Well project eyesore is now complete. I finished building my road bike Sunday night. It was a pleasure to get that thing together at last. I probably should get a new seatpost for it... something lighter than the campy record that is in there. Other than that, the bike is ready for party action.
I took it out for a shakedown last night. 25 miles or so on the WOD trail was enough to reacquaint me with an old friend. That really isn't the best description. Someone really irreverent put it this way... Its like meeting an old girlfriend that you hadn't seen in 10 years, noticing that she's even hotter than when you knew her, and going to bed with her. (I put it more delicately than he did). That isn't too far off for me.
The bike feels like a toy. 700x23c tires are freaking skinny. 44cm bars are so narrow. Sure the bike is big. It fits me like a glove. It just took me 30 minutes of riding before I felt right grabbing the bars and cranking out of the saddle. I was seriously rewarded when I did. Even with the stubby little 175mm cranks, the bike just got up and went. I definitely enjoyed the ability to spin on that bike. It is much easier to turn over 175mm cranks than 180s.
After riding out past Reston on the WOD and most of the way back home, I took to the roads instead of taking the bike paths home. There weren't too many cars out, so I pretty much had the lane to myself. I just put it in a big gear and wound her up a few times. The bike is a rocket, even if its rider is a bit on the porky side.
It'll be a little while before I'm ready to ride in a pack. The Tesch is such a lightning fast handling bike that I want to be really on my game with it... especially if there are some spazzes in the group. I really don't like hooking bars or rubbing tires with people. I'll keep the road rides to small groups of people I know and am cool with.
On another note, Gary finally got his frame and parts in. I got home from my ride a little after 8pm. Gary stopped by with a box of parts, a frame and a wheel. I told him I'd try to have it done for Thursday's ride. As it turned out, Laura had a lot of homework to do, so the kittens and I worked on his bike. Mao did a pretty good job of setting up the front Derailleur, but I had to do a little adjustment on it to keep it from rubbing. He hadn't worked with the SRAM push-button shifters before. Gracie was spot on with her rear derailleur setup. The cable routing was a little weird, but she got it right. I did the heavy lifting... bottom bracket, cranks, forks, stem bars. We finished up by midnight and took it for a short test ride.
The bike is great. It really went together well and felt solid in the yard and on the stairs. It is a little hard for me to really evaluate it since the top tube is about 6" too short for me. Oh well. I guess I'll let him have it back. ;) He accidentally got a 5" travel fork for a 4" travel frame. It won't be perfect, but it'll work for him. As his skills improve, I'll suggest that he go to a 4" travel air fork. By then he'll be ready for a big hit bike that can use the 5" travel fork. ;) Don't worry, I won't tell Tracee about your next bike purchase. ;)
Gary's going to show up tonight for the Tuesday night ride. Dominic is going to be back leading again. I'll sweep for him and then go off and do a ride on my own for later in the evening. I need to cycle the lights a little more and make sure that the batteries on the old niteriders are working properly.
Have a great day. I'll post up more later.
PEte
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