Monday, January 28, 2008

What a glorious weekend!!

Two rides, both on the fast bike, both with good friends. Headed North-West-ish on Saturday into a chilly WNW wind, then headed South Eastish with a mild SE wind. It's weird because It's been so long since I've encountered temps above 40, I forgot how to dress for it. Sunday's ride was a little messy and since it was warm way into the evening, I just stayed out and completely cleaned up the race rig and took care of my commuters drivetrain. The Lemond is all shiny now and it makes me want to not ride it. I did take a close look at my big chainring and noticed that I may need a new one soon. It's teeth are starting to show some wear. Of course, I discover this after our team night, so ordering one now would be at regular price. Not gonna happen. Wouldn't be prudent. The commuter has fenders, but I've learned that I needed to install a mudflap on the front. Any regular fender is not going to reach all the way to the ground. The very bottom of the tire does kick up a lot of street crud. My chain/chainrings/cassette/rear derailleur were a dirty rusty mess. So I soaked the chain in simple green, and scrubbed the other parts good and not so cruddy. I then took an old MTB tire, cut a just long enough piece out and zip tied it to the bottom of my fender. I believe this will keep my drivetrain from collecting massive amounts of liquid road grime. I hope.

So anyway, today will be warm and windy so I'll probably head out after work on the commuter for a couple hour ride and enjoy the last of it for a while. Tomorrow isn't looking as bad as they had originally thought. No rain freezing over, but maybe a little snow. Some possible snow later this week, but the weekend is looking very rideable, barring a heavy snow.

I'm hoping the 3 rides I got in this week made a dent in my weight. First I dropped a couple with a 14 hour bike week, then gained them back with a 5 hour bike week. This week was about 8 hours so maybe I dropped 1 pound. Hopefully?

6 comments:

brady said...

It's not a mudflap until it has a classy silhouette of a pinup model on it. You know, in good taste.

Mark Savery said...

I'm with you on the mudflap. We can get some sweet Wald ones in either black or white. They even come with a little round reflctor riveted on. Very stylish. I think they'll less than 5 bucks too.

bryan said...

Glorious, yes. Dirty, yes. My feet were FROZEN when I got back to Crane on Sunday. The water soaked my shoe covers, which soaked my shoes, then socks, then feet. Brrr.

munsoned said...

FEAR THE BOOTS!! My feet were just fine with the clodhoppers on. I'm growing to like them more and more.

Mod, I'd be interested in those mudflaps. On my amazing/hellish ride yesterday(50 and sunny at start, 40 and raining/windy at end), the piece of tire flap did ok, but would have shielded better if it was wider.

Brady, would a doodled drawing of a girl still be classy?

Sean said...

I found magnetic lady cutouts and stuck them on our cars on a school field trip once. It was awesome.

brady said...

I can't comment now because I'm watching American Idol, Omaha auditions.