I'm That Kind of Guy . . .

. . . . the kind of guy who reads the sidewalls of his tires. Also known as "A Loser".


But that's okay, because I find the sidewalls of bike tires interesting, especially when they say stuff like this:

Inflate to 2.0-4.5bar (29-65psi)
Safety warning: For race use on designated DH courses only
Always wear protective gear. Please prevent ass munch and
do not ride over other riders.


Got that?
Okay, good.

Enjoy the day

I Can't Believe I Forgot to Post These

It is true folks. You can now get a loaf of bread, some eggs and a new "fixed gear" freestyle bike in one quick stop (and I'm not even talking about Walmart.)

Obviously the term fixed gear freestyle needs to be used loosely here considering the bike had a freewheel, but that is obviously the hipster (wannabe) demographic the bike was inspired by/for.

I spotted this slick ride at the local grocery store awhile back.
It's got it all:

Matching white tires, rims, grips and chain.

Antifreeze green hubs, bar, stem, and seat post collar

Burly reinforced handlebar

A chainguard!




And best of all it even has clearance for barspins!




Sadly this is a poor take on what I would actually like to see more of in department/grocery store bikes. Simple. Solid. Singlespeed.

All those 21 speed, full suspension NEXTs are not ideal for anyone. The demographic that puts those bikes through their paces would generally be much better suited with a bike that is designed to be as simple, reliable and durable as possible. Unfortunately practicality isn't what companies are inclined to offer.

The Pugsley Index

While a brand new Pugsley will still set you back $1650, supply and demand seems to be driving down the value in the used market. Good news for anyone hoping to get into the fatbike game for cheap.

As 0f today the Pugley Index (an indicator of market value and stability) has dropped below $1200 for the first time ever!

I also appreciate the irony that the lowest price also comes from the one seller who failed to spell Pugsley correctly in his/her ad.

With spring only a few short months away and the new Moonlander on the market one can only wonder if we won't see the PugsleyDex drop below the $1000 mark before too long.

It's a buyer's market my friends, enjoy.

Blackout

To be honest I don't know too much about SOPA and PIPA, but some websites I like to use seem to care about it, and it seems that the cool thing to do is to blackout your website in protest.

Now I don't actually know how to blackout my blog, but I still want to be in on the cool 24 blackout protest. So I am respectfully asking that you pretend that I have blacked out this page for the next 24 hours. . . or don't.

Saddle Adjustment

On my ride to school today I realized my seatpost had slipped a little bit.

A while later, while I was stopped I decided to fix my saddle right real quick.

I grabbed my multi-tool out of my seat pack and this is what I found:


Not cool, eh?

It was -15F at the time (-26.1 for those of you who prefer that superior system).

Fortunately it was just a minor saddle adjustment and I could live without fixing it.

Had I needed the tool for something more significant I might have been a little annoyed.

Goals

I keep my cycling goals pretty simple most of the time, I'm not trying to set record times or achieve personal bests when I ride. Usually its more along the lines of have as much fun as possible, or be less than 5 minutes late to class/meeting/work.

Today's goals were a little different than usual:

-Don't get frostbite

-Don't end up with a head injury


Riding across town at -22F (-30 for those of you who prefer to use that vastly superior system).

I hadn't bothered to switch to my ski helmet before I left home, so when it came time to ride home that had I wanted to wear and the helmet I had wouldn't play well together.

I donned my cap and strapped the helmet to my pack.

I'm not one to get to deep into the helmet debate, but personally it is a very rare occasion that I choose to ride without a helmet. Having spent WAY too much money on higher education I figure a little foam on my dome is an easy way to increase my chances of keeping all that knowledge inside my skull.

But it was pretty flippin' cold out there.

All in all I met my goals, even inspite of my left earlobes propensity to sneak out from under my hat, and had a very enjoyable ride.