Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Tesla Said It Best

I believe it was the band Tesla who jammed out the bit of wisdom...

The Way It Is...

The Way It Was...
The Way It Shall Be...

26 WINDY miles of gravel and pavement today. Yes, half of it turned out to be a stint on pavement. It was just so nasty heading into the wind, with the gravel being so soft and deep, that I resorted to finding the easiest way home. I was trying, and failing, to make headway so I could pick Mitchell up from school, but ended up calling my lovely wife to beg her to do the fetching. Worked out fine, but I came home shelled and had no time for a little nap action:( I finished the usual 2 hour route in about 3 hours 45! So "The way it shall be" is more miles! Later! Hope the Trans Iowa riders don't have to suffer in a wind like this!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

If You're Not Reading Urban Velo...

You should be. How else are you going to find far out stuff like a disc brake caliper mounted under the chainstay, actuating a brake with the chainring as the rotor! www.urbanvelo.org Check it!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Gripstop


So what was I to do when I saw this un-loved, too small, $9.99 deal of a Schwinn at Goodwill?
Well, I took it home and made a cheater's version of a Flying Gate design. I'll get the rear fender on there soon.

And as a "twist" I re-purposed some Grip Shift gear changers into brake actuators. A first, to my knowledge, but there are so few firsts these days. They do pull a lot of cable. Indexed brakes, what will they think of next! Later!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Jumping The Shark

Well, I think that the novelty of riding on gravel has taken a huge step backwards. I see on Cycling News that the field for Strade Bianche this year was super stacked with talent. Pro riders, pro rigs, pro kit, all on Italian gravel. Hit up the thumbnail gallery for a look. Looks damn beautiful! Still, our little cycling secret is pretty safe until RAGBRAI announces a gravel option, right? Time to move on to a new "under the radar" cycling genre? Anybody wanna do Cycle Speedway this summer?

Now that's what I'm talking about!