I found it today just outside of Marquette, Michigan. Ryan and I were bombing down a hill when the sign off to the left side of the road caught my eye. I yelled at him to stop and turn around. Sure enough- we’d just ridden past the spot were the first center line was marked on a road!
Check it…
So the past couple of days, Ryan and I have been riding in the Fond du Lac area. Riding conditions are perfect- few cars, mild temps, beautiful scenery. I couldn’t ask for a more relaxing ride…
I decided to lower my handlebars, and, since I like my bike to look perfect, I needed to cut some excess steer tube. Here’s a step-by-step guide: click on any of the photos to look at a larger version
Tools: allen keys (for me, it was a 4, 5, and 8mm), saw guide, hacksaw, vice (you can do it without the vice, but it’s harder), and a grease rag or paper towel.
Before:
1. Remove the top cap and any spacers from above the stem
2. Loosen the stem bolts on the steer tube
3. Remove the inner cap that’s screwed into the compression fitting inside the steer tube
4. Mark the steer tube just above the stem with a bright color (needs to be bright enough that you can see the line when you put it in the saw guide).
5. Remove the brake from the fork and your computer sensor (if it’s a wired system)
6. Remove the fork from the headtube. You’ll have two headset bearings- one on top, and one on the bottom. Place them (and the parts that go with them) on your greaserag in the order that you took them off.
7. Put the steer tube into the saw guide- you’ll want the line you made to be just above the saw guide slot so that you’re cutting it almost a millimeter shorter than you marked (this is so that the steer tube/fitting will end up just below the top of the stem when re-assembled).
8. Clamp the saw guide/fork into a vice
9. Saw!
10. The compression fitting in my steer tube needed to be adjusted as well (sorry, no pic). I used a hammer and a deep 5/8″ socket to press it down further into the steer tube so that the edge of the top fitting would sit flush with the new cut.
11. Re-assemble in the reverse order (aren’t you glad you laid those headset bearings out in order?)
12. Perfection!
So, after a couple of weeks on the Fizik Vitesse, I’m not much more comfortable. This time, it’s mainly an issue with the saddle’s lack of a cutout or channel of any type. So, I just ordered a Koobi Xenon. They have a 30 day unconditional return policy, so I don’t mind shelling out the $$ to give it a shot.
This got me thinking… how many saddles have I actually tried in the last two years? Well, here’s a list of all the ones I can think of off the top of my head-
Fizik Arione
Terry Zero
Terry Butterfly
Terry Falcon X
Specialized Toupe 143
Selle Anatomica Titanico (kept it for a while, but it stretched too much and looked absolutely horrible)
Brooks B17 champion special
WTB Speed She
Specialized Jett 155
Selle San Marco Glamour Aspide
Fizik Vitesse
Koobi?
If the Koobi gets returned, I plan on trying a Selle SMP. The shop Cbike.com has a demo program where you pay $20 and get to “rent” one for a week. I have put in to have one sent to me, but according to the site, it can take 4-8 weeks.
Look what I found in the garage!
It’s even got nice tires…
I’ve got a saddle sore on top of a saddle sore. I need to ride, but I need to get better. My whole body is miserably sore from squirming around on my bike trying to get comfortable. It’s making life suck.
If you read this and have some sort of magical home remedy for these things, let me know. I’m at risk of skipping a few days of riding here…
If you see this guy, tell him I’m gonna whoop his butt in the upcoming Memphis Velo Time Trial
Since my Roswell race wasn’t until Sunday afternoon, I decided I’d stick around Sunday night and venture out to Mt. Cheaha in the morning for a little climbing. Sunday morning was the Mount Cheaha Challenge Century, and I figured that I’d ride part of the course since the roads would still be marked.
I ended up parking on top of Mt Cheaha (highest point in Alabama!) and riding down the mountain and back. Just over 31 miles total. It was a nice ride- very rolling down and back with some very steep (thankfully not incredibly long) pitches. The longest climb was the last 3 miles on the way back. It wasn’t as steep as some of the other grades, though, so it wasn’t too hard to navigate.
You can go to Mapmyride for the route and elevation profile by clicking here
Here’s a camera-phone photo from one of the scenic overlooks:
I woke up early to get a jump on the bad weather that was being predicted for this afternoon. On the schedule for today- a “tune up” ride of sorts. An hour of easy riding interspersed with a couple of 3 min zone 5 efforts and some small ring sprints.
During breakfast, I checked the weather- a couple of showers scattered across the area, but nothing too bad. When I left the house, no rain, but about 10 minutes later, some on & off showers began. As I progressed, the rain got more persistent- alternating between sprinkles & showers. Once, I found myself making a right turn too fast for the conditions (wet roads + 120psi don’t mix), and managed to fishtail. Good practice, maybe?
I’d completed my two intervals and two sprints when I noticed an odd noise coming from my front tire. I thought I was having some brake rub problems (again), but, upon further inspection, found that something had embedded itself into my tire & the air was slowly (but steadily) leaking out.
No fun!! I decided to limp home instead of fixing it in the rain, which eventually turned into a bit of lightning & a downpour when I was about 2 miles from home. Luckily, I managed to get home about the time the rim started to bottom out.
Tapering- DONE. Next up- two very tough races :)
I was riding through a quiet Germantown neighborhood when I caught sight of a couple of kids walking a bike down the sidewalk. From the road, I could see what looked like a dropped chain hanging from the right pedal. I decided to turn around to help. Sure enough, it had fallen off to the outside and wedged between the front derailleur cage and large chainring. Much to the amazement of the two boys, I yanked it out and got it back on the chainring as normal. I explained to them that it wasn’t too hard to fix- just a little greasy. They thanked me a couple of times… I was tempted to tell them to not forget about me when they got their drivers licenses, but I just told them “you’re welcome” and rode off…