Somehow I woke up this morning, got on the scale, and saw that I was weighing in at 194.6 lbs. Weird. Weird because I didn't eat particularly well yesterday and I still lost a pound.
Breakfast: 2 large bowls of Wheaties
Lunch: McDonalds Big n Tasty burger with no mayo, some fries from the kids' Happy Meals. Then as I was still hungry, I went back and got myself a regular little hamburger and then a three pack of chocolate chip cookies for the boys. I wound up eating half of one of the chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and a lot of Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper.
Dinner: Homemade Chili and Cornbread. I had plenty. Not sure how much, but I thought it was a lot.
Snacks: Small bag of SmartPop popcorn. Beef Jerky. Slice of bread with peanut butter on it. Yep, this was all after dinner.
I must have pooped a bunch yesterday or something. I did have the swimming class yesterday, but... yeah, I my colon must have been retaining poop like some people retain water.
News of the Sober Variety
So today is the big corporate visit at the shop. I have heard that the new CEO of Performance maybe coming too. Meh.
There better things to worry about at the shop. Cancer. One of employees has cancer. Wow. Not sure what one can do to help. My approach is to just go on like there is nothing wrong, with the exception of an occassional, "Howz it goin'?" or "Is there anything I can do to help?" But the reality is that there is not much I can do at all. So I guess prayer is about it. Obviously, this sucks.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Swim Class 7/14
I normally head out to my swim class with Melinda who is a friend of ours, as we trade off driving there early each Monday and Wednesday. She used to do the same thing with my wife before she was pregnant and I then took her spot. Having someone depending upon you to pick them up or conversely, knowing that someone is coming to get you at 6AM tends to be an effective motivator to actually show up to the class. Last night Melinda called and said that because her oldest son broke his arm and would have to have it pinned, she would be missing the class. Hmmm, I could sleep in...that would be nice.
Usually it has been me that has missed the class due to bronchitis or something. So it was sort of a test to see if I would really get my butt out of bed. And I did, but not without arguing with myself from about 5:30 until 6:00 AM about whether I was going to go or not.
Anyway, today I get there and start to warm up. I still hang in the slower of the two lanes our class has reserved at the pool even though there are two guys in the fast lane that had either the exact same 500 time or were a second or two slower than my time. However, there is a woman in the slow lane who also had the exact same time as I and the other was only 5 seconds slower so I don't feel particularly pressured to move over, mainly because there is no way I can keep up with the others in that other lane and I suspect that the faster pace would kill me--or at least cause me to black out for lack of oxygen.
Brian, the coach, calls out the order for both lanes and I am first in our lane. Dang it. The others in my lane are all as fast as or within 5 seconds in a 500 so basically get to draft behind me the whole time. I am admittedly bitter, even though it is silly. I don't mind being first, but I do mind having 2 behind me, right on my tail. The fact that they get to do the same work out but easier because they get to draft just sort of bugs me for some reason. It is like being made to ride at the front on a group ride the entire time. When it is with others who are beginners or if it happened to be DTP, that would be one thing When they are all of the same ability that is another. I makes me feel like they get to cheat a bit off of my effort. Admittedly, were the positions reversed I would have no problem doing the drafting, so I should just shut up about it (but I won't). Even though I can't feel them physically, I can mentally feel them coming up on me every lap. I am sure it is good for me to be pushed. But I still hate it. I worked on just trying to stay smooth and not rushing my stroke despite the fact that I felt rushed much of the time. When I start trying to swim faster my stroke starts to fall apart and I get sloppy. For the first 8 50's we had to do them in 1:10. That is easy. Then we were paced at 1:05 for 6 50's. A little harder, but not too bad. Then a minute rest, after which we did 4 50's at 60 second pace, which starts to hurt. Anyway, the 4 50's were followed by 2 50's at 55 seconds each. By now, including the warm up I have swam about 1200 yards and I am starting to tire. I am not used to the swimming load after swimming only twice during the past 5 weeks. I did each one in about 50-52 seconds but it hurt. After this we swam 25's to recover at a 35 second pace. This felt super easy after all that.
The faster lane had to do this workout as well, just everything was 5 seconds faster. When the workout was done, those two guys in the faster lane that had a near identical 500 time to me were complaining about have to swim at a faster pace than us. In jest, I egged them on saying that they have all been in the class for at least 6 months more than I and a year longer than the other two in my lane, thus they should be faster and be able to handle it. One of them didn't like that, and the other laughed and agreed that he should be able to do it and that it is good for him.
Of course, I should listen to my own words. I could always try to do the faster pace they they are doing even if I don't swap lanes. There isn't really any rule against doing it. Perhaps I will try to do half the workouts at the faster pace, alternating our pace and their pace. It might help and it might get those chicks off my butt so they aren't drafting me. And how knows, maybe I will get faster.
Usually it has been me that has missed the class due to bronchitis or something. So it was sort of a test to see if I would really get my butt out of bed. And I did, but not without arguing with myself from about 5:30 until 6:00 AM about whether I was going to go or not.
Anyway, today I get there and start to warm up. I still hang in the slower of the two lanes our class has reserved at the pool even though there are two guys in the fast lane that had either the exact same 500 time or were a second or two slower than my time. However, there is a woman in the slow lane who also had the exact same time as I and the other was only 5 seconds slower so I don't feel particularly pressured to move over, mainly because there is no way I can keep up with the others in that other lane and I suspect that the faster pace would kill me--or at least cause me to black out for lack of oxygen.
Brian, the coach, calls out the order for both lanes and I am first in our lane. Dang it. The others in my lane are all as fast as or within 5 seconds in a 500 so basically get to draft behind me the whole time. I am admittedly bitter, even though it is silly. I don't mind being first, but I do mind having 2 behind me, right on my tail. The fact that they get to do the same work out but easier because they get to draft just sort of bugs me for some reason. It is like being made to ride at the front on a group ride the entire time. When it is with others who are beginners or if it happened to be DTP, that would be one thing When they are all of the same ability that is another. I makes me feel like they get to cheat a bit off of my effort. Admittedly, were the positions reversed I would have no problem doing the drafting, so I should just shut up about it (but I won't). Even though I can't feel them physically, I can mentally feel them coming up on me every lap. I am sure it is good for me to be pushed. But I still hate it. I worked on just trying to stay smooth and not rushing my stroke despite the fact that I felt rushed much of the time. When I start trying to swim faster my stroke starts to fall apart and I get sloppy. For the first 8 50's we had to do them in 1:10. That is easy. Then we were paced at 1:05 for 6 50's. A little harder, but not too bad. Then a minute rest, after which we did 4 50's at 60 second pace, which starts to hurt. Anyway, the 4 50's were followed by 2 50's at 55 seconds each. By now, including the warm up I have swam about 1200 yards and I am starting to tire. I am not used to the swimming load after swimming only twice during the past 5 weeks. I did each one in about 50-52 seconds but it hurt. After this we swam 25's to recover at a 35 second pace. This felt super easy after all that.
The faster lane had to do this workout as well, just everything was 5 seconds faster. When the workout was done, those two guys in the faster lane that had a near identical 500 time to me were complaining about have to swim at a faster pace than us. In jest, I egged them on saying that they have all been in the class for at least 6 months more than I and a year longer than the other two in my lane, thus they should be faster and be able to handle it. One of them didn't like that, and the other laughed and agreed that he should be able to do it and that it is good for him.
Of course, I should listen to my own words. I could always try to do the faster pace they they are doing even if I don't swap lanes. There isn't really any rule against doing it. Perhaps I will try to do half the workouts at the faster pace, alternating our pace and their pace. It might help and it might get those chicks off my butt so they aren't drafting me. And how knows, maybe I will get faster.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Tour de France
I still have not watched one single second of this year's Tour. I have checked the results on most days, but I haven't been following it with any sort of zeal.
Basically, I don't really care.
My cycling enjoyment pretty much comes from me riding and from interaction with friends while riding or talking about bikes. Watching it on the tube--not so much.
It is not that I have an anti Tour stance or anything. I just don't really care to sit down and watch it. But this is coming from a guy that used to watch football every Saturday and Sunday that I could. Now I watch many 4 games a year. I just don't watch TV much anymore. I used to sit glued to the set a couple of years ago when it was tour time, not anymore.
I would rather mess around with the family, read news of various sorts on the computer, read books, or actually ride than watch other ride on TV. I watch maybe 2 to 3 hours of TV per week. 90 to 120 minutes of that is cartoons with the boys.
You all just let me know what happens OK? I will catch the clips on youtube or something.
Am I the only one? The guys at the shop seem to be back to watching it, even if they said they weren't. So is Fish. Maybe it is just me.
Basically, I don't really care.
My cycling enjoyment pretty much comes from me riding and from interaction with friends while riding or talking about bikes. Watching it on the tube--not so much.
It is not that I have an anti Tour stance or anything. I just don't really care to sit down and watch it. But this is coming from a guy that used to watch football every Saturday and Sunday that I could. Now I watch many 4 games a year. I just don't watch TV much anymore. I used to sit glued to the set a couple of years ago when it was tour time, not anymore.
I would rather mess around with the family, read news of various sorts on the computer, read books, or actually ride than watch other ride on TV. I watch maybe 2 to 3 hours of TV per week. 90 to 120 minutes of that is cartoons with the boys.
You all just let me know what happens OK? I will catch the clips on youtube or something.
Am I the only one? The guys at the shop seem to be back to watching it, even if they said they weren't. So is Fish. Maybe it is just me.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
We Have a New Member of Our Family!
No, my lovely wife has not given birth to son #3 yet. So while the birth of son #3 will also be the 5th member of our regullar human-type family, I am talking about the 5th member of our bike family.
Behold, the Fuji Roubaix RC:
This is Bridget's new road bike. It is the replacement for the Cannondale CAAD 9 bike that we sold after we found out she was pregnant. That bike was a mish-mash of parts, everything from 105 shifters to Ultegra and dura ace derailleurs. This bike is straight 10 speed Ultegra all the way around. This bike also has a carbon seatstay (not sure how big a deal this really is, but whatever).
This particular bike was not planned for, just like many new additions to many families. This bike came to us second-hand. Some poor sap bought this bike from the Beaverton Performance Bike shop on close out last year. It was just about the last one that they had and he picked it up for $1200. The bike retails for $2000 and Performance regularly sold it for around $1500 until the 2007 models came in, at which point they started blowing them out at the lower price. Today he brought the bike in and to return the bike for something else. You might think this is odd--well it is. Performance has a liberal return policy though so, the manager let him return it and sold him a $3200 bike instead. On the whole deal, the shop probably will break even so don't feel too bad.
His problems with the bike were legitimate. The other Performance store sold him a bike that was too small. It is a 54cm with an effective top tube of 55cm. The dude is 6 feet tall, maybe a bit more. Then the steerer tube of the fork was defective and had to be sent back to Fuji. This was about a month ago and the fork is still not back to us yet. In the meantime, we put on a Forte fork which is not the same quality nor the same measurements as the original fork. The Forte fork has 40mm of rake and the original fork has 45. As a result the bike handles a little funny, plus the wheel hit his shoes. Anyway, he was sick of waiting for the new fork from Fuji, and he realized that the bike was too small. And after talking to Joel, my manager, about it off and on over the past few days, he worked the deal and dropped off the above pictured bike today in exchange for the 2008 Fuji Team RC (the main difference being that the Team RC is full carbon instead of a aluminum and carbon like the Roubaix RC).
I told Joel that I was interested in it for Bridget. He told me to make an offer. I did, $550. He bumped me to $599 for what you see in the picture. Done deal. The warranty fork replacement is supposed to be delivered this next week, so the bike will be back to spec.
The bike probably has 500 to 1000 miles on it. The bike is original except for the saddle--which sucks and will be replaced by Bridget's Terry Butterfly saddle. The tires have some wear on them, but not too bad. Plus, I could part out the bike right now and make about 300 bucks, so I figure it is a good deal.
The main thing is that I got Bridget a good bike for about $1,000 less than we sold the Cannondale for, and less than what we had planned on spending. It was actually causing her some stress that we were going to have to spend money on a bike when we need to be saving for different car with more room. So this bike is fits the bill prefectly. Overall, it is at least as good as the 'dale too. The major downgrade is the wheelset, but those are getting swapped out for some wheels that I have sitting in the garage that weigh about 280 grams less. The Cane Creek Strados wheelset, which weighs about 1800 grams, currently on the Fuji, will make an excellent spare wheelset for cross once I do the swap.
I am glad to found this bike. Bridget is happy too. She has acquired a taste for good stuff after her Cannondale and this fits the bill. The fact that it is used doesn't matter one bit to her, neither does the fact that it is a 2006 model. There is hardly any difference, if any, between the 2006 frame and the 2008 other than paint. At this point in time she would much rather have a used bike than spend more money for the same quality (even though it would be an employee deal, this bike as a 2008 model would cost me near $1,000 to E.P. through Fuji once shipping was figured in).
Anyway, so the bike is ours and here is the current Flynn bike line up (excluding our boys who have a couple of bikes and a trike too):
2008 Fuji Aloha CF2 TT/Road w/ Dura Ace
2007 Lapierre XLite Scandium cyclocross w/ SRAM Rival
2006 Curtlo S3/OX Platinum Cyclocross bike w/ XTR, Dura Ace, and Campagnolo Record
2008 Curtlo S3 OX Platinum Rigid Singlespeed Mountain Bike--21.7 lbs complete
2006 Fuji Roubaix RC w/ Ultegra
Not too shabby. The glaring thing missing from this line up is that we only have one MTB in it, and it is a singlespeed no less. Bridget is not too interested in mtb, but I would still like at least a geared mtb in the near future. How times have changed. Not long ago when I was in Utah, I had 3 mountain bikes and one cheap Trek 1200 road bike. Here in Portland, cyclocross has become a big thing and I ride more on the road than anything else. But, it's cool, they all roll and they all bring grins. We think the Fuji will do the same. Bridget plans on returning to the tri scene next year and this bike should work just fine, espcially for less than $600 for an 18.2 lbs bike as it sits right now. It will be sub 17 soon I assure you.
Behold, the Fuji Roubaix RC:
This is Bridget's new road bike. It is the replacement for the Cannondale CAAD 9 bike that we sold after we found out she was pregnant. That bike was a mish-mash of parts, everything from 105 shifters to Ultegra and dura ace derailleurs. This bike is straight 10 speed Ultegra all the way around. This bike also has a carbon seatstay (not sure how big a deal this really is, but whatever).
This particular bike was not planned for, just like many new additions to many families. This bike came to us second-hand. Some poor sap bought this bike from the Beaverton Performance Bike shop on close out last year. It was just about the last one that they had and he picked it up for $1200. The bike retails for $2000 and Performance regularly sold it for around $1500 until the 2007 models came in, at which point they started blowing them out at the lower price. Today he brought the bike in and to return the bike for something else. You might think this is odd--well it is. Performance has a liberal return policy though so, the manager let him return it and sold him a $3200 bike instead. On the whole deal, the shop probably will break even so don't feel too bad.
His problems with the bike were legitimate. The other Performance store sold him a bike that was too small. It is a 54cm with an effective top tube of 55cm. The dude is 6 feet tall, maybe a bit more. Then the steerer tube of the fork was defective and had to be sent back to Fuji. This was about a month ago and the fork is still not back to us yet. In the meantime, we put on a Forte fork which is not the same quality nor the same measurements as the original fork. The Forte fork has 40mm of rake and the original fork has 45. As a result the bike handles a little funny, plus the wheel hit his shoes. Anyway, he was sick of waiting for the new fork from Fuji, and he realized that the bike was too small. And after talking to Joel, my manager, about it off and on over the past few days, he worked the deal and dropped off the above pictured bike today in exchange for the 2008 Fuji Team RC (the main difference being that the Team RC is full carbon instead of a aluminum and carbon like the Roubaix RC).
I told Joel that I was interested in it for Bridget. He told me to make an offer. I did, $550. He bumped me to $599 for what you see in the picture. Done deal. The warranty fork replacement is supposed to be delivered this next week, so the bike will be back to spec.
The bike probably has 500 to 1000 miles on it. The bike is original except for the saddle--which sucks and will be replaced by Bridget's Terry Butterfly saddle. The tires have some wear on them, but not too bad. Plus, I could part out the bike right now and make about 300 bucks, so I figure it is a good deal.
The main thing is that I got Bridget a good bike for about $1,000 less than we sold the Cannondale for, and less than what we had planned on spending. It was actually causing her some stress that we were going to have to spend money on a bike when we need to be saving for different car with more room. So this bike is fits the bill prefectly. Overall, it is at least as good as the 'dale too. The major downgrade is the wheelset, but those are getting swapped out for some wheels that I have sitting in the garage that weigh about 280 grams less. The Cane Creek Strados wheelset, which weighs about 1800 grams, currently on the Fuji, will make an excellent spare wheelset for cross once I do the swap.
I am glad to found this bike. Bridget is happy too. She has acquired a taste for good stuff after her Cannondale and this fits the bill. The fact that it is used doesn't matter one bit to her, neither does the fact that it is a 2006 model. There is hardly any difference, if any, between the 2006 frame and the 2008 other than paint. At this point in time she would much rather have a used bike than spend more money for the same quality (even though it would be an employee deal, this bike as a 2008 model would cost me near $1,000 to E.P. through Fuji once shipping was figured in).
Anyway, so the bike is ours and here is the current Flynn bike line up (excluding our boys who have a couple of bikes and a trike too):
2008 Fuji Aloha CF2 TT/Road w/ Dura Ace
2007 Lapierre XLite Scandium cyclocross w/ SRAM Rival
2006 Curtlo S3/OX Platinum Cyclocross bike w/ XTR, Dura Ace, and Campagnolo Record
2008 Curtlo S3 OX Platinum Rigid Singlespeed Mountain Bike--21.7 lbs complete
2006 Fuji Roubaix RC w/ Ultegra
Not too shabby. The glaring thing missing from this line up is that we only have one MTB in it, and it is a singlespeed no less. Bridget is not too interested in mtb, but I would still like at least a geared mtb in the near future. How times have changed. Not long ago when I was in Utah, I had 3 mountain bikes and one cheap Trek 1200 road bike. Here in Portland, cyclocross has become a big thing and I ride more on the road than anything else. But, it's cool, they all roll and they all bring grins. We think the Fuji will do the same. Bridget plans on returning to the tri scene next year and this bike should work just fine, espcially for less than $600 for an 18.2 lbs bike as it sits right now. It will be sub 17 soon I assure you.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Curtlo S3 Cross Pics
In case people haven't seen the Curtlo that I have been posting about lately, here are a few pictures.
There was just enough chain to do it without taking any links off or adding any right out of the package.
The somewhat ugly chain line in 53/34 combo
There was just enough chain to do it without taking any links off or adding any right out of the package.
The somewhat ugly chain line in 53/34 combo
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Back to Swimming: Updated Curtlo report
Despite the fact that I still have bronchitis I went to swim class. I missed two full weeks of class (or 4 classes) most of them because of the stupid illness. I feel fine expect for the fact that I start coughing if I do much of anything. I am going to ride to work today, and hopefully I don't lose a lung. That would suck.
Anyway, I get into the pool this morning and start our warm-up exercise. It is unusually long. When it is unusually long that usually means that the coach is going to have us do a timed 500 yards. And sure enough, after we finish he tells us that this is what he has planned for us.
Crap.
My lungs are feeling sort ok at this point, mainly because the warm up was pretty easy. A 500 is going to suck because of my lungs and because I have been in the pool exactly ONE time since Vikingman a month ago. So I thought to myself "screw it", if I am slow, at least I have a great excuse. I had already had stopped to cough a couple of times during warmups so it was evident I wasn't faking. So with a good excuse in hand and started out.
I should have the "screw it, it doesn't matter" attitude more often apparently. Even though I had to stop for about 5 seconds after 400 yards to catch my breath because I just couldn't get enough air, I still finished with a personal best 9:35. Cool. I did feel pretty smooth for the first 250 yards, which I did in 4:44. My second half was a slower 4:51. What this means is that once I get back into swimming shape something in the low 9 minute area should be within reach soon. At the beginning of this year I was swimming near 12 minutes for the 500. Last year around June it would have been probably 15 minutes.
In other news, as mentioned before, I am riding to work today. On the 53 tooth equiped Curtlo too. By the way, I had to put a new chain on that was longer. I put a 9 speed Dura Ace/XTR chain on and it didn't have to cut it at all. It was the perfect length to wrap the 53 to the 34 in the rear. Sweet! Chainline if decent too. I don't have any chain retention devices on but I don't think I will have any issues.
UPDATED:
So the ride to work went well. I noticed that the chain makes a little noise when I am in the 34 tooth in back. Not bad, but I don't consider this ideal. However, I won't be swapping this ring out anytime soon. I like the set up over all. The steps inbetween gears are a little large, but I got used to it pretty quick. I didn't ride home because, it took my lungs awhile to recover from the ride and so my wife pressured me to accept a ride home. I think it was not so much to save me any discomfort but so that she didn't have to hear me cough for a couple of hours afterwards.
Anyway, I an calling the 53 tooth 1x9 experiment a success. I will be riding it quite a bit in the near future.
Anyway, I get into the pool this morning and start our warm-up exercise. It is unusually long. When it is unusually long that usually means that the coach is going to have us do a timed 500 yards. And sure enough, after we finish he tells us that this is what he has planned for us.
Crap.
My lungs are feeling sort ok at this point, mainly because the warm up was pretty easy. A 500 is going to suck because of my lungs and because I have been in the pool exactly ONE time since Vikingman a month ago. So I thought to myself "screw it", if I am slow, at least I have a great excuse. I had already had stopped to cough a couple of times during warmups so it was evident I wasn't faking. So with a good excuse in hand and started out.
I should have the "screw it, it doesn't matter" attitude more often apparently. Even though I had to stop for about 5 seconds after 400 yards to catch my breath because I just couldn't get enough air, I still finished with a personal best 9:35. Cool. I did feel pretty smooth for the first 250 yards, which I did in 4:44. My second half was a slower 4:51. What this means is that once I get back into swimming shape something in the low 9 minute area should be within reach soon. At the beginning of this year I was swimming near 12 minutes for the 500. Last year around June it would have been probably 15 minutes.
In other news, as mentioned before, I am riding to work today. On the 53 tooth equiped Curtlo too. By the way, I had to put a new chain on that was longer. I put a 9 speed Dura Ace/XTR chain on and it didn't have to cut it at all. It was the perfect length to wrap the 53 to the 34 in the rear. Sweet! Chainline if decent too. I don't have any chain retention devices on but I don't think I will have any issues.
UPDATED:
So the ride to work went well. I noticed that the chain makes a little noise when I am in the 34 tooth in back. Not bad, but I don't consider this ideal. However, I won't be swapping this ring out anytime soon. I like the set up over all. The steps inbetween gears are a little large, but I got used to it pretty quick. I didn't ride home because, it took my lungs awhile to recover from the ride and so my wife pressured me to accept a ride home. I think it was not so much to save me any discomfort but so that she didn't have to hear me cough for a couple of hours afterwards.
Anyway, I an calling the 53 tooth 1x9 experiment a success. I will be riding it quite a bit in the near future.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Update on the Curtlo ring swap
Please excuse the boring posts lately, my lungs are still filled with something that looks like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Ooze that I had has a kid. It makes doing any activity seem like I have been a pack a day smoker for about 20 years or more. But at least I feel good otherwise.
Anyway, so I took off the driveside crank and tried to mount the 53 tooth ring on the inside of the crankarm, instead of the outside where it is normally mounted. I left the chainguard on the outside even though it looked silly. I did so because in order to tighten down the chainring bolts I need it there. Without it the bolts would not have been tight against the single ring. I didn't have any washers to take up the space instead Then I put the crank arm back on the bottom bracket, but the ring is too big. It hit the driveside chainstay of the frame. Dang it.
Then I swapped the 53 tooth on the outside and put the chainguard on the inside. Again the chainring guard, which is slightly larger than a 42 tooth chainring hit the chainstay. Well it didn't actually hit it. But it was about 10/1000 away from it and any sort of torque on the crankarms would have made it rub. So back to the drawing board.
This entire time I kept thinking that I should just mount up the two chainrings and then I could run the 53 tooth or the 39 tooth whenever I wanted. Without a front derailleur I could have still done it with my foot if I wanted to go down from the 53 to the 39 (I have done this before a long time ago on another bike) or just moved it back the the 53 by hand in about a second or two. Or I could never use the 39 and just let it remain something to space the chainring bolts enough to tighten down the 53 tooth ring. But this is simply not an option. If I had both rings on--even if I never intended to use the 39 tooth again people are still going to think that I am using a normal drivetrain. But dang it I am not, this is one of the coolest 1x9's you will run across. The shifting for the rear deraileur is accomplished with a dura ace bar end shifter mounted to a Kelly Take Off. The Kelly Take Off is about the coolest thing for a 1X9 cyclocross bike. It allows me to shift from just about any position on the bar. I can jam the shifter on multiple shifts faster than a regular STI road shifter will do at times. Also in the mud the shifter seems to work better than the regular road shifters, or at least my old shimano ones. I mean it is not quite as ergonomic, but for cross it works and that is all I care about.
Anyway, leaving the ring, even as a dummy ring was just not an option. I finally went to the shop where I found we had not chainring bolt spacers. I had to go and buy them at Bike Gallery. And after messing around a bit with the number of spacers, breaking a torx wrench multi-tool, and making my wife wait on me more than I should have for somethings she wanted me to do I was finished. Really, I made a simple operation an overly complicated and tedious affair. Not sure why, but making simple operations complicated is what I do best sometimes.
Now the bike looks clean. I looks like I am just a hammer because the only ring I am rocking is a freaking 53 tooth monster. The mountain cassette is there of course but that is not what you immediately notice. This bike is pretty sweet. For cross, don't let Brianero read this, but I think the Curtlo is a bit sweeter for cross than the Lapierre. Most of it is the set up, but still, some of this feeling is becuase it fits me so well. The frame's build has been thoughtfully revised a few times and each time it gets a little closer to perfection. The Lapierre still has yet to go to battle and so I am at the beginning of the learning curve with it, so to speak.
Well, hopefully soon I will have more to report than boring tales of easy maintenance made complicated by yours truly.
Anyway, so I took off the driveside crank and tried to mount the 53 tooth ring on the inside of the crankarm, instead of the outside where it is normally mounted. I left the chainguard on the outside even though it looked silly. I did so because in order to tighten down the chainring bolts I need it there. Without it the bolts would not have been tight against the single ring. I didn't have any washers to take up the space instead Then I put the crank arm back on the bottom bracket, but the ring is too big. It hit the driveside chainstay of the frame. Dang it.
Then I swapped the 53 tooth on the outside and put the chainguard on the inside. Again the chainring guard, which is slightly larger than a 42 tooth chainring hit the chainstay. Well it didn't actually hit it. But it was about 10/1000 away from it and any sort of torque on the crankarms would have made it rub. So back to the drawing board.
This entire time I kept thinking that I should just mount up the two chainrings and then I could run the 53 tooth or the 39 tooth whenever I wanted. Without a front derailleur I could have still done it with my foot if I wanted to go down from the 53 to the 39 (I have done this before a long time ago on another bike) or just moved it back the the 53 by hand in about a second or two. Or I could never use the 39 and just let it remain something to space the chainring bolts enough to tighten down the 53 tooth ring. But this is simply not an option. If I had both rings on--even if I never intended to use the 39 tooth again people are still going to think that I am using a normal drivetrain. But dang it I am not, this is one of the coolest 1x9's you will run across. The shifting for the rear deraileur is accomplished with a dura ace bar end shifter mounted to a Kelly Take Off. The Kelly Take Off is about the coolest thing for a 1X9 cyclocross bike. It allows me to shift from just about any position on the bar. I can jam the shifter on multiple shifts faster than a regular STI road shifter will do at times. Also in the mud the shifter seems to work better than the regular road shifters, or at least my old shimano ones. I mean it is not quite as ergonomic, but for cross it works and that is all I care about.
Anyway, leaving the ring, even as a dummy ring was just not an option. I finally went to the shop where I found we had not chainring bolt spacers. I had to go and buy them at Bike Gallery. And after messing around a bit with the number of spacers, breaking a torx wrench multi-tool, and making my wife wait on me more than I should have for somethings she wanted me to do I was finished. Really, I made a simple operation an overly complicated and tedious affair. Not sure why, but making simple operations complicated is what I do best sometimes.
Now the bike looks clean. I looks like I am just a hammer because the only ring I am rocking is a freaking 53 tooth monster. The mountain cassette is there of course but that is not what you immediately notice. This bike is pretty sweet. For cross, don't let Brianero read this, but I think the Curtlo is a bit sweeter for cross than the Lapierre. Most of it is the set up, but still, some of this feeling is becuase it fits me so well. The frame's build has been thoughtfully revised a few times and each time it gets a little closer to perfection. The Lapierre still has yet to go to battle and so I am at the beginning of the learning curve with it, so to speak.
Well, hopefully soon I will have more to report than boring tales of easy maintenance made complicated by yours truly.
You'd think I have enough bikes to cover a simple road ride
But, I really don't. I don't have a good bike for long road rides currently.
Facts:
Fuji Aloha CF2 is set up as a time trial bike. With the aerobars set up it is not friendly to regular road rides in traffic. I am too lazy to swap the bar back to a regular road shifter/drop bar set up because I anticipate doing at least one more tri this summer.
Lapierre XLite is really a cyclocross racing machine. It currently has a side gig as my commuter and sub 2 hour road machine. The problem lies in its lack of any water bottle mounts whatsoever. Afterall, you don't need or want a water bottle during a cyclecross race. Its lack of water bottle mounts show that its rider is indeed a cyclocross junkie. It also makes it difficult to go on rides for much longer than 2 hours (less if it is a hot day) because the only water that I carry has to be in one water bottle that I stick in the back of my jersey. I can fit a 24 ouncer back there. I have gone on longer rides with the Lapierre, but it requires a route that has 7-11 or something similar along the route at an opportune time. This is not always possible when going with others.
Curtlo Singlespeed 29er. Well duh, one speed, fat tires, and again no water bottle mounts (I use a camelbak when mountain biking).
Curtlo S3 Cyclocross bike. Hmmm. Facially this seems like a bad match. It is built up as a 1x9 and the front ring is only a 39 tooth. Not big enough to maintain speed on the flats or on a slight descent. But the bike does have two water bottle mounts, because I forgot to tell Doug not to put them on. Maybe that is lucky for me. The rear cassette is currently a 12-25, or I also have a 12-27 and wait for it....an 11-34. Yes. Anyone thinking what I am thinking yet? Gear junkies out there, it is time to perk up.
Most standard sized cranksets with a 130 BCD (Shimano/Sram) or 135 BCD (Campy) come with a 39 tooth and a 53 tooth set of chainrings. On many bikes the cassette mated with this combo is either an 11/23 or 12/25. In fact that is the very set up that I have on my Fuji. Back when the Fuji was set up with road bars I rode this set up everywhere and did just fine for the most part. The lowest gear, 39 tooth front mated with the 25 tooth in the back gives a 41.0 gear inch measurement. The top end, the 53 mated with the 12 cog in the back comes to 116.1 gear inches.
Now, then here is my thought; swap the 39 tooth ring out for the 53 tooth. The bike would still be a 1x9. But the front ring would be the 53 tooth and I would run not the 12/25 or 12/27 cassette (I wish I could push this all the time going up and on to Skyline, but that aint gonna happen) but instead plop on the 11/34. Yeah. Check out the gear inches range now: Low end is the exact same 41.0 and the high is now 126.6. So my 9 gears in gear inches would be; 41.0, 46.4, 53.6 60.6, 69.6, 81.9, 92.9, 107.1 and 126.6. Or to convert that to what those of you running a standard BCD would be like having the following gear selection (approximately): 39/25, 39/22, 39/19, 53/23, 39/15, 53/17, 53/15, 53/13, and 53/11. Really this is not too bad. Sort of large steps in between at times but not too bad I don't think.
Guess what I am doing tomorrow, Daddy is getting his new road bike ready, the Curtlo S3 Cyclo-Road! I can't wait. I will probably try to mount the 53 tooth on the inside of the crankarm to get a better chainline. I need to find some spacers to put on the outside of the arm. Right now I have a chainguard on the outside, but I suspect that it will look a little goofy since it was only made to guard a 42 tooth ring at the most. But that should be small stuff. The crankarms are old style Campy Record--carbon arms with the square taper bottom bracket. The Campy style 135 BCD makes it hard to find rings in anything but 39 and 53.
Anyway, off to bed. I am excited to try this out and I am finally feeling well enough to do so.
Facts:
Fuji Aloha CF2 is set up as a time trial bike. With the aerobars set up it is not friendly to regular road rides in traffic. I am too lazy to swap the bar back to a regular road shifter/drop bar set up because I anticipate doing at least one more tri this summer.
Lapierre XLite is really a cyclocross racing machine. It currently has a side gig as my commuter and sub 2 hour road machine. The problem lies in its lack of any water bottle mounts whatsoever. Afterall, you don't need or want a water bottle during a cyclecross race. Its lack of water bottle mounts show that its rider is indeed a cyclocross junkie. It also makes it difficult to go on rides for much longer than 2 hours (less if it is a hot day) because the only water that I carry has to be in one water bottle that I stick in the back of my jersey. I can fit a 24 ouncer back there. I have gone on longer rides with the Lapierre, but it requires a route that has 7-11 or something similar along the route at an opportune time. This is not always possible when going with others.
Curtlo Singlespeed 29er. Well duh, one speed, fat tires, and again no water bottle mounts (I use a camelbak when mountain biking).
Curtlo S3 Cyclocross bike. Hmmm. Facially this seems like a bad match. It is built up as a 1x9 and the front ring is only a 39 tooth. Not big enough to maintain speed on the flats or on a slight descent. But the bike does have two water bottle mounts, because I forgot to tell Doug not to put them on. Maybe that is lucky for me. The rear cassette is currently a 12-25, or I also have a 12-27 and wait for it....an 11-34. Yes. Anyone thinking what I am thinking yet? Gear junkies out there, it is time to perk up.
Most standard sized cranksets with a 130 BCD (Shimano/Sram) or 135 BCD (Campy) come with a 39 tooth and a 53 tooth set of chainrings. On many bikes the cassette mated with this combo is either an 11/23 or 12/25. In fact that is the very set up that I have on my Fuji. Back when the Fuji was set up with road bars I rode this set up everywhere and did just fine for the most part. The lowest gear, 39 tooth front mated with the 25 tooth in the back gives a 41.0 gear inch measurement. The top end, the 53 mated with the 12 cog in the back comes to 116.1 gear inches.
Now, then here is my thought; swap the 39 tooth ring out for the 53 tooth. The bike would still be a 1x9. But the front ring would be the 53 tooth and I would run not the 12/25 or 12/27 cassette (I wish I could push this all the time going up and on to Skyline, but that aint gonna happen) but instead plop on the 11/34. Yeah. Check out the gear inches range now: Low end is the exact same 41.0 and the high is now 126.6. So my 9 gears in gear inches would be; 41.0, 46.4, 53.6 60.6, 69.6, 81.9, 92.9, 107.1 and 126.6. Or to convert that to what those of you running a standard BCD would be like having the following gear selection (approximately): 39/25, 39/22, 39/19, 53/23, 39/15, 53/17, 53/15, 53/13, and 53/11. Really this is not too bad. Sort of large steps in between at times but not too bad I don't think.
Guess what I am doing tomorrow, Daddy is getting his new road bike ready, the Curtlo S3 Cyclo-Road! I can't wait. I will probably try to mount the 53 tooth on the inside of the crankarm to get a better chainline. I need to find some spacers to put on the outside of the arm. Right now I have a chainguard on the outside, but I suspect that it will look a little goofy since it was only made to guard a 42 tooth ring at the most. But that should be small stuff. The crankarms are old style Campy Record--carbon arms with the square taper bottom bracket. The Campy style 135 BCD makes it hard to find rings in anything but 39 and 53.
Anyway, off to bed. I am excited to try this out and I am finally feeling well enough to do so.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
blabber
I have been sick pretty much the entire week. No rides, runs, swims, or anything much. But I was able to somehow lose a 1/4 pound this week despite the lack of exercise and the lack of an especially good diet plan. I am grateful for this at least. The lungs full of goop--not so much.
I am not too into this years Tour de France. I just don't especially care right now. It is not a anti-doper thing, or an anti-French thing. It is more of an I just don't care for some reason thing. Can't explain, it just is.
Today I worked at the shop. All I did was build bikes in the back. I enjoyed it. The most expensive bike was one that we sell for about $800, most were around $300 to $400. And it was fun to sit on the rolling stool and just focus on making these bikes work well. I had a few interruptions with phone calls and miscellaneous things, but for the most part it was a non-customer day, which is a great thing. I have come to feel the anonymous customer that I am not familiar with is one with which I would rather not be bothered. For some reason if you got in before I soured on working retail recently--which was as of about a month or so ago--I am still happy to talk to you. Weird, but true. Someone came in for a tune up on a bike that I sold to her about 4 or 5 months ago and for some reason I stopped what I was doing to do it right there on the spot. I found that I was surprised at myself even. About halfway through, I realized that I wasn't even bitter about being interrupted. I was happy at that fact.
I also worked on DTP's Fisher 293. This is a very nice bike. Or rather it was. Everything had been upgraded to XTR (by me before I sold it to him a couple or three years ago) and it has a nice pair of wheels on it that makes it probably one of the lighter full suspension 29er out there. But what use is a nice bike when it is horribly maintained? Not much, as evidenced on our last ride. The cables and housing are in horrible shape. The shift housing's inner wires have worked their way past the housing caps in every instance which has caused the shifting to hardly work at all. The last ride we went on he only had two or three gears. The bike still has a handmade crappy foam watch mount for a Suunto GPS watch that he hasn't had for probably 2 years. The bike looks like hammered. Oh well, I don't have to ride it. And, even though I did start working on it near close I didn't finish it because there was more to do than he said. He thought I was only going to have to replace one piece of housing. He asked that I try to save the cables...freaking cheapskate. That ain't going to happen. Oh well, at least when it gets done he will have one less excuse for why he can't ride up a hill faster than some old guy can walk it.
Anyway, I am hoping that next week is a return to normality. Also, I hope that next week will be the end of my time in purgatory with the law firm downtown. It has been around a month since I interviewed and still no word, despite a couple of calls on my part for a status check. I know that hiring process at a firm can be lengthy, but when patience is not one of my virtue, it is taxing on me. And on my wife for that matter. She says it is even worse for her since she has absolutely no control and she is just the passenger here in this search. She can try to keep me positive, and she puts on a good front, but inside she is ready for this ordeal to end, and to end in a positive manner. She craves normality, a husband who has a normal job, and the funds to start doing normal things again. Being pregnant does not help matter either.
Well, back to bed.
I am not too into this years Tour de France. I just don't especially care right now. It is not a anti-doper thing, or an anti-French thing. It is more of an I just don't care for some reason thing. Can't explain, it just is.
Today I worked at the shop. All I did was build bikes in the back. I enjoyed it. The most expensive bike was one that we sell for about $800, most were around $300 to $400. And it was fun to sit on the rolling stool and just focus on making these bikes work well. I had a few interruptions with phone calls and miscellaneous things, but for the most part it was a non-customer day, which is a great thing. I have come to feel the anonymous customer that I am not familiar with is one with which I would rather not be bothered. For some reason if you got in before I soured on working retail recently--which was as of about a month or so ago--I am still happy to talk to you. Weird, but true. Someone came in for a tune up on a bike that I sold to her about 4 or 5 months ago and for some reason I stopped what I was doing to do it right there on the spot. I found that I was surprised at myself even. About halfway through, I realized that I wasn't even bitter about being interrupted. I was happy at that fact.
I also worked on DTP's Fisher 293. This is a very nice bike. Or rather it was. Everything had been upgraded to XTR (by me before I sold it to him a couple or three years ago) and it has a nice pair of wheels on it that makes it probably one of the lighter full suspension 29er out there. But what use is a nice bike when it is horribly maintained? Not much, as evidenced on our last ride. The cables and housing are in horrible shape. The shift housing's inner wires have worked their way past the housing caps in every instance which has caused the shifting to hardly work at all. The last ride we went on he only had two or three gears. The bike still has a handmade crappy foam watch mount for a Suunto GPS watch that he hasn't had for probably 2 years. The bike looks like hammered. Oh well, I don't have to ride it. And, even though I did start working on it near close I didn't finish it because there was more to do than he said. He thought I was only going to have to replace one piece of housing. He asked that I try to save the cables...freaking cheapskate. That ain't going to happen. Oh well, at least when it gets done he will have one less excuse for why he can't ride up a hill faster than some old guy can walk it.
Anyway, I am hoping that next week is a return to normality. Also, I hope that next week will be the end of my time in purgatory with the law firm downtown. It has been around a month since I interviewed and still no word, despite a couple of calls on my part for a status check. I know that hiring process at a firm can be lengthy, but when patience is not one of my virtue, it is taxing on me. And on my wife for that matter. She says it is even worse for her since she has absolutely no control and she is just the passenger here in this search. She can try to keep me positive, and she puts on a good front, but inside she is ready for this ordeal to end, and to end in a positive manner. She craves normality, a husband who has a normal job, and the funds to start doing normal things again. Being pregnant does not help matter either.
Well, back to bed.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
News, what news? There's nothing new.
Everything is the same as it ever was, at least for the past year. Well that is not quite true--I am currently fighting some sort of illness that has made it difficult to do anything without hacking globs of phlegm up and has me addicted to Dayquil/Nyquil in order to make through the day. Nevertheless I haven't missed work--instead I insist on working so that all might partake of my nasty germs. I tried to bail out of work yesterday, but I could feel the stress on the on the other end of the phone so I manned up and came in anyway. Today I felt worse, but showed up anyway and just sat in the back building up new bikes. Just wait until people buy these bikes--HA HA HA (evil laugh) and my illness will be strewn throughout the community!!! Then all will be as miserable as I, and I rule the...nevermind that was a lame schtick, enough of that.
Anyway, what the title says is true, there is nothing new here. Same lovely job at the bike shop. Same lovely law school loans awaiting repayment, and still no information on whether my best job prospect at a firm downtown will work out. I am leaning heavily toward betting that the job will not be a possibility. I called them up yesterday and I was told that I will be hearing back shortly, but the call did not have a real positive vibe to it. This of course blows, but at least I still have the big bucks coming in from the bike shop...or rather at least we are able to pay our bills with what the wife and I make. At least for another 6 months until more of the loans enter into repayment. I have been out of law school for a year. At the end of the month it will be a year since I took the bar exam. It has been about almost 10 months since I found out I passed the bar exam. Still I have had no luck finding an acceptable job as a lawyer.
Part of it is my doing. I am picky. I don't want to work in some area of the law that doesn't interest me. I don't want to move out of the PDX area. I also need to make a certain minimum amount once the loans do start coming due so some jobs are not possible even if they are of interest. The job that I may soon be passed up on--if my gut is right--fits everything perfectly. At least it seems to...but what ever will be will be.
The bike shop is the same as ever was. People still want silly things done and want their tubes changed. We are still understaffed. And the store is still a mess, though worse than normal because we are more understaffed than normal. But I can only do what I can do and since I have no authority at all there. I take some solace in the fact that even if the company as a whole acts half-brain dead it is not a reflection on me. I just do as I am told and state any disagreements as pleasantly and factually as I can and then let it go. No biggie. I have realized that I am pretty much done being able to work that job anymore. I need to get back into the legal field even if it is just working as a clerk somewhere doing the type of work I did during law school before I passed the bar.
Family life is the same, mostly great. The wife is pregnant and so there is that sort of hanging over my head in the near future, but life here is pretty good. Friday we are travelling out to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Hood River, Oregon. That ought to be fun for all of us. We went to this event last year and our family had a good time.
The one other downer is the fact that I have a lingering cold that has disrupted my training, sleeping patterns and robbed me of energy for the past few days. I missed swimming and I have not been able to ride to work because my lungs are filled with some mucus crap. I have to lay the blame for this illness on my boys--I think kids are generally dispersers of disease. They are great otherwise, but every illness that I have had over the past 5 years is probably attributable to them. Not amount of handwashing, bathing, or sanitizing seems to quite do the trick--they always find a way to infect me somehow. I guess that is what family is all about--sharing everything, germs included.
Anyway, so without working out I have put back on a pound or two. Hopefully just a pound. This morning it was 197.0 and if that is where I can keep it that will be great. The pounds will come off again once something more than my nose can be running.
Ok so there is some news that is new. Neil at the shop, and my bike builder-de-jour, received his Mavic R-SYS wheels today. They sure looked sweet. And even with the employee purchase they sure are spendy. They weighed in at 1400 grams for the wheelset. He has some the nicest Neuvation wheels and they weigh only about 110 grams more. But the Mavics are supposed to be stiffer, stronger, better, lighter, blah, blah blah...they better be he paid over 3 times as much for them.
Neil also started working on a lugged stem. I need to bring a camera to work and get some picks of it when he is finished. It should be pretty cool. He is still tinkering with what the first bike is going to look like. He says he has done drawing after drawing trying to maintain a traditional--non compact geometry, but he is having a hard time doing so and still having any standover. The bike is going to be a commuter/cross bike with canti's. He says it will likely never see any off-road use though. Anyway part of the solution he says is to build himself a shorter fork. Just about all of the cross forks he has found have a length of about 400mm. He figures that if he builds himself one that is 375-380mm he will be able to build the bike he wants. This means he is going to have to build himself a jig for building forks and something to bend the fork legs the way he wants them. He problem is my gain, because I was really wanting him to build me a custom steel fork anyway and this will mean it won't be as big of a deal when it is my turn for a bike. Anyway, I will try and get some pics and post them when I can.
Anyway, what the title says is true, there is nothing new here. Same lovely job at the bike shop. Same lovely law school loans awaiting repayment, and still no information on whether my best job prospect at a firm downtown will work out. I am leaning heavily toward betting that the job will not be a possibility. I called them up yesterday and I was told that I will be hearing back shortly, but the call did not have a real positive vibe to it. This of course blows, but at least I still have the big bucks coming in from the bike shop...or rather at least we are able to pay our bills with what the wife and I make. At least for another 6 months until more of the loans enter into repayment. I have been out of law school for a year. At the end of the month it will be a year since I took the bar exam. It has been about almost 10 months since I found out I passed the bar exam. Still I have had no luck finding an acceptable job as a lawyer.
Part of it is my doing. I am picky. I don't want to work in some area of the law that doesn't interest me. I don't want to move out of the PDX area. I also need to make a certain minimum amount once the loans do start coming due so some jobs are not possible even if they are of interest. The job that I may soon be passed up on--if my gut is right--fits everything perfectly. At least it seems to...but what ever will be will be.
The bike shop is the same as ever was. People still want silly things done and want their tubes changed. We are still understaffed. And the store is still a mess, though worse than normal because we are more understaffed than normal. But I can only do what I can do and since I have no authority at all there. I take some solace in the fact that even if the company as a whole acts half-brain dead it is not a reflection on me. I just do as I am told and state any disagreements as pleasantly and factually as I can and then let it go. No biggie. I have realized that I am pretty much done being able to work that job anymore. I need to get back into the legal field even if it is just working as a clerk somewhere doing the type of work I did during law school before I passed the bar.
Family life is the same, mostly great. The wife is pregnant and so there is that sort of hanging over my head in the near future, but life here is pretty good. Friday we are travelling out to see Thomas the Tank Engine in Hood River, Oregon. That ought to be fun for all of us. We went to this event last year and our family had a good time.
The one other downer is the fact that I have a lingering cold that has disrupted my training, sleeping patterns and robbed me of energy for the past few days. I missed swimming and I have not been able to ride to work because my lungs are filled with some mucus crap. I have to lay the blame for this illness on my boys--I think kids are generally dispersers of disease. They are great otherwise, but every illness that I have had over the past 5 years is probably attributable to them. Not amount of handwashing, bathing, or sanitizing seems to quite do the trick--they always find a way to infect me somehow. I guess that is what family is all about--sharing everything, germs included.
Anyway, so without working out I have put back on a pound or two. Hopefully just a pound. This morning it was 197.0 and if that is where I can keep it that will be great. The pounds will come off again once something more than my nose can be running.
Ok so there is some news that is new. Neil at the shop, and my bike builder-de-jour, received his Mavic R-SYS wheels today. They sure looked sweet. And even with the employee purchase they sure are spendy. They weighed in at 1400 grams for the wheelset. He has some the nicest Neuvation wheels and they weigh only about 110 grams more. But the Mavics are supposed to be stiffer, stronger, better, lighter, blah, blah blah...they better be he paid over 3 times as much for them.
Neil also started working on a lugged stem. I need to bring a camera to work and get some picks of it when he is finished. It should be pretty cool. He is still tinkering with what the first bike is going to look like. He says he has done drawing after drawing trying to maintain a traditional--non compact geometry, but he is having a hard time doing so and still having any standover. The bike is going to be a commuter/cross bike with canti's. He says it will likely never see any off-road use though. Anyway part of the solution he says is to build himself a shorter fork. Just about all of the cross forks he has found have a length of about 400mm. He figures that if he builds himself one that is 375-380mm he will be able to build the bike he wants. This means he is going to have to build himself a jig for building forks and something to bend the fork legs the way he wants them. He problem is my gain, because I was really wanting him to build me a custom steel fork anyway and this will mean it won't be as big of a deal when it is my turn for a bike. Anyway, I will try and get some pics and post them when I can.
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