So I have been riding quite a bit recently, there is still room for improvement but I feel good. I've been riding down to Minneapolis every Monday to meet my girlfriend after she is done working. I have also been commuting every Wednesday and Thursday to work. There have been other little random rides on the days not mentioned and I think I am going to start doing the "Sunday Fun Day" rides on Sunday morning out of the Midtown Freewheel location, they look like a lot of fun and I like fun. My goal of 4500 miles for this year, which is 500 more than last year, is in sight.
So after some consultation from one of my inspirations for starting this blog in the first place, I am going to start saving up for a decent quality point and shoot camera so I can take and post more ride photos. I see so many things that stick in my memory when I am out riding that I wish I could capture to show everyone, soon I will be able to do that.
I am still waiting to see what Surly and Salsa will be doing differently for fat bikes this year but I am pretty sure I will be looking at a Surly still. I am stoked, it will be my birthday present to myself.
Only about 3 more weeks before fall semester starts, that is awesome and weird. I will really miss working at Freewheel as often as I do now, I will still pick up a shift once a week but it is just not the same. I really have never had a job that has made me so happy and made me feel so fulfilled, ever in my life.
A two wheeled biography.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sorting things out.
Just out for a ride. It is hot and windy and I found out my mother has cancer. That kind of news has a way that always makes you reevaluate what you think you know.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
On The Road Again
On Monday I took a nice 30 mile ride from home (Brooklyn Park) to South Minneapolis via the River Road and the Greenway. Met my girlfriend at her folks place near her work then we rode our bikes down to the Lake Harriet beach area and cooled off for a swim.
It felt really good to be riding for no other reason than I wanted to. Having the time to ride because I wanted to felt even better. I miss all the adventure of biking. Things like unannounced races with roadies who ride in the road, detours due to cranes being erected in bike paths, and all the nature you could want. It is a good feeling.
I realized recently that I don't post a lot of pictures any more. Part of that is because it is kind of a hassle to drag my DSLR around and the other part of that is that my phone takes awful pictures. I think it might be time to invest in a point and shoot digital camera for easy picture taking.
I am about to embark on a ride to work, so for now I'll be signing out.
It felt really good to be riding for no other reason than I wanted to. Having the time to ride because I wanted to felt even better. I miss all the adventure of biking. Things like unannounced races with roadies who ride in the road, detours due to cranes being erected in bike paths, and all the nature you could want. It is a good feeling.
I realized recently that I don't post a lot of pictures any more. Part of that is because it is kind of a hassle to drag my DSLR around and the other part of that is that my phone takes awful pictures. I think it might be time to invest in a point and shoot digital camera for easy picture taking.
I am about to embark on a ride to work, so for now I'll be signing out.
Monday, July 9, 2012
...and now I can breathe.
Oh boy. Lots of stuff has happened since the last post. Let's jump to it.
I got my Surly built and it went much better than I had expected. I ended up using a Sram Rival cyclocross drive train kit. This included cranks, bottom bracket, chain, cassette, rear der, front der, shifters, avid shorty 4 cantilever brakes, and all the cable and cable housing. I really like the functionality of the group set and it was pretty affordable as well. I bought a basic kalloy seat post and put my B-17 special saddle from Brooks on there. It has been exceptionally comfortable for me right out of the box. For handlebars I went with the Salsa bell lap, I like the ergonomic grip section in the drops plus I like how they shoot away from the bar kind of like their wood chippers. I used my front wheel off the old bike that came from Handspun at QBP, it is a Mavic touring rim with a Deore XT hub and straight gauge spokes, so it is heavy but bullet proof. One of the fellows from work hand built my rear wheel. For the rear I went with a DT Swiss 350 laced with straight gauge spokes onto a DT Swiss TK540 rim, basically another bullet proof wheel. Heavy, but indestructible.
My original thought was to have the mechanics at work build up the bike for me but due to financial limitations and a desire to learn about my bike I opted to put it together myself. So I had the guys at work chase the bottom bracket threads and shave the paint out of the head tube area as Surly is renowned for using a metric shit ton of paint, which is a good thing in my opinion. So after that I took the frame home and started slapping parts on it. I started with the bottom bracket and crank set, then put the cassette on the rear wheel. However I then realized I should have probably done the head set first so I took the crank arms and bottom bracket off and cleaned all the grease off of them and took the frame back to work and use the head set press and then took it home and re-installed the bottom bracket and crank set. Next was the wheels and seat post so I could hang the bike from the work stand. From that point I added the brakes and front/rear ders. Then I added the chain and measured and cut the cables. Last but not least was wrapping the bars.
It was actually a lot of fun and challenging for me but I learned a hell of a lot. I did an alright job even, when I brought it in and had it checked over it was really just minor derailleur adjustments except I had routed the chain on the outside of the cage of the rear derailleur as well, oops. Other than that it went great and I have put on almost 500 miles on it so far. I wish it was more but I have been busy with other things which are now done so now I can make more time for riding.
Once again I have fat bike fever. I think I have finally come down on the side of the Surly Necromancer. I like that it comes with the Moonlander fork and has the Darryl's rather than the Large Marge rims. More float. Another bonus in my opinion is it comes standard with a 36/22 Mr. Whirly Offset Double crank set, which makes a lot more sense, I dig it. Also the Surly, unlike any other readily available fat bike comes with vertical dropouts which allow for a single speed conversion if one wanted to.There are just a ton of options that appeal to me with the Surly over the Mukluk or 9ZERO7s. I like options and I know I like how steel rides now, it might be a little heavier but I can live with that.
That is all I've got for now. My goal this week is to ride at least five times this week. I'll post back with an update later.
I got my Surly built and it went much better than I had expected. I ended up using a Sram Rival cyclocross drive train kit. This included cranks, bottom bracket, chain, cassette, rear der, front der, shifters, avid shorty 4 cantilever brakes, and all the cable and cable housing. I really like the functionality of the group set and it was pretty affordable as well. I bought a basic kalloy seat post and put my B-17 special saddle from Brooks on there. It has been exceptionally comfortable for me right out of the box. For handlebars I went with the Salsa bell lap, I like the ergonomic grip section in the drops plus I like how they shoot away from the bar kind of like their wood chippers. I used my front wheel off the old bike that came from Handspun at QBP, it is a Mavic touring rim with a Deore XT hub and straight gauge spokes, so it is heavy but bullet proof. One of the fellows from work hand built my rear wheel. For the rear I went with a DT Swiss 350 laced with straight gauge spokes onto a DT Swiss TK540 rim, basically another bullet proof wheel. Heavy, but indestructible.
My original thought was to have the mechanics at work build up the bike for me but due to financial limitations and a desire to learn about my bike I opted to put it together myself. So I had the guys at work chase the bottom bracket threads and shave the paint out of the head tube area as Surly is renowned for using a metric shit ton of paint, which is a good thing in my opinion. So after that I took the frame home and started slapping parts on it. I started with the bottom bracket and crank set, then put the cassette on the rear wheel. However I then realized I should have probably done the head set first so I took the crank arms and bottom bracket off and cleaned all the grease off of them and took the frame back to work and use the head set press and then took it home and re-installed the bottom bracket and crank set. Next was the wheels and seat post so I could hang the bike from the work stand. From that point I added the brakes and front/rear ders. Then I added the chain and measured and cut the cables. Last but not least was wrapping the bars.
It was actually a lot of fun and challenging for me but I learned a hell of a lot. I did an alright job even, when I brought it in and had it checked over it was really just minor derailleur adjustments except I had routed the chain on the outside of the cage of the rear derailleur as well, oops. Other than that it went great and I have put on almost 500 miles on it so far. I wish it was more but I have been busy with other things which are now done so now I can make more time for riding.
Once again I have fat bike fever. I think I have finally come down on the side of the Surly Necromancer. I like that it comes with the Moonlander fork and has the Darryl's rather than the Large Marge rims. More float. Another bonus in my opinion is it comes standard with a 36/22 Mr. Whirly Offset Double crank set, which makes a lot more sense, I dig it. Also the Surly, unlike any other readily available fat bike comes with vertical dropouts which allow for a single speed conversion if one wanted to.There are just a ton of options that appeal to me with the Surly over the Mukluk or 9ZERO7s. I like options and I know I like how steel rides now, it might be a little heavier but I can live with that.
That is all I've got for now. My goal this week is to ride at least five times this week. I'll post back with an update later.
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