In with the new, out with the old

Lots of changes here at the House of Zen. While work is preventing me from getting in a lot of long rides this year, it hasn't prevented me from riding, or making some changes to the stable. My beloved 1990 Paramount has been sold to a local rider who fits the bike much better than I did. A bittersweet goodbye, but when a bike isn't right for you, you don't ride it, and all bikes deserve to be ridden rather than sit hanging unused in a garage.

New to the fleet is a 2011 Surly Big Dummy. I've been intrigued by the BD since it first came out a few years ago with it's sexy curved top tube. The new incarnation loses the fancy top tube, but is still a cool bike. I picked this up from a local rider as a frame/fork/vrack/freeloaders package. As is normal, what was planned to be a cheap quick build turned into something a little fancier as I got into the project.



The final build list:

• Shimano XT Hubs laced to Mavic XM321 rims. Shod with 2.5" Maxxis Hookworm tires
• Race Face triple crankset mated to a Shimano 122mm square taper BB
• Shimano Deore front and rear derailleurs
• SRAM attack shifters
• Jeff Jones Aluminum loop bars
• Salsa 110mm stem
• Chris King headset
• Salsa Promoto 2 seatpost with Brooks B17 on top
• Salsa seat collar
• Ping bell
• Origin 8 platform pedals
• Avid speed dial levers running BB7 brakes
• Avid 203mm rotors (F & R)
• Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders
• Pump
• Bell
• kickstand
• Some inner tubes and electrical tape to keep the paint wear to a minimum

I painted the V racks black to match the frame. I also ordered in a set of wide loaders and painted them black too, as well as adding some well placed innertube to potential wear/bump spots. The bike is sporting a black Flightdesk as well.

Initial ride impressions after a couple hundred miles with and without cargo are positive. A bit of work uphill, but it cruises at 15-18 on flats just fine. Handling is great, and the bike is well balanced, both loaded and unloaded. Loads so far include 70 lbs of groceries, empty and full LP tanks, a case of beer in two Rubbermaid coolers, and my lovely wife. I'm looking forward to many miles on this bike over the coming months. It will be interesting to see how well it handles once the weather starts getting colder and snowier.

The Department of Recumbecny Department

When I was at Connecticut Yankee Pedaler, I took out a Catrike Mushashi on a test ride while my wife was testing Catrikes. One ride made me remember why I liked riding around on my recumbents so much. I had toyed with the idea of bringing home one of the Mushashis that CYP had in stock, but we decided that one new bike purchase was enough for the day. So, a few weeks later, an opportunity presented itself (IE my spouse had a weak moment) and I got the OK to purchase another bike. I scoured a few boards, missed out on one due to forgetting to return a call, and then put out a few more feelers. The end game is that in a few days I should be in possession of a very lightly used 2009 Bacchetta Corsa high racer. I've had one of these in the past, and it's just a fun fast bike, and a really good bang for the buck either new or used.



I've already gotten a bunch of grief from some of my other riding friends about this. It doesn't really matter too much. I like it, it's fast, and it's comfortable. I'm anxious for it to get here and start riding around on it. It will also put some plans into place for next year or possibly the year after.

TIV7 Photograph Usage

I have received emails regarding the photographs that were taken during TIV7. I wanted to answer those questions here.

If you took part in this year's race, you are welcome to any photos that I have taken of you. The ones posted to my TIV7 set on Flickr have been resized so they uploaded quickly. I have higher res versions that you are welcome to use for personal purposes.

All I ask in return is that:

1. All usage must be non-commercial in nature. Posting to a personal or club web site is OK. Please include a link back to here somewhere in your article.
2. Please leave my copyright tag in place.
3. Please be patient with me getting those images pulled and sent to you.

A number of people have asked about purchasing certain images. In the spirit of "free" grass roots events such as TransIowa, The Almanzo 100, and PCL Gravel Worlds, I am not going to charge for any of the photos. If you wish, you can make a Tribute Gift, in the name of TransIowa, to the American Red Cross for any amount you are comfortable with.

For commerical use of any images, please contact me at "stevefuller at gmail dot com"

Thanks.

TransIowa V7

Patience

It's been a while since my last post. For the few readers I'll summarize the reason for the lull in one word - numbness.

The nerve issues that I suffered during and after TransWisconsin have basically left me unable to ride more than a handful of times up until a month or so ago. The first two weeks back required me to look at my hand when holding a sandwich or a glass of liquid to ensure that I wouldn't drop it. Our cats enjoyed the dropped sandwiches a lot. Typing caused the numbness to get worse (bad when your job requires you to type for 8 hours a day). Day to day tasks became actual tasks. I have much more insight as to how I will be when I age to the point of not being able to handle some of life's basic tasks myself. Caretakers, you have been warned.

I've spent some time talking to medical doctors, sports therapists and acupuncturists over the last six months. The first (or even second) opinion isn't always the right one. I had two doctors ready to slice into my wrist to alleviate my numbness because they were convinced it was carpal tunnel. A four day onset of carpal tunnel seemed a bit unlikely to me. Thankfully I found third and fourth opinions from Cindy McGuire at Hands on Sports Massage and Jay Heaverlo at Midwest Acupuncture Clinic. I credit both of them with really getting to the root cause of my issues and getting me healed up. Insurance companies that don't cover accredited massage therapy or acupuncture are missing the boat IMHO.

Although I'm finally better, I can't begin to (again) tell you how important getting your bike fit properly is. My Salsa Fargo was the *one* bike in my fleet that I had not taken in to Rasmussen's to have adjusted and it completely screwed me for close to 6 months. I will be taking my Fargo into Adam for a fit once I'm ready to start riding it again.

While I was busy with not riding my bike, I picked up a real camera and started taking photos as a way to still stay involved with cycling and see my friends. I have bunch of them here on Flickr if you are interested in taking a peek. While we're on the subject of photography, I'm honored to announce that I've been accepted an offer to be the Official Photographer for TransIowa V7. I'm hoping that I am able to capture even a portion of what this ultra-endurance event is like. A huge thank you to Guitar Ted for allowing this to happen.

Finally, I still have some TransWisconsin writing to finish up. I'm finally ready to reference my little composition book so I can write "the rest of the story". Hopefully the details won't be too fuzzy.

After 6 months of numbness, soul searching, and depression, this biker is finally getting back into his Zen state. It feels good.

TransWisconsin - Day 0

Some people have recently accused me of being a little too Type A when it comes to my cycling prep. With that in mind, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that my Thursday AM packing routine consisted of nothing more than loading my bike on the top of the Explorer, throwing my backpack in the passenger seat and tossing a cooler in next to it.

I had been riding around town with my TransWisconsin items on my bike and back for close to five days prior to leaving. I had gone through and pared things down to what I had considered bare minimums, ending up with a 5 lb sleeping roll, a 13 lb Egon BC3 backpack, and another 3 lbs of stuff in a small frame bag. I went to Rasmussen's for a bit in the AM before meeting Courtney at his house in West Des Moines. We loaded up Courtney's mountain bike, backpack and rear rack, stopped to fill the cooler with ice and drinks and left for Wisconsin. The drive up was uneventful. Lots of discussion of rides, tire choices and what to expect over the next few days. We had some spare time in our schedule, so we stopped in Dubuque and visited my friends Gary and Patty. We arrived with zero fanfare in the town of Hazel Green, but had issues finding any cyclists. It appeared that, even at 6 PM, we were early. After peeking in the windows of the local antique store and tdriving to the park to see if anyone was around, we headed back to Gangster's Bar and Grill where we found David, Andy and some others enjoying some tasty food and beverages.

After polishing off a bacon cheeseburger and a Spotted Cow, we were back at the park looking at bikes, setting up camp and discussing the event. Joe stopped by to see us as well as drop off phone numbers so we could post audio updates to the transwisconsin.com web site. Soon Joe was off for the evening, as the race organizers had comp-ed his costs for a hotel while we camped in the park. :) I slept well in my hammock, other than having my head facing towards the security lights instead of away from them. We did have to deal with a fairly good sized storm that rolled through overnight, but I just hunkered down in my hammock watching the trees blow while some of Duluth crew decided to move to the safety of the shelter.

Back

I am back from Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I only rode slightly over half of the route before I pulled out of the event. I'll have some write ups for the event coming over the next few days, but one of the items I brought back was a good case of ulnar and medial nerve irritation that makes it difficult to use my right hand. In the meantime here are some photos from the trip. I'm already making plans for next year's attempt.