Back in My Town. Riding My Bikes

The fam and I took off and headed out of state for a little while.
Spent some quality time with family and friends and managed to get a little bit of riding.

The rides were a change of pace from our day to day around here and I'll probably have some pictures and words about them in the near future.

I don't know what his job is, but it put a smile on my face to see this guy out on the tarmac after we landed back at home.

Met Mrs. and Little at a big box sportsman's store.  As GSC pointed out to me a few years ago this is the only thing that resembles a bike rack outside the store.

 For now it is just nice to be home and rolling around town on my own bikes, enjoying some excellent summer weather.

11:30 pm.  Rode the 1x1 to the store for some of the necessities.

Happy summertime

Midnight Road Ride

I love summer night rides in Alaska.
I had the itch to ride the Bridgstone speedcycle all evening.
Mrs. was working, but Biermag is living here so I've got a built in babyminder.  It was later than I'd hoped, but once I was confident Little wRider had settled down to sleep for the night I got myself out the door for a little ride.

11:55pm and I pointed my bike uphill.

Midnight.  No flash.  I love Alaskan summers.

Nice 30min climb with a short break to wait on momma moose and her twins to move off the road.  Then I pointed it down and went faster than I have in quite some time.

Cute set of twins.

Aside from the driver who elected to cross the double yellow and make a good swerve at me it was an awesome evening ride.

Road Bikes and Lunch Buffets

I got the Bridgestone out for a test run yesterday after finishing some off-season upgrades.
New (second hand (actually third hand I think)) wheelset/9spd cassette and some bar end shifters has brought the RB-1 well into the mid-1990's.  Still tweaking saddle and handlebars, but really enjoyed the illusion of speed the bike gave me.

I don't see why not.

I ran into a couple different patches of snow on the trail over to GSC's, but the bike handled itself rather impressively and plowed right on through.

Local street toughs.  Don't let their smiles and kind words fool you.

This morning Little wRider and I rolled out to do a Chariot hand off with Mrs.
We encountered this pair of brightly dressed street toughs blocking our path.  Fortunately some quick thinking and smooth talking on my part enabled us to get by with out being roughed up too badly. 

Thai food?      Don't mind if I do.

We found Mrs. had happened to pause her commute directly in front of a delicious smelling Thai restaurant to chat with Kousin Kristen.  Obviously this led to an impromptu lunch buffet.

Commuting

Did some commuting on my bridgestone speed cycle this week. Trying to squeeze in some skinny tire miles before winter sets in.

Snowline keeps creeping lower.

I bought new socks, don't they look nice?

So far I'm pretty pleased with the new VeloOrange bars on put on the RB-1

Finished Fork

Here are some photos of the finished fork on the RB-1





A dramatic improvement if I do say so myself.

Fork painting

I've finished painting the fork for the Bridgestone, pictures to come.

I'm definitely pleased with the results. Right now it almost looks too nice, making the rest of the bike look older and a bit shabby.

It will get dirty soon enough.

Took it for a test ride after dark tonight. Only 8min or so, but ended up with a cop rolling up behind me while I was riding in the street, just before I turned around for home. I had no lights, no reflectors, and not a stitch of reflective clothing on.

Fortunately this cop wasn't interested in enforcing visibility laws for cyclists riding at night.

Painting Forks

I knew I'd get around to it sooner or later. Something had to be done about the color of the fork on the Bridgestone.

Inspired in part by SJ and her reports of DIY painting her bike I got to work last night.

Stripped paint off half the fork. I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow and then get around to the business of painting



It isn't a bad fork, except for the color. For now it didn't seem practical to drop a bunch of money into a new fork


We'll see how it turns out.

Bike Swap Buys

The local bike club had a bike swap today. Considering I was went there with All man I feel pretty good about how little money I spent. I did impulsively purchase a new (to me) bike, but it could have been much worse.



I scored a few good deals and a couple of freebies. Dura Ace brake levers and the Selle San Marco saddle were free. and I only dropped $40 between the OnOne Mary bar and the Crank Bros Mallets. Not sure what I'm going to do with the Mary bar, but it was too cheap to pass up.

The big purchase was a new road bike. I've casually searched for an old Bridgestone in the past and haven't found anything worth what I could afford. I caught the seller of this bike just as he was arriving at the swap and could pass on what he was asking for the bike.


I am a little curious about the story behind the fork he had on there, but the frame was a good fit, 105 parts spec and everything seemed sound.

My crosscheck keeps getting heavier and heavier as it gets more utilitarian. Racks and fenders and all that goodness adds up. It will be nice to have something that I can keep simple and ready to roll out some miles on without all the extra accessories on board.