Happy Veteran's Day

The Forty for 40 Route

I guess there is one to grow on. This should be a very reasonable route with the second half almost all down hill. Of course that doesn't come without a price. Some call it the "Three Bitches". Should be fun!

When I get big, I get a pink bike...

She'll start with a tricycle. Here's Kaitlin trying out a pink one at the bike shop.

All it needs is some streamers. We'll get it for her birthday. Which she won't stop talking about. I wonder where she got that from?

The eagle has landed

The build is complete. Here are some pictures of the finished product. Lots of little details that represent time spent agonizing over choices in components. SRAM Force drive train, Red Chris King hubs, DT Swiss rims with alternating red and black nipples. The chain won't ever be this clean again.

3T Ergonova handlebars have a shallow drop that will let me use the full range of hand positions, something I haven't been able to do since my neck surgery in 2003. SRAM Force shifters will take some getting used to. Chris King headset in red. Silver head tube badge. The handlebar cable routing really changes the look. I'll have to get over my habit of hooking my index finger over the cable. Steel fork... one of those decisions that I really struggled with. I hope I made the right choice.
Crown Jewel label on the chain stay. Sommerville label on the seat tube. Bicycle Sport Shop label on the down tube. The red labels look really good. Subtle on the black, sharp on the "Vanilla Shake" white. The red stripe on the panel is Ferrari Red. That's about as close to Italian as this bike gets. Of course, if this machine could talk it would probably pronounce that, "eye-talian". The cranks are the only component on the bike that are carbon fiber. If my usual group rejects me, I can join the local "Heavy Metal" rides.
Need to cut that down after a few rides... The stitching on the bar tape looks good.
Thomson seat post matches the stem and the Brooks Swift saddle. The seat post collar has a little IF crown on it.
Here it is. Time to ride!

the Peacocks

Recently, as in the last few months, we learned of the Peacock Preserve at Mayfield Park. I can't believe we never knew of this little gem. they have koi ponds with lily pads that are surrounded by garden trails. My friend said when you get there, look up into the trees and you'll see peacocks. Sure enough, there were huge peacocks sitting on the branches!

We took Mam-ma this past weekend to walk around and kill some time. We got to see the male peacock do it's mating dance. Quite impressive!

Then we sat on a picnic bench under the shade and chatted and took some pictures. It was a great day for doing a little of nothing....

I was going to post some more pictures but they're not downloading at this moment. More later.

Happy birthday to me...

I've been riding the same bicycle since 2000. It's been a great bike, I've put more miles on it than I can even begin to guess, but it's starting to break down. Since my 40th birthday is this year, I'm taking the opportunity to be completely selfish and ordered a custom steel bike from Independent Fabrication.

In a lot of ways this is the bike that I've wanted for well over a decade. Before I turned 30 I was looking at several Italian steel frame bikes with lots of chrome and beautiful lugs and all that fun stuff. Life got in the way though and I was doing more adventure racing at the time and well on my way to being dirt poor. Lukily, things have turned around and again I've found myself at a milestone birthday and dreaming of a new bicycle. Here's the picture of the paint scheme mock up that I sent to IF.

I started this process shortly after the new year, looked at several really great bikes; Orbea, Pinarello, Trek, Specialized, but while they all would have more than fulfilled my need for a new bike, none of them were as exciting to me as getting to pick a frame, get measured for it, select every component, and then finally get the chance to see it all come together as something I get to ride.

Ridiculously selfish? Absolutely.

Pretty silly? Yeah, that too.

Still, I’m so excited about it and the process has been a great experience.

Marc

She eats tapas, but still won't say "Hola"

Kaitlin munches on some tapas.  She's been a trooper.  She had a great time playing with the dogs in Gratallops.  There were a couple of old women with little dogs and Kaitlin had a blast chasing them.  Here Kaitlin faces off with the old German Shepherd at one of the wineries in Gratallops.