"It's not that bicycling is so important, it is that everything else is equally unimportant."

Upcoming TNS  
So we moved the TNS ride to be a TNS ride...that is we moved from Tuesday to Thursday. Sometimes Kristin does a glass jewelry class that can only be done on Tuesdays, so we move our ride around (cause that way Busterman gets the love and attention he needs). For those of you that think that's wrong, well I guess that would be nobody since there is pretty much just the three of us that ride, ha...

So while Kristin went to her glass class, I made sure I stopped by City Bikes and picked up a few things before heading home. Tonight was going to be a "get this bike into dirt shape" night. One of the things I started the City Bikes crew off with was helping to fix my Speedplay pedals. Turns out if you don't grease them, the bearings will freeze up...who knew, ha. Mike cleaned out the pedal body, added grease, and told me how to caulk them up nice and good. Should be running straight and free now. Next up on the chopping block was the Pista...

List of parts I already had -
Shimano 105 rear brake
Tektro Cross Lever
Brake housing and cable

Here's what I picked up -
Salsa 39t chainring
Z Rustbuster chain
Pedros SynLube (cause I really need to stop mooching from Steve - same can be said for the next item)
Cateye TL-LD1000 Tail Light
Cateye Velo 5 Cyclocomputer
And finally...a longer nut to screw onto my rear brake to make it a front brake (thanks Mike).

I got setup in the yard and went to town. Broke the fixie down, cleaned the old chain and chainring, putting it together in a bag to be used later for more road specific stuff. Next I cleaned the bike up in general, wheels, cog, etc. I'm a big fan of using lube and not cleaning off the excess... Finally put on the new chainring, the new chain, and then started on the front brake situation.

Up until now I've been riding my Pista track bike with no brakes. Just recently I put on some cross tires and have been riding the dirt...still with no brakes. What I've found is that in some steeper situations it's next to impossible to not pick up too much speed and scrubbing speed would mean tearing up the trails. Also, running a 48t chainring made the steeps mucho hard to get up and even harder to slow down on steep twisty downhil turns. If I really wanted to put this thing through it's paces on the dirt then I needed to change the setup. I just addressed the chainring situation, next up adding the brake. Put on the inline cross lever on the left side. Using the new nut, I put my rear brake on the front. Added some cable and housing and tweaked placement and done. While I'm at it I might as well install my tail light and new cheap cyclocomputer. Done and done.

Put on my shoes and headed off down the street and WOW! This thing suddenly spins like a dream. I'm now thinking maybe I should get a larger chainring just for the road, but smaller than my 48t, maybe a 42t or a 44t. Spin through some corners and it's just cruising. Test the front brake and nothing explodes and I start to slow down...must have done it right (let be known I am the worst brake adjustment mechanic know to man). Tail light is bright and cyclocomputer is ticking off the miles.

So now all is right in the world and the Pista is buttery smooth, just waiting to be unleashed on some unsuspecting singletrack...can't wait!

DT
posted by DT at 11:41:00 AM
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Saturday's World Wind Tour  
Well Saturday didn't turn out quite as I had planned. Original plan - Tour de Cocktails at 11am, Mixed Mesages art exhibit at 5pm, then free show Operation Ceasefire around 7pm until it stopped at 1am. Instead, when I showed up for the Tour I found out there were 10 bars on the list. On a WUSS swill ride I think we've done 7 before and it took all day and got pretty messy. This tour would be no different.

Needless to say, most everyone hit all 10 places with a finish after midnight. There goes the idea of doing a host of other things. I've just pulled the photos off the camera, but haven't gone through them yet. Pics to come for sure. Things of note - there were 3 accidents that drew blood...all 3 were people who actually ride and ride fairly often...and most of the accidents happened well before the halfway point.

Just for the record, I didn't wreck...

DT
posted by DT at 11:26:00 AM
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Shenandoah Brewing  
So last Thursday we were to have an impromptu swill ride. Last I heard we would be meeting up as close to 5:30pm as I could make it (around 6pm) and we would bike over to Founders in Alexandria to meet the new brewer. They had a little beer and food thing going on from 6-8pm. Guess I missed out on the last few emails.

We headed out just like we were going to Founders, in fact passing Founders one street over. Finally heading up King St. I realize we've passed Founders and I start telling Stoner. Oh yea, turns out we're not going there. I don't realize what we are doing until we start heading up Duke St. with traffic. Ah hah! We must be going to Shenandoah Brewing...home of the famous Chocolate Doughnut Beer (among others). We arrived a little before 8pm. Me thinking we would be heading to Founders for a 6-8pm thing told the wife I'd be home a little after 9pm. Even if I left right when we arrived I would have not made it home by 9pm. Called the wife and let her know.

We got down to business and ordered some chili and meatball subs, along with a couple of beers. One hoppy beer followed by a nice chocolatey beer. Good times. After having the privilege of eating and drinking while smelling the brewing process, we decided to hitch a ride on the metro (which avoids all the traffic screaming down Duke St.). The other guys got off at King St. and decided to ride the rest of the way back and I stayed on and did a transfer to hopefully get back at a reasonable time. I'll be damn if metro isn't the slowest form of transportation at 10pm! I didn't get back home until 11:45pm. I probably spent longer waiting for the metro than riding it. Not sure what time the other guys got back, but their cars were still there. Next time just ride your bike damnit!

DT
posted by DT at 11:13:00 AM
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IGSSC 2005  
No information on where or what, but the date has been set for the IGSSC (Intergalactic Single Speed Championships). Here's the Off Camber post:

"The Intergalactic Single Speed Space Federation FINALLY got around to handing out the dates for this years IGSSC. This years event will take place - appropriately enough - on Halloween weekend, October 29, 2005. The Federation is withholding location information at this time, but it will be held somewhere within the Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana region: an area of approximately 433,868 square miles. We'll hand out details as they get transmitted in."

I've been hearing about the IGSSC since I've been a singlespeeder, but never been. Very seriously doubt I'll be able to make it this year, but damn does it sound and look like fun. If your out that way or you got the time/budget, definitely a must do.

DT
posted by DT at 12:05:00 PM
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Married Life  
The wedding and honeymoon are over. I'm back at work now, uhg! I tell you what though, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day or an even better week leading to the wedding and the week following the wedding. Here's my short version - The week before we were surrounded with lots of little tasks, but tons of friends and family were close by. Everything got accomplished and then some. The day of the wedding the sky was clear of clouds and shiny blue, stretching all the way down the beach. 80 degrees and gorgeous! The wedding went off without a hitch and before we knew it everyone was partying a whole 2 miles away at the reception, which I think everyone had a blast...I know I did. We jetted out to our hotel to change and refresh ourselves before heading back to the beach to hang out with family and friends. The next day we headed home, then dropped the Busterman off with my parents down in Ocean City. 6:00am bright and early on Tuesday morning, we flew to Aruba for a relaxing week of all inclusive indulgence, beach life, and even getting in the local paper.

Ok, I imagine some people would like more details, others have already stopped reading, so with that I give you the up until now private blog of my wife Kristin. If you want photos, check out this post - Photo Post. Enjoy!

DT
posted by DT at 11:44:00 AM
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TNS #33 - 09/20/2005  
Once again, it was just the three of us (Stoner, Spearman, and myself), so we decided to string the ride out a little longer and hit some good hills in Arlington. We started out by taking the PRT (Pimmit Run Trail) from my house all the way to Old Dominion Road. Good to start out with some easy dirt singletrack. We then button hooked on over to Chesterbrook Road on the paved streets. Had a nice little encounter with "fat guy in a little porsche" and I doubt he knew what hit him when our wrath passed him as he lay waiting for the red light...all of 100 yards where he passed us...ass. Once on Chesterbrook Rd. we started to take in some good size hills, fast descents into some medium grindage eventually up to Glebe Rd. and over to Military Rd. where I used to live.

Stoner took the time here to show Spearmint part of his commuting route. It is a hell of a steep hill and while they were checking that out I setup my light system now that it was growing dark. We took Military and rode the hills there. Good hills, not long enough that your going to die, but enough to get the heart rate up and keep it high for a bit. This was the first street I took my first fixie out on. My old blue fuji road bike from the 70's converted with a new 27" rear fixie wheel. I can still remember screaming down this hill running 53x16, almost throwing myself from the bike as I went to coast half way down the hill. I was lucky and managed to keep it together, but I only managed to make it a little more than half way up the ascent. Ah, memories.

We kept going straight until Steve took the lead and knew if we went left before Washington & Lee school, we could hook up to the Custis Trail. We found the route and took it back towards Lost Dog Cafe.

Since we had become alcoholics with a biking problem, we put in place a maximum drink order of two pints each. While drinking 5 pitchers of 10%+ beer and then riding home, making sure to jump out at each other in random places on the trail is fun and all, we figured it best to put the next day pain in our legs, not in our heads. We had a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and a Rogue Shakespeare Stout and we each got a little individual pizza. Pizza was good and the beer was good, but not great. The IPA seemed a little watered down.

Being this is Steve's area, he took us back to my place via the streets. We hit this one called Montana that was f'n steep. Hard grindage, barely turning the pedals, and eventually a little left to right action across the street. I managed all the climbs, but I was worked afterwards! The pizza helped me to recover a little. That whole cup of coffee at 7:00am and the piece of sourdough bread at 6:00pm, did little for my energy, ha. Eventually we ended up on Kirby Rd. and took a right on Great Falls Rd., then a left on Magarity and we were back at my place in no time. Back by 11:00pm we decided that since we were so good on the ride, we should have another beer. We hung out ouside and split a Grand Cru beer that Stoner had put in my fridge before we left (I forget who made it). Good Beligian beer with a pretty strong alcohol taste, 10% of course.

A good homecoming hill ride! No pics, but I think Stoner got one of the graffiti art we passed while riding the dirt.

DT
posted by DT at 11:13:00 AM
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