Last long ride of the year?

A balmy 40 degrees today, no snow, no wet - how can you not ride today? Took off at about 1:30, which was supposed to be the warmest part of the day (and remain so for several hours). Not wanting to overdress, I wore winter tights, Underarmor lightweight base layer, fleeced long sleeve jersey, vest, Gore gloves with polypro liners, and regular shoes with chemical warmers (no shoe covers). It was just about perfect, but I should have worn shoe covers and maybe skipped the toe warmers. Did a good 44 miles through sprawlsville - Eagan, Apple Valley(?), West St. Paul. Rode the BMC, skinny tires and all, and everything was dry for the most part. Saw a few people out within the city limits, but was surprised not to see anyone out for a longer ride. I don't expect we'll be seeing this weather again soon.

Saw a black squirrel. They must be pretty rare, because I don't see them very often. It was pretty plump.

Getting the nine-speed dialed in on the cyclocross bike before Jingle Cross. I'm so going to suck, but at least I'll be able to shift! Looking forward to a good time there. Guess we won't be seeing Chris Horner there again eh?

Death of a shifter

Note the right shifter buried in the sand. If I had it to do over, I'd go Campy or SRAM, where the guts of the shifter aren't all up in the open. Even straight (cheap) vodka couldn't flush it out! But when you start with Shimano, and upgrade a component here and there, you're stuck with Shimano. By now I've upgraded the whole drivetrain, but it hurts less to do it a little at a time. Thanks to Frank Rowe for the photo!

Ghetto TT bike...

...is taking shape. Coming from the parts bin, mostly from my old CX bike, are:

*Basso road frame, fork and headset
*Derailleur hanger that finally arrived from Italy
*Sora cranks with Tiagra chainrings
*Square taper BB (alas not very smooth after being used for CX)
*Old 8 spd. cassette and chain (I'll be inspecting them)
*Dura Ace 8 spd. bar end shifters
*Bullhorn bars
*Saddle
*Sora front derailleur
*A-Class ALX300 "training wheels" from road bike
*Cane Creek 200SL calipers
*TT brake levers

Just needing to get:

*Shimano freehub body for wheels (currently Campy body)
*Short (90mm) stem (Kalloy Guizzo)
*Zero set back seatpost (Kalloy Guizzo)
*Aero clip-ons (Profile Design T2+)
*Mount for one of the bar-ends
*Sora rear derailleur (Ebay)

Basso as TT bike

So after months of going around with Basso in Italy via telegraph and carrier pigeon, it looks like I have two new derailleur hangers on the way. My intention is to build it up as a TT bike, for which I have added motivation now: it's hard to crash during a TT. I have a lot of the components I need, so it should be a snap. Main issue should be getting an acceptable fit. I'm kinda looking forward to it. That will be four bikes in the stable: Fort CX, BMC racing, Surly touring and Basso ghetto TT.

Campy 11 speed? Gimme a break!

Sounds like the folks at Campy are scraping the bottom of the innovation barrel these days. I'm still running 8 speed Shimano and 9 speed Campy, and I've yet to break a chain (except due to pushing a pin through too far, my bad) or miss shifts due to muddy and/or finicky drivetrains. I still love my Campy, but I'm heading down the retro-grouch path here. Now if only I'd stop scraping my components on the asphalt.

What's wrong with these pictures?

That's right, the white saddle is dirty!

For Frye

Campy aluminum freehub body scoring. Fortunately Campy splines are deeper, so not as much of an issue. The trade-off is 11 tooth cogs are a bit of a hack on Campy hubs. Nevertheless, our cogs still go to 11!

Shimano starts catching up to Campy

First they caught up with 10 speed, now it looks like they're working on carbon jockey wheel plates, under-bar-tape cable routing, cut out chain link plates and smart brake caliper design. Even SRAM has these features. Keep it up Shimano - I'll be sticking with Campy.

Bad, good, pro: #2

Bad
Good
Pro
Jockey wheels on the cyclocross bike were badly worn. Decided to replace them with some Tacx sealed bearing pulleys since they needed replacement anyway (no, not ceramic!). The difference is astounding! Suddenly the drivetrain is silent! Just going from cheap bushings to bearings makes all the difference. No need to spend $150 for ceramic - just get some $15 pulleys and you have 99% of the benefit.

Bad, good, pro

Bad
Good
Pro

Pacer commuter coming along

The Surly Pacer is being reincarnated yet again. This frame is so versatile! It started out as my only geared road bike and got me started road racing. Believe it or not, I won a couple races on this tank! Then it became my Cycle Oregon bike. Perfect plush ride for long days in the saddle. Then it got kicked to the curb for a while when I got the Basso racing bike. I cleaned it up here after its near death from salt exposure and subsequent neglect. Then it became a parts donor for road and cyclocross racing. Now it's going to be my commuter. New fenders, derailleur, overhauled down to the frame and rebuilt. Still needs bar tape, saddle, finish dialing in the shifting and headset, and it's good to go. Just in time to commute after Hell Week to maintain base fitness.

Ceramic bearings

Being the nerd that I am, I've been reading up on ceramic bearings. Like many bike-related toys, the benefits seem negligible, especially when looking at the cost-benefit ratio. Interestingly though, pro teams are using them, even though they can't be seen and even though they aren't being sponsored. That is, they're actually going out and buying them themselves. If that isn't an endorsement, I don't know what is. Sure, pro teams have the money for this kind of thing, but the busy team mechanics wouldn't be going to the trouble of changing out 6-7 sets of bearings per bike, times 2-4 bikes per rider, times 9-25 riders per team, if there weren't a benefit, right? Not that a Cat 4 racer would ever see the benefits, but it's interesting from a technical perspective.

Zen and the art of bicycle maintenance

Call me a freak but I enjoy spending quality time with the bike after a muddy 'cross ride or a salty winter ride. But I can sure see the advantages of a single speed in the winter! Or fixed even, one less brake!