Monday, July 27, 2009

How do you think...


..that the back side of Sarah's right fork leg got this nice dirt/sap scuff mark and dent?

If you guessed "Sarah clipped a 3" diameter log, which magically somersaulted into her spokes and then locked up her front wheel at 25 mph", you'd be correct!

Then she flew about 6' up and 20' across and landed on her head. I didn't take a picture of her helmet, but suffice to say it's not going to be much use anymore.

Amazingly, she walked (well, rode) away with only a bunch of bruises and cuts - no broken ligaments or bones, no concussion (plus she got a blood test at the doctor's and found out her hematocrit is 42!) Helmets rock.

The bike didn't come out of it so well - blown apart front wheel, weirdly dented fork (I personally think it's probably ok, the snapping spokes seem to have acted as shock absorbers to some extent), and a toasted front derailleur (that happened 45 minutes before the crash, but it still sucks).

She's pretty sure she'll be ok to ride during our Crested Butte trip, and I'm hard at work building her a new wheel, so I guess all's well that ends well.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Ray's fork


I don't know how many forks for old Bontragers, Fat Chances, and other classic mountain bikes I've done at this point, but I still love doing it. Here's Ray's Bonty all gussied up.

Back ... briefly

I have the following things to say about our trip (and no, there are no pictures, I did not bother to bring a camera):

-The riding in Western Mass is freakin' awesome. Earl's kicks ass, the DAR kicks ass, and the place we went that I can't remember the name of with all the weird crap nailed to trees and stuck on rocks kicks ass.

-I'm very glad the trails around Northhampton were dry.

-The dirt road riding in summertime in Vermont is the best on earth. If I lived there, I could just have a cyclocross bike and be pretty happy.

That's all I can think of to mention at the moment, but I'm in town for 5 days to do some work and get ready for the second half of the vacation - to Crested Butte. Sweet!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

29er downhill bikes article at Bikerumor

They clearly didn't do their homework, as both Alex Morgan (BCD) and I have been making them for years, but it's an interesting article. Click here to read it.

I think it's interesting, also, that most of the answers that are given are from a racing viewpoint (ie, slower acceleration, etc). In my view, the focus on selling race bikes (whether that's a V10 DH sled or a Top Fuel XC bike) is a dumb one, because most people don't race at all, and most of the folks who do race don't do it "seriously" to the point that a race-oriented bike is their best choice. Race bikes are fragile (yes, even the DH ones), expensive, and only really useful to fit, fast, serious racers. For everyone else who does a couple of races a year and drinks beer with their buddies afterwards (or beforehand...) riding a comfortable, predictable bike that won't fall apart on the trail and that they're familiar with is a better choice.

I see a place in lift-assisted riding for 29" wheels, and I'm excited about the new WTB 2.5 knobbie tire. Maybe I can finally stop gluing old innertubes inside my Nevegals!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Speechless


Well, maybe not quite. Scott's fixie just got bumped from the "most likely to be mocked by BSNYC" pedestal.

On the plus side, it's got brakes (front AND rear) and a freewheel (I think). If I saw it locked up, though, I'd assume someone had died on that spot.

In any case, it's unique. Nice work Tobias - I especially like the hydro brake levers on the drops. The radial front disc wheel, not so much. In my defense, I just built the frame and fork, I didn't have anything to do with the parts.


Sunday, July 12, 2009

Eszter's butt in Velonews

If you're into that sort of thing, you can see the picture here.

Nice one. Best of all, she wasn't actually in the race. Given that the entry fee was an astounding $1,000, I was pretty surprised when I first saw that picture. But now it all makes sense.

As an aside, $1000 to do a 5-stage bike race? That seems like a little much to me, but apparently they got 140 people to do it, so whatever. All I know is that $1000 would buy me a pretty darn nice weeklong riding vacation in Crested Butte, or Bend, or somewhere else really sweet, plus all the beer and food Sarah and I could handle. I think I know which option I'd pick there. Racing is fun, but it's not fun every freakin' day. At least not to me. And this summer, it's really only fun on Wednesday nights at the short track.

Eszter

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Triple Bypass - backwards

So our friend Lee had to drop off a car in Beaver Creek yesterday (just a little way past Vail) for his wife Linda, who is as we speak riding the Triple Bypass. We figured we could drop the car and ride *back* the other way in order to save some driving and do a big long adventurous road ride at the same time.

We certainly got what we were asking for. 3 big passes (11k, 12k, 11k feet, respectively), 115 miles, 10 hours (including about 1.5 hours of screwing around and eating). Sarah rode her new CX bike (pictured) with slicks, I rode my old man mobile with 35c cross tires, and we both were pretty happy to be done. I've never ridden that far (though I've been on mountain bike rides that lasted almost as long) in my life!

Starting weight (yesterday morning): 150 pounds
Ending weight: 144 pounds (yeah, that's mostly dehydration)
Weight this morning after stuffing myself continuously for several hours with food and drink last night: 148 pounds.

So bottom line: riding centuries in the high mountains (we never got below 7400 feet, and I'm pretty sure the average elevation was 9500 or so) is a great way to drop those pesky extra pounds. In my case, of course, I plan to make it up by drinking beer and eating Cabot cheese in Vermont next week.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Not much bloggage for a day or two...

Sarah and I are riding from Vail to Evergreen (120 miles, 15k elevation gain, or thereabouts) tomorrow and I've been trying to get stuff done before we leave for VT, so don't expect much on the blog for a few days. I'll try to get some pictures of our ride tomorrow, but we're trying to go fast/light, so no promises.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

NAPA to the rescue

Well, actually, I don't know if they were a NAPA shop officially. When in Bend, I broke my Crankbrothers pedal JRA. The spring that holds the wings gave up, so I thought I'd have to buy a new pedal.

Not so. This solution, thanks to an auto repair shop and $1, works great. Sarah and I cam up with it collaboratively (I executed the solution on the trail with zipties from my rear brake line, but they proved not to be strong enough, she suggested a hose clamp). Of course, you only get a single clip-in side, rather than 4, but it's surprisingly easy to get into anyway, since the hose clamp tends to hang straight down and put the good side up.

I was pretty pleased with my cleverness, and it allowed us to ride for the last 2 days of our trip, without buying any new pedals.

Monday, July 06, 2009

RIP John Bachar

I had a poster of JB on my wall in high school, along with a poster of Bobbi Bensman (who I climb with at the Spot sometimes now). Only met him once, briefly, after a slideshow.

I hope I die doing something I love, but I'd prefer that it be at a ripe old age, I think. In any case, sad news for the climbing community.

Edit: Here's a link to some classic Bachar videos at climbing.com.

Framebuilding and economics

I've fielded several calls and emails lately from folks wanting to get into framebuilding as a business (ie, not just building a frame or two, but actually hanging out a shingle and selling bikes). I know I've opined on this topic before, but this post will be a little bit of a different twist on that same subject.

In short, people are always surprised when I interrupt their questions about welder settings or hole saws and say "forget about metalworking for a while. It's not important right now." But this is absolutely true - small businesses rarely fail because the proprietor (in the bike industry or any other) sucked at making bikes, or bread, or painting houses, or whatever. In fact, the starry-eyed lad or lass often is a real stud at their chosen field - which is why all their friends urged them to go into business. So why do something like 90% of all small businesses fail in their first year or two?

Here's a clue: go read this article about a bakery that's closing in Longmont.

Notice that the owners blame "the bad economy", but then later they mention that they "ran the numbers" during a holiday season when sales were RISING, and determined that they weren't making enough money to pay themselves! In fact, one would have to conclude that they probably NEVER made any money.

That's the first thing to worry about when considering starting a framebuilding business - you need to figure out what your costs (all of them!) are going to be, and then add a few bucks to be on the safe side, and then decide how much you want to pay yourself. THEN figure out what you need to charge, how many bikes you need to sell, etc.

I guess my main point is this: math is actually useful in real life. For a lot of people, even college-educated ones, it seems that the whole idea of using even basic math (I mean, you don't even really even need to be able to do more than add/subtract/multiply/divide in this case) is totally alien. I'm not sure what to think of this - but I guess there's a lot of the same math illiteracy in all the current mortgage/housing disaster stories. Pretty sad.

So don't be one of those people. Get out Excel, or a calculator, or just a pencil and paper, and use those elementary school math skills. You'll be glad you did.

What the heck are these?


Anyone know? They're on a bike belonging to a friend who stopped by to use my headset press, and she doesn't know either. There's no writing on the crank or the spider, and the rings are old Shimano 8 speed.

One or another of you huge geeks must know...

Friday, July 03, 2009

I live in a classy town. Also, recipe.

First, check out this awesome story about meth, 3-ways, and stabbing people to _break up_ a fight!

And yes, I live about 5 miles from Niwot. Nice. My favorite made-up headline from the Daily Camera comments section: "Double stabbing leads to double stabbing". Hilarious!

Second, a great (and unusual) salad dressing recipe, modified somewhat by me because I ran out of hoisin sauce:

1/2c ketsup
1/4c maple syrup
1/4c olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp black pepper

Mix 'em all up, dump on your salad! Add some red pepper flakes for spiciness if you're into that sort of thing, too. Or smoke some meth, but leave the door open in case your baby starts crying...

Thursday, July 02, 2009

I think I just threw up a little bit in the back of my mouth


So, I often ruthlessly mock the fixie fad. Not as cleverly as Bike Snob, of course, but I'm right in there with him on the anti-bandwagon bandwagon.

But I built a fixie for my pal Scott. Glittery blue sparkle fixie, no less.

But then he sent me a picture of his handlebars, and it became clear that Waltworks has jumped the shark. Where's the Obama spoke card?

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Worst short track ever?


Well, neither Sarah or I got hurt, but we got 2 dnf's for our efforts, Sarah's due to a crash and subsequent demoralization (she wasn't hurt) and mine due to a slashed rear tire.

In more sobering news, one of the women's A racers had a *horrible* crash and what looked like a pretty serious spinal injury. The folks at the race came together fast to get her comfortable and direct the ambulance in - worst crash I've ever seen at a bike race, and I've seen a lot. I don't know the woman's name, but she's a pro road racer for Webcor - all the best to her, I hope she'll come race again soon and have better luck. Long story short, it was a very disconcerting start to the night of racing and really kind of ruined the mood for a lot of folks.

I'll say no more about that. On to good news:

Little Isaac boardman rode his 16" wheel BMX to a fine finish in the kids race, and Redcoat threw down for 5th in an exciting sprint in the Men's A's. Then he lent me a tube and pump to get home! Nice work RC!

I'm hoping Boardman sends me some pictures of Isaac. It's pretty freakin' rad. The kid loves to descend!

Random stuff for sale

The bins are getting full of random things. Make an offer that's reasonable, and I'll consider it.

-Raceface Ride XC Singlespeed Crankset. 175mm, external BB included, 32t chainring and bashguard. Brand new. $100 shipped.

-XTR post-mount front brake. Brand new, no rotor, postmount M975 brake. $150 shipped.

-SRAM Rival front derailleur. Brand new, 31.8mm clamp, $30 shipped.

-Vittoria Open Corsa Evo-CX tubular tires. 700x23. Brand new. Somehow I ended up with 4 of these damn things. $50 each or $180 for the whole lot.

-Shimano M520 mountain bike pedals. Brand new. $40 shipped.

-Shimano A520 touring/road pedals. Brand new. $50 shipped.