No bike news today - RIP Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I don't know which makes me more sad - that he is dead, or that I actually didn't know he was still alive and was caught by surprise by the news.

I'll pour out a Pisco sour for him (well, pour out a smidge, anyway, that stuff's too good to waste). And maybe resolve to actually sit down and read a book again. Man, kids hurt your reading time bad...

For those folks who couldn't manage 100 years of Solitude and gave up on him - try Love in the Time of Cholera. The first 20 or 30 pages are dense but if you manage that introduction you'll be laughing/crying your ass off.

It sort of surprises me...

That more folks aren't asking for this. Back in the day, EVERYONE who was a rigid SS rider rode the Weirwolf 2.55 tires for their balloony cush - but on the front only, as they were a pretty crap rear tire.

I figured people would be doing the same with the Knards and I'd be building a bunch of rigid forks specifically to fit the big rubber, but I think Minh's is the only one I've built. 100mm axle spacing and 100mm of clearance for the tire, so the blades actually angle outward.

Pulling the chariot might not seem like a job for a 3" front tire... but maybe the commute to preschool is more gnar than we realize.

Nothing getting done today, folks.

After yesterday was lost to a plumbing stoppage that required professional attention and 4 hours of my time and a 2 year old doctor's appointment.

Today the power is out to a circuit in the house but the breaker didn't trip, plus the daycare is closed because someone has strep. Sooo... nothing will happen today either.

Just FYI. There are many people waiting for many things, and I do apologize. The move is a continuing nightmare thus far.

Edit: Look, bike content. Here's a pic of Andrew's stealthy new 1x CX/dirt/"gravel" bike. Cobbled together poorman's CX1 ftw (literally - huge win on $ and pretty identical function!)

Pretty much sums it up...

I see the old chestnut bumper sticker every once in a while on a rusty pickup - "Bad roads, good people". The "dirt road" sign is another favorite.

Thanks to Jason for the photo. The bike has to come back for a new set of chainstays thanks to my tire sizing assumptions not working out quite right (you'd think I'd have learned this lesson by now... sigh), but he's still having fun with her.

The first Park City frame...

...will belong to Luis. Once I finish the seatstays and it's powdercoated, that is. Things are *almost* back up and running normally, except that I spend 10 minutes searching for a tool or part that I packed somewhere odd about every 5 minutes. Aargh.

New shop needs some help on the lighting front, too! Eventually the ~25 foot tall garage will get lofted and I'll install some big fluorescents, but for now, it's some floodlights way up there (no idea how I'd swap bulbs if they burned out...) and some clip-on lights moved around as needed.

Up and running!

Power is on! I am hoping to get a bunch of stuff done on Luis' frame tomorrow.

For folks waiting for stuff from the powdercoater - it's not done yet. They took me at my word that I'd be out of commission for 2 weeks and didn't coat anything. They did loan me a sweet 6' pry bar for moving the milling machine, though!

So bottom line - things should be back to "normal" next week. If you haven't gotten a return phone call or email, expect one soon. Thanks for your patience as we transition away from the smog!

Tubing!

It gets to live in the basement now. This is why you'll never see a "tubes on order!" on the waitlist. Man, me and my tube hoarding problem...