I should Probably Write Something

So, yeah... I haven't done any riding. I'd like to blame my lack of writing on laziness, but I've been on a bike 3 times since April. To be fair, there was a wedding and honeymoon that took up two months of my time, and we did have three weeks of 95*+ heat. Call me a sissy all you want, I HATE hot weather. I may add it too my list of "Top 5 things I would punch in the face if they were human." I think it would slot in after monkeys, but before sheep.

I have been doing some bike related things, if that makes you feel any better. I've been working part time at the bike shop again, and I've gotten quite good at getting people on bikes. That's a good thing, no matter how you look at it. And last night, Jen and I went down to Westchester to cheer on Ryan Dewald (Jen's cousin's boyfriend). He's a pro level rider who, along with 13 other riders lapped the field 25 laps into the race, then 8 of those guys, Ryan included, shot off the front again and came with in 10 seconds of lapping the field for a second time. That's crazy. Ryan took a few turns in the lead and thanks to the all too familiar crash in the last corner of the last lap, he finished 5th. He didn't wreck, two guys in front of him did, but he lost his momentum. Still, 5th at a pro level event after almost lapping the field twice is bonkers.

And of course, I'm watching the Tour. I'm about 3 days behind, and I'm sick of flat stages, but I'm watching it.

It's 10am on a 78* Sunday morning, and even though I'm working off the aftermath of a night of beer, I'm going for a bike ride.

Oh, by the way, I got married.

In the title of my blog it says something like (yes, I'm too lazy to look and see what it actually says) "the ins and outs of my riding plus big events in my life." Up until this post, it has been all bike, all the time. So, here is my first "big events" post. Enjoy.

On the 23rd of May, 2010, Jennifer Fugo and myself (Nicholas Gresh) were married. Thus creating "Greshgo" an enormous Japanese mega-robot that destroys small fishing villages and has a totally awesome theme song, sung by some high-pitched Japanese dame. We kick ass!

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've probably seen a picture or two of how awesome we looked. If not, don't fret, I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get back from my honeymoon.

Belize, since I know you were going to ask.

God Damn!

Isaac and I went for a ride in Valley Forge yesterday, and we were heading around the back side of the park to get to some of the trails when disaster struck. We were coming down a hill and were going to cut across a grass patch to get to the walking path. The grass patch was flat, then downhill, nothing out of the ordinary. Isaac hit it first and as soon as he started going down the hill I just saw him go right over his bars and roll. He was going 28mph. I locked my brakes and pulled off the line he took, and when I got halfway down the hill I saw what he hit. A service pipe and it's ditch. He popped up right after he stopped rolling and the side of his face was already purple and he looked very, very surprised. I did a quick concussion check and he was okay, but his helmet was cracked and you can see from the picture what his bike did. To the credit of both Giant (bike) and Specialized (helmet), both did their jobs perfectly. His front wheel, the only front wheel he had for both of his bikes, the rim is surprisingly untouched, but three spokes ripped themselves right out of the hub, so the hub is toast. Five spokes were turned and two more were just spaghetti. No damage to the fork at all. All the components still work as well. He just needs a new frame, front wheel and a lot of ice.

Snow & Mud

My winter riding didn't go as expected this year. Two massive snow storms and the ungodly amount of snow they left on the ground made riding close to impossible for me. Two weeks ago Isaac got himself a used cross bike and crank, and threw some Rival on it, so we decided to give the trail a try. There was WAY too much snow, but we kept pushing to the Perkiomen Trail. Surprisingly, we both only fell once. Isaac went right over his bars and scuffed himself up. Mine was a combination of tired and lack of concentration; it was a nice, slow sideways dump. The ride was judged as an over-all success and we were looking forward to the snow melting and getting in some mud time.

Last week I managed to tweak my right knee coming down the stairs. Just for the record, my knees are complete garbage. The "injury" kept me from walking for two days and has me limping like a jack-ass. Today was a beautiful, sunny day and at 50+ degrees, I couldn't help but go out and test how my knee was doing. Isaac and I headed down to Betzwood where we got on the gravel path and rode up to Pawlings road. A bunch of trees were still down (the snow destroyed many a tree in the area. Most seemed to be laying across the bike paths) so we got some muddy grass/ cyclocross style dis and remount action. At one point Isaac decided to try and hop a downed tree. The outcome was as you would expect.

So, I love riding my bike through mud. The Guru is caked. My bottom bracket area looks like when you stare down the hole of a porta-potty. My rear brakes don't look much better, and there is a lot of grime for me to clean out of there so that my bike will come to a stop without it sounding like I've both run over a cat and am mixing cement. The back of my jerseys look like modern art, but actually done by a person of talent. It's supposed to be sunny and in the sixties later this week. There will be more riding done, I assure you.

xbike impressions

Yesterday was 40* and it poured rain. The bad news about all of that is a crap-ton of rain mixed with a metric crap-ton of melting snow is more water than this area can handle. The good news is that the snow is gone, and everything was wet/muddy today, so I went for a ride with my Guru.

The bike is awesome. There are a few things that need a little adjustment, like my front derailleur only shifting if it wanted to, or my rear brakes locking up if you turn the handlebars more than 30*s, but overall I was very happy. The custom geometry is perfect. Zero back pain. The only discomfort I felt at all were little pains from not riding my bike enough. The numbness in my feet and gentleman area were completely gone.

The compact gearing is comical to me. It's so much easier going up hills. I know that if I get used to it, I'm going to hate my road bike. The difference in tire pressure really stood out a lot. I thought both tires were flat until I hit gravel and then it felt perfect. The shifting in the rear is addictive. Up shifts are fantastic. I just tap it a little bit and the chain clunks into the next gear with no wasted energy. I found myself changing gear when I didn't need to just because I like it so much. Downshifts aren't nearly as much fun. It's similar in motion to Campy but requires more effort. It's not bad, it just isn't as well done as either Campy or Shimano. The bike is also a lot quieter than my road bike thanks to the lack of King hubs. I'm used to the killer bee noise and the quiet really stood out. So did the lack of instant engagement. If I stood up while not in a high enough gear there was a huge dead spot. My lack of a smooth pedal stroke probably exacerbated the problem.

The ride itself was beautiful. I've been to where the Perkiomen Trail turns into gravel, but never rode on the gravel. I had no idea how far it went or what it was like. The first bit of it was under two inches of water, so it was interesting. Once it dried out it was like riding at Valley Green (Forbidden Drive) except there were more interactions with traffic. I was enjoying myself so much that before I knew it I was in Collegeville. I have no idea how far that is. I've intentionally left anything "scientific" off of the Guru. Ironically, it's my training bike but I don't want to know how fast I'm going, how far I've gone or what my heart-rate or cadence were. I just want to ride it. I didn't look at my stem once today. It was liberating.

I took a shot of the bike after my ride today. It was much dirtier, but the paved section of the Perkiomen was under water as well, and while I rode in the mud/muck on the way up, on the way back I rode through the water because I was tired. It washed away a lot of grime, but you can still see that I had fun.