1 step closer, I am, 1 step closer

I stopped by Nashville Bicycle Lounge yesterday morning and Dan quickly got to work with my new fork. New Hope 20mm end caps installed, steerer cut, new brake pads installed and fork installed. It looks goooooood. The white lowers came stickerless and I'm digging it.

I got to take it out for a parking lot test and well, as Dan put it, it rides like a suspension fork. :) Can't make any real judgement calls until I hit some real trail. First things though are to lower the 100mm setting to 80mm. Timing what it is and all I won't make it out for a ride for a few days so further testing will have to wait.

The crude "pick up the bike a few times" maneuver says the fork isn't adding much weight to the bike at all. The Maxle system looks super stiff and I think the remote lockout button is gonna just be sweet.

Off to think about other things for the next few days.

It's here...

and waiting for me: (at Nashville Bicycle Lounge)

waiting is hard to do

Still waiting on my elusive fork to come in. It's been a very busy week though so that's helping.

I used to have more trouble with motivation to write blog entries, now it's more finding time to sit at the computer for more than 10 minutes, when I also don't have something more pressing to do. I had intentions last night of writing up a nice update but the couch looked way more appealing so I slunk off and into a episode of Dexter.

I had to work yesterday out in Bellevue so I packed up all my, neglected, bike stuff and planned a solo Montgomery Bell ride. Life is hectic and my brain is never fully there so of course I got on 440 and realized I'd forgotten my helmet. Had to swing the long way around back to the house. Trying a u-turn on 440 it's not advised. Work went ultra-smooth and I was ready to ride by 2:30pm. Got the tires pumped and the new test-saddle adjusted and.... um, wait, did I leave my water bottles in the fridge at work? dope! Thankfully it was not a 100+ degree scorcher or I would of really had to improvise.



I just decided to brave it and ride for an hour or so, sans water. This ride had many purposes but one was to further tweak my new shoes and cleats and also to test out a new Fizik Alante test saddle from the newly re-opened Harpeth Bikes. I'll have to write up my thoughts on that later, one for lack of time before I head back to work this morning and two because I've not yet formulated my opinion. So far I'd say, it's not a terrible saddle but I'm not yet sure if it truly fits me like a glove. All this to say my ride had many stops for saddle adjustments and a couple cleat adjustments.

I ended up finding a half full water bottle in my car with some yummy 90 degree water in it. I finished that and then went back into the trail for just a little more before bailing and heading back home to be a parent. It felt great to be back in the quite woods on a bike, slightly frustrating to not have my bike dialed in currently but overall I felt great on the bike. I'm still really looking forward to how this new fork changing my riding.

I'm picky

It's official... I am picky, but you all already knew that.

I received a response to my inquiry to SRAM about the exact Reba 29er XX fork I was seeking. Below is their response.

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, we can't make every fork available in every configuration at the aftermarket level, so we're forced to pick and choose. Currently, the only XX Reba 29'er sold aftermarket with a 1 1/8" steerer only has QR lowers, and it doesn't look like that's going to change for next year. It's not the cheapest option, but it would be possible to purchase Maxle lowers and install them on a QR fork; or you could purchase a Reba Team with Maxle and purchase the XX damper and remote kit to convert it to an XX fork. I would definitely discourage you from buying a new CSU to convert a taper to non-taper, simply because that would be the most expensive way to go. Otherwise, the exact fork you're looking just doesn't exist. Sorry!

Thanks,

Nate Newton

SRAM Dealer Service

I guess not enough other riders want what I want. Taper smaper, who really needs it.

Thanks to Dan at Nashville Bicycle Lounge and his connections in the North, he got me setup with exactly what I was looking for and I may even have it to ride this weekend, or at least take nice close up pictures of.

Do you think I'm excited? I haven't bought a (substantial) new bike part in over a year!

in the pipeline

With huge thanks to Dan at the Nashville Bicycle Lounge, I have a brand new fork in the pipeline for the Quiring.

Much more details will come soon but for now....

It's:
white
29 inches
has a stiff lower end
enjoys being locked
1 X shy of porn

Cleaning House

It's been a long few weeks. But we should be out of the "3 weeks of hell" portion and moving forward to a more civilized lifestyle. Those who know what I'm talking about, know what I'm talking about.

I've been fortunate that things I've tried to sell in the past finally sold this week and things I decided to sell this week sold this week. It's been a good "clean house" for me in bike part form. I sold my old bass guitar cabinet to a good friend on NMB. I decided that my wheelset from my old Ventana was too nice for a polo bike and put them up for sale and sold to another person on NMB. I am still in my search for the perfect new cycling shoe so I had to sell off a recent pair that were just a little too big. I had to resort to Ebay for that sale but the guy who bought them seems extra excited. Odd part of the whole thing is when my parents were just here my Mom gave with an envelope full of cash for me. A present? Kind of, yet it in the end if was my money, just money that's been sitting in two different banks for over a decade untouched. What's someone to do with an influx of expected money added to some reclaimed bike part money? Buy more bike parts I say!

I've got a big purchase on the brain and hopefully in the works. When I ordered my Quiring singlespeed I had plans of mating it with the then-brand-new 2009 Rock Shox Reba fork. I even used it's fork offset and sag axle-to-crown measurements in the design of my bike. I did not have enough money at the time to get the new bike and new fork so I ordered the bike with a rigid fork. Riding fully rigid was something I wanted to try again anyhow so that's what I've been doing for the past year and a half. I will say that I have enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. Though the thought of finally getting the elusive Reba I've had my eye on for so long is tantalizing.

Sure I could of settled and used a different, less expensive fork in the meantime but that would not work. The Reba now has the option of using a 20mm thru axle to stiffin up the front wheel. I wanted to try this and still do. So I have Fred over at Harpeth Bikes on the search for the fork I want with all the bells and whistles.... namely: 29er, 80mm, Reba, remote lock-out, 20mm Maxle lite. This fork doesn't exist in the online retail world. I know because I've looked everywhere in the past couple weeks. All those options are available but apparently no one wants them in one fork but me. I hope Fred can find me a hook up, and it's relatively affordable for a someone in my shoes. I've only found it the way I want on Ebay and the auctions were already over. I'll tantalize you with what the fork could look like. :)

In the meantime I've made a list of all the new parts I'll need with this new fork:
• Reba fork (duh)
• post mount 185mm Avid brake adapter
• Hope 20mm end caps for my front hub

This weekend was also the REI anniversary sale. I've been on the search for what to use for my "man diaper bag" and got the great idea to use a messenger bag from Chris H., fellow cyclist Dad. I thought, what a great excuse to get a cool new messenger bag! My current Chrome bag wouldn't work well with its upper-back-hugging-design so I was thinking Timbuk2. I figured I didn't want to spend good money and end up with another medium size messenger bag similar to my Chrome bag. Then after my "man diaper bag" use was over, I'd have to very similar bags. My first thought was to get a size large bag so I headed down to REI last week to check the bags out in person. The medium is quite roomy. They didn't have a large but after wearing the medium, the large would be huge and totally overkill but the intended use. Then I spotted this new bag called the Bullitt. It's a pannier with a shoulder strap like a messenger bag, or it's a messenger bag with hooks on the back to attach it to a rack like a pannier bag. I think it can be a really cool new addition to my commuting arsenal. With Father's Day coming up Beth wanted to get me this and the next day I got the flier for the anniversary sale! Clearly it was karma. I headed down early Friday morning when REI opened to make sure no one snaked the only 2 bags they had before me.

All Timuk2 bags and accessories were on sale so I picked up a great shoulder strap pad too. I had a 20% off coupon for any regular priced item so I also picked up a small head mounted light; something I've had my eye on for years. I figured it will be very helpful to zip tie to my helmet for urban rides (in flash mode) or map reading for rides like Kanza, should I do something like that again.

So sorry about the lack of posts lately and then the random posts but for a blog mainly about cycling, I haven't been doing much of that recently. Hopefully I'll be able to get more riding in my schedule soon.

A true weekend

22/365 Mountain bike in it's element
Originally uploaded by Chewieez

My weekend started a day early this week. Not that I really have any weekends. I'd say I generally work more on weekends than not or at least 50/50. This friday was an exception. I drove out to the Cheatham Wildlife Center/Harpeth River State Park for some nice gravel grinding. Some of the usual suspects came as well like 2009 Dirty Kanza finisher Jeff Scott, local BA Jim Simms and a new rider to gravel came out, Tim Denise.

They all were being harder-edge than me and rode from their respective houses to meet me at the Narrows parking lot. The weather was perfect for a day on gravel. Foggy, overcast, somewhere between cold and comfortable with a good wind. I setup the Quiring in it's Dirty Kanza setup even pulling out the 3rd bottle mount courtesy of gRant. 32x16 was the gear of choice for the locals of the area and thankfully I already had my Small Block8 tires mounted, a fav of mine on the gravel. It's like my bike knew it was going to get some gravel soon.

We hit the road quickly after the boys finally found me, patiently waiting in a different parking lot than the one Jeff told me to go to. We had to ride a little bit of pavement to the gravel but it passed quickly and gave us all time to catch up and ask what we'd all been doing since we last rode together, which was a long while for me. When we hit the gravel it was full on, rutted, muddy with huge dark puddles and some sections of thick, tire sucking gravel. The overall elevation isn't much in this area but the route we were on started up first, then after a little bit of flat, it was up more. We got the first big climb out of the way early and it thankfully wasn't long, just a small gut buster with some power tapping gravel near the top.

We rode the rolling hills expanding and contracting like an accordian. Jeff would show up and ride off the front, then wait on us, then Jim would do the same. This was only my second ride since before Christmas so I was just pacing myself and spinning a good cadence. The course was perfect to help ramp me back into riding shape. Lots of small rolling hills that keep your heart-rate slightly elevated but nothing to kill you.

Tim's new Misfit Fe steel ride...lookin' great with gravel grime

We did a couple out and backs which included a pit stop at the ranger station. We didn't see anyone else out in the park except 2-3 cars passing. I had to finish up by 12 so they rolled me back to the park entrance I had left my truck and they rolled on to finish their longer rides.

After my ride, I had plans to go and meet Mathew Portell and help him clean up the new Ride for Reading building. A few guys came out to help unload some donated books and shelves. Mathew and I had our water sprayers that we loaded up with a bleach solution and hit all the molded studs in the building. Ironically this building used to be the Roofer's Union and it apparently had terrible roof leaks. We worked for a couple hours and rewarded ourselves with a bit of beer...so far it was a good day.

Mathew and I ready for action

Today, Saturday, turned out to be another great day. I had grand plans of getting up early and hitting the road on the Crosscheck to ride down to Harpeth Bicycles liquidation sale. I figured about 1.5 hr ride and the shop opened at 9am. Well, I got out of bed at 7:30am, and it was crazy foggy at my house. So, I decided I didn't want to be rushing down a foggy Franklin Rd with not-so-careful Nashville drivers trying to get to a big bike sale. I did still go by car and showed up right at 9am to see at least 10 people hanging outside the shop, waiting to get in. Luckily there was no Walmart-style trampling to get inside but things were getting picked up fast and with authority. I mean when everything is 50% off, it's easier to make decisions for sure.

I brought a list of things I was looking for and was able to pick up a lot of smaller items. Bottle cage/power link/bartape, the essentials. I even scored a set of used tires for a steal that are in great shape and will work great for commuting. One thing I was looking for was some panniers for my new rear rack I got from my brother for Christmas. They only had one option there and I hemmed and hawed about it for awhile. I even left it on the wall and paid for all my other stuff. Well no one else was interested in it and it was just staring at me so I reconsidered it and thought, for the price, I was almost dumb to not buy it. So I did and threw it on the bike right when I got home. It's the Eleven81 City Limit bag which is all one piece and hangs on the rack.

After lunch I threw some random things in the panniers and hit to road to go hang with Dan at Eastside Cycles for a bit. I also got a pair of new Mavic shoes that I was eager to get cleats on and all setup. The trail & error part of getting new shoes setup is not something I'm fond of. The stopping and tweaking the angle of the cleat ever so slightly, the thinking while pedaling: is my cleat to far forward on my shoe. Ugh frustrating, but it's something I haven't had to deal with for over 4 years with my Sidis. So a shakedown ride was in order, and I also though a trip over to Eastside and back was a better ride for this than a 45 mile roundtrip to Harpeth Bicycles.

Everything worked great on the bike and I was even happy with my cleats overall, though I had moved them twice last night in preparation. It was quite windy today though; lots of crosswind on the trip over to the shop, but almost all headwind on the way home. I generally always take the round-about way to get downtown, preferring trips down Belmont Ave or 12th Ave over Nolensville. I'm only 4.5 miles from the shop by car, but my route over was 8.5. I decided to try a new route home and just ride straight down 4th Ave as it turns into Nolensville. That was a mistake! At least for today with the wind. What should of been a 3 mile shorter route took me exactly the same amount of time as it did to get to the shop. Riding up a gradual 2.5 mile hill on Nolensville into a 15+mph wind was slow going. Well lesson learned now. I was thinking this route would allow me to avoid a pretty big hill but I think I'd prefer to ride that shorter, steeper hill than the long one up Nolensville.

So 2 great cycling day back to back with some other fun stuff in between. Yep, start of a great weekend. I refueled tonight with Beth's family at Carrabas for her sister's birthday, yum! On the books tomorrow is church and then I actually have to go in to the studio and do some recording so my weekend I guess is over tonight. Next week will be prepping for our trip to the NYC wholesale show with Freshie & Zero, then a week out of town. Last big trip before our lives change forever!

How Stella lost her groove

Decided on taking a solo ride out at Monty Bell this morning. Just a good head clearing, easy paced ride in the woods. I once again haven't ridden as much as I'd like in preparation for this last Snake Creek Gap race so I thought I'd spin around a while today. My first thought was to ride for as long as I could and try to keep the
(This is kind of how I felt all morning...in a haze)
stops few but then I realized how close Snake really was. I realized that if I hit it hard today, I'd probably be the most sore on Saturday....hmmm ok new plan... fun ride in the woods.

Everything started out great. The temperature was just a tiny bit chilly since it was 9am. The trail was in remarkable shape, I mean really. For the rain and snow we got last week, and having just been closed for 3 days, the trail was almost too dry. This gets me to where I started looking for my groove. After a warm up on the back blue route I started in on the race loop and into the green. I was feeling good, made the switchback up to Tommy's revenge and then made the climb afterwards. But somewhere in the next mile I lost my groove, my flow and possibly my mojo. Everything now felt overly deliberate. I washed out in a couple of dry, pine needle corners and started losing my cornering nerve. I was all over the brakes, weight wasn't feeling like where it should be over the bike. Everything felt wrong. I started thinking about how to corner better and the talks I had with J5 at Cottonmill last week. I started counter-leaning, counter-stearing... ok now everything felt weird. Maybe it was just a bad mojo day... but hey, I was in the woods riding my bike, it was nice out, I was healthy and I had no mechanical problems.

I finished up the race loop and headed back to the truck. KRS1 (Keith) has loaned me a pair of Specialized shoes to try out. My SIDIs are showin' some serious wear so I'm about to be in the market for a new pair. I've had issues with my SIDIs being a little too short and narrow once my feet swell a bit so Keith loaned me this pair. Said he loved the comfort but they made his feet fall asleep. So I finally picked up a new set of cleats to throw on them from good ole Fred @ Harpeth and brought to on my ride today. I hit the trail and immediately had to stop and readjust the cleat position. After finally getting it good enough, I went back into the trail for a trip around the Red perimeter trail. Shoes felt weird from the get go, but mainly just in a: I took off my well worn shoes and put on someone elses kind of way. They are the same size (46) as my SIDIs but are noticeably longer, but actually I think narrower, or the same width. The fabric isn't the faux leather of the SIDIs and they didn't have the give in them after a few miles that the SIDIs have. Overall they felt ok, but not earth shattering. I definitely noticed they are thicker around the ankle and were rubbing on my crank arms, no biggie if they are comfy. After the 3 mile loop I gotta say my first impressions aren't great. Not sure if they are the shoe for me. I'll give them some more time but it's not looking good. Inserts felt uncomfortable under the balls of my feet and hmmm it seemed my left toes were a bit numb after the short 3 mile ride. Atleast I did snap a cool photo of them mid-ride.


Yazoo Tap room tonight... thinking I'll drive in and bring the wife. I'm gonna rest up for Snake and probably turn in early tonight. May spin around the neighborhood tomorrow for a short while before heading out. I'm looking forward to another great time in Dalton!!

My journey to a custom bike

Ok, it's here, it's built up and it's been ridden...... and it's awesome!!

For some back story: In late April I got fed up with riding bikes with full suspension and gears, and started considering selling my Ventana and upgrading my singlespeed to a better frame. After a ton of research and contemplation I settled on having Scott Quiring build me a custom titanium bike. After talking with Scott and looking at his customer gallery I realized that he makes 95% 29ers and 5% 26ers. hmmm ok this got me thinking that it would be a good idea to test ride some 29ers and see if I'd like one.

After test riding jjscarff's Redline Flight and MeanJoe's Karate Monkey I decided it was time to try something completely new and go big. I liked the way their bikes rode at Hammy and Lock4, even rigid so I just decided to go for it. I put in my order in at the beginning of July. Scott Quiring mentioned an 8 week wait and having read up on a lot of custom builds online (from all kinds of builders), I figured 10-12 weeks was a more fair estimate of the time.

After ordering up the frame I went down to Harpeth Cycles to have Fred (Soul69) give me the full Serotta Fit system. After a lot of poking, prodding, stretch tests and some miles chasing an imaginary road racer, Fred had me all setup with what bike would fit ME.

I sent these fit numbers on to Scott Quiring, along with a list of questions he had me answer. Half the questions were about my old bike and how it fit, the other half were body measurements that were similar to those Fred got during the Serotta Fit. This was when the waiting started. This was about the 20th of July. Scott and I emailed back a bunch about head angles and fork offsets and axle to crown measurements and then he got started on designing the frame.

Around the middle of August I got a frame drawing from Scott emailed to me. I mulled over it and forwarded it on to Fred and Thad (Johnny5) and got their opinion. Fred and I compared the frame drawing with the info we got from the Serotta fit. This was one step that I stalled a week on, thinking a lot about the numbers and comparing them to my Serotta fit. A week later I made a few tweaks to the top tube measurements and decided on having Scott also make me a custom steel fork for the bike that shared the offset of the 2009 Reba and the sagged axle to crown height. At the end of August I received the updated 2nd frame drawing with the changes and again I took a week or so to mull over it. At the beginning of Sept I OKed the 2nd drawing and the waiting began again.

At this point I just waited. I tried not to think too much about the bike and tried not to pester Scott about when he thought it would be ready. I had hopes that I would have it in time to race the Swank65 in the first week of November but it didn't happen. I just kept riding my Soma and enjoying life. Oh during this time I also decided to buy a house, searched for houses, bought a house and started moving and also my brother-in-law passed away so I had a lot on my plate and many things to keep me occupied.

Nov 24th I receive an email from Scott saying my frame and fork were finished and ready to ship that week. Problem is this was Thanksgiving week and I was leaving town Tuesday. So I had to wait til the next week to have him ship it so I could make sure I was home. After a few FedEx snafus, I finally picked up my frame and fork and brought it home. I believe it was 18 weeks from order to delivery with some stalling by me because of my indecisiveness.

In the time I was waiting I was able to pick up the parts I'd need one by one which was nice. I used some parts off my Soma like cranks. chain and saddle and bought some parts online, from Dan Hensley and from Harpeth Cycles. I used my Chris King rear hub from my 26er wheel and bought a new Hope Pro II to have Rick Harmon at Harpeth Cycles build my 29er wheels. I kept the Juicy7 brakes from my Ventana and bought some aftermarket levers for them. Fred and Rick were awesome and got me all setup with parts and wheels and Rick expertly installed my bottom bracket (no small feat) and my headset. I installed most of the rest at home and then had Kelly Benward (FullSquishy) help me cut the steerer tube and install the star nut. It was a team effort and it all came together perfectly! Thanks to everyone to helped with this build, whether with parts, labor, or moral support!!!

So without further ado I present my new titanium custom Quiring.



Chris Cooper polished my White Industries cranks for me. He did an awesome job on them!!


You can see the rest of the pics here:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Build kit is as follow:

Frame: Quiring Custom Titanium 29er
Fork: Quiring Custom Steel
Stem/Seatpost: Thomson
BB: Phil Wood SS square taper
Cranks: White Industries ENO
Pedals: Time ATAC composite
Font Tire: Panaracer Rampage 2.35
Rear Tire: Kenda Karma 2.2
Rims: Stan's Flow 29er
Front Hub: Hope Pro II
Rear Hub: Chris King SS
Brakes: Avid Juicy7
Brake levers: Twenty6
Saddle: WTB Rocket Race
Handlebar: Salsa Promoto 17deg sweep
Grips: Oury
Chain: SRAM 850
Cog: Endless Kickass Cog 20t

Edit: I also purchased a killer red Chris King headset from Jeff S. (BikeMe) and another set of Time ATAC pedals from Tryon (TryFour).

whirlwinds

Just got back from the Renegade Holiday show in chilly Chicago. 1 more successful craft show in the bag for Freshie and Zero. We braved the frigid temps, icy roads and dangerous guitine elevators to mingle with the hip indie crafters and finish our xmas shopping. We both had a great time (as usual for Chicago) and even though it was only 8 degrees yesterday when we headed to the show, we managed to stay relatively warm and dry all day. Dry was a great thing if you remember our last trip to Chicago and the last Renegade show where it rained non-stop from Friday to Sunday and almost flooded the streets of Chicago.

I came home to a couple boxes of bike parts. Hmm by my mental count, I believe I have all the parts needed to make a 29er single speed. Oh wait, not quite yet... I still need a frame!! what the! Oh yea, it's still sitting on FedEx waiting to be picked up! I tried to get it friday before I left town. After seeing it labeled as "on the truck for delivery", even though I'd called and asked for it to be left for me to pickup, I headed over to our old condo to wait on the FedEx man. After waiting (and cleaning) for about an hour and a half, FedEx came.... and went, without stopping!! What the!! So I check the tracking info again.... oh now it says, "at FedEx location, waiting on customer pickup." what!?!? So it appears they put it on the truck, then took it back off 1:45 min later... bad timing on my part. So the frame had to sit at FedEx for the weekend. I hope they were nice to it!

I'm crashing after forcing my body to stay awake and alert for the past 8 hours on the road... I'll leave you with another shot of future bike parts.... minus the smug grin this time.

great day to be inside

As the clouds loom and the temperature hits its peak for the day at 9am, it's nice to know I'm working inside. I was given another big project this morning which means I'll be working down here more next week. Maybe I can redeem my commuting aspirations and ride to work at least one day next week. Hope the weather is nice Monday or Tuesday. (looks like rain tuesday for now but you can't trust any weather people)

I received part of what I need for my new bike part acquisition yesterday. It's going to be tough waiting until next week to get the rest of it. Here's a sample....
I'm all signed up for the race sunday. It will be my first TBRA race in Single Speed class. It's going to hurt and I'm not planning on any great placement with sandbaggers like J5 in there. There is word that someone on the team has a free entrance.... I hope they man up and come out.

New stuff rocks

The Soma got some new clothes.

I finally got around to getting a top tube pad. My knees have been taking a beating from both bikes over the past two years. This should help the SS. I still haven't found my preferred solution for the Ventana yet. It's an Axiom Top Tube Pad and isn't the best top tube pad ever, but I got it on ebay for $9 shipped and it fits and it's black.

I also finally bought a "nard-guard" as Thad would call it. After suffering a serious, life threatening, debilitating knee injury at the hands of the Polo Gods, I've decided to take action and protect myself from my stem. My stem likes to play rough and I'm tired of it. I got the Raceface Stem Guard and it's black as well...

Black is clearly the new Pink.