29 on 29

Wheel size.
Who cares?
Some people defend their choice of wheel size with a zeal that should be reserved for much more important issues.

Like chocolate.

But over on the MTBRs they came up with a silly little bandwagon to jump on:
Ride your 29er on the 29th.

Cute, huh?

Being a big fan of frivolous sociality (Blogger says that isn't a word), I decided to jump in with both feet.

I wanted to get in a ride before work, but because of the snow event, I had to pick up LB @ 11:15 AM.
11:15?
Why even go?

So I didn't get to ride my 29er before work.
I got to ride it at lunch!

I tried to get an action shot

that didn't work out too good

So then I thought I'd just get a static shot of Blü.2

such a pretty bikes

speaking of pretty, powerlines look awfully nice with a little frosting

I guess the early dismissal was called for

Ride details with all sorts of fancy metrics, graphs and charts can be found here:
http://app.strava.com/rides/4643231

Dagnamit!

I thought I had it all figured out.

By some strange paradox the chain length for a 18t cog and a 19t cog are different on Blü.2.  For me, the useful cog range is 18-21. 18 is about the biggest I can push (I'm working on that) and 21 will get me up all but the steepest courses.


chain for "regular" gears

chain for "big boy" gears

It's like I'm getting carded or something. No admission without another link.

But them I remembered I has a drawer of half-links from back in the magic-gear days.
With a half link maybe I could get the Holy Trinity of cogs; the 18, 19, 20.

So I went to work.
Put the half-link in and tried to hook up the power-link.

No-go.
The half-link seems to be too wide for the power-link.

This used to work on my Ol' Pal Stumpy, why not now?
I'm using a 8 speed link?
In the past did I just muscle it shut?
Is this just another senior moment where I can't remember how I accomplished something just 5 years ago?

I won't be able to keep any SS secrets; you can check my chain to see how manly I'm feeling.

Just a little further

Saturday was one of those days where you, or rather I, was just looking for an excuse.
I wasn't feeling great on the bike.  Healthy enough, just wasn't "into it" I guess.
The snow was kinda crappy.
There was just enough half frozen slushy wet snow to add a little extra resistance.  That plus the wind (yes, even in the trees the wind was a slight factor) was making things a little more challenging.

Oh, and did I mention I had Summer racer-boy tires mounted.

On Thursday there was no snow in the forecast, and after all the work it took to get the stubborn tire to seal on my well worn and dented rim, I wasn't a going to change it back.

I had a "normal size" gear on too.

I kept on making that deal with myself "well go to that point, and if you're still a whiny little baby you can then turn around"
I got to the point and set another point.

But the further North I got the better the conditions got.

conditions got so good it was almost like riding on a road

What the?

Seems after all the people whining  about "needing" electricity after being without for over a week from the October snowstorm  the power company decided they "needed" a way to get to the powerlines.

Fortunately they only needed to "improve" a few hundred meters of trail.

By the time I had got to Wintonbury Rd I was starting to feel pretty good, and ran out of early bailout spots.
I knew there would be no more need for shortcuts, and had got down to the business of just enjoying my ride.

Senior Moments

Rambo'd through a ton of work today in anticipation of a small window of opportunity


Bike's here

but nothing's up here?

because it's here

...and that's the sound of the widow closing.

Hey!
That's not a bike.

but I'm pretty sure it's a singlespeed

F100 sure does provide a good view

Now that's a bike!

15.6 mph.
That's it.  That's all I could muster on my ride home tonight.
I felt decent enough, but the motherfuckingmotherfucker headwind had other ideas for me.

As I turned onto Farmington Ave for the final stretch home, as the sun was setting I saw another cyclist heading West.  He was spinning like mad, yet not moving too fast.   We waved, I yelled something about enjoy the tailwind, and realized he was yelling something similar, proving cyclist always have a headwind.

As the sun dropped below the horizon, the wind began to die down as I pulled onto my street.

Bad Blogger

I really should have taken pictures this weekend.
I could have shown you the trails of young men of privilege, who I doubt know how privileged they are having such nice trails at their disposal.

I could have shown you new place I rode and people I met on Sunday.

But alas, I'm a bad blogger.

I will share with you the oatmeal raisin cookies I made yesterday, but not the Belgian waffles I made Friday, because again, I'm a very bad blogger.

Sunday night:

Monday morning:

Not that I'm a narcissist or anything...

Was, Not, Was

I laid my clothes out and charged my lights in anticipation of my morning commute last night.
But as I lay in bed I started rationalizing.
Was one day off enough recovery?
My legs were still a little sore, maybe I should take another?
It was going to be a short day at work with a dentist appointment, and kid patrol, maybe I should maximize it by driving in and saving an hour round trip?
It's probably cold outside.

Maybe I should just stay under the covers?

But the fat man on TV was telling me it was barely even freezing outside.
Taking Sir Paul's advice it seemed only prudent to stop making excuses and get my ass on the bike.

The fat man wasn't lying either, didn't even need shoe covers.

As an added bonus, traffic is a little better if you leave 20 minutes late for work.
(that's a universal truth)

TGIM

I love riding my bike.
Some even feel (Mrs. CB2) I'm obsessed.
But thank God it's Monday!

Because Monday is a recovery day.

Wednesday I went back to a normal gear
Thursday hill repeats
Friday the Sauser Method (harder than I planned, oops)
Saturday was a rather tame Kitchen Sink loop
and as a grand finale Case w/ Neal  Sunday featuring the Evil Backyard Wall.
(the 3 hours I rode wasn't enough for Neal, he started early then kept on going)

Today my workout will consist of coffee, a cookie, and a magazine.

I used to hate taking a day off (see above).
I got over it.

Big Boy Gear

I really worked myself up over this.
It's not really even that big.
Not like "Monte Big".
It used to be the "standard", but I haven't ridden a gear as large since a TdT in September where I just about needed to tie a tow rope to Neal to get up some of the climbs.

I kept flip flopping.

Should I put a bigger cog on?
Was it going to be too hard?
Should I just curl up under the flower blanket and eat treats?
Just give up this silly bicycle riding thing?

So how did it go?

Well if you must pry...

Great.
I wasn't setting any land speed records, but I got up all the climbs.  I even made it up the Secret Ninja Death Chute.
My legs feel muy fresco too.

Maybe it was my new cranks.
They are 93% swankier than the cranks they replaced.

Pretty Things

USAC has a boner for training with power.
I believe a powermeter is a useful tool for training, not the be all end all, but a very useful tool.
I wouldn't mind having one.

Instead I have a pretty fork
 and
(for the moment)
 jewel like cranks.

Not only that, the cranks are fastened to the bike with archaic twentieth century technology.  Probably nineteenth, but we'll give it the benefit of the doubt being all cold war mystery metal.

They even fail the weight weenies manifesto of a dollar a gram coming in at about $20 to the gram saved.
They won't make me faster, and any improvement in ride or handling is minute.
Maybe even pure placebo effect.

But damn are they pretty!

Super Sunday!

Football.
Yeah, whatever.

My Sunday was better.
I put a new toilet in the "Men's Room".

the "Ferguson"

it's replacement "The Cadet"


The significance of this is cyclist no longer need bare witness to the toy and clothing ground zero explosion  that is my home (they just need to navigate the dungeon labyrinth that is my basement /workshop).

Registered for Singlespeed-A-Palooza.  I did this race the first two years, but last year it sold out in a couple of weeks (before I could sign up).  This year it sold out in 24 hours.  73 are registered for the Pro / Open class.
73.

What better way to reward accomplishing things than a bike ride.

But what truly made Sunday super was someone picked up the dog poop!

Journey

or the

destination?

Pick up your dog SH!T!!!

As I was leaving the Res today, being a goody-two-shoes pressing the button and waiting for the light a guy walking his dog walks up.
As he's leaving he tosses a bag, I assume of his dog's excrement by the fence around the res.

I yell over to him, "Hey!  Pick up your dog shit!"

He coyly smiles and begins walking towards me.

"I said, Pick up your dog shit!"  I exclaim again.

To which he informs me "Oh I'm here all the time I'll get it another time".

"Yeah right"  I retort "that's why I see all the bags of shit all over the place in here".

This sort of ticks him off

"You ride bike" he says.

"You pick up your dog shit" I reply.

He comes back with "You shit, just ride bike".

The light changes, there is a car behind me and a MDC truck is pulling in to the facility, so I start shouting
"This guy's leaving his dog shit by the gate, this guy's leaving his dog shit!"

Pick up your dog shit.

Lemonade

Here's TJ getting awfully  close to the yellow line
and

here he is right before he threw a banana peal at me.

I think the Cat1 Junior Geezers (40+) are going to have to worry about more than bananas from him come Spring.

News Flash!!!

The economy still sucks.
At least it does for building and remodeling.
Sure the Halloween snow storm has made roofers happy, but bathroom remodeling and new construction?
Home sales were at their worst in about forever last year (gee maybe if you remodel your bathroom you can sell that great white elephant of an overpriced house?).

But this blog is about bikes, what does the above have to do with bikes you may ask?

Mrs. CB2 has a job.  If it's a matter of her missing hours and not getting paid or me leaving work that I may or may not be getting paid for, guess what?  We'll take the sure thing.

But my Mother the eternal optimist has taught me to look on the bright side.  When life hands you lemons, make lemonade so to speak.

LB has an early day (11:15 AM? what's the point of even going?)  QB gets home @ 3:40 PM

Not enough time to drive back to work, get set up, get anything done, and drive back home for the bus.  Plus who wants to drive to Crazytown twice in one day?

But plenty of time for a bike ride!

Here's to making the best of what life hands you.