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.

Almost

Last Friday I went over to the shop and my cross bike finally got put together. The stem and seatpost are out of stock so I'm using a Ritchey Pro stem on loan from the shop and a Ritchey Pro Carbon post that Jen never used from her Guru. The best part about it was that when I got the bike home I took it for a spin up and down my street and realized that the crank was standard gearing and not compact gearing like I ordered. Yesterday the correct crank came in and today the bike is all together. It's in the 20's and we're expecting nothing but snow for the next few days, but I should have an actual ride report sometime next week. Until then, admire the crappy pictures and hope I get around to getting a white drop cloth so you don't get distracted by the TV or radiator in the background.

Parts

The parts for my cross bike finally showed up. I'm going to be heading over to the shop tomorrow and by early next week the damn thing should finally be built and ready to ride. I'll post pictures of the bike when it's together and still pretty. Then I might toss up a few pics once it's not so pretty because that's pretty to me.