It's all About the Bike

Last night we watched the Robin William's move RV.

In this movie, Robin Williams rents an RV and takes his family across the country. Its one of those hokey family movies with bratty kids who get it in the end and they all become the loving family they forgot how to be.

The family mounts their bicycles to the back of the RV. During the 1/2 half of the movie, my son is just fixated on the last bike on the rack. The bike finally got a part in the movie; took a mountain bike ride before biting the pavement and bashing into pieces. My son talked non-stop about the
bike the rest of the night. It is a pretty cool bike, specially made for this movie.

Out of all the stuff in the movie, he focuses on the bike. I am PROUD, I have taught him well.

The View From The River

We went snowmachining down to the river behind my home.

It was a beautiful day. We had a fire and roasted hotdogs and spicy buffalo sausages.

Morning Fuel

I like my white chocolate mocha every morning. I can give up beer/booze and food easier than my mocha. I'm an addict and I like it.

Being an addict sometimes causes me to take what I can get, when I can get it.

I recently ran out of coffee beans. I was at X-mart and took a stroll down the coffee/soda isle. Feeling weak and fuzzy from withdrawal, I grabbed a big bag of cheap coffee beans. I swear I felt a tiny surge just knowing I had "the beans" in my cart. I immediately went to the cashier, paid for my stash and went directly home.

Leaving everything else I had just purchased in the bags and in my truck, I grabbed the beans and went into the kitchen. Edgy with anticipation, I ground the beans. The sound sent comforting waves through my brain. I brewed the coffee, steamed the milk to a luscious froth. It was ready, I drank. It did the job. I continued using the cheap beans from X-mart. I got used to them, they became normal, even good.

Then Bike Guy gave me a bag of this coffee for Christmas. The first thing I noticed, even before opening the bag, was the aroma. Ohhh it was goood. And next the color of the beans, deep, dark and oily. I ground and brewed and drank.

Clarity came within seconds. I had sunk very low....I had been drinking anorexic coffee.....pale, dry, small beans, no aroma, not much flavor.

I have pulled myself out of the spent, soggy coffee-ground strewn gutter and am now back to coffee that is worthy of my addiction.

Another reason to ride Bikes

Kona Zing

Ok, I did it. Again. No, this has nothing to do with Brittany Spears gyrating her bellybutton and there is no "oops". Like someone could "accidentially" buy a bike.

My K2 road bike will keep the riser bars, lights, racks, trunk, combo clip/platform pedals and will be my summer commuter bike.

My Zing will be my leasure, long distance road bike. Bike Guy, once again, gave me a great deal.

Capt'n Balance doesn't know it's a done deal yet, I have been telling him "indirectly". Sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness that it is to ask for permission. I don't anticipate any issues, he will most likely roll his eyes, ask if I will actually use it (well, YEAH) and go back to his projects.

Thank you George, for passing your wisdom on to me...

"Bikes are like golf clubs, you need a different one for different situations.

It's not like they cost as much as a new car or anything....you only live once:-)"

That just about says it all. I think that will help Capt'n Balance understand.

I looked at a Kona Lisa, the women's specific Zing, but it turns out I am taller than the average

American female...HUH?? I'm 5'6". I never thought I was on the tall side. So the Lisa didn't fit right.

Bike Guy also offered my a deal on a all carbon Felt, but it was, in reality, too much bike for me. I'm not a racer and I am concerned about my shoulder, which has much less pain but still isn't a strong or move quite like it used to.

While I'm admitting secrets, I confess I like the Geico Caveman commercials.

Sean Spence

Is a man with a mission. He is going to ride his bike from Missouri to Manhattan to raise funds and awareness of Multiple Sclerosis. Anyone who has been reading my blog for awhile knows I have been fighting this monster for years and a few times I didn't think I would survive it.

So check out his blog Missouri to Manhattan.

33 Degrees ABOVE 0!

Over a 60 degree difference in just a few days...That's life in Alaska.

Here is a pictured of the mom and baby moose visitors we had the other day.

We were also able to see the McNaught Comet a few days ago. I got a few pictures but they didn't turn out very well.

I was coming up the stairs at my home after I got home from work and looked out the window and there it was...the comet. We had no idea there would be a comet visible, hadn't heard a thing about it, so we are looking out the window, speculating about what it was, way tooo huge to be a jet or plane and it looked like a comet. I friend came over a little later and we told him about it, he comfirmed it was a comet. Check it out at www.space.com. It's a cool site if you're a space cadet. The skys have been cloudy since so we haven't seen it again but it is partially clear today so maybe we will get a glimps of it again tonight.

Supposed to go snowmachining again today, but things don't seem to be working out as planned. The days are starting to get longer here, it's no longer pitch black when I get out of work, there is a little bit of a "glow" in the sky.

I have been debating if I want to get another road bike. I converted my road bike into a commuter with riser bars and that has been the main use for it, going back and forth to work. It's a pain to remove the lights and racks so I can just take it out and go on a long leasure ride. Also after 40 miles, my hands are begging for alternate positions. I have looked into bar ends but I don't like my hands so widely spread to the ends of the bar and I don't have enough room on the bars to put them on the inside of the grips.

Ok, so overall it may be a lame excuse or maybe not, but the pain is real. I could have drop bars put back onto my bike but that will also require a new fork as this one was cut down. I would replace the fork with a carbon one, overall it would cost about $400 to covert it. For a few hundred more, I could have another bike. Or I could buy a new couch. Couch (potato) or Bike.....couch....bike...couc.....bike....cou...Bike......c....BIKE.

I still haven't decided. It will have to be a good fit, Bike Guy has a Felt picked out that he thinks I would be extremely happy with. Of course it has only 2 chainrings....scary, it's like committing to be tougher than I may actually be. I just don't want MORE bike than I am worthy of. And I haven't actually committed to another bike....right??

-31 degrees F. This Morning

Yeah, you are reading that correctly. 31 below 0 F.

My truck heater never let out a single breath of warm air on my drive to work.

We had frozen water pipes. Not good.

Got them thawed out but had a cold shower.

2 moose were in our yard yesterday eating the birch tree. I will post some pictures later.

The ice has been bad, roads are very slick. So far, 3 vehile accidents within 1 mile of my office. 2 in one day, on my way home, 1 on each side of the road.

Today a REALLY bad one, in the same spot as yesterdays. A truck lost control, had a head-on with another truck. Scary. The trucks were ripped apart and crumpled.

Be careful out there, everyone!

Ban Hummers

This is not a political blog, but here is my $.02 on this particular topic.

Bicycles out sell cars in Australia. Will America ever figure it out or will the HUMMER remain the King of Excess Waste?

While I'm not anti-vehicle/gas/oil - survival in Alaska would be very difficult without it (think 3rd world survival mode), I am for using resources responsibly. I am anti-HUMMER and I'm not the only one.

BTW, temperatures are something like 20 degrees BELOW 0. Too cold to ride. My face is chapped/peeling a little from windburn/cold weather, even with a balaclava. Time to let it heal. I don't want to look like THIS - call me vain, I can handle it.

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Traded Tires for Tracks

We decided to go for a snowmachine (snowmobile) ride on New Years day. I haven't been on my machine in 2 years due to lack of snow. We have made up for the lack of snow. So much snow that my office was closed down at 3pm today due to poor weather conditions.

We went down to the huge riverbed behind our home. We tried getting to a place were we go to camp sometimes, but a tributary blocked our path. It was too deep to cross.

My snowmachine does not have reverse, so the guys had to muscle it around.

There is soo much power that it was difficult to see, also the light was so flat it was hard to see any detail or bumps. We just had to be careful and not blast around crazily. Also, it's difficult to determine the edge of the Matanuska River, which is huge. If you go in, you are gone for good. So we were sticking close to areas we knew were well away from the main river.

I LOVE THE SNOW!

Bike SOLD!

We had a busy but enjoyable Christmas. Now I am trying to catch up on missed sleep, just in time to get off schedule again due to New Years, but it's all good!

A friend came over last night and we were hanging out in the bike shop. He spotted the rebuilt Takara and offered to buy it right there. So I sold my first rebuild. WooHoo! Friend also has some other bikes he said he will pay me to tune-up and another friend wants his wife's bike tuned up. So it looks like I may have a few side jobs for minor stuff. It works for me.

Bike Kid's K2 Hardtail is all tuned-up, works as good as new. Now I'm disecting Capt'n Balance's 20 year old rigid Cannondale.

We had a difficult time getting the rear wheel off, the axle bolt on 1 side was seized. Fourtunately he never had a flat tire on any of our rides last summer, there would have been no way to get that tire off with a bike multi-tool. Not impossible to fix a flat with the tire on the bike, but more difficult.

I overhauled the hubs last night, good thing a few friends were over, there was NO WAY I was going to get the freewheel off. It took 2 guys, both well over 6 ft tall, much bigger than Capt'n Balance (although the Capt'n is very strong) and huge hands, as big a frying pan, straining to get that freewheel off. 20 years of tightening with each pedal stroke, you can imagine how tight it was.

Then flushed out the freewheel with lube, put it all back together and mounted the Ice Spikers. Way easier to get those tires on than the Nokian on my bike.

Today I will overhaul the roller-cam brakes, the rollers don't roll anymore. Replace the chain, lube up the cables, replace if necessary. I'm not going to get into the bottom bracket today, maybe in a few weeks. It rotates nice and smooth with no play, so I think it's fine for now.

Hopefully we will be up for a ride tomorrow. I don't plan on celebrating too much tonight, I don't like missing a day to recover.

Happy New Year!

Studs

Sorry guys, I'm not talking about you

I bought Capt'n Balance Schwalbe Ice Spiker studded tires.

They are damn sexy....as studs should be

There is something about bad boys that attract girls, and these are some Bad Boy tires.

Now to all you guys, it's a known fact that bike guys are stud-ly, so puff out your chests, grab a beer, do some struttin and tell some lies, you are a STUD.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Shopping

We rented a hotel room in Anchorage Friday night so we could do our annual massive
Christmas shopping all in 1 trip.

I have only been able to suprise Capt'n Balance 1 time out of the 7 Christmas' we have been married, I THINK this might be year #2!!! This year, he told me about a good sale Lowes was having on a small circular saw/drill combo. I went and got it after work one evening and hid it away when I got home. About 2 days later, he asked me if I got the tools....I said no, like I could really tell him I did. So then he said he was going to head into town and buy it because it's a really good deal. Well, what could I do? I told him I did get it so don't go buy another. Sheesh.

He mentioned a while back that he also would like some power shears. He builds many metal building, such as my bike shop and all the other little outbuildings on the farm here. He used to professionally build metal pole barns, which is why it was relatively inexpensive to build my bike shop. I don't know what he has been using to cut the metal lately, but he said he needed another power shear. So I went back to Lowes the other day and purchased one and hid it away.

So yesterday, while we were still in Anchorage, he takes us to a pawn shop to look at power sheers. I'm thinking "S***" and decide I'm am NOT going to say anything. I will let him buy one and then he will have 2 or he can return the one I purchased. He ended up not purchasing one at the pawn shop, so whew. I think he will be suprised.

I purchased myself a cable stretcher tool from REI as well as 25 ft of cable and brake housing and some teflon coated cables. The REI salesman was asking if we needed any help, only he keeps looking at and talking to Capt'n Balance, ignoring me, although I'm the one holding the tool, cables and housing. Capt'n Balance told him to talk to me, not him, as I'm the one who in into bikes. I told him I had everything I needed, thanks anyway.

I was looking at truing stand, decided against it for now. I am going to start replacing all the cables on Bike Kid's hardtail and put on new chains on his hardtail and my road bike. Maybe I will then start on project bike #2, a Shwinn Super Sport. I was reading about this bike, it has a handbuilt frame with brass brazings or something like that. It's special due to the way it's built, according to the guy who wrote this website.

I took a nice, short ride last night in the falling snow, I love it!! I need to get the lights up on this new used winter bike so I don't get splattered.

What is this tool??

I got the brake cables on the Takara. There must be an easier way to pull the cables taut. I improvised and got them nice and tight but it took some work. I have come to realize I don't have much hand strength. I'm a wimp. I used to rock climb and my hands were much stronger. I have to start working on that.

I used a Dremel tool for the first time to get a clean cut on the cable housing. I have some housing cutters but have a hard time getting a clean cut due to pour hand strength, also the cutter handles spread too far apart, my hands are too small, they are too big. So I got out the dremel. Capt'n Balance fortunately warned me to expect sparks. It was a little scary a first, sparks flying, the sound and the smell. Then it go to be kinda fun. The housing came out nice and smooth, no burrs.

The other day I was using the air compressor to blow dry the bottom bracket bearing/cassette. I had it over my thumb with the bearings on my thumbnail. The air was making it spin really fast, which caused it to make a really cool whirring sound. I thought that was pretty neat so I was playing around with it a little. Then I see a bearing fly out and feel pain in my thumg. The edges of the bearing cassette are pretty thin and flexible. It snagged on my thumb after the bearing flew out. I was sure there would be some missing skin/blood, but no, just some pain. So now I know not to play that way anymore. Then I went to the bike shop and Bike Guy gave me a new bearing.

Anyway, I purchased a cheap box of generic tools a while back. I have this tool, and have NO IDEA what it is used for. Anyone know what it is?

I was also checking out the prices of tensiometers, holy ****. $$$!!!!!!!

It will have to wait a bit.

Bike Shop Happenings

Been busy tinkering away in the SHOP in my spare time. I have been working on a project bike, a woman's Takara 6 speed. I got it free from a neighbor. It was pretty seized up, wheels didn't turn, steering locked, brakes frozen, bent rim and dry as a bone. So far I have overhauled the headset, bottom bracket, both hubs, de-seized the seatpost, new tires and tubes, trued the wheels, found the rear wheel was too bent to true, purchased new wheel, added a new freewheel and chain. Just need to replace the derailleur and brake cables, maybe one of the brake handles, and it should be good to go. It's pretty simplistic.

So once it is finished, I will have yet another bike. I'm not really in the need for another bike so I think I will give it to a lady at work, she tells me pretty often she really enjoyed riding her bike, she would like something better than the X-mart bike she has but she can't afford to get one. So if she wants it, it's hers. And guarenteed to work better than what she currently has. If she doesn't want it, I will hang on to it until I find someone who does.

Next on the agenda is to tune up Bike Boy's 1st bike, the K2 hardtail. It has mechanical disk brakes, I replaced the pads today, just that made a huge difference. I couldn't get the new pads in the rear caliper, so made some adjustment so I could slide it in. Then new cables and housing all around. May have to get one of the cogs replaced on the cassette or will have to get a new derailleur hanger. Either the cog is bent/worn or the derailler is not hanging straight. Also a new chain for that bike, my Santa Cruz and my roadie turned commuter. My road bike is overdue for a chain and I plan on replacing the chain on my Santa Cruz annually. Bike Guy will keep the Santa Cruz tuned up until I get more experience. I don't want to tinker on that bike.

While I was in the bike shop picking up the new wheel for the Takara, I was telling Bike Guy how I tried to true up the old one. He then handed me the spoke wrench and told me go true up the new wheel. Gulp - ok, I have about 10 minutes of experience, I was using the brake as the truing guide, I have to talk out loud to myself to remember counterclock-wise on the spoke which goes to the opposite side of the bend to tighten it, clockwise on this side to loosen, blah, blah, plus the fact that BIKE GUY is watching.

Talk about performance anxiety.

So I start twisting and talking, twisting and spinning a few times. Then I just bail out. I had him the wrench and he has it done perfectly in 3 minutes or less. I start kicking myself on the drive home, I should have taken better advantage of the situation and learned something about truing wheels. Darn.

The weather here is COLD and we have NO SNOW. What little we had blew away.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!