Ti bikes don't rust!

I am one step closer to achieving total bike kook status. Funny how things slowly progress. I think it was Jeff's unyielding attitude on bike commuting that finally sunk in, "why aren't you riding to work?" well...Why wasn't I?
I considered myself a fair-weather bike commuting person. Limited to clear and sunny days. Monday was the trial with a 60% chance of rain in the forecast.
Of course I can get home! I thought Hell, I got fenders! and a jacket and temperatures hovering at 49 degrees. With daylight till 7:00 I had no excuses. It'll be cold, but I'll have a hot shower waiting for me 25 miles away.
One small wrinkle to my plan..I had forgotten the blinky lights, hence the yellow and orange tape I borrowed from the kind mechanics at USAirways so the people of Saugus and Lynn can say..."hey whats that shiny yellow thing that I'm about to collide with?
So the first rain commute went almost without a hitch. It did rain and the span known as "Mikey's bridge" got a little squirly and threw me into a panic for a split second but I corrected in time to avoid catastrophe and was unscathed but frozen with fear for a moment. I am hooked on the spin home. The training miles and the gas savings are small by-products. The fresh air and stress relief are the larger benefits.

Whoa. I've been blog-jacked!

I awoke to drink some java and update my foolish blog when I see no bike peeps on my header? It's been replaced with a picture of which I am unfamiliar...maybe best described as American culture? But could be anywhere...but what is it doing on my Blog?
This mysterious picture invokes no feelings of passion from my sole. It makes me uneasy as I sit here drinking my cup of coffee. Cars streaming down the highway with some distant destination. People speeding on their commute from work, like rats in a maze.
This is passion, this is also rats in a maze, this is 24 hours of Great Glen 2005.
...Now where's my header?

puddle-proof

My life is more complete now that I've got a set of full length fenders on my road bike. What was I THINKING?? riding without them? I guess what you don't know gets you sprayed with filth and salty water! Big thanks go out to Harvey for kicking me down his spare set. In retrospect they are worth their weight in gold. Fenders have allowed me to ride my commute to work and arrive looking less like Mike Row on an episode of Dirty Jobs.
The only thing left is to make my own custom mud flap!
I really liked this guy's lengthy explanation on how to stick duct tape to your fender...
And for the ultimate in customized fenders...none other than the Fender Blender! (who knew?)

last snow?

Most of New England was blanketed with a thick and sloppy coating of snow on Friday..Just when you think your in the clear! wham..more snow. The Wednesday before temperatures were near 70 and I was commuting to work in short sleeves..(Just a teaser of weather to come I guess).
This Sunday we rolled in a three man group to cover most every town on the north shore. Sean had recently returned from the Pyrenees of Spain. He toyed with us mere mortals for just under 3 hours. Brad had a strong ride, looks like all that trail running has kept that brother in check through the cold New Hampshire winter.
I got reacquainted with my steel hardtail, then lent it to Brad to see what he thought...he proceeded to ride it from Gloucester to Topsfield and once there I had to wrestle it from out beneath his spandex clad ass. I am guessing he liked it.
I wonder if Glen's plan worked out.. pretty ingenious actually, using web technology to permit trail riding. I was trying to talk Glen into freezing his face off on the road with us, but after he checked some webcams of Cape Cod he jumped in his car for a couple hours drive to ride in the woods where he saw no snow on the net. I'd like to check that one out next time.

men acting like children

But that's what makes life fun...minus the crashing.

Mondays

I hurt. It is a good hurt. Well, mostly a good hurt. I did however stab the back of my right thigh with my pointy Bontrager saddle yesterday.

I can't complain too much. I wonder how Wayne is feeling? Captured more than a few wipe-outs during yesterday's ride. They will make for a good crash movie sequence..stay tuned.

I hope to man-up and ride to work a couple times this week. I should have used my REI dividend for a pair of road fenders.

Butch with his landing gear deployed ready to touch down into some thick mud.

Lesli was fotununate enough to have her camera in the car as she passed Wenham Lake eary Saturday morning. A family of bald eagles are nested across the street from the golf course.

Igle - view

Bill and Christopher talking about fixie's at the Handmade Bicycle Show in San Jose...

"What keeps the passion for you to keep building bikes?"

"I don't know, it's this silly thing.. just ah, the joy of making something that I can make and having somebody ride it and enjoy it them selves. I don't build a gazillion bikes, but I have allot of happy customers"

Listen to the rest of the interview here.

NAHBS '07

This news could change the way that you change your next flat tire...

Igleheart has been working with Montague to develop a front wheel retention system that could replace your campy-style quick release front skewer. The finished product was revealed at the Handmade Bicycle Show in San Jose California over the weekend. Goliath bike companies Trek and Pacific are on-board for this new one-handed, and fool proof way (after all this IS America) to attach wheels. Both Trek and Pacific will be including the Clix system on many of their bikes for 2008.
This revised skewer may just find it's way on to every bike in America.

Some news from the show:
Jeremy got his photo on the net. Nice lookin Burrito Jeremy...bet that's what all the girls say..
Looks like another builder is on to the unified rear triangle biz with this SS version..sorry Wraith. Looks like this guy is on to the same idea...

Leave it to IF to come up with the most radical track bike at the show.


This guy has on a sweet racing kit...where can I get me one a those?



This new Calfee looks pretty bomb proof huh? Definitely more of a show piece.



Maybe years from now I'll have a dedicated commuter with Bruce Gordon racks. *sigh*

For all you weight weenies...the ultimate in hill climbing - 7.2 lbs fixie!

Plenty more pictures of the show can be seen here (to keep you busy at work) :)

September plans

It's unlike any where I've seen or been before.
Rugged, raw, beautiful, primitive,moon-like.
Could be the adventure of a lifetime.
or the end of one.
Is peace too much to ask? I just want to ride without getting shot or blown up...
The short answer should be just ride the damn Shenandoah 100 and stay the hell away from Islamabad...but the optimistic adventure seeker in me says different.

base

The yearning question I cannot answer is how is my base fitness coming along these days... and I cannot answer it definitively. I just don't know. Still building base that's for sure! In years past I've had this cool guy to ride and train with...you may have heard his name before...initials are JW.
Without a training partner to compare progress on the road or trail leaves me with a question mark for an answer to what is a burning question. Why is this such a burning question in my life....well, a conundrum itself.
With some nasty weather rolling in from the Ohio river valley I woke early this morning to get out on the road and spin for 2 hours for what I like to call "real cycling", as opposed to the trainer. It was the first time in 2007 that I've gotten out on the road bike, all my base till now has been on the mountain bike due to snow and ice on the roads.
I think a long road ride, to say...Ascutney or some far off place is in order. I could use a gaps ride or two for good measure.