Post DINO Calm

 

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.