see what's inside:

It didn't smell THAT bad, but it wasn't something you would use to freshen up a room:

I put some new Soma Oxford bars on my Surly Cross Check while it takes over trailer pulling duties:

I'm really enjoying them so far. Compared to the On One Mary or Surly Open Bar that I had been using, the key advantage of the Oxford is that is uses a bar end shifter. This allows use of pretty much the entire bar as a hand resting spot, giving the rider lots of options. They run quite a bit narrower than either of the aforementioned bars, but this is OK for me after I got used to it.

After the field of corn, we hit the road for #33 Llewellyn Farms Park. The thing I liked best about this playground was that it was shady, a nice feature on a hot morning!

Sam showed off his balance skills:

Kate, Gids and Walter all hit the swings:

Then Walter showed off his acrobatic prowess:

After this, we rode around for a while trying to find #34 Llewellyn Farms South Park. Later, I determined it was just a big patch of grass that we rode past. Sorry, but this gets the award for the worst park we've seen to date.

Disappointed, we promised the kids a playground at the next park, #46 Smiley Park. We found these odd pillars on the way there:

No one wanted to walk between them--maybe they would get zapped off to another dimension or something.

Safely past the Pillars Of Doom, we found Smiley Park, but we weren't smiling:

Just a few picnic tables and some grass that needs mowing. Disappointed again, we took the kids through #13 Coffman Park so they could get another playground in. After that, we were ready for some A/C and a big lunch at Cici's pizza!

Four down, 20 to go.

Bike #65: Singular Gryphon Intro and Review

It's been a slow week on the blogging front. I took an extra week off after the Honda shutdown during which we took the kids down to Myrtle Beach (more on this later). So no playground reviews for a bit, and not much in the way of bike news. I was only able to manage two deals during the vacation--someone came by and bought my Soma Juice off Craigslist this morning, and my new frame arrived yesterday, ready for me when we pulled into the drive.

I mentioned a few posts back that I was looking for a bike that would combine the best attributes of my Soma and my Blackbuck. I hoped I would find it in a Singular Gryphon. It's a bit of an odd bike, being a rigid specific, drop bar optimized 29er. It has some neat features: a Phil Wood EBB for single speeding, a nice tall headtube so I wouldn't have my usual big stack o' spacers, and fairly light weight tubing (8/5/8 OS top tube). I've been thinking about getting one of these for several months, and when a used XL popped up on the mtbr.com classifieds, I jumped on it. I built it up this weekend and took it for its maiden voyage to Alum Creek P2 today.

Despite it being designed for drop bars, the top tube is actually pretty long (about 620mm), allowing me to run Titec H bars with a reasonable 100mm stem. Setting the EBB in the rear/low position also moves me back a bit on the bike, giving me more room to stretch out.

In some respects, it really did seem the best of all worlds: a lively, supple ride, as smooth as the Juice but with a nicer "spring" under acceleration. The handling is a bit quicker than the Juice, if not as razor sharp as the Blackbuck. I was feeling pretty good about my choice.

Shortly after leaving the trailhead, a fellow passed me on a rigid carbon Niner. Not to brag, but I'm usually the passer, not the passee, so this set my fragile mountain biking ego back a bit. After stopping to adjust my rattling rear brake, I caught up to Niner guy where he had flatted his tire. He was running tubeless, without a pump or CO2. Maybe the lighter weight helped him pass me? Anyway, after I handed him my mini pump, he had to ask how to use it. A guy on a $3000 bike who has never used a pump? Bemused, I gave him instructions, but it was to no avail--too many holes in his tubeless tire. After giving him instructions on the short cut back to the parking lot, I was off again--for about 30 yards.

Climbing a short hill, I heard a BAM! as forward motion stopped. I thought I had just thrown my chain, but it turned out that I had pulled the rear wheel out of the dropouts. I was using a good quality Shimano QR, and I certainly know how tight to make it, but maybe I didn't get this one tight enough. Maybe. Anyway, I struggled somewhat to get the wheel back in, and had to adjust my brakes again, but I was ready to roll again. Er, is my rear wheel off center? I had a sinking feeling about what had happened, but I still finished off that lap and one more with no more issues.

When I got home, I pulled the rear wheel out. The frame springing apart as I removed the wheel confirmed my fears: I had bent the rear triangle. The dropout spacing should be 135mm, it's now measuring more like 143mm:

On the bright side, with 142mm rear ends being the hot new thing, I guess mine is 1mm better. Though I can't say I noticed any stiffness improvements!

I guess I could get Franklin Frames to cold set this, but I will probably try the Sheldon Brown method. With a 2x4, a beer, and some string, I think I can squeeze this back into spec. I'll let you know how it goes. (Update: see here)

Singularities:
Some interesting things about the Singular Gryphon:

- the set screw EBB works well and is trouble free so far:

Just don't overtighten the set screws and deform the bottom bracket shell!

The frame has rear eyelets:

But these are largely useless. Located below the disc caliper, the lower eyelet only allows for a rack that is cantilevered about 20mm outboard. This is a hopelessly weak design for a rack, almost guaranteed to fail when it's loaded. Maybe these are for fenders, you say? Then why aren't there eyelets on the fork?

To be useful, the rear dropout should be redesigned to have the brake on the chainstay, not the seatstay, as is done on the Salsa Fargo or On One Inbred, for example:

Singular Gryphon vs. Salsa Fargo
Many people want to compare the Gryphon to the Salsa Fargo. The pool of drop bar specific 29er is pretty small, so this is a natural inclination. I used to have a gen 1 Fargo so I'll add my thoughts:

These bikes are completely different. The Gryphon is a mountain bike, meant for recreational riding on trails. Lighter weight tubing, shorter chainstays, more standover clearance, and the single speed option all point to a sportier outlook. The Fargo, on the other hand, while a capable off road machine, is really more of a utility bike. The incredible number of well thought out braze ons allow you to load it up, and the longer chainstays and lower bottom bracket give it a stable ride. It's harder to loft the front wheel on the Fargo, and it's not nearly as responsive to pedaling inputs. Think about your use and pick your frame--these aren't interchangeable if you want to optimize it for you.