Well, I got in with a bike club here in Linton. The main guy's name is Chad, and nearly everyone in the club is carbon-fiber guy, but they all wear shorts and a t-shirt. What? Anyway. So I've been riding my steel bikes Tuesday and Thursday, and it's been freaking these guys out, since they can't imagine that a 30 year old bike can keep up. That said, here's a post I just put on bikeforums.net.

So I've been commuting since January or so on a Univega hybrid. Started out with flat bars, but they made my hands numb after 10 miles (one way to the old school). Then I put North Roads bars on it. Much better, and more hand positions. Helped me out, but it was still 700X38 with upright bars.

So I recently got in with a bike club. The Raleigh Pro has a dented rim (i.e. a BIG rock at 36 mph) and I'm rather broke. The Peugeot is a fixed gear with 42X13 gearing (i.e. not fast enough). I just got a Bridgestone kabuki that, with 700X32's can kinda keep up, but since the thing weighs 30 lbs, I'm dying. I figured, the Uni is relatively light, the chainrings are 28, 38, 48, and there's a local co-op that, the last time I was there had a 17-11 6 speed freewheel...

Here's the updates - aero brake levers, bar end shifters, drop bars, and the 17-11 gears. Figuring 100 rpm being the max (which it rather isn't), ideally I'd be hitting 30ish mph. Good enough for these guys, and it would still be gear-y enough for it to be a daily commuter.

Frickin' sweet. The way I see it, the uni is light enough to keep up, it's steel, I already have it, and it's tough enough. Besides all that, it has canti brakes, 700X28 tires (now, at least), and fenders. Rains on a ride? So what? hee hee...

Anyway, if you've made it this far in the post, the basic thing is that I'm taking my commuter and making it a quick-as-heck bike that is built in the Rivendell style and can motor with the best. Sweet.

Teh Interwebz!

Well ladies and germs, I'm back. I get to my new school, and their internet service is nearly as blocked as the internet service at my last one. Needless to say, I don't have blogging capabilities there. Anyway, I just moved completely into my new house here, and while I really like the house, I'm rather upset that everyone I love is much farther away than I had initially planned to have them. I.E. down the block. Oh well.

On a lighter note, I got all of my bicycles here, and I plan on getting serious in trying to take apart the Raleigh. That poor old Pro - I think what i'm going to do on Wednesday (God willing) is to take apart the bottom bracket and fill the tubes with ammonia. If that doesn't knock the seatpost and headset loose, nothing will. The previous owner (silly man that he was) must have parked this thing in the basement or somewhere equally as moist, because all of the aluminum parts are frozen into the frame, and there is nothing (and I MEAN nothing) that I could do to extract them - from twisting as hard as possible to banging with a hammer. Man, that oxidization is tough stuff. I'm shuddering at the idea of cutting off the Campy seat post and Cinelli stem just to get them out. I'm even further shuddering at the idea of taking off my beautifully shellacked handlebar tape to make it happen. *sigh*

In class though, we have just finished reading Beowulf in the senior class, and the students having watched the new film version absolutely hated the movie. Yes! My work is done.

And don't worry campers - as soon as I am able, I'll start posting snarky commentary on the ol' blog, but I just wanted to you guys to know that I truly am still alive and kicking. Believe it or not.