Well the past year was rather a difficult time for me so I was a bit out of touch. Hopefully with the new riding season coming up I will be a bit better at writing.
Looking to start a local group to ride. Going to do Saturday Morning rides.
Ride On!
Continuing to climb at the gym once or twice a week, I felt like I wasn't making much progress. I made lots of excuses, one of them being the "big clown shoes" that I was using. Sure they seemed pretty snug compared to, say, bowling shoes, but standing on the smallest of footholds felt like standing on ball bearings. So last week I bought a new pair of climbing shoes one size down. They look tiny compared to my regular shoes, but they've instantly upped my climbing ability by a whole level. Now the tiny footholds feel like stairs coated in superglue. The downside? The angry red spots on the tops of my toes. If I get calluses in the right places, I'll be good to go.
A temporary end to excuses is at hand. I have now biked (triked) to work 3 tines, twice this week since I am down to grad school once a week for now. It is less than 20 miles round trip but better than nothing. At my best (today) I barely averaged 10.1 mph according to the stats but it is a start.
Well I have been riding inside this week and in the first two days hit about 20 miles. I took yesterday off since my backside was a little sore from not being in the saddle that often the past month. I plan on riding daily and hopefully get in good shape prior to next season. Not much of a post because the flat lands in my basement are not that exciting, but hey I can watch movies and have my kids talk to me while I ride.
So my free road bike was too big for me. I think I rode it 81 miles total. 75 miles on the Apple Cider and then 6 miles tuning it up. The previous owner might have taken it around the block. I took the tags out of the spokes.
Riding it was fine...but standing over it was a bit tricky. I ordered myself a similar but better frame off ebay and it showed up with a dent in the seat down tube! So I got upset and started talking to the guy who I bought it from. Turns out I'm a moron and its there on purpose for braze-on derailleur mounts. The old frame had the exact same thing upon inspection!
This free bike is getting expensive, though! The fork from the old bike didn't match well so I had to buy a new fork and well it had to be a pretty carbon one. Then I start looking at the components on the old bike and well gee....I can find used upgrades on ebay.
I ordered some more tools (headset press and fork vise) that I really need before I can do much more and of course I get an email back that the tools won't be delivered until 11/20!! Glad I have more bikes. I could have just had a bike shop press the headset, but I decided I'm going to do the whole build...or at least make the attempt!
And I forgot to take a picture of the old bike before I disassembled it! Woops...
About 20 minutes to disassemble everything I wanted off the old bike and now I just hope to build the new bike by spring! :P
