LOOSE THOUGHTS ABOUND TODAY!

The last several days have seen me doing more reading and writing than riding, which is a condition that I need to correct in order to be prepared for my first metric century ride on August 21st. I was “gifted” with a fine piece of writing by my friend Nick on Monday morning – an ugly day at the time and the usual, for me, Monday morning blahs of being back to work. The piece titled “Four Corners, Two Wheels” by Christopher Solomon appeared in the July 29th edition of the New York Times travel section. I expressed my displeasure with my good friend for sending me such a fine piece of writing about cycling knowing that I had to be enclosed in my office as computer networks and equipment failed all around me. The piece definitely made it hard to stay in the office.

Quite popular in the cycling-related blogosphere today is People For Bikes. Both Ecovelo and BikingInLA featured stories on the organization. Check out both of these sources for more information on People for Bikes and BE SURE TO SIGN THE PLEDGE!

Bro Dave out on the West Coast took some time away from his basketball coaching duties and  has been making some mods to his recently acquired Salsa Fargo. He reports:

… I have made some mods to the Fargo. I didn't have the "Woodchipper" bars that came stock on it, but I really liked the Albatross bars that I had installed on the Crankforward. I thought I would give them a try on the Fargo. Switching the bars was pretty easy. I didn't have to undo any cabling so that helped tremendously. I'll try the Albatross bars out and see if they are going to work for me. I also mentioned that I was switching my tires over to tubeless with Stan's Notubes. I had tubeless ready rims on the Crankforward and liked them. After my roofing nail flat last weekend, I decided to go for it. This too was pretty easy. I just watched the Youtube video of the installation on the Stan's Notubes website and followed that. I had a little trouble getting the rear wheel to seal up initially, but it finally did. There is no way you could do this without a CO2 inflator. Better yet, if I had a good air compressor it would have been even easier. All in all the "wrenching" went pretty well for someone who has no "wrenching" skills. Of course if I roll a tire or my bars fall off on a descent, then I'll have to revisit that boast!

 

Check out the mods (sideview, topview, cockpit view)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s also good to see Jim Artis getting back to one of my favorite “ladies”. Jim has been working the last couple of days on getting “Silk” back roadworthy. Silk is Jim’s Catrike 700 that is one beautiful ride. “She” donated some wheels for Jim’s recent excursion with his HPV Fargo but she’s coming back together now in a slimmer, for the moment, form. Jim is applying his knowledge and experiences from the recent Fargo tour regarding lighting to Silk’s new incarnation. Check it out at Cycling Experiences!

I’m curious if anyone has used the Garmin Oregon 400T on their cycle as a replacement for a bike computer. I purchased the Oregon 400T last year but haven’t really gotten much use out of it. I realized that some of its accessories are a heart monitor and cadence sensor. The travel screen seems to show all of the other essential data that I would want PLUS it gives me topographic and mapping utility. It almost seems to be a larger version of the Garmin Edge 705. I would have to invest about $150.00 in order to use mine on my Fuji. That is substantially cheaper than purchasing the Edge 705 but, at the same time, would be a large investment for something not to work. I tried my old model Oregon Scientific heart monitor but it wouldn’t pair with the Oregon 400T. If anyone out there has tried this particular setup, I’d sure appreciate some feedback!

Finally, if you still need a fix for Tour De France topics, you might just consider pre-ordering what sounds like an interesting DVD box set of movies. The set entitled “Heart of the Peloton” features 3 DVD’s covering in-depth and behind the scene stories of professional cyclists. I’ve already sent a short email to the Navigator suggesting that this might be a very nice gift for SOMEONE close to her. I hope I haven’t slipped down the list of people “close to her…”

Until later,

- Zeke