Thursday, April 22, 2010

Some articles

Still waiting for the fixie.

Updating the courses in my Garmin for the upcoming Golden Week holidays. I'll try to log as many miles as possible.

BTW, here are some good reads.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all

http://bicycling.com/blogs/sittingin/2010/04/16/for-the-sake-of-racing/




Thursday, April 15, 2010

Delay :-(

The Masi frame that I want won't be available until 5月 (May).
So have to wait!

Another bike

Yup made the parts order last night at BMX RIO
Bike should be finished in 1 - 2 weeks time. It has no derailleurs but I should get 4 gear ratios out of it. 2 freewheel, 2 fixed. And I might add fenders! :-)

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Getting to know your bike

Some just ride their bikes, others get to know their bikes as they ride.
I had a realization about my bike today. Some subtle charateristics that I failed to notice until now.

My bike is an aluminum frame from GIOS with a 105 groupo. The frame is what you might call a compact with a slopping top tube. I bought almost a year ago, it has now logged ~2000kms. I named her Margareth.

When I first put my legs over it I noticed it was very very twitchy at slow speeds. If I don't hold her steady at slow speeds she'll wander left/right and everywhere! She was very light. I put power to the pedal and she'll fly! The first morning ride that I did, I crashed into a metal road barrier. Bruised the biked, and bruised myself. She's taken a bit of beating.

Margareth really hates to go slow :-) but when I negotiate tight u-turns or a tight maneuver on the river banks I have to slow down. That's when the twitchiness scares me :-) Over gravel the twitchiness are more severe and more unpredictable. There's an unpaved section that I take at 20+kph just so that bike's centripetal force helps me keep up.

She loves the paved straight ways, if only I had more power (a lot lighter) :-) She'll love anything paved, may it be uphill, downhill or flat.