frosty

My hands are still in the warming up phase after the morning walk with the dogs.  Of course, that's my fault as I was wearing shorts and my Uconn hoodie... but whatever.  My eyes were watering so much it must have looked like I was crying.  I refuse to bundle up like it's winter... so now my hands are still cold.

Anyway.  Yesterday was the weekly social group ride.  Originally it was scheduled to be at the WWC, but rains on Sunday had the trails closed there, so venue was switched to Sherman.  With a late appointment with a client, and the trail switched to the opposite side of Charlotte, things were going to be tight.  On the drive over I shot TheMutt a text letting him know that they didn't need to wait on me, I would just catch up on the trail.  As it were, they hadn't hit the trail as I pulled in and everyone was gracious enough to wait as I got changed and ready to ride.  

I haven't ridden Sherman in a little bit, and since my last visit they have put in some great work out there rebuilding berms... the section is sweet!!  But, it looked like people were out there while it was wet as some of the berms were a bit torn up...

Afterwards we hit up the Kickstand for some food and beverages.  Good times all around.

Yesterday Fabian made a plea for me to hold out and wait on the I9s.  Part of me thinking that... but part of me had questions... do I want to wait however long, do I NEED I9s, etc.

The answer, sadly, is that I do not NEED I9s.  Yeah, I WANT them - who doesn't?  But when it comes down to it, I don't NEED them in order to ride and have fun.  And again, I've had this "build" going on for entirely too long.  It might have been different if I was still in New England and good riding weather was still a bit off.... but with no real off season here, and signs of spring all around, it's time to get the One9 up and running.

So, in order to get one giant step closer I put in my order this morning for my wheels - sans I9s, loaded with HOPE instead.  I've seen a lot of good stuff out in the tangled web of bike forums about them so I'm feeling that I won't be disappointed.

Ok, I might be disappointed if I were to ride my Hopes, then ride some I9s, and then my Hopes again... but that won't happen.  No one my size rides I9s anyway.  TheMutt rides a big ass bike, so I won't be throwing my leg over his steed to test them out.

So, what's the next step for the One9?  I'm going to collaborate with my LBS to get the last few parts ordered, the headset installed, the fork cut down some.  I'm on the fence on whether I should just have them throw the brakes on as well, or if I should do it myself.  I mean, that was the whole point of building it, to do some of this myself.