The Tool Park Doesn't Make and The Tarik Saleh Bike Club 100mile Challenge

Had a more dramatic than usual crash this week.
I came through unscathed.  My left brake lever smashed into a small stump and rotated to where it was pointing straight down.

I use cork bar end plugs on most of my bikes.  Looks like somehow in crashing the left bar plug was pushed a ways inside.

Apparently one of the few bike repair scenarios where Park Tools doesn't have me covered.

Had to make do with what I could find around the house.

Haven't posted much lately but I am pleased to report that over the holidays I along with a few other actively participated in  the Tarik Saleh Bike Club 100 mile challenge.

Amazingly lousy weather (combination of both sub-zero and slicker than slick water on ice conditions over the course of the challenge) and parenting responsibilities made option 3 of the challenge the most realistic for me this year. 

"Remember, club rules are 1. Ride bikes, 2. Try not to be an ass. And in this case, at least ride a bit between Christmas eve and New Years and then tell me about it." - Tarik Saleh

I've always liked that rule #2 simply asks that you try, not that you necessarily succeed.  That's the kind of club I can be on board with.


I still have to email Tarik Saleh my results from the challenge.  I'm hoping I haven't missed the window of opportunity to receive a button.

I'm already looking forward to next years 100mile challenge.

Lance

If Lance Armstrong says he doped, then he most definitely DID NOT.

The man hasn't spoken an honest word about doping the past fifteen years, and I'm not about to start believing him now.

It's been wicked cold around here.  Warmer temps arrived this week along with a healthy dump of snow . . .

 .  .  .  so when Little has wanted to do a little riding, indoors seemed like a good option.

Doesn't seem to slow him down much.

Saturday Night

Amazing how warm 15deg feels after a month of sub-zero temps.

Spent the evening in the front yard with a fire and Little wRider.  Did a little driveway sledding with one of the neighbor kids.

Had a FatBack in the garage, Little was asleep and Biermag was around so I snuck out for an hour of riding in the snow.  First tracks on the 3" that feel this evening.

With the clouds there was enough ambient light that there was no need for the 1,000 lumens strapped to my helmet.

Frostfitti

Some random acts of creativity I found on one of the bridges on my ride home:

Made me smile.
I think that was the point.

Screenshot and Surly Bits

Took the longer (~40min) route through the woods today to stockpile some sanity before an afternoon of staring at a screen that looks like this:

Also gave me the opportunity to mash a little bit on a new to me Tuggnut I scored off of ebay.

I'm not a little guy, so it's nice to have a little extra peace of mind when mashing the dinglespeed up hills.
I had already tested its ability to open beverages, and I'm pleased to report it did a fine job holding my wheel in place.

Surly's Ideatron

So by this morning I had heard back from Eric, one of the fine folks at SurlyBikes, regarding my 26+ suggestion: 

Nthn,

Your idea has been submitted to the Ideatron 8000.

We’ll see where it goes from there.

Thanks,
Eric Sovern
Surly Bikes


Obviously I'm simply overjoyed that Surly would ever think that something I suggested is worth submitting to any Ideatron, much less to the Ideatron 8000.

Heck, I'm impressed that anyone from Surly ever took the time to write me back when they could be doing much more important things with their day, like riding Krampi.

Mission 26+ may never go any further than this, but I will forever hold on to a small glimmer of hope rooted in the words "We'll see where it goes from there." and I thank Eric for that.