oh crap!

The weather was so glorious (and I didn't have time to get to a trail) last Thursday that I decided to take Georgia for a spin around the neighborhood - maybe scout out a nice fast looper.

Things were going swell for the first block or so.... until I tried to switch from big to little ring.  POP.  Nothing.  I stopped and noticed tons o' slack in the cable to my front derailleur.  I attempted to shift back up.... stiff shifting and little movement in the derailleur itself.  Pop, pop, POP.  

Decision time - big ring or little ring, as I wasn't going to get movement during the ride.  I decided for a spinnier little ring ride.  

I have no idea what the deal was/is.  I haven't ridden Georgia since mid-September and everything seemed fine then?  Since then I've looked and cleaned and no real improvements.  Popping shifters and little movement on the derailleurs part (without assistance from my damn hand!).  

Well, I guess this will be a job for the LBS - I just hope it isn't a major deal.  On the bright side, I guess it will give me a chance to see what the shop can do in the bike build department to help me out (headset/bottom bracket install, wheel build, maybe brake install while it's in there as well) in the future.

Brighter side... I can still ride the dirt!!  

Thanks to all the men and women who have served our country!

http://www.combatreform.org/atb.htm

http://www.combatreform.org/atb.htm

Fresh

On my ride into work last week and my ride on Saturday I came to one glorious conclusion.... there is NOTHING better than nice, fresh, buttery smooth asphalt!!

On my ride into work I was going along at about 16mph and all of a sudden I hit it.  Fresh asphalt.  I swear nothing changed - cadence, power, nothing.  BUT, my speed went up at least 2 mph.  For real!!  It was amazing.  It felt sooooooo good... but of course it was a short stint and then back to the cracked vibration laden road surface.

I hit the same phenomenon this Saturday as I was cranking out nearly 50 miles.  This time the freshness was on an incline.  The smooth black-gold seemed to pull me up hill, and I took full advantage!  I just opened it up and flew up hill.  It was nothing short of glorious!! 

I picked up Georgia from the LBS yesterday after getting the complimentary tune up (had some miss-shifting and ghost shifting going on) and got the steer tube chopped so now I'm all "pro."  As I picked up Georgia I dropped off the HiFi to get the steer tube chopped on it - again, I'll be all "pro" with the stem slammed.  The guy at the shop complimented me on, what he considered "a nice stable going on there."  I thanked him and mentioned how lucky I was to have such a great and understanding wife.  And then I mentioned the next addition would be a singlespeed.  To which he replied he had just built one up for himself, so he brought it out to show me. 

A thing of beauty it was.  He built up a Sawyer with belt drive.  I got to take it for a spin around the parking lot, smooth!  The frame was a little heavy, but he put on all super light components to help combat the initial weight.  But man, that thing is sexy, looks like a piece of art!!