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A riding partner leaves

A friend of mine is leaving town. Kinda. Not far, and hes got reasons to come and hang out in Austin during the weekends.

Hes been a good riding partner for a little bit.

I'd feel like a random, and probably short notice, ride and he'd be down.

He kinda influence me to do the crits and the Tuesday nighter.

During his race season, he was pushing me hard on the 360 loop.

I got to show him some of the greatness of the greenbelt.

Thanks homes.

THE coolest bike I've seen at the Social Ride

Even cooler than mine.



Check out the whale shaped seat bag!!

Also check the rare green Michelin cross tires

http://cxmagazine.com/michelin-mud-gree-cyclocross-tire-auction



Peep the brake booster, mix/match shifters, and Ti bar.



Cook cranks!
Also, the only other pair of snake bottle holders ive seen were on the bike shop owners bike. He got them at Interbike one year.



Not easily seen, but thats a nice old XT rear der. and those wheels have blue and black nipples.

Social Ride Tonight

Hello friends

Camera and cord are now reunited.

Its been a while, so im not going to even try to get chronological on this thing.

I've been on a road riding rampage. I dont even know how many miles Ive done since Friday. If only I could find my still unpacked computer...










That last pic is from the Saturday Austin Tri-cyclist ride. It is a fast, fast ride. I had a good ride that morning. So good, I had a 4 hour nap after.

My camera

Shit man, moving sucks. I just found my camera cord yesterday. I planned on putting things up today, but brought the cord with no camera. D'OH!!!!!!!!!!!

UH HUH

YUP

Back on the Road

Today will be my first group road ride in some good time.

Ill be doing the Nelo's shop ride at 7 this evening. My ride will start at 6 as I haul ass across town to do it.

Before my wheel blew up, I had the Idea of creating a list of the road rides Ive done and providing a brief description about the intensity, attitude, "scene", and other characteristics of these rides through the eyes of a bum.

This will be happening soon.

Tomorrow I look to do the Austin Tri-cyclist ride, which has been the most challenging so far.

It will be a good gauge to see how far I've slipped.

But first, I need to find my camera cord.

Doing stuff

So last week/weekend my broski was in town to hang out and lend a hand with Cyclebum lair moving.

We did the Full moon ride and the Thursday ride. Here is the photo-ma-graphic evidence.











This past Sunday I also checked out Walnut Creek Park.

My mountain biking experienced is limited to the greenbelt.

I can have a reasonable "ride to the ride" and it is the "crown jewel" of central texas mountain biking.

A buddy and his girlfriend were going out, me and my brother joined in.

Was it fun? Yes.

Did I talk shit about it a little on Mojo? Yes.

Was that fun? Yes.

Will I make the extra effort it takes to get out there? Yes.

Do I think my cross bike will be at home there? Yes.

Anyhow, I didnt get this thing on my first try.


I also finally utilized the full 80 mm of my Reba on the powerline hill.

(not my video)

Shit is ON

Ill be getting back in the swing of things on Wednesday. I am coming from a week of drastically reduced riding and drastically increased gorging.

You have an increased chance of making me throw up tomorrow, good luck.

Be warm and ready to roll out at 9:30pm, ped bridge.

Im back on the road

Ive been avoiding the asphalt for about two months now.

One reason being that I blew up my front wheel a while ago.

Another is that Ive fallen back in love with mountain biking while starting a steamy affair with cyclocross.

Yet another is that it has been tooooooo funking hot.

While im still having relationship issues with my three ladies, my wheel is fixed, and it is now feeling a little nicer, not cooler, but nicer outside.

Song in the brain...

You may be familiar with its covered/lesser version.

I hope not, because this is choice.

The lyrical content is not very deep, but it is concise and well delivered.

Ixnay on cross traning tonight

My brother is in town, plus I need to get packing for my apt move, plus I'm thinking about doing the full moon swim before the ride.

I'm thinking of doubling up and brutalizing myself on Sundays and Wednesdays in the future.

Stay tuned.

Bullshlaga!!!

Maaaaaaaan.

I tried to meet up with some mojos for a all single speed ride.

I entered Zilker and was going to ride to an access point 30 min (at cyclebum speed) into the belt.

Ten minutes into the trail, I knew I had a slow leak. I figured since I had slime, a few pumps and all would be good.

I ended up having to pump up like 4 or 5 times and missed the ride.

At that point, I figured I would just patch that thing and enjoy my solo ride.

Well, my whole tire/tube was slimed up, and it was a bitch getting the slime clean and out of the way.

Also, it is hard to get stuff clean when all of your clothes are soaked with sweat.

The glue wasn't behaving normally, and I ended up wasting a patch.

Then, my pump fails.

The rubber insert that creates the seal, tore.

Now I had no pump.

FUCK.

I was stranded near Specs.

Time to do what every bike commuter and "Ride to the Ride" proponent hates, call to be picked up.


A friend was nice enough to pick me up, and I returned the favor with six Dogfish heads and some tasty looking bread sticks from specs.

Lessons learned:

1. Slimed tubes are a pain to patch in practical MTB situations.

2. I should have taken my trusty Lezyne pump. I didn't, because I could not find it in the rush I was in.

3. Organize my bike shit better

4. Always have a spare tube.





The Lezyne pump does not use a traditional pump head, but uses a flexible hose (stored in the body) with a screw on head that features a reliable and easily replaceable o-ring.

The flexible hose prevents valve/stem failures, a big plus.

Topeak makes some too, and should be easier to find than the Lezyne.

Doing my thing

Saturday I missed a morning MTB ride, so I punished myself with 1000 ft. of climbing.

I found this road near my place with a short, but somewhat steep, two-tiered climb.

I also found out that it has 100 ft of elevation to it.

Saturday I decided to start doing some work on it. I figured 1000 ft is a good round number, and not too crazy of a work out. I went up and down it 10 times in somewhere around 40 something minutes. I'm gonna start keep track to see if there is any progress. I'm thinking my might just make it an hr workout and see how many accents I can make in that time.

When I was done with that foolishness, it was time for the 512 one year party.

Man, it was a long wait. About an hr and 20.
It was sooooo worth it.



Got home around 6 ish and felt like riding.

I text a friend: "Greenbelt at 7:45?"
He says: "You Crazy? After all that beer?"
I say: "No, Yes. Don't worry, Ill be wearing my DC socks"

I also posted up: http://www.bikemojo.com/speak/showthread.php?t=78815

It turned out to be a solo run. Much fun. I jumped on the tail of some racers on my way out.

Sunday I also didn't wake earlier enough for a group ride, but the heat was down considerably so I went out around noon. I was going to do the belt again with a friend, but my chain had other ideas.

This was the first real mechanical Ive had on the SS, so no biggie.

Today I hope to make the Mojo SS ride.