There's More Work To Be Done I Guess

Since it’s now the “offseason”, I gotta find some shit to keep me busy. The days are getting shorter, which means soon I won’t even be able to ride after work anymore. Currently I’m able to get out of work, haul ass over to one of my local trails, and get a lap in before dark. The other day I had a nice surprise though, since I got out really early and had time for some daytime riding at Sherman Branch.



Sorry, but I don’t have any “action shots” from the trail. The ride was fast and fun. I was worn out when I finished, and that was the goal I guess. I guess you’ll have to take my word for it. One of these days though, I’ll get one of those fancy helmet cameras and start making some videos. That will surely help pass the time around here. Videos are always a good thing. For now maybe I can show you a sex tape:




Anyway, since it won’t be long until I’m only riding on the weekends, I have to keep my new little helper busy. I did mention that there are a few parts and such slowly trickling into the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters though. I have lots of “projects” in mind. Changing the wheels on Little Miss Sunshine’s bike was one of them, and now I can cross that off the list. Another thing I’ve been wanting to do is to change the rear shock on my full squishy bike, Goose.


Back when I broke it and got a new one, I knew I would eventually need to change the shock. My 2008 Diamondback Sortie 3 had four inches of rear travel, and the 2009 Sortie 3 and later all have five inches. When Diamondback sent me a new frame, they didn’t send a new shock. The shop just used the old one.


It was a nice shock, but it kind of screwed up the ride. My bottom bracket and pedals were lower to the ground, so I kept bumping into stuff (like rocks.) This kept me from really enjoying the bike when I rode it, so I finally ordered a new shock.





It was basically the same shock, but a little longer (matching the original specifications from Diamondback.) This was an easy thing to replace, but I still let R2-D2 do it. I sat back with a beer as he removed the old shock from the frame:




After replacing the mounting hardware, R2 installed the new shock, inflated the air canister, and tested it. I took the photo:



I took a little test ride and I was amazed at the difference. The bike handled a lot better, which is probably why these bike companies spend tons of money on shit like research, engineers, and other fancy stuff. Once again my R2 unit did a great job on the mechanic work. There will be plenty of work for him in the future, including this:



Yeah, that’s a new cassette. There’s been talk of me doing the single speed thing on my 29er, but for now I may put this cassette on so my rides will be a little “easier.” It’s an 11-34, and I’m currently running an 11-32. It won’t be a huge difference, but it will help me in the offseason should I choose to drink more beer and ride my bike fewer miles (which is very likely.) I know, I should be training in the offseason, but I’ll probably just take it easy for a while. Maybe I’ll just look for a tandem bike and have someone pull me around the trails this winter…