Cornbread: October 2010

Maiden Voyage

New bike day! Took the new Independent Fabrication cross bike out to Wilderness Park for the first ride. Very happy with the ride quality. Titanium bikes are rad and damn sexy. Custom bikes are the only way to go for tall guys like myself.

Still trying to get things dialed in, but it's a labor of love. The bike is set up geared for the remainder of cross season, but will be SS for Winter riding.

Wills helped finish up the new bike last night. Thanks again, buddy! Also, big thanks to Kris, Butch, Nathan, Damon and the rest of the Cycle Works crew for all their help.

Saturday!

Needs more steerer tube

Blurry pic of new bike coming together. Worked on it last night and got most of it done. All it needs now are cables, bar wrap, and a few other adjustments. Maiden voyage tomorrow...maybe.

Tech break!

Rode out to Branched Oak Area 7 today with a small crew. Got a lap in on the single track. Love that place.

Malcolm General Store refuel

More gravel tomorrow at 8 AM from D Street.

Cautiously optimistic

Early action in the Masters race

Another day, another really fun race which was superbly run by the promoters. Kudos to the EVCC team yesterday and the same to the Flatwater Team today. My hats off to the Flatwater Cycling Team for all the sweat equity invested into making Van Dorn Park a fun and fast cyclocross venue. It's awesome to have a cross course right in the heart of good ole Lincoln. Rode to the race. Gotta love that!

After racing this weekend I'm feeling alright about cyclocross. Maybe I'm finally getting it. Or maybe I did alright cuz the big guns were in Louisville, KY. As Jesse put it, "We're the Lincoln JV All-Stars". Ha, maybe we are, but I'll gladly wear that badge of honor. It's a lot better than my usual of getting lapped every race!

Well, that was fun.

Cyclocross is the antithesis of my usual cycling endeavours. The cross races are short in duration (an hour or less) and distance (today's race was only about a dozen miles) and the effort is beyond my ideal threshold for enjoyment. Being that said, I always struggle with the transition to cross. This year was no exception. Now that I've got my first official race (Skyview Classic in Norfolk) under my belt I'm happy to report that I'm excited for more.

New Bike Day soon!

Parts are all organized and ready to go. Frame and fork will be here next week. Super excited. Been dreaming of this bike for years.

Been riding a lot recently with this guy

Matt Wills rockin' the Soulcraft Holy Roller SS Pinky through Wilderness Park. Thanks for the rides good buddy!

Trying to get serious

Well, if I intend on giving an honest effort at a cross race this weekend I should probably convert the IF from gravel mode to more of a cross set up. Pump, second bottle cage, and saddle bag are gone. Lighter wheelset with less beefy cross racing specific rubber installed. No more excuses. Just ride balls to wall for an hour. It's gonna be a blast.

Night ride!

Been doing a lot of night rides over the past few weeks in between being down and out of action with a cold and allergies. Hopefully the beautiful weather will continue thru the rest of the Fall so we can keep on riding. Last night was another perfect ride. Perfect temperature, perfect company, and perfect moonlight. Jupiter and the moon were shining bright last night. If you haven't been riding after the sun goes down you're missing out on some of the best riding that Fall has to offer.

Wilderness Park sure is beautiful this time of year

Back in Amish country

I'm back home in Northeastern Ohio to see the folks this weekend. Haven't seen the family in over a year so this is a long overdue trip. The folks are doing great and are really enjoying retirement.

We went out for a bike ride yesterday on a local rails to trails path. I borrowed a bike (road hybrid stylee) from a family friend and did my best to make it fit. Seatpost to the max on that 56 cm! Toe clips and sneakers with no bike shorts. Flashback to my first few rides on a "real" bike.

The info we got from our family friend indicated the local trail was about 27 miles long. So we figured I could ride the length and back to get an honest 50+ miler while my folks rode around for a bit on their hybrids. I had one bottle with me and figured I could fill up somewhere along the ride. The trail is beautiful. All paved and runs thru some picturesque countryside. Ran into a lot of folks out enjoying the day. Even came across an Amish family a few times collecting wood (see pic above). I told my folks I should be able to finish the ride in a few hours. Time flew by as I rode. Eventually I got to the end of the trail. It took me a lot longer than expected. After so calculating I figured there must have been some underestimation of distance. The trail is actually a little over 40 miles. So the 50+ miler ended up being an 80 miler. Unfortunately I ran out of water on the way down and didn't have any luck finding water for the ride back. Needless to say things got a little pastey on the way back. Still was a great ride.

Hope everyone is getting some great rides in back in corn country. See yall soon.