Monday, February 21, 2011

Don't Believe the Hype..

About a month ago i decided i was done with the carbon spaceship bikes. Its cool that they're light, but in the end i'm a classic over plastic kind of guy.

Decided to sell the stumpy frame and fork; i first consulted craigslist, thinking i should ask for an amount higher for all the would be lo-ballers out there. Just after i decided to go ahead and list it on fleabay. Since paypal sho' do take a bite, i decided to list it for 100 more than i listed it on craigslist. Within 2 hours i had a bid.

So pumped.

That will more than pay for my new custom Rock Lobster as well as a sweet ass top-of-the-line Fox fork. So pumped. Who knows what its gonna end up going for? More than i was expecting.

To explain the title of the post, i was thinking, "Who in god's name is going to want a 26" hardtail for what i'm asking with all this 29er hype we have going?" Apparently, it was all for naught, thus the title of the post....

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Palm Springs touring

I just sort of thought that tour of ps would be lames ville, but I hadn't even analyzed WHY. Turns out all the reasonsi thought itd be dumb were all the reasons it'd be cool.

I was talked into going by about 9 different people who just assumed I was going, asking if I was going. The final conjecture came from new friend but familiar face John. He made it sound the runners off all those that asked, so I said sure, I'd go with him. We didn't even get down there til like 9 and we only did about 60 miles of it which I assume was the metric loop. What a great ride. It was cool to see all the people out on differing rigs of all shapes and sizes just enjoying the pristine weather and far better than average view. We had a blast. The highlights include me passing a dude who was wearing a Belgian nationals champion jersey and I huffed "hup, hup!" at him to which he replied "Hup! Hup!", also we saw dudes on razor scooters with a 700c wheel on the front (perhaps it was 650c), and we got called motherfuckers in spanish by dudes who we pulled along like a freight train engine and never once put their face into the wind. Good times. It was super encouraging and made us feel super fast to be passing so many folks. In the end that was our downfall as we were both digging our tongues out of our spokes. I actually ended up with a little bit of a suntan! Good times for sure. Already planning on doing some more rides like that, cuz it was a blast.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I...I...I just get so pumped....

http://rocklobstershop.blogspot.com/2011/02/unofficial-25th-anniversary-mtb-frame.html

Click on the link if you're a bike person and the sit down and get comfy for some bike ranting....


Ok, first things first, if you said the words, "I wonder how much it weighs...?". Or "won't that be a little heavy" or a similar phrase, please raise your right hand. Now, ball that hand up as tight as you can and punch yourself in the face. And I mean hard. Like you are collecting rent for some mafia don.

Point #1: Who cares?
Point #2: if you are a racer and the difference between winning and losing a race is 2 or so lbs, maybe do an extra interval during your no doubt grueling training regiment, and voila, difference nullified. Or you can remove a half a pound from your wheel set up and voila, difference MORE than nullified. Or you can make a right turn right off of a cliff, and voila, difference nullified.
Point #3: picture two people at the bottom of a the fire road at crafton. Lets say these 2 people are me and the fire marshal of the funless firehouse, Matt Freeman. It's a balls out race to the top. Matt's gonna win right? For sure, because after all, the dude hates fun. Freeman and I ride fairly similar geometry bike, so just for yucks, let's switch bikes and do it again. Who do you think is gonna win. If you think it's me, you're taking crazy pills. it's not the bike. Like, ever. And if it is, it's a loss i can live with knowing I came that close to winning on a WAY cooler bike.
Point #4: Next year when you have a hairline crack in your bb, or your head tube, or you have to have the weight savings of a press in bb x43+, you're getting a new frame. Then, when that one cracks or some other lame component is offered you have to have, lather rinse repeat. See a pattern developing? While you're experiencing the wrath of the math, I'm on the same frame. Classic staying power is priceless.
Point #5: Made in America, by a dude who has literally been building frames as long as I've been breathing.
Point #6: At the end of the day, we're talking about a bike ride. I highly doubt I need to be enforced upon the latest and greatest in aerospace technology on A FRICKIN BICYCLE!!

Do yourself a favor, consciously try and have a good helping of fun next time you ride a bike. Especially if you can't recall the last ride that was in fact fun.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Pain

... Is normally temporary, but my leg hurts worse than when I fell over yesterday. Except when I ride a bike, which is weird. I hope it's not broken.