Where the hell did Pete go????

Hey peeps. 

 

A few people have asked me why I disappeared from the normal mountain biking crew at the end of last season.  Some people wanted to ask, but didn't.  I don't talk about all of the stuff, but some of it is public domain. :D

 

I have to say that my bike is partially to blame.  I originally purchased the Karate Monkey to be a bike that would test and see if I liked riding a 29er.  I'd ridden one years ago, but didn't like the available suspension forks at the time.  I knew I liked the bikes a lot for the way they rode.  My plan was just to have it for a few months until I could get a custom frame made. 

 

Well you know what they say about the best made plans of mice and men (squeek squeek!).   When all hell broke loose for me last summer, getting a new frame was out of the question.  I sold off everything of value that I could to get a little extra cash.  That was a good thing because it forced me to be more reasonable about stuff and it helped clean out the basement (though there are a bunch of car parts that I wish I hadn't sold....  It helped at the time).   Some folks have been a huge help to me through that time.  THANKS!!!!!  I haven't forgotten you. :D

 

The Karate Monkey is a great bike.  I love the way it handles and the 29er wheels.  The only things I don't like about it is that it is a very punnishing frame and its heavy.  I didn't fully realize how much it beat me up until I took some time off in November.  The constant ache in my wrists, elbows, shoulders and upper back went away in a few weeks.  After years of cycling and climbing injuries, I have a fair amount of chronic pain.  As was obvious this fall, I have trouble telling what pain is chronic and what is symptomatic of the need for change.  After taking a few weeks off, and having the pain begin to subside, I started to realize that the pain was coming from my bike.  That is when I decided that a new bike was in the works for me.  :D

 

Another cool thing about that time off was that my ribs FINALLY healed in full after fracturing them back in April. 

 

The cool part about this whole sad saga is that there is a new bike in my future.

 

It is really tempting to want to drop a huge wad of cash on a fancypants new bike.  The wad will be there, but I think I'm much better off getting a much simpler bike and taking the rest of the bonus money and paying off debt and saving some for vacations.  That will give me more disposable income down the road for updating the bike on an incremental basis. 

 

There's a company called Niner Bikes that specializes in 29ers (duh!).  At this point they make 2 different hardtail frames.  They make an SS-specific frame out of Scandium (an insanely light aluminum alloy) and a Reynolds 853 steel frame that can be easily used as a single speed or geared bike.  Their frame geometry looks to fit me like a glove, so I'll save money and time by not having to get a custom frame built.  I'm going to start with the 853 frame so I can swap it between a single speed and a geared bike.  The change takes roughly an hour of work.  I'd eventually like to set up the bike so that I can do a really quick swap from geared bike to single speed.  It takes me about an hour to change the Karate Monkey over.  If I get a spare set of handlebars and a second set of wheels, I could cut that time in half.

 

I'm back riding the bike 1 day per week.  I'm running, lifting and swimming for my other activities.  I'm enjoying that and REALLY enjoying living with less pain. 

 

Thanks for reading.  Please accept my appology for writing something that isn't totally idiotic.  I'm sure I'll compensate for this by writing something inane in the near future. 

 

Pete