Southernly Crossed

First and last chance for a ride these past two weeks.

Southern X is this weekend. We've been under freezing temps all week and this weekend promises to continue the trend. I've heard lots of people wavering on whether or not to do the X. The Moots/Swiftwick boys and I are in and stoked. We ship off for the 5ish hour drive tomorrow after work* loaded down with some Yazoo Pale Ale, Hop Project, and Smokey Sue to bring some TN warmth to the cold GA mountains.

*I think I'm the only one who has to work.

Cranky

I had to do some maintenance on the Rigor to get it ready. I've been suffering from loose spindles for the better part of '09. I bought new pedals a while back, but decided to wait until after cross season to bust them out. But the clicking has gotten the best of me and I decided SouthernX would be a fitting excuse to break them in.

XT's to replace the XT's. Pirate free. (no ARRR)

Looks like the only updates to the pedals are the return of the black spindle and fancy X imagery on the box. I hope I remember to check the pedal release tension before the race. Hmm, yeah better make a mental note on that. I also swapped back from mtn gearing to cross gearing and begrudgingly decided to play by the rules. At least the stupid rule since I already broke the "don't change anything on your bike before a race" rule. I'll have to test ride it in the halls of work tomorrow and make sure it all works.

Bar Endless.

Public Enemy #1: The dreaded deadly bar ends.

So a lap or two of cross then 50 miles of hilly gravel without my comfy ends. I'd throw on a set of ss brake hoods and bend the rules if I had them still. Thought about stitching them into the palms of my gloves too. Oh, well. Not a big deal, just a stupid rule in my opinion, the banning of bar ends that is. Even the fancy Ergon ones. So sad.

Float like a butterfly...

So I added some flair to make me feel pretty. Pretty is fast.

Chanandaler is famooosly flighty.

In a completely unrelated note, we watched episode 2 of TLC's Emergency Level 1 filmed at Vandy at hippie dinner tonight. The episode, Gunshots In Nashville, features a certain airborne Swinely friend of mine. Yours. Ours. Smile for the camera.