i thank the...

creator. i actually went out on a ride on saturday. interesting. however the ride started about an hour later than planned.

monkey and i left my house and went down into the valley. sorry no pics, but i was riding light. the smoothie was the only thing up and running. so all that could be heard was the illustrious sound of knobbies on the street. after some hills, we were down in the valley. we decided to take the tow path to stay away from traffic. riding was going fine. until i hit some funny goop. interesting.

up the hill to the bike and hike. gu stop. then it was time for the nut house. riding down onto the nut house it was all mud. after that it dried up and was easy going. i seemed to glide over logs. around trees. good stuff. we happend upon a hiker. pleasantries were exchanged. we wished each other well. and on our way. the question was brought up..."why can't all hikers be like that?" my thoughts...because too many people are assholes. anyway...we continued on. over two creeks. coming up to the down hill. by this time the trail became interesting. still covered by all the fall leaves. the down hill begins. eyes open. after the first downed tree. a sharp right turn around the other downed tree. and let it go. i knew monkey was behind me. and those of you that know...you don't want him behind you when you are going down hill. over the 'bridge.' i know i should be turning left to make the quick climb. but where? crap. i missed it. monkey followed me. one eighty. back on the trail. up and over. over and out. a police car. crap. not a park cop. should be fine. i don't think he saw me, or he didn't care. but monkey was wearing bright yellow. you can't miss him. pays him no-never-mind. good.

back on the tow path. didn't want to risk a run in. that's when it happened. head wind. not just some normal head wind. winds had to pick up to about fifteen to twenty miles per hour. this sucks. ran into an old friend of ours. chatted. moved on. at one point we stopped for a drink. the next thing i hear. 'snow.' crap. thankfully that only lasted for five minutes. we move on. i was glad to hit the climb back home. it ment that we were out of the wind for the time being. two miles left. and they sucked. got home. quick change. hit the saw. food. beer. the saw was the saw. the impeccable service. for those of you that know the saw...you know what i'm talking about. i'm really not sure how that place ever made it. the food is good, but the service is lack luster.

the wind sucked. the company was good. so that more than made up for it.

enjoy...

as i...

look through the 'blogo sphere,' i read a lot of crap. i hope that i never get to that point. the point of just complaining about nothing that really matters. but i guess in this case i am complaining about things that really don't matter. so i stop...

for all said and...

purposes; my front wheel is done.



some finishing touches need to be done, but other than that. it's golden.

so now i start on the rear wheel. spokes are being preped.



and i have started it. this weekend it should be all laced up.



this is an amazing rear hub. king knows its stuff. that's why i ride em. i'll stick with mavic for rims, but not hubs. i just don't like them. i'm even now contemplating getting rid of the mavic wheelset i have on my rode bike. its just when you have a bad experience with the product you just don't want to deal with them anymore. so we will see.

here's a pic of the crank that will be going on the monolith. nice. white industries eno crank. amazing. in this pic you are able to see a reflection of the fork that is going on too.



i'm taking that fork off my ybb, and putting it on the monolith. and then putting on another fork on the ybb. no worries.

sunny day. cool weather. and i've got to work. i'm a little upset about that right now, but in the end all will be worth it. so...no time like the present. for all of those out there riding...turn the cranks for me. take care.

the trail is only as wide as your tire...

so i'm not sure what...

it is, but i've got a new obsession. cycling caps. i picked up two new ones. why? i'm not sure. i guess i better wear them now when i ride. my obsession used to be socks. i think i've got enough of them now. until they start wearing out. so...know any cool cycling caps?

i started the tear down of the ybb for cleaning. finally.

hopefully today or tomorrow i'll be done with my front wheel. i know. i know. about time is right. then i'll start on the back wheel. i should do that one quicker.

the clock as started clicking. about two more weeks till my new frame is here. yes.

take care, and enjoy the day.

just as i mentioned...

before. i receive a mag. with the infamous 'buyer's guide' in it. the problem here is that the buyer's guide readers more like seventy pages of advertisement. not a 'hey, we think this stuff is cool.' but rather 'hey, we're a company. here's some money. could we buy a page in your mag?' so if you want to 'see' a bunch of stuff, and really not know anything about it. then pick up the mag. nothing giving you the consumer an argument why you should or should not pick it up. i thought that is what buyer's guides were supposed to do. give you an item. let's say a bike for instance. and say, 'hey, this bike is coming out this year. maybe you should check it out. it has x, y, and z. and we think x, y, and z are great.' it is if i would walk into a room that you were in. show you an object, and walk out.

buyer guides are there to help you as the consumer. to show you what is out there. to show you the pro's and con's of something. not just present the object to you. here it is. o.k. thanks. so the burden of consumption is on you (as it should always be) to do the research. in some sense find the research for a product that you are interested in buying. compare. contrast. decide.

however in this mag...they do have 'dream bikes'; four out of the five are full suspension. the other: is a cross bike.

so you may say: 'hamad, why then do you keep reading these mags?' to that i answer: this particular mag. gives exposure to the little guy. let's you know that there are more frame companies out there. they give support. i like that. for instance...in this issue they put the spotlight on carl the snarl. the owner and operator of vicious. great stuff. i love this company. great bikes. great philosophy. i've owned two. down to one. and waiting for another. keep it up carl.

remember: the trail is only as wide as your tire.

so i notice some things...

as i read my new united kingdom mountain bike magazine. what are a lot of these guys riding? hardtails. they review four bikes. all hardtails. and get this...most of them were steel. as you look through american bike mags. you see all these dual suspension bikes. three inches here. four here. it's like i'm reading a porn mag. to some, you are. but i digress.

now these where complicated hardtails. move the chainstays in and out to change the geometry of the bike. this is a quote about one of the bikes with this feature..."for faster, swoopier trail riding you can run it with hundred mm forks and the chainstays at full extension to have a seventy/seventy-one degree (head angle/seat angle)steed with a forty-two point one in wheelbase. for slow, steep, twisty descents you can run a one hundred and fifty mm fork with shorter chainstays to have a sixty-eight/sixty-nine degree sled with a forty point seven inch wheelbase." now i'm all about technical stuff. and i think some technical stuff is cool. but holy cow. out of all the stuff i like about my bikes. what i feel i need on my bikes. this is not one feature where i said "boy; if i could have adjusted my chainstays, then i could have made it through."

image...riding along. the wind is whipping in and out of your helmet. your feeling good. whoops. twisty descent. "hold on guys. i've got to adjust my chainstays." what? now my one fork is adjustable. but i just dial it in and forget it.

back to my point about hardtails. why are we americans so obsessed with bigger is better? over the summer, when i took my single speed hardtail out, it was the greatest thing. to the point where i'm not sure how often i'm going to ride my smoothie. you look at buying guides, and they (american publishers) give you all these 'great' full suspension bikes. and it's like a sidenote or footnote about great hardtails. trek makes a great carbon hardtail. why aren't these bikes featured more? and they give you smaller companies. if i just read american mags. then i would only think that specialized, trek, santa cruz, gt, gaint, and maybe kona were the only bike companies out there. you would really have to pay attention to notice anyone else. there are so many companies out there that don't get a fair shot. they just don't have the dosh to spend on page after page ad. but still put out a great product.

my thought for the riding season. ride my hardtail more. when it gets built up, that is. sorry smoothie.

be peace...

the building...

is going well.


as you can tell, it is all laced up. all the spokes are in with a three cross pattern. now all that is left is true and dish. i was going to work on it the other night. but that involved math. spoke tension. all this tech stuff. and to be honest i had too many beers to work on it. so i watched the olympics instead.

i was watching the wheel the other night (the wheel of fortune); good old pat pulled this article out after the show, and read some of it...



the good old days. back in fifty five. when men were men. when women were women. how times have changed.
enjoy...

namaste

here is an update...

on the wheel build.

chris king iso disc hub.
mavic seven one seven xc disc rim.
wheelsmith spokes.
as you are able to see...i've got everything marked and membered. the rim is labeled. so is the hub. i put spoke prep on the spokes last night and let it dry. today i began putting on the spokes themselves. sixteen are done. sixteen more to go. not sure when i will get to it again. but the journey of a thousand steps begins with one.

i would like to thank rogue for all of his help. he is my bike guru. my sensei. i bow to your buddhahood. namaste.

i've said it before...

and i'll say it again. big corporations sucks. once you institutionalize something. an idea. a thought. even a religion. it goes down hill. their philosophy moves away from the original conception to that of money. my case in point...the good old lance armstrong foundation.

you've heard of them. with their little slogan 'livestrong'. now since their conception many little groups have sprung out. some fun. some not so fun. wrist bands all over the place. one not so fun is what cycles gaansari was doing down in dayton ohio. home grown. showing support for the bike messenger emergency fund. great cause. a non-profit group that helps injuried bike messengers that are hurt on the job. well gaansari came up with skidstrong. are you able to tell the difference? livestrong. skidstrong. i'm able to tell the difference in spelling. it might be just because i have a master's in philosophy. well, those great cats at laf couldn't. they took gaansari to court, and issued a cease-and-desist order. because they were worried that people would contribute to the wrong foundation. thanks laf for looking out for the little guy. they stopped. the folks at cycles gaansari asked if laf would make a donation of three g's. no go. how much money does laf have? and no donation. hey, it's tax deductible. in case you haven't heard.

i read about it on

wrench in the gears blog

and it just pissed me off to no end.

what about livewrong?

livewrong

let's just go after everyone that might be close to livestrong. hell with em. who do they think they are trying to get out a good and positive message, with something we have created? good show lance. my hero.

here is...

my single speed wheelset...





as you are able to tell from these pics, the nuts are a little rusted. the rear hub feels like it needs some lube. other than that the wheels are in great shape. the rear hub has a shimano sixteen tooth cog on one side. a acs twenty tooth cog on the other. one by one hubs. salsa semi rims. if any single speed riders that read my blog are interested email me, and let me know. a silent type of auction if you will. i'll put these on ebay by february fourteenth. after that. if you want them. you will have to check ebay. thanks.

i now have everything to start building my new wheelset. with help from rogue, i have all the tools. i'll post as i go. to share this new and exciting experience.