It's still riding, but different…

Went to visit family in Virginia and took the opportunity to snag my father's motorcycle early this morning.  It's a different brand of fun, but it still only has 2 wheels and is outside.

I will take it!

Father's day and the Single Speed...

It is a little early for Father's Day, but Megan was thinking ahead and decided to offer up using the Father's day excuse to get more goodies.  Price Point has the Gravity Dropper Turbo LP on sale for $220.  30% off and it is something I feel will be beneficial. Since the Some has a 27.2 seatpost my options are limited.  The Thomson was top of my list... but just because it is Thomson and I have had good luck with them.   So I read reviews from multiple sites and felt for half the price of the Thomson, this was worth a shot.  

The main complaints I saw were regarding the mounting hardware for the remote.  There are aftermarket replacements, so if I have a problem, I will just replace it.  Still a huge savings.

This particular model is up or down.  I can see where the incremental post would be nice, but going from a rigid post to this post - I will be very happy.

Good Purchase!  Happy Father's Day to me!

Another Saturday - Another Road Ride.

80kms of Road biking fun!  If you believe stava and garmin, we covered 100m of climbing and burned quite a few calories.  No real exciting news... just another fun ride with a fun group!

Ride 4 using only 1 gear ratio. Ride 1 with the Endless Cycles Setup...

I was excited to play with new toys... who isn't?

Conditions were on the muddy side today, however everything was passable... at least with regards to the mud.  Steep climbs and roots caused plenty of other issues... then add into it I took a new to me trail at one point...  lots of Hike-a-bike. These first four picture are from roughly 1 mile from my front door.  It is a long steady climb with some fun technical bits here and there and 2 sections I have not cleared with a geared bike... so I shoot to match, but never beat my geared abilities.

 

Some of the fun of riding trails in japan...  This is the resting place for the "god" of this particular mountain.  People leave money and offerings in thanks.  From the trail, it look like you see in this picture.  When you walk up to it, you see a broom and dustpan and some other little artifacts to continue to do the upkeep.  It's the little things.  :)

After I broke off from my normal route, I ended up on a section of trail.  This is not something I am expecting to ever clear... One one of the downhill sections there were trees not leaving enough room to clear.  Luckily I don't bomb down hills I am not familiar with.  Both times I was able to stop prior to disaster.

When the "new to me" trail spit me back out onto a trail I knew - I was able to get down to the river and clean up my legs a bit.  In one of the nastier areas, I used the rear brake a significant amount to modulate speed.  At one of those tree issues - my right calf made contact with the rotor... for the first time ever, I got a rotor burn from a bicycle.

My thoughts on the conversion - 

• It was different mentally.  When I did not shift prior to the conversion, I knew I could.  Even though I never did shift... it is mentally different.  The security blanket is gone.
• It is clean.  No chain chatter, not rear mechanical clicking away.  You can confidently stutter pedal over obstacles with no fear of throwing the chain.
• There were a couple climbs I truly was thinking I should have gone lower.  Other times, it seems just right.
• On the trail, I never really thought about the drive train and if I liked it.  That seems perfect.  There was nothing coming from the drive train to distract me from riding.

Shanna (Endless bike) is betting I will fall in love with single speeds...
Today, I think my best single speed accessory today was good trail running shoes.
While I know I did more miles on the bike than pushing it, the time spent pushing was slow going

When the hikers need ropes to climb sections - the bike needs good balance to carry the bike up the same sections.

The Bike Conversion!

The parts from Endless Cycle have arrived and it is time for the build!

Off -
XTR Rear Mech
XTR Shifters (F+R)
XT Front Mechanical
XT Cassette
XT Rings
XT Chain

On -
Endless Bike "The Odd 1" Ring 33T
Endless Bike "Kick Ass Cog" 22T
Endless Bike Spacer Kit
KMC Z410 Chain

Once stripped, it was time to install.
Tolerances were tight.  "The Odd 1" chain ring required a tad bit of patience at the was less than 1mm of issues.  Torquing things down slowly and deliberately allowed things to ge without the need for a dremel or a file.  The "Kick Ass Cog" was also tight getting on the freehub.  The scarring from the cassette cause for patience and a bit of pressure to get it into place.  The spacer kit from Endless was also nice.  All kinds of spacing combos are possible using the least amount of spacers.  The kit works best with a Shimano 12T lockring... I have an 11T... so a 12 has been ordered.

When you order a bunch of stuff from small companies versus saving $5 but buying it from a retailer, you get extra swag.  I was the lucky recipient of some stickers and a leather coozy.  This is going to sound awful to some people... but I used that coozy with a coke to test it out.

Chain line seems to be pretty much spot on.  It becomes a struggle to eyeball it when the chain stays are curved and at an angle.

If you look closely, you can see the little bit of metal deformed on the very outer edge of the crank. When I realized how soft the metal was there, I decided I could just ease the ring on vs shaving the crank.

Wasted Week - From a riding standpoint.

Between rain and the mysterious crud I came down with on Monday, this has been a lost week for riding.
Tomorrow appears to be a rain out as well...  ugh... if I can fight off the crud, maybe hiking tomorrow - just to get outside.

Cross Training... The Road Bike...

Every Saturday I road ride.  I meet up with a small group from the Ikego Base in Zushi and we ride over to meet with another group from Yokosuka.  The ride is pretty much clockwork - 65-90kms over a few hours.  No big climbs, but enough hills to get my heart rate up and get me out of the saddle.

This past Saturday I felt bed from start to finish.  The end had me on the edge of cramps...  after getting home and showering, I had a few minor cramps in the quads that made for an uncomfortable few hours.

As the temperatures rise, so does my suffering on this ride.