Turning Two

 Bday dog.

After a late night of work and errands, I got out for a short night ride with the b-day pup. It was muggy. It was foggy. It was better than sitting inside. He was stoked. Happy Birthday little buddy.

Damn this bike is fun to ride, even after 3 years.

Night ride foes. You catch a lot of these in the face/helmet at night. Yuck.

Aesthetically Bleeding

The pieces are coming together nicely. Still awaiting the bb to show up, but the rest is playing along nicely with one another. I went for the lowest costing / "better" level performance of brakes as decided by querying several experienced riders, mechanics, and foreign dignitaries. For a few bucks more than the bb7's I ended up with my first set of hydraulic brakes. The dead sexy matching color is purely coincidence, but it sure ups the so-pro look.

Wait till Dicky sees my limited edition white Chris King hubs laced with black spokes + 4 white ones. Pink-schmink.

Dull Unincorporated

After a great week of work ending with a commute overlook of the above sunset, a loosely laid plan for hitting the dirt on Friday was made. The weather has been pop-up thunder-stormy all week and who knew if it'd be raining when I got up or just muggy as hell like the rest of the summer TN days. Lucky for me (and even more-so for JD) it was a cool, low humidity morning. The perfect summer day temps for riding some dirt.

Due to some repaving of local roads, interstate construction, and a strong desire not to drive into town, I took a back-roads route to a local trail. While driving I was thinking and wishing I could be out riding in Pisgah, Colorado, bikepacking across the Canardian Rockies, pretty much anywhere but here. That is until I took the long turn and was instantly reminded why I love living in middle TN.

I discovered an area I never even knew about relatively close to home with tons of exploratory potential, a cool camping area, river access, and unexplored gravel. Setting up a perfect summer weather s24o bike-packing destination without needing to take off work, incurring massive travel expenses, or spending hours in a car.

It might not be Colorado. It definitely isn't Pisgah. But it is what I have available and despite dreaming big on a tight time and even tighter money budget, sometimes just getting a dream is enough. This should also be the perfect break-in trip for the new dream whip, since it was specifically designed with such adventures in mind. It's a trip I can take after work the night before my day off, giving me plenty of time for adventure but still allowing time to get things done around the house.

Useless co-pilot.

I'm glad I took the long turn today. JD and I took a different back road route home to enjoy the scenery and cool breeze coming in the windows while plotting the details of my next adventure. Well, I enjoyed the scenery, JD just enjoyed sleeping in the wind.

One step closer. The 30.9 showed up yesterday.

Stupid Bleeding Edges

Those that know me know that I typically lean towards the archaic (some would say proven) technology: 26" wheels, mechanical disc brakes, tubes (until recently), etc... So it should come as a surprise (sign of the apocalypse) to these folks that I'm pushing the bleeding edge with my latest bike.
 

What edge is bleeding? Certainly not the 29" wheels as they've been around for years. You could argue the 44mm inset headset headtube as finally 29'er frames can be below-the-saddle-without-a-negative-stem bar friendly. Plus H. wishes I were less negative so this is a plus plus but not bleeding.

No the bleeding edge I'm referring to is the PressFit 30 bottom bracket. Sure it's been around in some form or fashion for a bit now thanks to SRAM XX and BB30 Hollowgram has been around much longer. However, PF30 is pretty new. So new in fact that there aren't any singlespeed friendly cranks available. Sure I could pony up $480 bucks for a sexy SRAM XX crankset, drop $110 more on a purely custom 80bcd non-ramped ring, but I don't have that cash luxury. Stupid SRAM and their changing BCD's to 120/80. Jerks. At least they could offer a non-ramped ring option or release the Stylo 1.1 with a 30mm spindle.

So what does a financially challenged singlespeeder do? He turns to ProblemSolvers and opts for the PF30 Shims to allow the use of a 24mm spindled Hollowtech II crank that will allow him to continue to use his stash of stainless steel Surly chainrings. That is until e.thirteen/byTheHive release their forthcoming PF30 cups for the thirteen.g crankset, which comes in a delicious ss flavor.

Also new to the MootoX RSL is the formed chainstays, a feature I daily wish had been included in my Rigormootis. What a difference a few millimeters per side would make. Maybe when I order a Rigormootis RSL (you know they are saving the best for last right? right?!) they'll have that option available.

Probably the most exciting edge for me will be running the new XTR pedals. Wider is the new white.

Speaking of white, this bike will be pushing my limits and have me running hydraulic brakes for the first time. For just a few bucks more than the venerable BB7's I was about to order, I decided to go all in and embrace all the new decade old tech. As soon as the correct (ahem) seatpost comes in and the SRAM BB gets delivered I'll post up some of the results of the beta vs blue ray testing. And I'm sure I'll have something to piss and moan about due to running the latest and greatest technology that's certain to give me fits. Should be an interesting summer.

Planes, Trains, and Nautical-Mobiles.

Headed up for a whirlwind trip to Salem/Boston Massachusetts this past weekend for a family shindig. It was my first trip to New England. I wish I'd been able to bring my bike, the traffic was crazy. The fact that we were only going 13 miles was even crazier. I'd given anything for my bike. Plus I kept hearing about Lynn Woods and the more I heard about it, the more I hated having my bikes in TN.

Sailing made easy. 

Despite no biking, we did get out for a lot of exploring by foot. It was a great visit that makes me really want to make it out to Nova Scotia with a bike. If only I had a fellow cyclist with a couch I could crash on and who'd take me on a tour of killer riding and beer establishments.  Oh well, maybe someday.

The reason for being... there.

The Godfather.

Monkey's-R-Us

Bruins who?

Saturday we were to head into downtown Boston (right next to Boston Commons) at noon for Maeve's naming ceremony/christening. I'm not sure if any of you heard, but the Bruins apparently won some sort of hockey cup and there was a city wide parade scheduled for noon-ish. Roads were closed so we took the T train into town along with a million of our closest friends. Boston is an extremely friendly town and it was so nice of them to throw a parade for Maeve.

Wine cellar reception.

Mooo...

T...s

Some folks like to go to new towns and explore the local fauna of micro-brews. I prefer to test out the local swills, backed up of course by the old stand by. Narragansett, not quite Blatz but not bad either.

Choose wisely.

Eff the Revolution

Johnny's got his gun.

Meet Gunk

Stan the Gunk.

Got the gunk out today. Overhauled the super simple, easy-peasy, kick-ass DT 240s SS hub this morning. Several above-the-tire creek crossings had my hub clickity clicking louder than a school clock during study hall and I'd been putting it off for far too long.

Step 1. Pop this off.

Step 2: remove this stuff and clean it.

Step 3: Do step 2 here too.

A fresh coating of DT star-ratchet grease, reassemble, then ride in super smooth subdued clickyness-ness. Which I did. Spring is quickly giving way to Summer but today graced us with cool temps. Perfect for a little night riding and night swimming out with the pup. The bike felt glued to the trails tonight with today's spring showers knocking down the dust and tacking the trail bed perfectly.

Home grown garden hippie dinner with the girls upstairs and a cold beer washing it all down. Amazing what can happen when you make it a point to take the time. Speaking of taking time, we're about to make the time to get out to a long overdue visit to the Northeast Coast to see family not seen near frequently enough. A new adventure, can't wait.