Wow,
three weeks sure does fly by. The truth is, things have been a bit quiet on the
cycling front since the DINO series ended. I've been riding a lot, including quite a few morning rides. The photo above comes from one of these rides.
Perhaps the biggest piece of unexciting-except-to-me news is that my
single speed issues have been resolved. A few weeks ago I decided I would just
need to go the chain tensioner route, but wanted a higher quality one than the
crappy Sette tensioner I have. Google searches suggested the Surly Singleator
as a viable, but expensive, alternative.
As
luck would have it, I was attending a swap meet/cycling garage sale. Low and
behold, the first table I stopped at had a Singlelatore for sale. The price?
$10. Sold.
Once
installed, I took the bike over to Fort Ben with a 20t on the back for a ride.
It was perfect. 15 miles with no dropped chain, and little to no noise from the
drive train as a whole. While the magic
gear option would have been nice, the current set up works just fine. Too bad I
didn’t get that figured out earlier.
Beyond this, I decided it was time to rebuild my much neglgected commuter bike.
 |
| The venerable Fuji commuter on my fancy improvised workstand. |
Unfortunately,
it has been going for over two years with only the barest of maintenance. My mountain bikes get all the love. While
I took a short sabbatical from commuting over the warmer summer months when
biking to work would mean me being covered in sweat, with cooler weather coming
in, the Fuji needed to rise again.
New
brakes pads, chain, cassette, and chainrings were needed. I had a spare Shimano Acera crankset mounted
to a bike my wife used to ride occasionally which were in almost new condition.
I removed these rings, and mated them to the stock Fuji crankset. (the Acera
cranks are too short for me)
Surprisingly,
the bottom bracket is as smooth as if it was new so that will stay for now.
Finally, I’ll be removing the 700 x 35s and switching back to 700 x 28s. Not
only do I plan to commute on this, but I would like to take a few road rides
over the winter as well. Presently, the project is trucking along, and should be done tomorrow. I made good headway this evening, including truing the wheels which is typically a chore for me. Hopefully the bike will be up and
running by Tuesday since cool temperatures are coming.
With
the DINO series having concluded, I’ve reverted back into training mode. My first
CX race is in mid October at the Cycloplex in Indianapolis. Last year I did cross races for fun, but this
year I decided to put together a loose training plan to get myself prepared. This
consists of intervals, short track racing at TR (PAIN), a skills day, grass
riding, and several recreational MTB rides tossed in.
In addition to the short track at Town Run,
this week I went to an open riding session at a cyclocross course set up at the
Cycloplex. A decent sized group of riders was there, mostly from the Shamrock
Cycles and Speedway Wheelman teams. They seemed to have a workout planned,
including starts and barrier training. I got there early and rode the course a
bit so I could remember how hard sustained riding on grass is. I then fell in
with the group and did a series of starts which were an excellent workout. Next
up were dismounts and barriers, which I bowed out of in favor of more course
riding. The short track the night before
caught up with me and I headed home. Overall it was a solid workout, although
the time has some to swap out the Reba for the carbon rigid.
Besides riding, I did have time for a camping trip to Shades State Park last weekend. Nice cool temperatures and sunny skis made for a fun weekend of hiking. Here are a few photos from the Trails 4 and 5 in the park. Apologies for some of the fuzziness. Camera phone wasn't quite up to the task.
