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.

What's Another Word for Pirate Treasure?

I think it's booty . . .


. . . That's what it is.


The annual bike swap was today. Had a good time met up with LO'L and Allman and saw GSC briefly. My quick interaction with GSC resulted in my searching the interwebs for 48 hole rims to pair with a Phil hub he graced me with.

To paraphrase Allman, the swap was basically the same group of people that sell parts to each other via craigslist all getting together in one place and selling parts to each other.

Tires.
EVERYBODY had tires to sell.
I actually bought a pair. 2 for $1. Going on Mrs.' cruiser.

Little wrider had a fine time running amok and testing any pumps people had for sale.

Assessing the days booty back at the car.

All in all a fun day, and 7 bikes in the household benefited from the swap for less than $100.

Unfixed my bike.

The conversion is complete.

Awhile ago I needed the fixed gear wheel I was running on my Surly Crosscheck for another bike project. Being winter I wasn't riding the Crosscheck much, and I was enjoying rolling around at -15f on my studded 29er. Puttering around in my bike shop one evening it occurred to me that I had all the parts I needed to throw gears on the Crosscheck.

I bought the bike a few years ago. It was set up as a single speed when I bought it, but it came with a full Shimano 105 setup in a plastic grocery bag. I ended up flipping the single speed for a fixed gear set up for a while and really enjoyed it, but in all the years I had owned this bike I'd never run it with a full set of gears.

Here she is with studs on.

Tonight I finally bought a new chain and finished the conversion. I am admittedly a little spooked after reading all the broken chain reviews on line, but I'm guessing it is a bunch of knuckleheads with computers and no concept of chain line underusing their front derailleurs and busting chains. She looks like a whole different animal with the extra set of cables and all. Don't think I'm about to turn my back on singlespeeding, I've still got a few in the basement. And this one will be going back to a fixie as soon as I get the time and money to build a new rear wheel. Until then this will be fun.

Now I'm thinking even more seriously about riding over the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. How long until they get the road clear?

-bike wrider