Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Ice Ice Ice Ice...

So The clive greenbelt trail (skating rink) is ridable, if your bike has studded tires and a very good mountain bike rider (not me) the small( 100yard) patches of ice are challenging, but the ones at the bottom of small hills are the worst.  I almost spilled my beer when I rode up the "hill" at the bottom of the freeway underpass in colby park.  This is not going to work we need to plow and ice melt these trails or we could have serious drinking problems( it's hard to drink it when it's on the ground).  So squirrel needs to start making those chain tires in bulk for us poor commuters that can't give up our bike yet....

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Ice-Hole

I rode to work yesterday in the ice slush not to bad actually had ice covering my rain coat.  The way home however the trail was ice skate quality.  So some thing that are  normally simple like riding over a small hill become very difficult.  I made it all the way to mcdonalds before I fell down though.  The small incline of the car wash driveways started my bike fishtailing and there was no recovery.  But I got up walked off the trail and rode the streets home.  

Friday, December 26, 2008

Warm.....

Today I got the first Fixie ride in since the snow... so like  4 weeks.  I also got to ride with a "crazy" guy on a tall bike.  I've never seen a tall bike in use just pictures but it was like watching a circus performer without safety equipment riding a bike you have to have a strategy to dismount on the street is crazy but having people take pictures of you from there cars is kind of cool..  It would be cooler if the tall bike was a brakeless fixed gear or a TBBFG awesome.....  

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Cold

Yesterday morning commute = Cold
My coffee had frozen by the time I got to work.  I was mostly frozen.  Today looks a lot worse -7 does not brighten up my morning.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Hiking Teacup (RIP rollercoaster)





Today was a good day for a snow hike. Since the cycling conditions aren't very good I have started taking the kids out for hikes.  The cold temp and wooded area silence the complaining of small children and is healthier than sitting at home and drinking beer.  Still miss mountain biking maybe with this snow denmans will be more ridable, rollercoaster looked almost ridable today. Maybe with squirrels chain tires and preride beers, postride beers, duringride beers, and Foamdome Helmet.




Winter Commuting


Now I'm ready for winter....
Studded tires    check
fenders       check
Rack for Beer   check
Handlebar mounted beer     check...



But no long rides the beer starts to freeze in the 0 degrees after about 5 minutes..

Thursday, December 18, 2008

May the Force Be with you...




Well actually the "Force" (My new SRam force group) will be with me so the force will not be with you because I'm faster than you. So I've Upgraded to Sram and thrown out all my Shimano crap (any one need some dura ace stuff to weigh there bike down with?)
And the worst part is I can't even ride this bike because it can't stop snowing..


So This bike is DONE..

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Cold as hell

This morning it was 50 degrees outside and when I got to go ride it was 17 degrees outside..Denmans is  a lost cause totally covered in ice. So I went and rode my mountian bike around west des moines for an hour or so and ended up at the Stadium for some $3 24oz beers and warm up for a while.. not a bad day but warmer weather would be great.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Fixedgeargallery crap


So if I had 3k to spend on a bike I would Build a fixedgear with aerowheels and NO BRAKES. 
I could go fast  and not be able to stop...


But this is the problem with letting retarded people use brazing torches and bike parts I mean what the heck is this? I know this is for the drunk passenger your giving a ride home to after the drinking ride they can pedal too.  This could be the start fixie tandems? 


Fixedgeargallery crap

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Done!



This Bike is Done! Well even though it was a fully functional bike when I purchased it.  That didn't stop me from taking it all apart and completely changing it around. besides I know alot more than bianchi 

Bianchi                                       Courtney
42x17 Fixed                                38X15 Fixed
42X17 Freewheel                      38x19 Freewheel
Plastic pedals                             SPD (Duh)
Plastic seat                                 Brooks (like I would sit on plastic)
3/32 Chain                                  1/8  
No Levers                                   cane creek crosstops
Black Bar tape (boring)            Some Brownish tape 
Clean bike                                   mud, gravel, dust, snow 

And I got the Chain line straight...

And Because this bike is done.
I have taken apart my rode bike and ordered a bunch of parts for it...
since I also know more about components than Trek....

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Knife To a gun fight

Yesterday I "finished" modifing my fixie cross bike.  So I decided to try out my new freewheel gearing in denmans (38x19) the gear ratio was perfect but no matter how great cross bikes work on single track in the summer they are worthless in the snow.  It took me 45 min. to get through denmans.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Fixedgeargallery gold



Okay so I make fun of the BFG but.. This..
Is the coolest fixed gear that I have ever seen in person.  I saw this bike at a bike world a few weeks ago and after I saw it on fixedgeargallery I decided I had to at least say, some brakeless fixed gears are cool....  Hope to see this on  a bar ride.?  So If this is your bike I'll race ya..

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

More Snow!!!

This snow thing is getting old..
I still stopped at Giffs for tacos they still taste good even without a mountain bike ride

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Good day for hiking


What were You doing at 9am?
Today seemed like a Good day to take Patrick and Abbie To hillside for a hike.  
"You want me to walk in the snow?"
 This Tree is so much easier to clear on a bike....

Watch out there's ground there!

Get Back Here wait for the old guy...


At 4 pm I decided Denmans is probably frozen still and would be a good place for a ride.  I broke through new snow so no one else thought it was ridable,  not bad other than it took me 40min to ride all the way through.  Squirrel needs to have a snow quarter rage...(hint hint)

BFG!!



Some days when it is to cold to ride it's fun to look at Fixedgeargallery.com not to get ideas but to make fun of everyone elses bad ones. So here is the best BFGs today...


This BFG (Brakeless Fixed Gear) Is so new the spay can it was painted with is holding the bike up still.  To bad I didn't invent that pedal holding block. Spinergy wheels will help this rider go faster but he won't be able to stop 


This BFG was made to match the kitchen where the picture was taken.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Studs

After 2 Days Of snow commuting I think I've been missing out on winter riding Studded snow tires are awesome.  Now I finally get a day off to go to denmans and it is going to be 45 and muddy I wanted to try the snow.