Better Late(& Lame), Than Never

I was going through my Picasa stuff, and came across the only 2 pics I managed to get from Colorado CX States.  First one is the parking lot view...now everyone say ooooooooooooooh, aaaaaaaaaaaah.  The second one, is a bit more of a true bike related/involved photo, and is from the pits, where I did most of my hanging out.  The other place I hung out was the free Frites spot.  There was no food for sale "allowed", due to a last minute bit of contraversy that only allowed the hosting site(a local high school) to serve food as a "fund raiser".  Well, nonetheless, they failed to do research on what their clientele would eat, and failed to sell much, if anything.  Then this guy shows up Sunday with FREE FRITES, and Mayo.  There was a line for them, and I must admit, I enjoyed a bit of the lopsidedness in the situation.  Anywho...I digress.  Here are the pics...

quite the view I know

at least there are bikes in this picture

Something's Missing

Where's the rest of the rider...insert bad joke drum roll

It Doesnt Take Much

All you have to do is clean ur stuff.  In some cases, its tough, for example, the pics below.  Brand new wheels(1st season), handfull of Cyclocross races under his belt, and this is what the internals on his "sealed" hub look like.

After cleaning everything, and applying some Dumonde Tech Freehub lube, he was rolling in style, and coincidentally had some podium finishes.

it wasnt even that messy of a season at this point

he's all better now

i love my Dumonde Tech oils/lubes

Wheel That Got Built...

After the onslaught today of the eager beavers going through the tools that were for sale at the shop, I got the chance to sit down and unwind.  One of my good customers got a new wheel today, via his current Powertap hub, and new rim and spokes.  I took a basic progression of shots, as its kind of hard to hold the camera and get "action" shots while building a wheel. Enjoy...

Prepping the spokes with Linseed Oil...its perfect for wheels

1st set of spokes, dropped in non-drive side

2nd set in a progressive pattern dropped in the drive side

3rd set, 2 cross pattern begins

4th set is in, and now its ready to be tensioned/dished

Its the little touches...making sure its lined up

The completed project.

Im Paying What???

It just hit me(and yes this is a rant of a post), that when we start to send our 2 sons to daycare, more than likely within the next couple of weeks, that we will be paying just under the amount of tuition that a student attending Denver University(privately funded college) is shelling out!  That number is $35,000/year!  WTF people???  All I have to do is add another $5000 to that and my 2 yr old, and 11mos old sons should have Freshman year wrapped up in a short period of time! 

Someone I know recently said..."im tired of hearing about this healthcare reform that we need, its more like we need some CHILDCARE REFORM"!  Amen to that brother.  Seriously, what am i getting for the what the average college student is getting?  Some fat old ladies playing catch, feeding my kids, wiping their asses...all the while HOPING that they arent some sort of closet child molester!  Damn...Im done...talk to you all later!

View From The Pit At USGP In Fort Collins

I went to the USGP in Fort Collins yesterday to help one of my riders and to see a real cross course come to Colorado. This is a quick 360 view from the pits yesterday.

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Sunday "Trail" Ride

This past Sunday, the wife kicked me out of the house for a bike ride...solo.  I was a bit reluctant at first, and then I remembered the Sand Creek Trail is right around the corner.  Ive wanted to explore the southern half of the trail as it goes from being all nice and paved to sandy, gravelly, cyclocross potential type surface...so I headed out.

The weather was perfect...started in the mid 60's and by the end of the ride it was in the low 70's, which for Colorado this time of year is a gift from the weather gods indeed(to contrast that with waking up this morning to mid 20's and a light dusting of snow on the ground).

The pics below I took on the ride.  I managed to tool around some and figure out a nice steady route that took me east/south on the Sand Creek Trail, and eventually wind my way back towards the house on the Highline Canal Trail.

If you've got a 'Cross bike and enjoy just going out for a "cyclocross" type ride, then these 2 trails are perfect.  There were also lots of sections(ill check out later), that have some single track that runs along both creek beds.

For my friends back east in NC, Ill be posting pics of the upcoming snow soon.  Ive actually missed riding in the snow, and I thought that wouldnt happen again.  Looks like I might get a chance tomorrow, for a commute in the snow home!

Next time I go out, ill fire up the GPS and route it out.  Im curious to see if there's workout potential on this ride.  

Sand Creek running low

you can sort of make out the downtown & mountains over there

Sun and gravel for lots of the ride

there's trailer parks out here too!

considering the creek is directly to my right, i hope these things dont leak!

there are some paved sections on the southern part of the sand creek trail

the "Green Machine" wants everyone to know the Lottery pays for CO trails!

rolled through a beautiful nature preserve

those clouds rolled in right as I pulled into the driveway

yes, this will be an "indoor mall" in the near future(old Lowry Airforce Base)

great CO day for a ride

little bit of desert, little bit of grassland

Falling In Love...

...as a bike mechanic happens so rarely for me.  Im jaded, getting stubborn and extremely picky Ive found over the years.  Every once in a while though, something comes into my stand that makes me really really want one.  This past week, my benefactor brought in his new cyclocross build...a Stevens Cyclocross Team Frame.  The build was SRAM Red with ZIPP 303's(due to be glued up this week with Dugast), and let me tell you what...it was flawless.  

Most frames that come in, need prepping and chasing, facing, in general...some work that doesnt get done at the "factory".  This bad boy came in, and as I started to pull the little things off, like the barrel adjusters, rear derailleur hanger, to prep them, i noticed everything on there came out of the factory(whether its in east asia, or eastern europe) in great shape.  The bottom bracket was threaded and clean as a whistle and it just got better from there.  The ONLY thing Id like to see Stevens change, is the downtube cable routing.  In super muddy and frozen conditions, I could see this becoming a source of shifting problems.  Maybe they'll give it a whirl in the next gen of frames.  

Below are some pics I took with my CAMERA PHONE(HTC EVO), so bare with them as the quality isnt the best.

 

The baby before the work started.  Notice the indented right side chainstay...super tight chainline

 

The front brake mount is the best thing ive seen to date on cx bikes.  

The new owner stated there "absolutely no brake chatter, and i even laid on them hard a few times!"

 The rear brake housing/cable mount w/barrel adjuster is pretty stout and in just the right spot to not have to worry about an overly aggressive bend in the housing.

 

Here's the front brake hanger mounted, prior to cable installation.  The 2 holes at the bottom of the hanger, have a threaded spike, back-threaded into the hanger that act as "stabilizers" laterally for the hanger itself.  They are super sharp, so dont go puttin your eye out with them playin around.  You need a thin/narrow flat-head screw driver to back-thread the spikes in(they do not come installed).

 Since there's almost no excess amount of cable between the hanger and the yoke, the potential for front end brake vibration is virtually eliminated!

Couple the hanger mount set-up with the enormously large fork(which is still light), and you get a front end that has been quoted as, "it slowed down just like my road bike...", which in cross can be an issue for some frames.

 

The folks at Stevens definitely gave thought to the fact that there's lots of hopping off and on cross bikes.  The oversized seatpost junction, along with the massive bottom bracket, dont give any vertically, which means you keep that speed going when mounting your rig.

Here's the completed gem...

 Yes, the Zipp's arent on because they are still in the stretching/gluing phase.  Mr. Owner is going to swap a couple things out, like the seatpost(for a bombproof Thomson), and a stiffer stem.  Now, for those of you who know me, and know where I work, you might be wondering why I did this overtly slack "review" of this bike given that we arent dealers.  My answer is simple...its in the future...along with all of the other changes going on.