back on track

What is this blog supposed to be about anyhow? biking, oh yea... I like to do that! I slipped out of town early this morning and met J5 and H for what was to be an easy paced ride around Monty Bell.



Work hasn't been very busy lately but I've had no trouble filling my time with house projects. I entertained the idea of bringing my crosscheck home with me for Thanksgiving but decided I didn't really want to ride alone and didn't want to deal with the hassles. Lazy? yep! But I did enjoy a lot of R&R chillin' at home with my parents and brother's family.

Today was a great day to get out and I just had to do what I could to seize the break in the arctic weather. It was still cold at 8am when I headed out and it was tough to decide on how many layers to wear. I settled on just a long sleeve baselayer, wool Yazoo jersey, knee warmers and a pair of woolie Swiftwick 12s. After warming up on the bike, I was toasty and felt great the rest of the ride. The trail was completely full of leaves but offers some great views. It was fun to ride a head and spot Thad and H weaving through the trees towards me.

I tried to concentrate on my flow and my momentum. Monty Bell can be pretty smooth if you learn to be more loose and go with the trail. I notice as I begin to fatigue, my flow also suffers and I get more clumsy. This is something I'd like to work on in the few months. I think it will be good to have some winter riding goals.

We rode the full race loop and I gotta say I enjoyed every minute of it. Far from how I felt at the race held at Monty Bell in Aug. I still struggled in some of my usual spots but I cleaned some sections that generally force a dismount. My 32x18 gearing felt great once again. I'm wondering if I should just give up hope on going back to 32x17 anytime soon. I've really been enjoying the slightly easier gear the past few months. I've got the new bike speced to start off with 32x20 (29er) which should keep me around the 32x18 (26er) area. I won't dwell too much on the new bike, (or Thad will whine) but it's in Toledo right now, on it's way for a Thurs delivery.

I had to resurect my old Hadley geared rear wheel from the depths of storage for todays ride. Having take my SS wheel apart to deliver to Harpeth Cycles, I was in need of something to use on the Soma. I remembered I had a Fibroncini spacer kit from a while back and went to work getting the wheel prepared for action. First step was getting the 18t cog on and spaced well. This turned into quite the project requiring two different lockrings and a dremel. My driveside dropout had a little too much paint in it which hendered my axle from moving forward enough to tension the chain. After some quick sanding I was in luck. Next I had to re-tube the wheel. It was setup tubeless with some Stan's but hadn't been refreshed in probably 6 months. I didn't think it prodent to waste some more Stan's sealant on the wheel since I may potentially not ride this wheel much, if at all, after I get the new bike built. So after cleaning up all the old, dirty, slimy and slightly congealed sealant, I slapped in a tube and had the bike built up and ready to go quickly.

I worked fast because my new workshop is detached from the house, and completely not climate controlled. Working on your bike when it's 35 degrees will keep you on task. The only thing left that I needed was the adapter for my tugnut so I could keep my wheel in place, only kind of important. Thad came through and let me borrow his brand spankin' new one. The wheel worked great. I did notice some play in the hub/axle/dropout and at first attributed it to a loose axle. After I tightened it and it was still there, I figured it's the Salsa quick release axle. I think it's just slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the hub. Probably not the best thing for it to stay like that but I'm not gonna worry about it too much since I shouldn't be riding this wheel for long.

They are calling for rain and colder temps tonight but possibly a dry day tomorrow. I'd like to possibly ride into work, and of course the tap room later on. (maybe even hit Percy Warner) I hope the weatherman is right!!