New game: grind hard during commercials.
Also, sweaty hands on iPhone probably voiding warranty.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Damp Clementines
Last Thursday as I was rolling down my driveway (on a bicycle, not like this) to begin my commute to work. At that very moment, the Basset Hounds Sunning Themselves Weather Index, BHSTWI, took a nasty turn from overcast to "go back inside, point your junk skyward and fall fast asleep", as shown here by my dog Gunther.
Stellar example indeed.
Side note: Basset Hounds are the rat-rod cruisers of dogs; low, slow, not what one would call intelligent, but awesome nonetheless.
Anyway, the BHSTWI went from tolerable to bad, junk skyward, etc. Long story short, it started raining.
At this point, I was about two blocks and a dismount from taking the bus to work, but Liquid Swords were coursing through my earbud (I only ever ride with one) and I thought "I can beat it"
I can beat it?
Really? Water falling from the sky? You can beat it?
No.
No matter how fast you ride, and no matter how much Wu-Tang you have in your one earbud, you cannot beat the rain. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad, I was on the fixie so my pretty new Surly didn't get dirty, I didn't have my laptop in my backpack, and everything else survived the 4 mile trip. My clementines did get a little damp though. Feel free to read into that as much as you care to.
After arriving at work, I set up a shanty town of drying clothes in a recently abandoned cubicle near mine, started up a little space heater, and began dousing the entire floor with wafting odors of drying cycling clothes. It was like having Gunther a cubicle away, all day.
Lessons learned: GZA makes you overconfident, you can't outrun the rain, and every now and then a slightly rainy commute isn't a bad thing.
Stellar example indeed.
Side note: Basset Hounds are the rat-rod cruisers of dogs; low, slow, not what one would call intelligent, but awesome nonetheless.
Anyway, the BHSTWI went from tolerable to bad, junk skyward, etc. Long story short, it started raining.
At this point, I was about two blocks and a dismount from taking the bus to work, but Liquid Swords were coursing through my earbud (I only ever ride with one) and I thought "I can beat it"
I can beat it?
Really? Water falling from the sky? You can beat it?
No.
No matter how fast you ride, and no matter how much Wu-Tang you have in your one earbud, you cannot beat the rain. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad, I was on the fixie so my pretty new Surly didn't get dirty, I didn't have my laptop in my backpack, and everything else survived the 4 mile trip. My clementines did get a little damp though. Feel free to read into that as much as you care to.
After arriving at work, I set up a shanty town of drying clothes in a recently abandoned cubicle near mine, started up a little space heater, and began dousing the entire floor with wafting odors of drying cycling clothes. It was like having Gunther a cubicle away, all day.
Lessons learned: GZA makes you overconfident, you can't outrun the rain, and every now and then a slightly rainy commute isn't a bad thing.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Good News Bad News
First the good news, which also happens to be the bike related portion. The weather is getting a little better here in Denver. My preferred weather forcast system is the Basset Hounds Sunning Themselves Weather Index, BHSTWI, which I use to judge if I should ride a bike or take the bus to work.
Here's Mona and Gunther telling me to mount up on the Surly, save the bus fare and spend it on a sugar cookie.
I took a bit of time and got the rest of the stable ready to ride as well.
Left to right, the 29er, the Dirt Jumper, (the disassembled GT frame in the background), and the Fixie. I've been riding the fixie when the BHSTWI doesn't look so good. I'll probably ride the 29er if I feel like braving the rain. I'm still debating taking the Dirt Jumper to work and leaving it there to get around on campus. I've been running from building to building a lot recently, and it would be nice to have it there to huck around.
In the meantime, during the week, I've been riding the Surly indoors. Not really that fun, but at least I can catch up the Colbert Report.
Next and last, the bad news. My beloved Saab broke down with a blown head gasket. I'm going to be riding a lot more in the coming weeks due to the fact that I'll be doing the work myself. Hopefully I'll be able to do it without setting the car on fire in the process.
At least bikes don't have head gaskets.
Here's Mona and Gunther telling me to mount up on the Surly, save the bus fare and spend it on a sugar cookie.
I took a bit of time and got the rest of the stable ready to ride as well.
Left to right, the 29er, the Dirt Jumper, (the disassembled GT frame in the background), and the Fixie. I've been riding the fixie when the BHSTWI doesn't look so good. I'll probably ride the 29er if I feel like braving the rain. I'm still debating taking the Dirt Jumper to work and leaving it there to get around on campus. I've been running from building to building a lot recently, and it would be nice to have it there to huck around.
In the meantime, during the week, I've been riding the Surly indoors. Not really that fun, but at least I can catch up the Colbert Report.
Next and last, the bad news. My beloved Saab broke down with a blown head gasket. I'm going to be riding a lot more in the coming weeks due to the fact that I'll be doing the work myself. Hopefully I'll be able to do it without setting the car on fire in the process.
At least bikes don't have head gaskets.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Surly! Finished! Woo!
So I managed to squirrel some time away and finish building my Surly! And by "some time" I mean it took me several hours to do what someone with better looks, motor skills, and record collection could have in about 45 minutes.
Tuning derailleurs is hard. No wonder all the busy hipsters ride fixies (I assume their schedule is pretty packed, researching bands that just formed, broke up, and released posthumous EPs), no derailleurs means the bike takes minutes to assemble! (please ignore the fact that I do indeed own a fixie, love it, and spent hours, days, and scores (That's a unit of time, right? (Abe Lincoln said so!)) swapping parts and getting it just right). I probably better throw an extra end parenthesis up there just to be sure I finished it out. )
Ok so let's see...
I bought shoes for what to use on the new pedals!
They are considerably more shiny than my current footwear.
The new Shimano shoes are nice, light, and fit really well. I kind of have a love affair (don't worry, the bikes aren't jealous) with low-end (read: cheap) Shimano pedals and shoes. Next post will be about that. Oh yeah, spoiler alert, sorry to ruin it for you, three people that read this that are not my wife.
Clipping in and out of these newfangled pedals will take a little getting used to. And by a little getting used to, it means that I am going to fall over when I stop at a stoplight. At least once. I guess that could be cured by never stopping at stoplights, but RTD busses, pickup trucks, and hospital bills would be the new thing to get used to in that scenario.
You know you listened to too much (or just enough?) A Tribe Called Quest when you grew up when you type the word "scenario" and hear that song in your head.
Sorry, that has nothing to do with bikes.
I bought the extra parts I was missing...
(That's where my butt goes! S5 saddle from my new favorite bike company, Neuvation)
... some Thai food...
(Mmmmmm... sesame tofu. Pro tip, keep a fork in your garage. Since I am un-pro, and I was too lazy to go inside and get a fork, I ate my tofu with my hands, the way Jebus intended. I am not a proud man, but I am usually hungry.)
...and set about to finish the build.
After fighting the rear derailleur for about an hour, I decided to take a break and wrap the bars.
I can just hear that white bar tape getting dirty from here. I did a little stripe with gaffer tape (again, thank you Colorado Film School) to hold the tape that came with the bar tape. Tape.
I don't think I've ever had the tape that comes in the box hold sufficiently. I usually just throw it away and reach for the gaffer tape, but this time I wanted to use it because it looked nice.
So, here we have the bike, completely assembled, almost ready to ride.
Looking good! You can hardly see the sesame tofu residue from here.
I rode around for a bit, and messed with the shifters and got the bike to the point where it was ready to ride to work. My commute is only 4 miles one way, so if something went horribly wrong and the bike wouldn't shift, I wouldn't have a problem making it the rest of the way in one gear. That's assuming that the bike stays in one piece though.
Anyway, the ride to work was nice, the brake and derailleur cables broke in a bit, and I have to say, this frame rides really nice; I think Surly is on to something. If you can't afford carbon, by all means, buy one of these.
I have to admit, I feel a bit like a foreigner in this road bike world. I am not looking forward to my first lycra purchase. All those years of making fun of the roadies for smuggling plums, and look where I end up. I guess I pretty much set those wheels in motion as soon as I started making fun of them. Oh, irony, so iron-ey.
The day after the ride to work, I put the bike on the trainer in my basement and set out to watch some television. That's something road bikers do, right? They ride indoors when it is dark and/or cold out? Anyway, after about 30 minutes on the trainer, I came to the conclusion that I needed a shorter stem. I kept finding my hands set back about 2cm (metric system!) on my brake hoods, instead of where they should have been. Thankfully, since I am a bike parts whore, I had a shorter stem already. I swapped it out and now I think the fit is set.
I'm excited. It's nice to build it and ride it, even if it takes more time and effort. I'm really looking forward to trying to keep up with my buddy JimmyJam on some road rides.
Here's to summer and riding bikes with friends!
Tuning derailleurs is hard. No wonder all the busy hipsters ride fixies (I assume their schedule is pretty packed, researching bands that just formed, broke up, and released posthumous EPs), no derailleurs means the bike takes minutes to assemble! (please ignore the fact that I do indeed own a fixie, love it, and spent hours, days, and scores (That's a unit of time, right? (Abe Lincoln said so!)) swapping parts and getting it just right). I probably better throw an extra end parenthesis up there just to be sure I finished it out. )
Ok so let's see...
I bought shoes for what to use on the new pedals!
They are considerably more shiny than my current footwear.
The new Shimano shoes are nice, light, and fit really well. I kind of have a love affair (don't worry, the bikes aren't jealous) with low-end (read: cheap) Shimano pedals and shoes. Next post will be about that. Oh yeah, spoiler alert, sorry to ruin it for you, three people that read this that are not my wife.
Clipping in and out of these newfangled pedals will take a little getting used to. And by a little getting used to, it means that I am going to fall over when I stop at a stoplight. At least once. I guess that could be cured by never stopping at stoplights, but RTD busses, pickup trucks, and hospital bills would be the new thing to get used to in that scenario.
You know you listened to too much (or just enough?) A Tribe Called Quest when you grew up when you type the word "scenario" and hear that song in your head.
Sorry, that has nothing to do with bikes.
I bought the extra parts I was missing...
(That's where my butt goes! S5 saddle from my new favorite bike company, Neuvation)
... some Thai food...
(Mmmmmm... sesame tofu. Pro tip, keep a fork in your garage. Since I am un-pro, and I was too lazy to go inside and get a fork, I ate my tofu with my hands, the way Jebus intended. I am not a proud man, but I am usually hungry.)
...and set about to finish the build.
After fighting the rear derailleur for about an hour, I decided to take a break and wrap the bars.
I can just hear that white bar tape getting dirty from here. I did a little stripe with gaffer tape (again, thank you Colorado Film School) to hold the tape that came with the bar tape. Tape.
I don't think I've ever had the tape that comes in the box hold sufficiently. I usually just throw it away and reach for the gaffer tape, but this time I wanted to use it because it looked nice.
So, here we have the bike, completely assembled, almost ready to ride.
Looking good! You can hardly see the sesame tofu residue from here.
I rode around for a bit, and messed with the shifters and got the bike to the point where it was ready to ride to work. My commute is only 4 miles one way, so if something went horribly wrong and the bike wouldn't shift, I wouldn't have a problem making it the rest of the way in one gear. That's assuming that the bike stays in one piece though.
Anyway, the ride to work was nice, the brake and derailleur cables broke in a bit, and I have to say, this frame rides really nice; I think Surly is on to something. If you can't afford carbon, by all means, buy one of these.
I have to admit, I feel a bit like a foreigner in this road bike world. I am not looking forward to my first lycra purchase. All those years of making fun of the roadies for smuggling plums, and look where I end up. I guess I pretty much set those wheels in motion as soon as I started making fun of them. Oh, irony, so iron-ey.
The day after the ride to work, I put the bike on the trainer in my basement and set out to watch some television. That's something road bikers do, right? They ride indoors when it is dark and/or cold out? Anyway, after about 30 minutes on the trainer, I came to the conclusion that I needed a shorter stem. I kept finding my hands set back about 2cm (metric system!) on my brake hoods, instead of where they should have been. Thankfully, since I am a bike parts whore, I had a shorter stem already. I swapped it out and now I think the fit is set.
I'm excited. It's nice to build it and ride it, even if it takes more time and effort. I'm really looking forward to trying to keep up with my buddy JimmyJam on some road rides.
Here's to summer and riding bikes with friends!
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