Things and Stuff

April has been amazing, and I've been getting some riding in.

Rode to the post office with Little to mail a birthday present to my brother in-law.

I had to hit up 3 different LBSs to find an AK shop t-shirt for a birthday present, but I was really pleased with what I eventually found.

Noticed this sign while I was locking up to the bike rack.

I'm pretty sure it's entrapment to install a bike rack where bicycling is forbidden.

Vic inspired me to experiment with some hose clamp, stem mounted water bottle.  Little saw what I was doing and requested on for his trike.  He and I were both pleased with the results.

LoL came by this weekend with a sweet new fork for his Moonlander.  It's amazing how light this hunk of plastic is.  

 

Fortunately I have an irrational fear of crabon that keeps me from investing large sums of money in shiny plastic bits.

Ocean Air Cycles had their t-shirts on sale for cheap.  Nice looking shirts, funky, small US bike company, how could I resist.  I was even happier when the package arrived with more than just a t-shirt.  A few stickers and some beautiful postcards were just above and beyond.

Like I said the April riding has been amazing. Blue sky, warm (above freezing) day time temps and smooth snowy trails are hard to beat.

Neither this guy, nor myself were in too much of a hurry this afternoon, so we spent a while checking each other out and sharing the trail before we both went peacefully on our respective ways.

The trails were holding up pretty well, even as the temps approached 50deg F.  Nice to be out riding in a short sleeved jersey and shants.

 

Things were a little punchy and deep if you had to dab off the packed trail, but there are worse problems to have.

 

Stumbled across this old run down cabin in the woods.  Less than two miles from our house, but on a little used trail that I had never explored before.  Would have been a pretty sweet place to live back in its day.

  

I persuaded Little to help me slap the Big Apples back on the Dummy and ride to the park with me.  He did an awesome job hanging on to the back of the Big Donkey.  I still plan to build a proper seat for him or something, so that he and I can both relax a little bit while he's back there.  As it was I was rolling slowly and constantly seeking conservation that he was still hanging on with both hands (most of the time he was).

 It's really fun to have him out of the trailer and to be able to maintain a conversation while we roll along.  4 fun miles together this evening.  His only complaint was that he hurt his bottom when we practiced riding off a curb at low speed.  I'll set him up with a magic carpet or something similar soon.
I'm really excited for this next chapter of family riding.

Well That Sucks

My beautiful wife's beautiful bike has a crack in the frame.




Shortly after we started dating my (now) wife bought a lovely titanium 29er from a fantastic, small local shop.

While putzing around in the garage the other night I noticed a small crack in the weld where the seat tube meets the seat stay.

Crack, right along the weld

To make things better neither the shop that she bought it from nor the company that built the bike actually exists anymore.

I emailed the guy that used to run the shop and asked him for his insight.
Being that the frame is titanium it looks like we just need to find a framebuilder who is willing to and has time to do the repair.

That's what the weld should look like

It's a bummer, but it could be worse . . . it could be aluminum or crabon fibre . . .  or it could have failed in the middle of a big ride.

As it stands she has had many happy miles aboard the bike, and the issue appears to be fixable for a few dollars.

Sad, but fixable . . . I think

In all honesty I am a bit proud of my wife.  She cracked a Ti frame.  I don't personally know anyone else who can say that.  . . .  and it's not the first frame she's cracked.
 She busted welds on a steel frame shortly after we married.

An understated bad-ass, that's my wife.

I Know You're Supposed to Support Your LBS

Don't get me wrong, I'll be one of the first to encourage you to support your Local Bike Shop. I love bike shops, I have since I was a little kid. I had the good fortune around 10 or 11 years old to have a LBS that I could ride my bike to and the shop employees would pleasantly tolerate my loitering and gawking. I've squandered innumerable hours since hanging out in bike shops.

There have been some fantastic shops I've had the privilege of patronizing, and in my experience the more grass roots and local the more I like the shop. My all time favorite was a one man show, directly above a local coffee shop just a short distance from my one room cabin in AK. The man was as passionate about bikes as anyone I've ever met and what he wanted more than anything was to make riding more enjoyable for everyone that walked into his shop.

My favorites are easy to rattle off and I am happy to point anyone who'll listen in the direction of a good LBS. My current situation continues to frustrate me, and for the first time in my life I've passed on the opportunity to drop into a shop just for the sake of dropping into a bike shop. I'll spare you the details of my frustration, venting wouldn't likely be constructive for anyone. Instead I'll simply share my lament.

Here is a shop with a lot of potential, good location, good hearted people working there, and some nice bikes. Unfortunately this shop fails to live up to its potential and as a result experiences a failure to thrive.

It is too bad because I'd really love to support my local bike shop.