Looking for a stationary bike trainer?

Looking for a stationary indoor bike trainer? I have 5 to choose from!
Click the links below for more info...

CycleOps Fluid2 Trainer

CycleOps Mag Trainer

Minoura Mag Trainer

Sunlite Mag Trainer with Handlebar Remote

LandRider Mag Trainer

DiamondBack Outlook Mountain Bike For Sale

I have a very nice entry level/beginner's bike for sale for anyone who might be interested. It's a 21 speed DiamondBack Outlook with 26" wheels, a 20" aluminum alloy frame (suitable for riders 6 feet tall and above), and is equipped with front suspension. The bike is in like new condition. Leave a comment below if you're interested.

The Orlando Critical Mass Bike Ride: Another Angle

Some of you may have seen my recent September Critical Mass Bike Ride video. The Critical Mass rides are always a fun experience and while I tried to capture the essence of the entire scene in the video, one of my primary objectives in attending the recent September 2018 ride was to shoot some aerial drone footage of the 'Mass riders for videographer Chad Pearce who was creating a short biopic about Orlando Critical Mass frontman Nicholas Mandino.

In this short, but fantastic video Nick talks about some of his personal battles that led him to become a cyclist and how cycling provided a form of liberation. He then goes on to talk about how this led to him forming the "Orlando Chapter" of the monthly worldwide cycling movement and phenomenon known as Critical Mass.

Without further ado...

September 2018 Orlando Critical Mass Ride

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It's been a while since I attended a Critical Mass Ride. At least 6 to 8 months. While I really enjoy attending these things and riding with 3, 4,or 5 hundred like minded riders, the last Friday of each month has a strange habit of creeping up on me without notice and as a result I usually remember that this ride is taking pace at the last possible second - which is always too late to attend. That is, when I DO remember!

I hadn't really planned or considered attending this month's Critical Mass ride but a friend brought something to my attention the day before. A documentary video about the phenomenon that is Critical Mass and it's organizer is being produced for an Orlando area community web site and they wanted someone with a drone who could shoot aerial footage of the ride. I have a couple of drones so I confirmed that I could attend and do it. With a day's advance notice I surely wouldn't forget this time.

With bike locked & loaded, batteries charged, and drones packed and ready I made the 10.5 mile ride on my bike Friday afternoon to the starting point at Loch Haven Park. The original plan was to do the ride and shoot a few random aerial scenes of the riders along the way, then hand off the video footage to the producer of the documentary. Simple enough. But then I figured, since I am going, I may as well bring my other gear as well, and shoot a bunch of various shots, both aerial and handheld, and use them in a video of my own creation in addition to supplying the aerial footage for the documentary.

The result of what I did is what you see above.

Until next time....

Thursday Seminole State Forest Gravel Ride

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The Seminole State Forest. It's a beautiful wilderness expanse that's right in my backyard - If you consider 17 miles away to be in your backyard, that is. I've ridden all over this area numerous times and even camped there overnight on a couple of occasions. I mostly ride there by myself, so when some guys started getting together for a bi-weekly ride there, I thought I'd check it out.

Here's a brief recap / replay of last Thursdays' ride. Thanks to Matt Steward from Pedal Driven Bike Shop in Sanford, Florida for taking the initiative on creating this recurring ride. Hopefully it will become a weekly thing soon.

Anybody still running 9-Speed? ...Brand New Dura Ace Cassette Looking for a good home.

view this on eBay
I forgot I had this Dura Ace cassette laying around. It's been laying around for a few years among some of my other stuff. It's brand new-in-the-box, never even removed from the original Shimano packaging. I've got it up on eBay so if you like Dura Ace and still run 9 speed road stuff check out the link above.

Cheers

It's been a little while since I've ridden in one of the urban mountain bike rides in Orlando. I used to participate in these rides pretty religiously, so after seeing the Facebook reminder posted by the ride leader last week, I decided to go. It was pretty much business as usual: Approximately 20 miles in distance over just about any and all types of terrain that an urban jungle has to offer. City streets, alleys, grassy transitions, brick roads, staircases of various heights & lengths (lots of them), and a few drop-off ledges just to name a few.

I decided to make a return visit earlier this week with some camera gear on board. I figured I'd try to catch some various random shots of the riders doing their thing. Leave me a comment and subscribe for updates on future content if you like this sort of thing!

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Red Hot & Boom Fireworks & Urban Bike Ride

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The City of Altamonte Springs hosted it's annual Fourth of July Red, Hot & Boom fireworks & concert show this past Tuesday night (July 3rd). The weather turned out to be fantastic despite a threat of light rain forecasted earlier in the day. In typical fashion, the fireworks show was first class and spectator attendance was high as to be expected. Most of the roads surrounding the show's venue at Crane's Roost Park were either restricted to one-way traffic or closed off to motor vehicles altogehter.

Note that I said "closed to motor vehicles". But not bikes!!! With all the road closures and crowd congestion there was no better way to get around than on my bike. I have to admit that all the congestion etc. made for a pretty fun and technical Urban Assault riding environment as well! The fireworks show was scheduled to begin at about 9:30pm so I set out about 2 hours earlier to get a bit of riding in and check out the location & spots. I took my camera & drone along as well to get some various shots of the area.

I arrived at the Crane's Roost area around 7:45 and rode all around the area until 10pm without really stopping except to launch the drone for a moment a couple of times and once to chit chat with some police officers for a quick moment.

All in all it was a fun ride with some great sights & sounds.

Peace.

XANES DL06 USB Rechargeable CREE XML T6 Dual LED Bike Light

click here to watch on YouTube

The DL06 is the second XANES brand bike light I've reviewed. The previous one being the XL07 model, which I reviewed about a month ago and can be seen here. The XL07 is a single LED, USB-powered light. Prior to that (over a year ago), I reviewed another bike light - a non-branded light that is also single LED and also USB powered.

I really like USB powered lights mainly for their versatility in terms of how they can be powered. When I'm out bikepacking and adventuring, I usually have several electronic gadgets (mainly a couple of smartphones used as a camera and for navigation) that I need to keep charged. Having a bike light that runs off the same batteries that I use to charge my phones is a huge plus - It eliminates the need to carry proprietary, model-specific batteries for the light and also makes charging simpler when the need arises since all I have to worry about are a couple of USB power bank style batteries (which I run everything off of).

The DL06 is a little different in this regard. First off, it's a USB rechargeable light, and not necessarily a USB powered light. In other words, the DL06 has it's own built-in, internal battery which is comprised of two 18650 Li-Ion cells that are rated at 6000mah. As a result, the light is a fully self contained light system that is about three times larger (and heavier) than the two lights I previously tested, minus their batteries, of course. Secondly, the DL06 has dual CREE XML T6 LED's, while the lights I tested previously only have single LED elements. The entire system is housed in a finned, black anodised aluminum heat sink casing that is IP65 rated for water and dust resistance.

The light has 4 operating modes: The familiar low, medium, and high brightness settings, and one steady flash mode. By default, the light powers on to its lowest brightness setting, and each successive press of the rear-mounted switch increases the brightness. If the power button is held down for 2 seconds in any mode, the light enters a steady flash mode. Press the switch again and the light will exit the flash mode and return to the previous state/ mode that it was in. Like many lights, the DL06 has a "clicker" style power switch on the rear of the housing off to the left side. Next to the switch (near the center) are 3 small LED battery level indicator lights. To the right of those is a micro-USB charging port, covered by a water resistant rubber cap. The DL06 can be plugged into an external power source while it is in operation, so technically it can be charged while being used, provided that the power supply delivers more juice than is being consumed by the light itself. The power switch illuminates red when the light is being charged, and then turns off when charging is complete. The battery indicator LED's remain lit corresponding to the battery's charge level. The battery itself takes roughly 5 hours to fully charge from empty using a standard 2.4A USB cell phone charger.

The light comes with 2 handlebar mounts and attaches to each mount via a familiar and simple slide-click mechanism. The mounts themselves are basically plastic pieces that wrap around the handlebar and clamp in place with a thumb screw. The mounts are made to fit 34.9mm dia handlebars and the light is supplied with rubber shims to adapt the light for use on a smaller diameter handlebar (eg. 26.4mm) if necessary. One of the mounts is a dual-clamp design which straddles the handlebar stem, positioning the light over the stem exactly in the middle of the handlebars. The other mount is a narrower single clamp style with a rotating slide lock for precise aiming of the light.

This light is bright! While it doesn't throw a beam quite as far as the XANES XL07 I previously reviewed, it is definitely as bright or brighter and casts a wider pattern with more even illumination from the center out to the side edges. The beam pattern makes it a great all-around light for any use ranging from off-road technical singletrack to road riding. And since it's fully self contained and easily detached from the bike, it can be used as a great flashlight off the bike as well - no dangling cords or external batteries to mess with.

I tested the run time of the DL06 by first fully charging it, then turning it on high and leaving it running overnight next to a timer on my laptop PC. The light ran for 3 hours 45 minutes at full brightness before the first LED battery charge indicator went out. After that, the light ran for another 3+ hours before the final battery indicator started to flicker, at which point I ended the test at 7 hours. In spite of this, the DL06 still had some juice left in the tank to keep going. Once again, the light ran for 3 hours, 43 minutes at full, maximum brightness. It should be noted however that as the battery charge level decreased after this point, the brightness of the light gradually decreased ever so slightly until the test was done. In spite of this, it still had more than adequate output brightness to be useful throughout the entire duration of the test. It should also be noted that I did not test its run time on the medium and low settings. Based on the run time I got on high, I am confident that the DL06 should easily run at least 2-3 times longer on the lower settings. That's about 14 hours on medium and 21 hours on low. Pretty impressive.

The XANES DL06 is available from Banggood.com for $23.99.

XANES XL07 LED Bike Light Review

A few weeks ago I completed a video review of the XANES XL07 LED Bike Light over on my YouTube channel. The light was sent to me by the folks over at Banggood.com.

I've been using this great little light and putting it through it's paces 2-3 times a week for the last month or so now. The light is basically a single CREE XML T6 LED element housed in a black anodised aluminum case. The build quality of the light head is very solid. It doesn't feel cheap of flimsy at all. The light is held onto the handlebars (or most anything round up to about 3/4" diameter) by a plastic mount which wraps around the bars and is secured via a small threaded thumb wheel. The light unit itself attaches to the bar mount via a simple slide-lock mechanism which is rotatable for precise aiming of the light.

In addition to the handlebar mount, the XL07 comes with an elastic headband mount which is basically the same as the headband mounts supplied with many other Chinese bike lights. The headband can be worn directly on the head, or it can be stretched over a bike helmet to be used as a helmet mount. The light is also supplied with a silicone rubber "lamp shade". At first I had no idea what the intent was for this accessory and though it was some sort of gimmick. But I soon realized that the lamp shade makes for a great diffuser that softens the light and broadens the output which in turn makes the XL07 quite useful in off the bike camping situations where an area light is needed.

One unique thing about this light is its ability to operate on various voltages from 4.2 up to 8.4 VDC. The light has a round 5521 style connector on the end of the cord, but also comes with a 5521 to USB cable as well. This makes for a very versatile light setup, able to be powered by wide variety of batteries and power supplies. The cord + USB cable is also plenty sufficient in length - With the light installed on my handlebars, I ride with the cord coiled around the top tube of my bike and then up the seatpost to a small seatbag where a USB battery is carried. There is no shortage of cable length at all.

The light is IP65 rated for water and dust resistance and has 6 different operating modes: High, medium, and low brightness, plus fast, slow, and S.O.S. flashing modes. The high and medium modes are more than adequate for any riding condition, including technical singletrack. The beam pattern throws a good amount of light far ahead - I have no problem seeing small rocks and other objects that are 45-50 feet ahead on gravel roads for example. The light pattern is somewhat narrow however, like a spotlight. While there is indeed some peripheral illumination to the sides, it isn't much. The lowest brightness setting is more of a "be seen" level of brightness and while it may work on open roads etc. it's not quite bright enough wherever the road or trail ahead needs to be well illuminated.

Power consumption of the XL07 is similar to the other USB powered lights I've tried, anywhere from 1-2A at 5V on high, around 0,8-0,9A on medium, and about 0.1A on low. Note that power consumption of the light can vary slightly depending on the battery or power supply used, but overall amperage readings show that this is a pretty efficient light that will provide some pretty long run times if paired with a suitable battery. I've gotten nearly 3 hours running the XL07 on high PLUS another non-branded CREE XML T6 light (used as a tail light) running on medium power - at the same time off the same battery. It should be noted that the XL07 is not supplied with a battery - you'll have to supply your own.

The XANES XL07 is available from Banggood.com for $28.99 although, when I very recently checked the site again they had lowered the price to $16.99. I find this to be a pretty good price for such a versatile, well made, and well performing light.

Click below to watch the full video review, or click here to view the video on YouTube.

What if FedEx was to create a mountain bike commercial? I had a bunch of small to medium sized packages to send out yesterday. Good excuse for a bike ride. So I set out to create what it might look like. What do you get when you go pedaling and use the mountain bike to ship & deliver stuff at the same time? PEDEX! I actually do this quite often so I thought I'd create a faux FedEx commercial video of sorts. Just for the heck of it. So yesterday I loaded the stuff into the bike trailer and went for a spin...

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2018 Florida Divide rider Stacy Bolton

It's Florida Divide season. What's the Florida Divide, you ask? Then head on over to Trackleaders.com for a brief introduction, and to check out the current state of affairs. That's exactly what I was doing this past this past Monday (3/12) and several days prior. I had been following the steady progress of Stacy Bolton, who is riding his bike from Alabama to Key West, Florida on a mostly off-road route.

On Monday, Stacy was approaching the Central Florida leg of his amazing journey and the route he is following passes fairly close to my hometown, so I thought I'd take some time and take a ride to meet up with him on my own bike, and see first hand how he's doing. I caught up with him about halfway through the Seminole State Forest just outside of Sanford, Florida - 10 days and 873 miles into his 1500 mile journey. He was incredibly focused and in great spirits. We rode a few miles together and sat down for a few moments as he recounted his experience.

You can see more of my conversation with Stacy below.
(click here view video directly on YouTube)
Get more detailed info about the Florida Divide at singletracksamurai.com or on the Singletrack Samurai Facebook page.