I rode everyday for about 4 years. I currently ride a motorcycle virtually everyday. City's full of cycle paths. Main drags wide enough have marked bike lanes. Drizzles a lot. Overcast a lot. But we get less rain than lots of cities.

Only a couple days of ice kept me off the roads. Only gets slick 2 or 3 days a year. Snow is rare near the city.

I just noticed that you were post 8888 in this thread.

Congrats!

I may hafta let the lawn go till I get back from Dogfish Head (brewery google it) on Thurs and sneak out for a ride. :nod Got other things that *need* doing, but...

M

My baby needs a new pair of shoes.
 

I need to replace the 26" tires and tubes on my Trek 7000; Effn dry rot. :cry

I ride mostly on road/sidewalks with the occasional off-road romp. I'd like to buy 'em cheap and online; free shipping a plus. :deal

What tires do you recommend and who do you buy from? :ear

Thanks,

Rodney

Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/SarDuche

None of me yet, thank god. :lol3

One of my teammates takes a pretty good digger in the last video though.

I think tomorrow is gonna be New Bike Day! :clap

About a year ago I bought a Raleigh One Way for commuting:

http://velospace.org/files/R07-OneWay_Black-f.jpg

Neat bike. I enjoyed riding it and had fun with the novelty of riding a fixed gear. Then things changed and I wasn't commuting anymore. I felt less enthusiastic about using the bike for getting around town. I've had an itch for more of a play-bike, something to ride wheelies on.

I didn't want to go through the hassle of selling the Raleigh and finding something else. I'm close to broke, so just buying something outright wasn't an option. So I put an ad on CL looking for an interesting swap. I didn't expect much to come out of it, then I get this:

Hell yeah! This is exactly what I had in mind! I'd just been drooling on one of these the day before the guy wrote. I've talked to him a bit and it sounds like we're going to do it. Meeting tomorrow to compare, test, and maybe swap. The bikes were new at the same time, and his retailed for a good bit more so I'm cool with the deal....

Man I hope this works out. I really dig these bikes.

http://www.bianchiusa.com/typo3temp/cc2bf07071.jpg

Hope it works out for you. I looked at a G.U.S.S. a few years back; neat bikes.

Snuck in a ride today after the belt on the mower deck bit it. I left a bit o the front yard undone 'cause, well, the damn thing broke. I figgered I had a bit o time in hand afore the storm moves in, so...

Rode about an hour. First thing, jumped on the Crosshairs with the Regal to compare saddle positions with the Fetish. Immediate thought: DAMN this saddle's WAY comfy. Right after that, too low, too far back. So I fixed that as I went. :thumb

Passed the mgr dood of the bike shop I work in PT. I was riding, he was riding a MC on his way to the shop. Waved at all 3 of the MCs coming at me. All 3 waved back. Kinda nice. Got there and he asked me if that was me he'd passed. He thought the only bicyclists that'd wave rode MCs too, so... Said I didn't look fat on a bike. No, not like :ymca ya FFs! Too bad I've seen pics and know better! :cry

Oh well. Supposeta rain tomorrow and clear up Sunday.

M

My yard is so bad, I probably should have called the hay crews over that were working across the street. Might have been able to get a few bales out of my yard. :lol3


So this month, it seems I'm into killing headsets. On two of my bikes, it seems like there's an ever decreasing margin between it being too tight and feeling notchy and too loose and clunking. The MTB finally passed this point and will always be either notchy, clunking, or both no matter how I adjust it.

I've taken them both apart and repacked them with grease several times, but I'm guessing it's time for new a headset. Any thoughts on good values in headsets?

Cane Creek C1 or S21 will last awhile.

Or splurge for a Chris King.

King.

Definitely.

:nod

CC does OK stuff, but isn't a match for King HS designs. Yeah, they're spendy, but WELL worth the $$. (so sez the dood that's had several and is about to buy at least 2 more!)

M

NEMBAfest
 

I went down to Wompatuck state park on the south shore today to pre-ride the course for the race I'm planning to do tomorrow, and to check out NEMBAfest.

Thanks to the first tendrils of Tropical Storm Hanna everything was damp and muddy. I hate mud and wet roots. The course has some pretty nasty rock gardens in the first section; I don't handle that stuff too well when it's dry, and with the wet conditions today, I was hiking a lot. The middle and later parts of the course are a lot smoother. I have no idea how competitive I'll be tomorrow (my only real goal for now is to finish). My plan is to be super-conservative on the technical stuff and hike anything I'm not confident about, and hope that I've got enough fitness to make up time on the later sections. (Assuming the race isn't cancelled; It's pouring now, but expected to stop by the morning.)

After the pre-ride I wandered around the festival, ate some BBQ, and watched the start of a short-track race. It looked a lot like cyclocross, minus the barriers and with more singletrack; A lot of the racers were on 'cross bikes. The festival was pretty neat. They had a "mountain bike olympics" with oddball competitions like a bicycle log-pull and a slow race and a "Huffy toss". Turnout seemed kinda low due to the uncertain weather. There were bikes to demo, but I skipped that for fear I'd accidentally buy another one.

I know what you mean... :augie

http://rowery.onet.pl/_i/sprzet/rowery/600/110.jpg

Riding a CX bike is tiring. I rode my bike to some local trails which is about six miles from here. Did a bunch of laps around all their courses. Started out on the easy, then medium, then a few of the harder ones. I rode home and I was shot.
A few observations:
The faster you ride the easier it is (just like mountain bikes, dirt bikes, etc.)
The faster you ride the rougher the ride is.
I'll need to grow a pair to ride down rocky, rooted drops on the hoods.
People are shocked when you pass them on "a ten speed", a "road
bike", "a track bike" and always comment.
I need to work on some strength to get used to the double versus triple ring.
Can't wait to do it again :D

In order:
yup. :nod Hit the tops of the obstacles, not the bottoms when yer going quicker

Well, sorta. Can be. You need to re-learn to float over the bike on the rough stuff cause you don't have suspension any more.

In-line levers to start with? I don't have any, but I hear they help for former mtn bikers. :dunno I've pretty much been a roadie since my mtn bike got stolen way back in college.

Fun ain't it? You rode THAT where?!

Smaller chainrings and bigger cassettes are a plus. I inherited a 27t cassette for when I go S10 in the back on my cross bike. (having to keep two different sets of cassettes/wheels around sucks eggs! I like to be able to swap back and forth at will. :nod Since I have 5 pairs of wheels for 2 bikes, its kinda important!) Oh, and if yer grinding, it may be faster to get off and run. That's what cross is all about. The fastest means of traversing an obstacle: ride OR run. Mo bettah workout!

:D

:ricky

M

Cocksucking mother fucker!!! I wrote a long reply and accidently closed the tab before sending it.
So yes Gummee, I do need to learn to float and use my body more as a suspension. Though riding the pump track helped a bit. The problem was the mud since we had some light drizzle yesterday:wink:
I do have the inline brake levers, had the shop put them on. That said I want to transition to not using them and doing it right.
A second set of road wheels would be nice though the CX tires are nice for NYC streets. The absorb a lot of the bumps and craps.
My bike has pretty easy gearing 34/50 and 11-32 so it is just a matter of building strength and yeah learning to jump off and run. I need to ride with a few CX riders to absorb some tips and ideas.