Things Are Happening

Just not every single day around here.  I wasn’t here yesterday, and I’m good with that.  I decided that it’s okay to take random days off during the week, especially if I don’t have much to talk about.  Besides, I’m not feeling too great still.  I didn’t sleep too well Tuesday night, so yesterday morning I decided that blogging could wait.  It’s my own fault though after spending Saturday out in the cold, waking up feeling bleh, then going outside in the cold again another day to clean some bikes.

Almost out of  ProGold Degreaser and Wash.  It works, so I’ll get more.

I scrubbed things, removed dirt and grease, and adjusted things that needed adjustment. 

A clean bike is a happy bike.

Darth Maul has never been happier.

Having a single speed is easy, maintenance wise.  Clean, lube the chain, add Stan's sealant to the tires, check random bolts for proper torque, etc.  It wasn’t much of a challenge, so I grabbed the little lady’s filthy bike, that hasn’t been cleaned in far too long even though I recently installed a drooper post.

New parts installation usually means a wash first.  Meh.

I used the last of the ProGold wash and got her bike all shiny and new looking.

With all those gears, I had to spend some time remembering how to adjust everything.  Shifty bits now shift properly and all that.  I felt like I accomplished something, especially since I also washed The Executor (my Niner ROS9.)

Sorry, no photos of that excitement.  You’ve seen enough clean bike photos.

I am pretty excited, but not about clean bikes.  I got some pretty cool news.  Since I ‘m not very good at segues (even though I did just mention Niner), I’ll show you a screen shot from an e-mail I got Tuesday night.

Yes, I am now a Niner Ambassador.  And yes, they picked me for some reason.  Over 1,300 applied, and they somehow narrowed it down to less than 75 people (worldwide.)  I’m sure there were more than a few folks that were just trying to “score some free stuff” or whatever, but I bet there were a lot of good people on that list that should have been selected but weren’t. 

So yeah, I feel pretty honored.  I met the requirements I’m sure, but I don’t feel like I’m better than the ones who didn’t make it.  I may act like a douche on here sometimes, but I know I’m not all that.  It’s just fun to pretend sometimes.

And it will be fun representing Niner this season (officially now), along with all the other great supporters you see over there on the right of this page.

I’m not exactly sure what this “season” holds, but there will definitely be more riding, some training, a little racing, and a whole lot of fun on two wheels.

Just Hanging Around

After spending Saturday building a bike and most of Sunday working, I thought that it might be time to get my shit together.  I started off by working on a bike that I hardly even ride…TK-421.  That’s my geared bike (the white Niner Air9) in case you can’t remember. I gave it a bath, removed and regreased parts as necessary, and finally got around to changing out the seat.

I had been running a WTB Valcon for the last year or so, and I finally figured out that I don’t like it.  It’s not very comfortable, and the weiner slot didn’t serve any real purpose.  So, I put it on my road bike (which gets ridden even less than TK-421).

The WTB Silverado that I took off of the road bike is my favorite seat, mostly because that’s what I run on the Falcon. 

The Falcon is the SS bike.  Pay attention.

Anyway, who knows when the hell I might ride either of those bikes again, but when I do I’m sure I’ll notice a difference.  Having a familiar seat on TK-421 will be nice, and having an uncomfortable seat on the road bike will suck.  Riding a road bike sucks anyway, so it fits.  The Falcon got some love too, but I didn’t think you needed to see another photo of a freshly washed bicycle.

In other news, I’m considering a change in my brand of pedals.  I’ve been a big fan of Crankbrothers for a while now, but having to replace those frilly little brass cleats more than once a season is starting to get on my nerves.

I know I’m pretty rough on shit, but I’ve never had to change the cleats out when I rode Shimano pedals.  I’m not even sure why I switched, although it was probably because Dicky told me not to.  One of these days I might listen to him.

But hey, at least they have great customer service, right?  (Where the hell is the damn sarcasm button?)

Come on, Internets, tell me what I should do.

  

I still have a ton a shit to talk about, but I’ll hold off for now.  We did a group ride last night, I have another endurance race this Sunday, and there are so many other things going on that I can’t even keep up.

And that, my friends, is why I write this crap every day. 

Just so I can remember.

A Whole Lotta Nothin’

After the Kids Ride on Saturday, I had lots of things I wanted to do.  First and foremost, I wanted to ride some more.  Even though it was a fun day out on the trail with all the kids, I didn’t get too many miles in.  I also had to mow the yard, clean up the garage, and I even wanted to get over to Captain Jim Bob’s Space Adventure for some trail work.

I was tired as shit though.

I knew that if I stopped moving, I would be out just like my cat was (she sleeps all day anyway.)  When we got home, I went right out to mow the yard.  It didn’t take long since the grass is barely growing these days, so I was still left with plenty of time on my hands.  Rather than go inside, take a nice shower, and have a good nap, I stayed out in the garage for a little spring cleaning.  I got a lot done (including building some bridges for my private trail), but the only thing I photographed was this:

I picked up a new storage thingy for the garage a while back, and it helps me to keep my shit in order.  That shelf even pulls out for easy access.

And wouldn’t you know, I finally got around to replacing my cleats because you know, they were worn out once again.

Shiny and new:

Those fuckers don’t last for shit.  Maybe I’m too rough on ‘em.

Spending the afternoon getting shit done normally ends with me drinking too much beer and passing out in the house somewhere, but Saturday was different.  I was supposed to go to a birthday thingy for the Space Cowboy, but I was on call for work and couldn’t make it. 

What a shame, because I could’ve had too much beer at his party and passed out, keeping everything all normal and shit.

Back To Normal

As normal as things can get around here, that is. After going through the mess that was the 8th race in theSouthern Classic Series, I had a little work to do.


Remember this?




When I got home from the race, all I had time to do was rinse some of the mud off and lube the chain to keep it from rusting. I finally got a chance for a thorough cleaning yesterday, and also took a little time to inspect my shifty bits and other parts for damage. Luckily, I didn’t find any major issues, save for the fact that I need some new brake pads. I kind of needed those anyway, but riding around in the sloppy mess that was Beech Mountain probably made it worse. Simple enough fix, but I’ll have to actually find some pads here locally. No big deal I guess.



With The Big O all shiny and clean, I turned my thoughts to the actual race experience. This is usually the part where I bitch and moan about how shitty the event was, but I’m not doing that this time. I think overall it was a pretty good event. I can’t blame the promoter for the bad weather. In fact, I’m thankful that the race wasn’t cancelled. We don’t usually get to ride in the mud around here in Charlotte, so it was a nice change of pace. Sure it was tough, dangerous, etc., but it was still more fun than watching two fat girls on a seesaw eating twinkies. Come on, you know that would be fun to watch. Yuck.


Anyway, I didn’t really have any issues getting to the event. The last turn off the civilized road was marked, and once I started driving on the gravel road I knew where I was going. The registration/packet pickup process was pretty painless too, and for that I can certainly shout out to the volunteers. There was a little chaos here and there, but no more than any other race I’ve been to. In fact, when it started raining they put up another tent for all us racing folks to huddle under. They really worked hard to put on a great race and it showed.


I can criticize the course a bit though. Sure, the conditions were shitty due to the weather, but the trail didn’t seem like it was that great to begin with. I’ll chalk that up to the fact that it is pretty new, and it will probably be awesome when it gets good and packed in. It did have a nice flow to it, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t so slippery. The actual race course was a different story though. I was confused every once in a while out there due to insufficient course markings, and more than a few folks told me the same thing. The first turn into the singletrack wasn’t marked well, but that was because the wind/rain knocked down the sign and caution tape.


Don’t get me wrong; it was fun. To me, the suffering is the best part. The challenge of riding in less than ideal conditions, coupled with the fact that I had to think about where I was going all the time made for a great time out there. I do these races for the challenge, and if they were easy I would probably give it up. Overall, the folks at Pirate Race Productions did a fine job, and I hope I get a chance to go back there next year. In much better (and drier) conditions though. For now, I’ll just hang around and wait for the next race.