My iPhone Tried to Kill This Blog

A new job, a new baby, and a smartphone all combined to try and kill this blog (but mostly it was the phone.)

But I still ride bikes, and I'm hoping to even write a few words and post a few pictures every now and again on this here blog.
So if anybody out there is still interested here's just a little something:

My wife's Christmas gift to me was one simple thing.  A fat, aggressive tire named after me, even though I am neither fat, nor terribly aggressive.  The yin to my yang I suppose.

It seems I change my brake pads even less often than I update my blog.
Stopping power was greatly improved when I switched to some pads that weren't worn down to next to nothing.

Pink

Spring is most definitely in the air (you can smell 6 months worth of dog waste melting out of the snowbanks) and we have been blessed with a good long stretch of beautiful cloudless days.  The trails have remained in fantastic condition, freezing firmly on the cold clear nights and staying firm almost all day long, and I have been fortunate enough to get some excellent riding in on a new (to me) bike.

That pink fatbike you see is now legally mine.  The previous owner was kind enough to allow me a good long window to test ride and think about the purchase.  Mrs. was in love with it the minute she saw it and has no qualms about being married to a man who rides around on an XL pink bike.  Getting her stamp of approval was not insignificant.

The bike fit me amazingly well as soon as I threw a leg over it.  It's not often I hop on another person's bike and don't feel the urge to fiddle with one thing or another.
The story is that the bike was originally built up by a local shop/fatbike company employee.  He put in the special request for a XL frame in pink and then decked it out in the parts you might expect from guy who gets a shop discount:  XTR rear derailleur, SLX front, Mr. Whirly crank, cut out Speedway 70mm rims,  Thomson stem, etc.
Apparently he moved out of state not too long after finishing the build and a casual friend of mine scooped it up for a steal.  However, it seems that for my friend the lure of 800cc snowmachines trumped pedal power and the bike saw almost no action for the past two winters.

Long story short, he was happy to let the bike go to someone who would ride it, the bike fit me and Mrs. approved.  I initially hesitated, but encouragement and sound advice from a couple of fellow bike junkies pushed me over the edge.

It may be pink, but it rides like the darkest black of a moonless night.

I'm secure enough to enjoy the obvious jokes that will ensue. My favorite so far was the woman on horseback asking if I had borrowed my wife's bike.
I've actually had a thing for pink frames ever since I first saw Pat Irwin's pink 1x1 eight or nine years ago.
I figure with one kid and another on the way my manhood is adequately accounted for and I shouldn't let a good deal pass me by.

Changes thus far:
The bike came with a horribly narrow carbon bar, so I swapped it for an On-One Mary bar before I rode it for the first time.  The Mary bar is nice, but I think I'll ultimately change it out for something with a little less back sweep.  I was thinking a Salsa Whammy bar would be nice, but it seems no one is selling them these days.  On-One Fleegle perhaps.  To be determined.

It also had Endomorph tires front and rear, which had amazingly awkward handling characteristics.  I've since swapped those for (27tpi) Larrys.  I picked one Larry up cheap at the local bike swap and acquired the other from a guy on craigslist who wanted to trade a Larry for an Endomorph, don't ask me why.  Handling was noticeably improved by the tire swap.





Down the road I'll likely get the MWOD rings for the Mr. Whirly crank.  I have absolutely no need for the big ring, and wouldn't mind moving the chain out from the rear tire a bit.

The little ski hill in town has closed for the season so I snuck over there one evening this week after a quick singletrack ride and goofed around on the groomed slopes.
Good times.

Bicycle Delivery Service

 
Mrs. called yesterday and said she needed a ride.
She had the truck, but said she would prefer to ride a bicycle.

I loaded up the Donkey and met her at the end of her workday.

I tried to STUp, but I didn't know how

Cargo hauling LEVEL 3 achieved, please proceed

Passenger in-tow action shot

A.C. thought everyone should know that Mrs loves meat, even though she never eats it

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.

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.

Yep, She's Awesome.

Over the weekend my wife and I were able to squeeze in some quality time together doing a few of our favorite things. In years past we spent innumerable days together skiing, biking and exploring together. For a variety of reasons the past year the opportunities to get out together have been few and far between.

Saturday we headed out and got in an excellent backcountry ski tour. The weather and snow conditions weren't excellent, the day was excellent mostly for the fact that it was my wife's first time out this season. Being 6 1/2 months pregnant she has had other priorities for the past few months and just hasn't gotten out. Being on skis was about as comfortable and excited as I have seen her in a while. She couldn't have wiped the silly grin off her face if she wanted too.

Sunday she was admittedly sore from skiing, but eventually agreed to head out on a bike ride with me. We had an unseasonably warm afternoon and got to spend the better part of the afternoon cruising along the river and across town. All this too say I love having a wife who isn't just willing to indulge my habits, but is happy to join me in my adventures even when she is pregnant.

Give it a few months and I'll be out cruising around with my little man. For now I'm a regular reader of the Totcycle blog, and I'm plotting my baby biking strategy. I'd love a Surly Big Dummy, or a Bakfiets, but I would definitely settle for a much more cost effective Madse

n with a big ol' bucket.

-bike wrider