KrautFed

Hey guys, my fixed gear came in last night. Kind of sucks though because they were supposed to call me before they shipped it, so now I have no tires, tubes, bar tape, etc and will have to wait until next week for the stuff to get in and ride.

I guess it gives me time to mount my bike rack/carrier on my car.

KrautFed

OK I'm an idiot... I shipped it to my parents place, I get there and its a COMPLETE COMPLETE bike. The tires & tubes were mounted and the front pumped up and everything. I didn't have a presta converter to pump up the rear so I'm taking it over there tonight for losing my virginity of a fixed gear. I went ahead and assembled everything but the brakes last night... the front wheel, the pedals, the handlebars, and seat post/saddle. It is a VERY sharp looking bike (Mark V), but even at 62cm, its a lot smaller than I imagined. I did not get to put my weight on it, but I now know what "track geometry" means.

I have to umpire tonight and saturday, so I might not get too much seat time on it this weekend, but at least I will get some. I'm not going to go out on any group rides for a while on it until I feel comfortable. Speaking of which, I'm not sure how many Tues. night rides I will get to do. I'm starting to spar in boxing on Tuesday nights.

my father: "I understand flats and even climbing a hill, but how are you going to get down off of Red Mountain on that thing"
me: "If I didn't have good cadence before, I will have to learn before I hit the bottom"
my father: "I think you should ditch the toe straps and go with clipless"

KrautFed

Yup, dad rides. He's down to 200lbs and wants to ride more. I don't think he'd ride fixed.


I learned a very very VERY VERY importan lesson this weekend. I put about 10 miles or so on the fixed. Don't ever EVER ever-ever-ever-ever try to stand up to cushion a bump while riding fixed. I saw my life flash before my eyes at ~20mph but saved it. My manhood was probably the only thing really hurt, but it sure did slow the rest of my ride down.


I can regulate my speed on flat terrain, but I'm still terrified of going down hills without using (riding) the brake. I'm still nervous about bringing the bike back to Irondale for MtBrook rides.

BlkGuitarRedCar

hey joe im picking my new bike up tomorrow from cahaba cycles. I went with the Trek 4300disc. Talk about a big upgrade from my walmart mongoose

af2nr

I did the race and it was very cold to say the least. It would have been GREAT if not for the cold but it was a great experience none the less. It was a little weird racing on the track and having all that room to move about without having to worry about cars or corners...

Shadowcaver

Greetings from a fool who lived in the NE area of 'bama for a couple wonderful years, but moved due to job [metallurgical engineer] situation. Lived upon Sand Mtn, near Bryant and Higdon, AL. Worked in Trenton, GA - that was fun, work in Eastern and lived in Central time zones... Being a caver, damn, was that so sweet - over 2k caves just in Jackson County, AL. Gorgeous ridges and hills, waterfalls, streams, wonderful people, sweet air and sweet tea, BBQ to die for,,, frick,,, now I'm 'home' sick...

Got to H'ville, Scottsboro, and B'ham quite often,,, durn, what is that real good restaurant downtown Huntsville... saw the Alabama Blues Brothers there Anyhow, for those of yas there - enjoy what yas have, cause its wonderful!

af2nr

Anyone going to Anniston for the Sunny King Crit Sat. or the Cheaha on Sunday??? I'll be there!

Also I know a couple of you guys were talking about officiating the race and helping in general, for the Barbers event. Any idea why they were letting people race with aero bars???

KrautFed

Not I. I was supposed to ride today to work for "Transportation Day" and Commute Smart Birmingham, however I think I fractured my wrist earlier this week. I tried to ride just 10 miles last night and was in excrutiating pain in the drops so took it easy and stayed upright the entire ride.

Tmax1

K- Is your company participating in CommutSmart and did they come up with Transportation Day?

My understanding is they are mostly a ride-share (car) facilitator giving incentives to employers to rally for them as a group.

Birmingham Ride to Work Day is May 18.

https://www.bhambikeclub.org/cgi-bin/...r/calendar.cgi

af- I might ride up to the crits Saturday evening with my son if he wants to go and there are no conflicting etceteras.

KrautFed

Yea, company did a Transportation Day. I just got back from a little demo they had and its all politics. They said they will start giving incentives, gift cards, etc to those who bike to work... we'll see though. I will be at the Ride to Work along with the Ride of Silence on Wed.

BlkGuitarRedCar

i have been trying out my new bike and i love it. i gotta get some riding buddys to go ride with now. I wanna do another "tour" of downtown southside at night. Hit up a restraunt and just kinda cruise

KrautFed

Roger That... lets go. I finally got a frame bag so now when we see some ladies they wont ask "Hey is that a Proflate with 16g CO2 cartidge and Toolkit in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

teambhultima

If the weather holds, I will be at the Ride of Silence, also. It was a great tribute last year and I'm looking forward to it again. I hope to see some fellow BF-ers. I'll be on my trusty old purple AD Ultima. At least it won't be freezing cold like Barbers!
Have fun!
Drew

ericvic

Wife and I are planning on being there. I hope the weather holds out. We will be the "bobbsey twins" with our matching silver R1000s we got a couple of weeks ago.

We both used to ride a bunch in our earlier days (before we hooked up) but now we are trying to get back into cycling to try and get some exercise and lose a bit of spare weight We are trying to "train" to be able to ride the MS150 later this year.

ericvic

Thanks for the invite. I have a few questions.

1. What time do they ride on Tuesday?
2. Are all levels welcome? The wife and I have just started back and are not very strong yet.
3. How long of a ride is it normally?

ericvic

Thanks for the info

Tmax1

Missed you last night. You must have gone to the Worlds.

At Ride-o-Silence I'll be on the SS not the IF.

Hope to see you Bfer's there.

~JG

Tmax1

Stay dry. I'm going to ride from Homewood do the greenway Cahaba Road thing beforehand.

Yup. Did the SS last night from BBG.

KrautFed

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, and Jim for the ride home so I could see my girlfriend tonight.

RoS was great. Thats my first "group" ride in years but it was perfect. Extremely (ok BRUTALLY for fixie downhill) slow pace, lots of friendly people, and everyone being there for a good reason. No show boating, or racing, or etc.

I'm just glad I didnt do a front flip off my fixed gear for no apparent reason, but I'm sure it will happen sooner a later. There are still Tuesday nights to show my dismounting abilities. The thing is like riding a horse sometimes.

See you guys Friday morn

ericvic

That was definitely a fun ride. That was the biggest group I've ever ridden in and unfortunately I didn't see anyone I knew, except my wife KrautFed, I agree that the pace was very slow (like it was suppose to be) but it was a very nice evening for the ride.

We are going to try and make some of the Tuesday rides from the BBG because it will be fun to have a group to ride with instead of just the two of us.

af2nr

So what kind of turnout would you guys say you had there yesterday for the RoS? I am out of town for work and tried to find one here, Charleston, WV, but it started earlier than I could get to it. It was nice to see it on a few of the news stations here last night though.

BlkGuitarRedCar

I really need to make it out to one of these group rides. I get tired of riding by myself

KrautFed

I honestly think 150+ easy rode plus a handful of supporters in vehicles.

Checkout the front page of al.com --> https://www.al.com/

KrautFed

I learned something this morning traveling with the Bike To Work crowd. I don't think many in that group have ever been doored or come close to being doored.

Tmax1

No doors. Only a truck. Some of the folks were rather close to them doors, weren't they.

Thanks for being there Kfed! ~jg