Saw this at a swap meet today. Forgot my checkbook, only a grand.

Wooden rims and sewups. The good ole days.

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Sorry to hear about the biff. :freaky

I've never been the hammer.

But I"ve been the clydesdale. Boy, can I descend. :lol3

60 degrees coming home from work tonight in the Jeep. Sure made me wish I was on the bicycle, even more so than the GS.

39.5 mph the other day and I did not even pedal once going downhill. :uhoh :lol3

I've got a couple hills for ya. :evil

With a resume like that, I know you must have some good stories. Maybe even some pics. Didn't Mert Lawwill work with Yeti?

Yeah. You get seeded for the start according to what kinda time you think you can do, and then they start you one at a time, every 30 seconds. This particular trail works well for it because it doesn't really have any big hills or real technical sections. It's 7.5 miles long and I do it just under 30 minutes. Pretty fast trail with almost no place to pass so it works well for a TT.

When I pre-rode it last night it had been sprinkling rain on and off all day and the trail had a film of greasy mud on top of single-track thats packed so hard it has a blue-line in places like a motorcycle flat-track. I lost the front on an arching off-camber turn and had the worst face-plant I've ever had. I wrenched my neck and had blood coming out of my face and both lower legs. I banged the left shin against something pretty hard and it has me limping this morning. I did finish the trail (crashed in the first mile) albeit about 5 minutes slower than usual. I'm trying to heal up today so I can still do the TT tomorrow but it doesn't look promising. Oh well, there's a XC race at the same trail next weekend.

clydesdale:clap

The guy I ride with all the time is about 160lbs and is a fast little shit. But, last year at the "Hilly Hundred" I would be coasting down long descents at 50mph and he would be spinning in his tallest gear trying to keep up. :lol3

Two miles out my door, I hit 45mph on a bad day. 50mph on a good day, of course there is a sharp 90 degree turn you have to brake hard for.:huh The game here is too carry at least 30mph through the corner, but gravel on the inside of the turn and oncoming traffic can spoil your fun. Forgot to mention, half way down this hill is a blind chicane that you can roll through at about 35-40mph.

Now coming back up that way is a whole different story. Out of the saddle, falling on the crank arms at about 6.5mph.:cry :cry :cry

I need to visit Knary or go to North Georgia to find some larger mountains. :evil

The hill I almost hit 40mph on is short but steep. I have little doubt that I would go faster if I had a longer hill. :yikes That is still really fast on a bicycle. :D

No mountains around here either. I live in IOWA. Of course I'm next to the Mississippi and we have the bluffs. Hell, there's even a ski resort 10 minutes from home! Who knew Iowa had it all.:huh

We have lots of short steep climbs in the .25 to .5 mile range. The longest climbs are only a 1.0 - 1.5 miles and they are usually only about 6-7% grades. The steepest around here I think is about 14%, which seems like a wall.

Which makes me think of a new topic.

WHAT'S THE FASTEST YOU HAVE EVER GONE ON BICYCLE?

For me, it's 62mph, on a tandem with me as the pilot. No way would I be stupid enough to be the stoker at that speed.:huh :huh :huh My girlfriend's a real trooper though, she was only mildly petrified.

On a single, I think it was 56mph. There seems to be an aerodynamic wall at around 50mph? Or maybe that's when common sense starts to overide?

Help
 

Had a fun morning, been swapping out headsets, threaded to threadless, changing the entire front end of bike - will post pics of whole job later if interested.

Learned alot.

BBIG /QUICK question time though =

The new threadless headset has rings (plastic) of rollers, where the old one had bearings. Now everything runs smooth dry, but I'm pretty sure i need to pack these in grease (they're not sealed by manufatcurer). So what kind of grease/lube/weight do I use, and how much, i.e. where?

I assume the bearing rings themselves are the only thing that should be lubed.

THANKS!!!

changing the headset/fork isn't that hard. I'll post pics soon.

You might remember that last year I rode in the El Tour de Tucson, the 109 mile bicycle 'ride' (or semi-casual race depending on your POV). I did it through Team in Training (TnT) as did nearly half the other 8,500(?) participants. Each group of riders wore the standard fugly TnT jersey but each had the participants location printed on the back. On the flat stretches, I distinctly remember a large pack of TnT riders from Kansas riding by at high speed. They seemed fast and invincible. Then came a hill. A tiny hill. Nothing that we'd even mention up here. And there I was zipping right by those same riders from Kansas. You can guess who passed who on the next flat stretch. :D

I'm pooped. 75 miles today. It got hot and was dry. I drank more than 2 gallons during the ride and still didn't need to piss until a good amount of time later. F-ing headwinds in those conditions just wring you out. On the plus side, at those mileages you burn enough calories that anything goes for food. :lol3

I used to do some bicycle touring, but it's been quite a few years. It's a great way to experience your environment . . . since there really is no escaping it on a bicycle.

Thought I'd see what's up with the bicycle tourists these days and ran across this trip in progress from Alaska to Argentina. Nice site, check out the bear encounter in stage 1, part 3. There are times it would be nice to have a throttle and lots of HP.

http://www.ribbonofroad.com/gallery.html