Rally of the Dead

Should be Doing Programing Homework

but I`m not. Instead I`m riding my bike. Going to Tour De Fat and buying expensive bike parts for cheap. I have been as Dave would say "A little under the weather", I hope I`m not getting something more than a fall cold. last weekend I sucked major ass. I dropped out of the XC after I crashed, lost my rhythm and couldn't restart my engine. I crashed again in the ST after passing a huge number of riders by riding in the shrubbery, and after I merged in a rider to my left merged in on me and caused a 10 bike crash. I got out of the crash dead last and had a really bum hand. I worked my way up to 15th out of 31 riders by the end of the race. I really was looking forward to a good finish there, the trail was similar to a long BMX track and was super fun! Oh well, hopfully a better finish this week at the home race.

I have been trying to recover from a cold this week but today I got out for a good two hours and had fun. Our new coach put the ride together to help riders get up to speed on the courses. Oh yeah, her name is Ruthie Matthes and she is cool. On another note I pick up some nice pieces at the pros garage sale on Tuesday. For $175 I bought, Sram Force Road levers gutted of shiter bits for a SS, Eggbeater 4 Ti pedals and a Brand new Truvative 32t alloy ring. Very nice I think. Grady here picked up a new bike does it look familiar. Exactly the same spec.

College Life

Long trip, still settling in, new shoes, bike for a friend. Conditions were chilly but dry. The track was medium length and fast. One half consisted of double track and the other single track. The single track was mostly a slight up hill with a fun descent and creek crossing. The double track was flat and in to the wind and had this super fun floater jump which was whipped most every lap.

The ST started around 11 am and was a 30 min + 2 race. I had a horrible start but moved in to top 5 before entering a single track section. By the fourth lap I was top 3 with Chris and Greg and just chilling. We kept talking about how weird it was that we we leading the race, being that we are not in the best condition. I stayed on the front leading and then dropping back again letting Chris or Greg lead some. With 2 to go we have a huge FLC train and Chris. Dave starts yelling attack, attack, on the double track and Mitch surges but does not shake the train. My plan was to sit in 2nd and on the last lap jump in front of Mitch on the single track and not have to sprint for a win.. What really happened was I forgot to pass Mitch on the single track and got passed by Greg, who made a sweet pass by the way, and finished third by less than a second.

In the XC race I DNFed due to a broken front derailleur and spirit that probably rotated and was snapped of by my own crank arm. I was feeling pretty shity at the start but still had a good start and a few time in the race I found my self in a race good position. More on that, Brian Alders made a show and dropped the field by a good bit and all but two FLC A catigory racers DNFed.

Let the Truth be told here.

Leaving

Cars full, long drive, Durango on Friday. Fuck yeah!!

Olympic Sized Gut Buster

The Hammer gel was put down last Saturday in a time of 7 min and 43 sec and the other Gu packs were last year. The two Gu packs together equal 1000 cal. and were put down in 1 min and 41 sec.
The Hammer gel went down OK but kicked my ass pretty good in the end and made for a bad ride home and even worse night... yeah you get the point.

Grease Monkey

My new front derailleur setup is done. I fabed up a small piece to test at Mohican and it did not break. The new setup is a Sram Force 35mm band clamp (forgotten, then found in my parts bin) not a braze on, this eliminates an extra bolt, some weight and makes for a stiffer derailleur. Even tough the band clamp models are lighter than braze on models with adapters my new setup is heavier at 130g but shifts much better. My old setup was a 7700 braze on Duraace that I modified to work as a top pull. It was a light setup at 96g but had a poor leverage ratio and made for a difficult shift.

Now that I know the Sram setup will work I will invest in a better derailleur (Red) and a better grade of aluminum for the arm. This will bring the weight down to a more pleasing 75g.
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Core Commuter

I thought I might post a few pics of my commuter bike. I have been commuting to and from work at Orrville Cycling for the last few years on this bike and I did not want to be outdone by fellow Fisher rider Travis and his city bike so here it is.

The bike has a long history. It started out as my moms 14spd and then my dads main road bike. The bike fell into my hands four years ago. I rode it as a club ride bike and a school commuter. Two years ago I removed all the gears and ran it as a single speed with a 52t font ring and a 17t cog. I rode it to school and on club rides for a summer and finally decided to put it on the fixed gear diet. I used a set of Bontrager Superstock wheels form my old X-Cal and ran two cogs. The inner most cog a 34t and the drive cog a 16t. I tied the 34t to the wheel with brake cable through the spokes and rode it like that for a few months. At the end of the summer I built up a set of tank fixed/free wheels to make the setup legit. That was the last major upgrade I made to the bike until lately.

The frame is an old Schwinn Voyager form who knows when and the fork is a cheapo out of the the back store room (crashed the original).

The bar is a cheap Aluminum 38cm in a classic bend. The computer is a broken digital watch that I have taped to the stem with packing tape. The light is a Cateye Single shot that I acquired through the shop. I have been testing it for the last few weeks and so far I have been very impressed. More to come on that later.

Velocity 32h Deep V rims laced to Surly hubs with DT Swiss black Champion spokes and Black Alloy nipples.
The drive train is made up of a mix of parts. Sugino 170mm Supermaxy cranks and 44t ring with Surly 3/32 16t cog being turned by a Sram 870 chain. I chose the 870 over the 850 because my chain is the most stressed part on my bike and skimping on the chain seemed foolish.

When commuting long distance I normally use Crank Brothers Quattros but for town and stunt riding toe clips are the pedal of choice. They allow for a varied range of locking force from loose to super tight. They will never let your foot out when set super tight. This makes them great for power slides and riding downhill at high speeds, think 150rpm.
The milk crate is great for getting the weight off my back and looks sweet... kinda. One day a customer asked if I was Amish, I love it. The crate is fixed to the bike with a OLD Middleburn rack with zipties for ease of removal. The rear light is a Cateye LD-100 which is the best small blinky light I have come across. It bungees to the frame rack ...milk crate, whatever and never bounces off like other lights.