Wet, flat, and dirty

Yesterday was a day full of important work in the form of 12 hours of meetings. Meetings are usually my no. 1 nemesis, however these meetings of the minds were necessery in order to improve our website.

Scene: Twelve hours of actual hard work, and a 40% chance of thunderstorms turning into a 140% chance of steady drizzle. Followed by a flat tire a mile into my commute home. Neat. Get the gear out, insert new tube, place old tube in backpack, leave pump at site of flat, continue on.

Scene: By the water reclaimation plant. Phsssss, phsssss, phsssss - the sound of a tire slowly losing air with each revolution. Where have I heard that sound recently? Drizzle still steadily moistening my already saturated clothing, I pull over to get off of my rim as soon as possible. After removing the front tire for the second time (the implement which rendered me flat in the first place remained in the road and not in my tire), I break out a tube which is...too big.

I have three bikes - two mountain bikes, which run 26 inch tires and a road bike which runs what is called 700c, or roughly 28 inches.

As I am figuring this out, some dude comes cruising by and asks, "Need a tube?" Bummer, he's on a road bike, but he has a pump, which really doesn't help as my dire situation could not be more out of air, so to speak. Dude's name is Eric, and I've seen him before as the flame tattoos on his arms are unique - something we have in common (mine are not flames, but iron crosses and tre kronors). He knew me too, as I had been in the bike shop at which he works, which also happens to be around the corner from where I work, and not far from where I had broken down. They close at 6:00, and it was 6:20.

During all this, I had called a couple of my friends, one of which was not around to answer, the other lives very close to me, but seeing as how I was 14 miles from home, this would be a pain. Suffice it to say I have awesome friends and traded a ride for half a bag of Scott's Plus 2 Weed Killer and Fertilizer. During the whole ordeal I had called Dave three times, twice to say, "No, I've got what I need, nevermind."

This morning's ride started off well - everything inflated, new red De Marchi shorts on, and dry roads. North of Dublin Boulevard, that is. I live two blocks north of Dublin, and my first mile and a half is down Dublin, heading west (thank God for the mountains). Turning south I soon realized that I'd be the color of mud and smell the same by the time I reached work as all the roads were just wet enough for my tires to soak up the moisture and flick it directly up through my un-fendered forks at my chin. Whee. Good thing I plan ahead (aside form forgetting my secondary pump) with all hygeinical needs stored here at work.

Anyhoo, long story short (too late), we cannot have it both ways. I like the rain and have accepted that riding in the rain is not a problem, it is fun! A little more care, close attention to what is happening around oneself and the admission that wetness is inevitable, and the ride is a blast!

Just a bad day all around

Yesterday afternoon will go down in the annals of [my personal] history as one of the worst. Imagine a 10 mph headwind - just enough to slow you down significantly. Next, add 95º heat (oh, but a dry heat), two bottles of warm Accelerade, and last of all but not least, a new pair of top-end cycling shoes.

I know what you're thinking - the shoes sound like a good thing, right? Right. Problem was that I was unable to clip into my pedals with these shoes. I had installed the cleats tightly and evenly, so what the heck is going on? I hadn't gone a mile before I had to unpack my old shoes and reinstall the cleats. It was hot, I was frustrated.

And the cleats were installed backward and on the wrong shoes/feet.

This results in the cleat fitting too close to the center of the shoe and further away from the ball of the foot. Halfway home I had the cold sweats as I had also forgotten my lunch and was too stubborn to borrow someone's car to feed myself. I had one cent on me, so delivery was out. Just stick it out, dude. You can do it.

I made it home, realized my error(s) in judgement, and quickly resolved them. Read the instructions for the pedals, drank a gallon of ice water, and took off to pick up my newest bike (bike #3, the Raleigh). They had left the 8-speed chain on with the 9-speed cassette on the rear hub. This resulted in much skipping while standing on the gears going up hills. The ride in this morning was flawless, and I'm now looking forward to converting my favorite bike, the Giant, to the bigger chainring.

Whee.

Regularly scheduled programming

Another week begins with two great days of cycling. The first tailwind since what feels like the dawn of time as we know it chased me home yesterday. Any sub-on-hour commute home is a good day. Rode the Raleigh with the new crankset and wheels, and aside from an excessive amount of ghost shifting, that bike is damn fast. I took it into the shop last night to have it looked at, and they could not properly diagnose the shifting issues, so she stayed the night.

This left me with my muddy and neglected Giant, my baby, my favorite. She was all muddy from last Friday's ride home in the rain, so I cleaned her up last night and rode her in this morning.

Pledges are still trickling in, and I cannot thank everyone enough who has pledged. Especially those friends of mine at OverTime and my dear friend Mikaela in Oklahoma who have sold wristbands for me.

Which leads me to my final thought. My SOP is to lay down a tarp and clean the bike indoors while watching some quality television programming, but it is painfully evident that the summer rotation is duller than watching a clothes dryer. Without a see-through door.

Tre Kronor

The Giant is now blue and yellow in all of it's Swedish glory. After adding the yellow Candy C pedals and replacing the white bottle cages with yellow last night, I cannot imagine anything else this baby needs except for maybe a bigger crankset. We'll cross that bridge when we ride up to it.

This morning marks the first five-day commute week for me since last season (before the snow arrived). I was so pooped after yesterday's ride home into a perpetual headwind that I showered and crashed on the bed. Just thought I'd lay down for 'a minute.' You know the kind of nap/coma I'm talking about - you wake up with pillow lines on your face, spit on your chin and your mouth tastes like you've been sucking on a roll of nickels.

Blech.

Might take a break this weekend, but not sure why. Riding a bicycle as fast as one can is never not fun.

Back on the Chain Gang

The Raleigh is on the shop having her parts replaced and I get her back Friday. Been riding the Giant for the past three days and enjoying every minute of it. She rode so fine yesterday that I got home and decided to ride 12 more miles to see the OverTime softball team play at Memorial Park. The difference between the Fuji (relegated to the ceiling hooks in the garage due to shifting woes) and the Giant is the chainring/crankset. The Fuji has a 52-tooth big 'gear,' while the Giant only has a 42-tooth ring. This translates into more gears for the Fuji, enabling one to go faster, longer. The Giant runs out of gears going down a hill, and at 35 mph coasting is the only option. The mods to the Raleigh will place it in the middle - a new 48-tooth chainring, with larger second and third rings. Should be just about right...

Pedal to the plastic

With all of the recent acquirements, my credit card has had quite a workout (again, Mom - just chill). I have spaced them out over several weeks so I'm not attacked by the credit monster.

Two of the three bikes need pedals, one with an old set of one particular type of clipless pedal, and one with stock platform pedals (your classic pedal). Clipless is actually a misnomer as one must wear special shoes to 'clip' into the pedal itself. Needless to say, for the trip and for commuting I need two sets of pedals.

My main bike has a pair of the best pedals I have ever ridden on, the Crank Brothers Candy C. It is the white model, as the yellow model (the one I wanted) was supposedly being discontinued and out of stock until July 22nd. Last night I found a suitable substitute at 50% off, so I ordered two pair online.

Surfing around the Performance Bike site this morning to find a picture and description of this pedal for a fellow bikeforums.net member, it turns out the yellow model is NOW IN STOCK, DAMMIT. So, not only have I paid shipping for two sets of pedals I must now pay to return, I am paying shipping on the pedals I really wanted. Bah.

Cranky

The first two commutes of the week have been on the least expected horse in my corral - the road bike. Of my three bikes, this one shifts the worst, but rolls the best. As I approach Austin Bluffs Parkway each day, I get a good mile or so view of the stop light behavior. This morning was one of those Twilight Zone moments where one can either hump it to run the green light at 40 mph, or take it easy, coasting up to the red and take off as it turns green.

Nothing is more frustrating than choosing the former and losing the gamble. One ends up stopped at a red light (skidmark optional), in the highest gear possible. This makes starting off immensely slow and embarrassing, as it takes one full crank-turn to get across a three lane intersection.

Other than that, several boxes of much-needed bike components will be arriving this week. Pedals, cranks, a rack, panniers, rigid forks and bottle cages for starters.

...and thus begins the austerity program, at least until I can pay it all off. Don't worry Mom, I didn't spend THAT much...

Make room for the Beefeater

There's a new horse in the corral. After shopping for a backup for the trip, I came across an unlikely candidate in a Raleigh M50 DX. I've been looking at bigger names, like Trek, Specialized and Giant, but this bike was head and shoulders above the others, component-wise. Beefeater Red, Hayes disc brakes (not top of the line, but close), heavy, durable, independent components (these days, you often see shifters and brakes combined into one unit - this is a pain if you want to replace only one of these units), and the frame geometry is different. Most non-road bicycles are measured in odd inches, 17, 19, 21. This is a 20" bike, and fits me pretty snug.

The rigid fork is on order to replace the shocks in the front, as are some road-friendly tires, and a 48/38/28-tooth crankset is in the mail to give the bike more gears as I make my way toward Dallas. The Trip is now looking even more fun, with two solid bikes and fewer worries.

Holiday bike riding

Didn't get a lot done over the past four days, cycling-wise. I was halfway through my first leg of a standard commute cycle when the thunderheads rolled in over the mountains, so I turned around and got home just in time to admire the downpour from the dry comfort of my garage. Thirteen miles had to do...

One good thing is that I figured out what was making that clicking noise on the Giant. The cassette had come loose, and since she's going in for a warranty tune-up tomorrow, I'll need to spend some serious time cleaning her up tonight. Wonder what's on TV on Mondays...

Saving the best for last - the annual Fourth of July OverTime Golf Tournament was a resounding success this year. Typically the proceeds are given to charity, and this year mine was chosen. I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 was raised for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. I golfed like poo, but it's all about the good time and the one shot you make that keeps you coming back...

Cycling money cycle

The commute to work is becoming a much shorter event. Not boring by any means, but especially with the new road bike, it routinely takes under 40 minutes to get from A to B. Twofers is my first attempt to lengthen the experience - I mean, why not? Getting to work has never been more enjoyable. On Mondays, I ride to work twice in order to get the week's wardrobe at point B (work) so the rest of the week can be a light commute.

I had also been considering the purchase of one more mountain bike for conversion to road status - too good of a deal to pass up. The trouble was that the 22" model had been on super sale, but the bike shop was out of that size. The exact day the 22" models come in (only two available), the price goes back up $70.00! In the span of an hour (this is on the website)!! Guess it was not meant to be. I penned a polite and brief letter to customer service and let them know how I felt a little let down, so just watch them write back with superior service and let me have it for the discounted price. That always happens when you're hedging on spending a sum of money...

I instead made the money count toward a small bicycle repair manual, saving the rest of the dough for the Bible of bike maintenance.